Nissan Primera

For most people, a car is a means of getting from A to B. For me, it's a tool of the trade. As Auto Express's staff photographer, I need a car that can be an office, darkroom and rain shelter during the week, and a minibus at the weekend when the camera gear makes way for the marauding pack of wild animals that passes for my family. Put simply, any car that graces the Smith driveway is destined for a hard life.

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Dave Smith

April 2003

For most people, a car is a means of getting from A to B. For me, it's a tool of the trade. As Auto Express's staff photographer, I need a car that can be an office, darkroom and rain shelter during the week, and a minibus at the weekend when the camera gear makes way for the marauding pack of wild animals that passes for my family. Put simply, any car that graces the Smith driveway is destined for a hard life.
So how did the latest contender - a 1.8-litre Nissan Primera estate - fare? Now safely back in the hands of its maker, the British-built Japanese load-lugger endured a tricky six months, during which time 10,000 miles passed under its wheels.
On the positive side, the Primera did everything I asked of it. I often need to take a huge amount of kit away on shoots, and in the load-lugging respect the big Nissan never let me down. The boot area is wide and long, while the seat-folding mechanism is first class.
The driving environment also impressed me - once I had mastered the central 'infotainment' system that controlled the stereo and the ventilation functions, there was no looking back. But if I'll miss one thing about the Primera, it will be the sat-nav system, which was the best I've ever used. Thanks to its birds-eye view, it was much easier to read and understand than other systems that use a map-like overhead display. The reversing camera was also a big hit with all who sampled the Primera. Although I thought it was a bit gimmicky at first, it proved its worth many times.
But life with the Primera wasn't all plain sailing. This is the third Nissan long-termer I've run and I have to say it's been the most disappointing. My main complaint concerned the performance of the engine and gearbox combination, which spoiled the driving experience. A gutsy 1.8-litre engine and automatic gearbox sounded like a fine match-up - perfectly suited to the stop-start traffic of central London - but after only a few hundred miles it dawned on us that life with the Primera wasn't going to be as enjoyable as we'd hoped. Slow off the mark and with a horrible soundtrack, the CVT gearbox was unpopular from the start and never really grew on us.
Although things improved a little after the odo-meter had clicked into four figures, it never gave us much satisfaction. But the biggest problem was the devastating effect it had on fuel consumption. In the past six months it averaged only 23.7mpg - a far cry from my old Almera Tino diesel's 41.4mpg and way down on Nissan's official combined figure of 38mpg. On one fully-loaded run it actually dipped below 20mpg.
The build quality hasn't impressed either - especially when compared to the old-shape Pri-mera. Although Nissan quickly fixed a problem with the sunroof - it pushed the interior light out of its socket every time it was opened - there were a number of things that seemed to be wearing prematurely towards the end. The driver's seat developed what can only be described as bum prints in the leather after about 3,000 miles. Although you might expect this kind of thing on a 200,000-mile minicab, it was a little worrying to find it happening on a four-month-old car.
So will I be sad to see the Primera leave? While I won't miss the all-too-frequent visits to the petrol station, there's no doubting that, with a different engine and gearbox, the Nissan load-lugger would be a much more entertaining package.