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According to Warranty Direct it is the most reliable car (by far) in its segment (in the £10,000 to £15,000 cars). As I am only concerned with reliability these days (after trying speedy Fiats, Alfas, Mustangs and Camaros) and as I have only 10/11 K to spend next summer, I'd be interested to hear your opinions on the Almera 1.5 currently priced £9,995 with extras. If you recently got one, what discount did you get for it ? (are they really in demand ?) Thanks
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OK I?ll answer you.
From HJ car by car breakdown we get:
What's Bad
Nothing much so far. Very cheap offers due to new model in 2004.
Now up until recently BYMYNEWCAR.COM an others have been doing some stonking deals, and when I enquired they could get other speced cars. Now it looks from those sites as though they have dried up.
As there is a new model sometime this year and you are looking for the summer, I?d guess you could time it just right for a good 15% off from a main dealer for a particular spec with add ons. But why do that even.
Autozone have:
Almera 1.8 16V SXE 3 Dr. £9,770.00
Almera 1.8 16V SXE 5 Dr. £10,490.00
www.autozone4cars.com/az/show-vehicles.asp
I have a 1.8 and I tried the 1.5, which is OK but you can afford the 1.8 so why not go for it.
Go have a look at Autotrader (eyes left) and pump in 5k min 8 k max and scare yourself silly. There are loads of late low mileage examples (mainly s spec admittedly) with huge losses over new prices. All of them are just as reliable as the new item, so you can have your cake and eat it.
I found dealers are quite happy to allow test drives so pop in and try one.
Best of luck
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Catalyst
I read a report on a survey on car depreciation I think in last weeks Sunday Times and Almera was 5th from bottom. (ie worst) This surprised me - but it does suggest late used would be a good buy.
Regards DougB
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they may be reliable but they dont ride or steer very well IMHO, steering wheel far too big and the gearhange feel is very poor but good quality interior. if you see one with LCD dash display it looks good and works well. very good build quality and economy but the dynamics let this car down.
its an old car getting older with a bit of a naff image,
much better tackle to choose from if you're spending that kind of dough.
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It's excellent car with absolutely fantastic equipment levels in SE, SVE or SXE version. Top notch steering, superb, if not a little sharp handling. You can find 1.5 SE with climate control for under 7 grand brand new which makes it about the best value for money in it's class. The only two things I'm not too happy about is fuel consumption (7-9 litres urban run, that's very nineties) and slighty too firm suspention. It's fantastic on corners and very sporty but in the city, on pothole roads it's just too hard. If only Nissan could fit one of these 60mpg 1.4 HDI diesel engines in them....
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you obviously haven't driven a focus then.
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Thanks, v0n, where can you find them for 7K ?
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When I was looking for mine in early Decemeber most of the brokers featured in the "Weekly best buys" had "S" model below 7,000 and SE just above that. Buy My New Car was selling them for £6999 on the road IIRC. They had many great offers on Nissans earlier that year too - www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/index.htm?news_id=1136. I printed out all the offers and drove to nearest Nissan dealership. Local outpost of the biggest national chain (initials GH) wasn't particularly interested in going below RRP but a Nissan dealership just outside London was almost ready to match the average price of £7499, despite £8999 guide tags on the windows. After hours of bargaining I finally picked a nearly new one with small mileage for unbeatable price of £6060 and did very well with part exchange too. Dealers are softer in December...
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Almera is a great little car. Handles nicely. Only real downside is the (typically Nissan) lumpy ride at low speeds. When you hit 45+mph they smooth out quite nicely.
I know someone who travels for a living and had several of these - the last of which is a 2000-model Diesel. It think its done about 200k now. Only problems have been a handbrake modification under warranty, door check strap fixed under warranty and a headlamp fuse that blew.
I can't understand why they are not a lot more popular, especially considering all the grief dished out by French and Italian cars.
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I agree with most things that have been said. It's a good cheapy but it's not worth anything like list price. If you have £9k you can get a base model Corolla from www.ukcarbroker.co.uk and it's just a nicer car.
I only know one Almera owner and his, bought from auction with a somewhat dubious history, has been an unreliable heap (02 reg). I'm willing to believe that his is exceptional though.
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thanks v0n for advice, I've just checked Buymynewcar but they are not doing Nissan at the minute. It does sound amazing value though, but what are the drawbacks of buying through an online dealer ?
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Just read an advert in local newspaper, Glyn Hopkin outlets apparently still sell SE on 03 plates for a good bit under £8000...
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Aprilia; I can only surmise that the 'marketing men' are doing their job well, and more and more people are buying cars with their hearts rather than their heads**. Lifestyle accessory rather than mode of transport. My next door neighbour has an Almera, which he's had no hassle with over the last two years, very well equipped and roomy for the money he paid for it.
** Yes I know that's a bit rich coming from somebody with 2 Omegas ;-)
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FRiend got an Almera as a company car and had to give it back after 6 months as he was suffering excruciating back pain due to the driver's seat.
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