Nissan Almera is on display at the Star Motor Carnival in Bukit Jalil Stadium to give the chance to the public to see for themselves the car that Tan Chong is going to launch near the end of the year. The display car is fully accessible, in term if feeling the interior spaciousness, admiring the design detail and to familiarize oneself with the controversial exterior outlook.The blunt front snout and the stubby tail are the most "prominent" design features that the buyer need to be overcome. But, as proved by current Toyota Vios and previous generation Honda City, beauty is skin need and can only be appreciated by the rightful beholder instead of millions of internet bashers!
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| The front end of the car, with high and short hood |
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| This is the rear end that is hanging post the wheel, the plunging roof line does not help asthetics |
The specification of the car is very well known already, thanks to the preview last August. In essence, it is a B Segment challenger but with an added panache in terms of dollar per meter square. Dimensionally, Nissan Almera is 4,425mm long, 1,695mm wide and 1,500mm tall. The wheelbase is 2,600mm. This makes it vastly larger that Toyota Vios which is 4,300mm long, 1,700mm wide and 1,460 tall while it rides on a shorter 2,550mm wheelbase. Honda stylish City meanwhile is 4,395mm long, 1,695mm wide and 1,475mm tall while the wheel distance stretched 2,550mm too. This clearly is going to give Almera a trump card in terms of cabin volume. As sampled at the Carnival, both front and rear legroom is massive. The design of the dashboard in front of the passenger is clever too, with recessed glovebox compartment ensuring front passenger knee won't necessitates the front seat to be slide back too much. However, the author found the rear headroom is a bit wanting if one sits straight instead of a more relaxed seating position. Boot space is however, voluminous at 490L.
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| Note the dashboard design on the left, which apart from being storage-friendly, it is also front legroom friendly |
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| All the rear legroom you'll ever want, but headroom is a bit on a tight side |
Equipment level on the premium version will lick Toyota Vios and Honda City. Features such as Intelligent Key with true keyless entry and push start button and auto climate control are really unheard in B Segment before. Nissan is also more elaborate in the instrument panel design, such as the circular climate control panel design, Fine Vision meter binnacle instead of plain back-lighted item, and a chromed interior door handles instead of silver painted item like its rivals.
Nissan Almera is powered by HR15DE 1.5L mill producing 99PS@6,000rpm and 134Nm@4,000rpm. The fuel tank is 41L in size and according to Nissan, it is good for 14.9km/L for the manual version. Speaking about the transmission, 5MT will go along with the 4AT, which is as "modern" as many as its intended challenger in the segment.
Nissan Almera will be officially launched in around November. The indicative price is from RM70k to RM85k. Ordering book is already opened and you can consult your nearest Nissan dealer if the Almera interest you. Some more photos can be found after the jump.
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| Short hood means no need to intricate hood inner panel design, just a stiff surrounding reinforced panel |
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| The engine bay with HR15DE inside |
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| The front end design with plenty of cushion to absorb crash forces |
The interior looks horrible! I suppose this is the base line version since there's no auto climate controls on this one..really poor looking interior...
ReplyDeleteIndeed this is the base version
ReplyDelete