Faults:

Rear disc brake caliper seized at 70,000 miles (3rd party warranty)

Constant velocity joints 80,000 (3rd party warranty)

Front wheel bearing (3rd party warranty)

Electric mirror (factory warranty)

General Comments:

This car is pretty lively for just a 2.0 with an automatic 'box.

Cabin plastics a bit dreary.

The faults above imply that it's been unreliable. This simply isn't so; it's never let me down; the odd faults have all occured at 'fair' mileages (and I do boot it around a bit!)

Handling and steering are both superb, minimal body roll and stacks of grip make for entertaining driving. I run mine on 195/60's for extra turn in bite.

Engine is a bit lacking torque down the ass-end of things, auto-box exacerbates this as it's geared for 100mph plus cruising. However, will accelerate uphill in top at 100mph (3800rpm)!

Great big hatchback boot swallows tons of stuff.

Air-con is very effective, unlike your Mondeo/Vectra conterparts.

Brakes good, but need a firm prod to get the ABS to react.

Faults:

Colour is black and it has a white primer?! Stone chips show up badly.

Engine makes snoring noise at 2000 to 3000 revs. Dealer is baffled and car is now out of warranty.

Rattle behind dash when cruising at 3500 revs.

General Comments:

Excellent car for the money.

Accelerates well, Corners nicely, slight under steer when putting the power down.

I have just started on my second set of P6000's.

Ride over bumps can be a bit harsh due to the stiff suspension set-up.

Cabin is good if a bit plasticky.

If Nissan had fitted it with a short shift (close ratio) box and increased the wheels to 205 or 225 / 16 or 17 inch, it would have been a true drivers car.

Faults:

Slight squeal from the passengers side, easily fixed once returned to dealer - turned out to be the pads were worn out. Dealer did them free of charge.

General Comments:

A bland looking car inside and out.

However, the interior is logically laid out, and easy to use.

I find the car very comfortable, my only criticism is the clutch is quite stiff, when asked my dealer to look into it, they said it was the original and should be expected. (whenever I had a new clutch on previous car, it always felt hugely lighter than the previous one). Not bad though considering the car has done nearly 70,000 miles.

I think it will last quite a while longer yet, a friend of mine has the the 1.6 version, and uses it as a taxi - his has now covered 174,000 miles and other than normal wear and tear items has only had to have a new electric mirror after someone ran into the side of him and smashed it off.

I also feel that they are excellent value for money - after all, I am a 19 year old student, and is running a 2.0 Primera - from a main Nissan Dealer, I only paid £3500 with Air-con, now the new Primera has come out, it should be even cheaper.

Faults:

Severe knocking noise from the front suspension at only 14,000 miles. Believe this to be the front suspension links. Nissan dealership say all Primera's have this severe cracking noise from the front suspension whilst in normal driving situation. Any comments out there?

Rattles from door casings, dash board, and window mechanism.

Reverse gear difficult to engage.

Other than these unacceptable faults, the car appears to be OK.

I regret selling the Golf for the Nissan, believed Nissan cars were good, this is certainly not appearing to be the case in our experience.

The car was previously owned by a mature gentleman and only driven in a gentle manner and treated carefully.

General Comments:

Handling is good.

Air-flow through the car is very poor, unless with high fan settings, this is very noisy so is not used very often.

Cabin is fine in terms of layout, all controls fall to hand easily.

Good fuel economy.

Believe there has been a lack of engineering development work if as dealer suggests, front suspension clunks are normal at 14,000 miles and are getting worse!

I have had 20+ new cars in the last 10 years (two car family) and have become reasonable at judging one make against another. The only ones to date that have been superb have been VW, Mercedes and the best ever - the Audi range.