Edaran Tan Chong Motor introduced Nissan Livina X-Gear today. Priced from RM 82,800, the sibling to Grand Livina MPV is essentially a shortened version of the said MPV. Length was shed by 145mm down to 4275mm. As it's MPV sibling accomodate the third row seat at the rear overhang, the wheelbase is remain unchanged for its shorter sibling. The pseudo SUV is assembled locally at TCM plant in Serendah.
As the name implies, Livina X-Gear is what the Japanese market classified as RV market, in a nutshell a commoner MPV/Hatch/Wagon packed with off-road pretension such as thick body cladding round the arches, as well as inclusion of "protective" skid plate at the front and rear. Above and below photos shows such thick cladding, lending a macho image to pseudo SUV. More details after the jump.
The rear bumper gets the decorative silver garnish plate too. Other changes include the black panel surround the Nissan badge at the rear as well as the roof rails.
Interior is standard Grand Livina affair, with dark color as the recent facelift model. However, the rear air-con vent has been deleted, as the car now is only 5-seater. This item is replaced by cupholder.
The deletion of third row seat does free up bigger boot space than the Grand Livina. With the second row seat in place, total boot volume stands at 383 litres, and increased to 769 litres if it folded down.
Engine-wise, the car is powered by sole 1,498 cc producing 105bhp, driven only the front wheel. That, plus with identical ground clearance of 180mm as per Grand Livina, give it as much off-roading capability as its MPV sibling.
It is hard to classify this car right now. It is a sort of cross-over, much like Nissan Dualis, Juke and probably like VW CrossPolo. With minimal price difference to its MPV sibling, I wonder if this car will steal the market somewhat from its cousin the Latio. Price for automatic variant is RM82,800 with 3-year of 100,000km warranty. No manual variant is offered at the moment.
*photos credited to Paultan and Arenakereta
*photos credited to Paultan and Arenakereta