Faults:

Suddenly burning massive amounts of oil, with billows of smoke from the exhaust, just 800 miles after purchase.

Rear cat replaced at 59800 miles.

Both lambda sensors replaced at 59800.

Reconditioned engine bottom end fitted at 59800.

Front cat replaced at 59800.

RH rear wheel bearing now failed at 66000.

RH rear ABS sensor failed at 66000.

Self selected 4wd at 66000.

General Comments:

Bought from a dealer with a full service history.

However, as out of warranty, no consideration for all the faults!!

Repairs have cost more than the car car cost.

Faults:

My turbo started to whine after 20,000km, the dealer (in France) pointed the problem out to me during a routine service, they replaced it (and the ECU) on warranty and provided me with a hire car free of charge.

At 30,000km an oil leak from the intercooler caught fire on the turbo, a minor fire occurred. Again the dealer replaced the part (a 30 minute) job. He didn't need to look under the bonnet to tell me what caused the fire.

General Comments:

I like the car, I am worried about the long term reliability. Will probably sell before the 3yr warranty is up.

Faults:

Nothing at all. Typical Japanese build quality - irreproachable.

A piece of trim needed changing in the boot when a ham-fisted mechanic split it during replacement after mounting the tow bar.

General Comments:

I am extremely pleased with the car. It's comfortable, well-equipped and has plenty of room both in the back seats and in the boot.

At 115 hp the engine is very conservatively rated, but it delivers more torque than a locomotive - it will pull away in 6th gear from 60km/h.

Up till now, it's used 6.5l/100km, and that's during the long hot summer of 2003 with the air con on flat out the whole time. That's pretty good for a vehicle weighing 1600kg.

The tyres (Dunlop) are very noisy and produce an irritating buzz at 80-100 km/h. Experimenting with the pressures hasn't made any difference (yet?)

Although it's not the sort of vehicle anyone would buy for its performance, the handling is pretty good.

While it doesn't have the off-road capacity of my previous vehicle, it's quite capable off the road, BUT

1 - it's fitted with road tyres (although you wouldn't believe it from the noise mine make) that would need changing to cope with mud, etc

2 - the rear silencer is very vulnerable to damage, and would need protecting with a ski. Since Nissan have thoughtfully provided no mounting points, you either take the risk of leaving the silencer behind or weld brackets to the body shell and invalidate the guarantee.

The drink coolers in the dash work very well - 10/15 minutes is enough to get a 33cl can of drink very cool.

Minor gripes: the plastics used on the dash seem (as said elsewhere) very vulnerable to marking and the LCD panel with the heating/air con settings is set too low and reflects badly, making it difficult to read.

Note to Nissan: why can't I have an automatic gearbox with a diesel?

Final remark: Unless you own a car wash, avoid the black paint. With the tinted windows and the fat alloy wheels, it looks good, but it's impossible to keep clean. You either have to wash it every day or put up with people assuming you're just a scruffy bugger.