Motorpoint are doing 2.2 Diesel Aventura (Near top of the range spec) @ £16,000 + £400 to get it on the road.
2nd hand car 2.5 Petrol SVE (top of the range in 2004) on sale locally @ £9K with 22,000 mls on the clock.
My mileage will be less than 12K per year and I probably will buy a caravan in the near future.
£7K extra for a new car does not sound a lot but is it worth the extra
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I can't comment on values since I don't even live in Britain, but I can guarantee that it is a superb vehicle to tow a carvan with. I think it was the Caravan Club ('Redefining Snobbery') who called it a 'near-perfect towcar';
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2.2dCi engine in these is prone to turbo failure.
If you don't do too many miles I'd go for the petrol. That engine is typical Nissan bomb-proof, and still quite capable of towing the caravan.
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The 2.5 uses the Nissan QR25-series engine, which is a good motor. Given your modest mileage I wouldn't both with the Diesel.
Use the £7k on a couple of relaxing long-haul holidays. Beats dragging a caravan around a muddy field... ;-)
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I'm not Nisssan's spokesman, but I'm on very good terms with my dealer who showed me the service bulletin giving the cause of the turbo failures as an intermittent manufacturing (not a design) fault which has been indentified and corrected. At the time I had an X-Trail and an Almera with the same engine.
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I agree with Mchenry. I have a 54 SVE 2.2dci and it did have a recall last year to check and correct. if necessary, whatever the problem was.
It is a brilliant and versatile car and has done everything I have asked of it.
I use a Nissan owned dealership and have had excellent service, the services manager will discuss anything fully and the actual person doing the service/whatever brings your key back to you and explains anything they have found/done (despite me being female!!) - the 'local to me franchise' is a different matter.
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I agree with Mchenry. I have a 54 SVE 2.2dci and it did have a recall last year to check and correct. if necessary whatever the problem was. It is a brilliant and versatile car and has done everything I have asked of it. I use a Nissan owned dealership and have had excellent service the services manager will discuss anything fully and the actual person doing the service/whatever brings your key back to you and explains anything they have found/done (despite me being female!!) - the 'local to me franchise' is a different matter.
Lucky you. i wouldn't trust my dealer (chain) as far as I could throw them. A good dealer is worth loads in peace of mind
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Scott1s, not only do I have peace of mind, but if they make an error they are totally up-front and more than re-compense.
I recently had a major service including a £70 air-con service/re-gas/pollen filter. Unfortunately the air-con pressure switch failed (they said it was a very very rare event, but does happen). Their response? Replace switch obviously, then air-con service free, labour generally reduced and 10% off total bill, including parts. The reduction will pay for more than half of the next service. The chap who had done the service was mortified and could not have been more apologetic - I think in some garages I have used I probably would not even know there had been a problem.
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This is quite confusing. I have been looking at possibility of Honda CRV but am being put off by price and the rear mounted spare wheel that stops me using a townar cycle carrier.
I read HJ's report on the X Trail and he finishes it with
"Reason for engine problems may well be that engine air filters are not routinely changed at services and, of course, on any diesel engine, they need to be. Failure of intercooler common. Large number of turbo, intercooler and general quality problems have led me to withdraw my recommendtaion of the car. Problem on overrun on EU4 diesels between 2,000 and 2,400rpm. "
But on the same report it seems to do well on the reliability index. Also on the latest Autoexpress used car test, the X Trail won the soft roader, beating the RAV and the CRV not even getting a mention!
The X Trail looks appealing to me as it does not have the rear spare wheel and some of their prices look better compared to CRV, just hard trying to find out which is more reliable in real life ownership!
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In a "Which" magazine reliability survey I saw, the Xtrail was one of only 5 models with zero breakdowns. The survey included cars up to two years old.
There was a precautionary recall end of 2005 to adjust the ECU following turbo problems. BMW also had a run of problems with turbos as did VAG. The view of turbo specialists is that most failures are down to poor oil supply or dirty oil. For the same reason a hot turbo needs to spool down and the engine idled before being turned off.
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Do your homework very careful on the X Trail and make sure you have a full inspection done before purchase.
In addition to the intercooler/turbo problem then other problems with the rear brakes, speedo in accuracy, intake butterfly screws working lose, dropping in engine imploding are being reported elsewhere (Nissan forum).
I got one last year 04my and after 3 yr service reported start of oil leak from intercooler which I take to be the precursor of trouble ahead. Correspondence with Nissan no help whatsover so now when I go out I await the big bang.
dvd
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so now when I go out I await the big bang.
I thought that happened ages ago? ;-)
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>> so now when I go out I await the big bang. >> I thought that happened ages ago? ;-)
He means the big bang in his "financial district" i.e. Wallet
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Why not go for a Subaru Forester?, tow car of the year for several years, very well built and reliable.
Can be had for similar price from a very nice garage in Taplow.
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I had a 2.5 SVE auto X-Trail for 2 years and 24,000 miles. Great car overall. I found the steering a bit dead which gave the vehicle a slightly agricultural feel. The engine is very torquey and almost diesel like, but without the noise!
There is an X-Trail group on the internet which lists, on an almost daily basis, problems with the diesel engine - mainly blown turbos. It seems Nissan is well aware of the problem, but cannot for some reason come up with a solution. I would not go any where near an X-Trail with the diesel engine.
Of course all the 'boy scribblers' in the car mags (with the notable exception of Top Gear magazine) recommend the diesel over the petrol. Consequently, when I traded mine about ten different dealers offered me a terrible price because it was a petrol model, despite the fact that the 2.5 petrol engine is bomb-proof compared withe the diesel. Also, the auto box is a Jatco which is similarly bomb-proof.
You should, therefore be able to pick up a 2.5 SVE secondhand at a very good price. When haggling be aware that the dealer selling the car will have paid very little for it.
Overall I would recommend the 2.5 X-Trail very highly. Indeed I can't wait to try the new model which comes out this summer. However, the petrol models all have CVT gearboxes rather than torque convertors.
BTW, I got 27 mpg average over 24,000 miles which isn't bad.
Hope this helps.
HectorG
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I would add that the diesel X-Trail only gets low 30's mpg. Unless you need the torque it isn't worth the noise and clatter.
I had a petrol CR-V that achieved over 30 mpg on a regular basis. Unless a diesel car gets at least 40 mpg I can't see the point, particularly when there are issues over the long term reliability of common rail systems.
HectorG
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Hello,
My Primera 2.2DCi (different car but same engine and thankfully now gone) suffered turbo failure and it was £1300 to replace at main dealer. This happened just outside the 3yr warranty and Nissan weren't interested in helping (at least my local dealer wasn't interested in pursuing it on my behalf).
I would have to agree that with a worringly common failure rate of these turbos/engines, that the N/A petrol 2.5 would definitely be the way to go. Peace of mind and much lower buying price will more than offset the diesel economy (not that my Primera was particularly good at that averaging just under 40mpg).
Good luck!
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Hello My Primera 2.2DCi (different car but same engine and thankfully now gone) suffered turbo failure
My Primera suffered turbo failure - and took the whole engine with it. Thankfully covered by warranty, but boy what a fright. Kind of sobering watching your car revving its knackers off by the side of the road - while you have the ignition key in your hand.
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