Team-BHP - This summer, I'm blessed with a Nissan Sunny XV Diesel. 5 years / 70k km update
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-   -   This summer, I'm blessed with a Nissan Sunny XV Diesel. 5 years / 70k km update (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/150648-summer-im-blessed-nissan-sunny-xv-diesel-5-years-70k-km-update.html)

Background:

This is my 3rd car (2 being pre-loved and 3rd is brand new) in past 3 years in the below order
1) 2007 Honda City ZX vtec (2011~2012)
2) 2009 Fiat Linea MJD Emotion (2012~2014)
3) 2014 Nissan Sunny XVD

My initial hunt for car started with Lancer and I couldn't find a genuine specimen in market. Finally ended up buying a Honda City ZX vtec.

Though the intial consideration of running was very less and the choice of Petrol seemed to be perfect, soon after buying the car we started realising the I made a mistake (monthly running was more than 2.5k km against the assumption of <1000km) Tried the possibility of alternate fuel (LPG) but even then it was not affordable. Around 6 months later sold the car and started the hunt for Diesel car. Again hatchbacks were not in my consideration as I don't have parking issues / city drivability issues. Came across a well maintained Fiat Linea MJD Emotion and without a second thought bought her home.

Linea served me for past 2 years except for a breakdown (alternator failure) last november. Though it is recovered in a couple of days, the incident got stitched in our hearts (myself with wifey and parents standing in the midst of highway on a Saturday late night, around 11:00pm, after completing the day full of driving and roaming, with hunger, tiredness, my god, it's horrible) Soon after returning from that trip parents started pinching me to sell the vehicle and get a new one. I tried convincing them either to retain Linea or if at all we need to get another car, let's go for a D-Segment used car (Cruze / Jetta / Laura) were my consideration. But all that I could do is convince myself for a brand new C-segment car.

Sold the Linea a couple of weeks back.

Search:

Being working in projects for past 5+ years, I knew how the Budget vc Actual gap will be and how the same will be closed. So started the search with a budget of 8~9L and finally fixed 10L as my budget.

One thing I made clear, rear seat comfort is most important than the driving pleasure. Though I will not find a chance to enjoy the rear seats, I give importance to my parents comfort.

Criteria:
- Price <10L (OTR)
- Diesel
- Safety (ABS must, Airbags Optional)
- Rear seat comfort
- Sedan prefered
- No Hatchbacks
- No sub 4m sedans
- No TATA / Hyundai / Maruti (No offense here. Personal choice)

Cars Considered:
- Ford Classic
- Ford EcoSport
- Skoda Rapid
- Volkswagen Vento
- Fiat Linea (Facelift)
- Nissan Sunny / Renault Scala

Out of the above list I loved Duster, but the one with safety features is very well out of my budget and dropped.

1) Ford Classic Titanium
+VFM (<8.5L OTR)
+Proven work horse
+FE 20+kmpl
+Wide spread network
+Balanced ride & handling
-Cramped interiors
-Outdated (may phase out anytime in near future)
Verdict: Rejected

2) Ford EcoSport Trend
+Stylish
+Within budget
+High GC
-Cramped Interiors
-Long waiting period
-Frequent price hikes
Verdict: Rejected

3) Skoda Rapid Ambition Plus
+Solid Build quality
+Torque monster
+Better highway performance
+Premium look interiors
+Gear shift, simply superb
-Skoda After Sales support
-Rear seat comfort is almost same as Linea
Verdict: Considered

4) Volkswagen Vento
+Same as Rapid
+Lot of offers / discounts
-NVH is on the downside compared with Rapid
-Safety features available only on Highline variant
Verdict: Rejected

5) Fiat Linea Dynamic
+Known devil (better than unknown angel)
+MJD Engine
+All Safety features and lots of bells & whistles
+Solid Build
+Balanced ride & Handling
-No offers for facelift Linea
-Doesn't give a New Car feel (though comes with both interior & exterior changes)
-Rear seat comfort
Verdict: Waitlist

6) Nissan Sunny / Renault Scala
+Again a very well know devil
+k9k Engine
+Space, space & space (at rear)
+More discounts
-Driving pleasure (Compared with Linea & Rapid)
-Service network (but I can live with it)
Verdict: Considered (Nissan Badge)

Out of Rapid, Linea & Sunny the Japanese machine won the race.

Reason for selection:
- The main criteria of rear seat comfort is very well satisfied
- Proven Renault k9k engine will keep me smiling for miles together (same as MJD)
- Like it or hate it design, but I'm liking it
- Stating the same comment again, it's a known devil

Variant Selection:

Initial consideration was XL variant (Mid Diesel) which comes with ABS, Airbags, auto AC, etc etc.
But later made the decision to go with XV (XL + alloy wheels + smart key + electrically folding ORVM + etc)

And coming to the color, wife preferred Black and when I said "OK" with conditions apply (she should wash the car everyday) it was dropped

I had 2 choices, Bronze grey / Blade Silver. Almost everyone liked Bronze silver (to avoid the boring silver color as we already had Alto, Wagon-R, Beat in silver)

Booking Experience:

Made booking with Ramani Nissan Tirupur, with below offers
Cash Discount : 25k
Insurance : Free
Accessories : worth 10k

10.47L On-Road (excluding the above benefits) No waiting period.

Processed the loan with SBI and got it approved on 29th April.

PDI & Delivery:

Did PDI on the day of delivery (just before Registration) A couple of days back got the VIN number and verified the vehicle history and found everything is 'OK'.

Reached the dealership on 2nd May 9:30am. Handed them the documents for registration & asked them to wash the vehicle before inspection. 7km on odo and everything was intact.

I was promised that registration will be completed by 2:00pm and vehicle can be delivered by 3:00pm. I had other commitments and said I will take delivery after 4:30. Sales executive was kind enough to deliver the vehicle at my door steps (around 50km away) but I always wanted to take the delivery from dealership only.

I reached around 4:45pm and as promised the vehicle was kept ready (waxing done + flower garlands)
Signed the documents, got all the necessary papers, manual, warranty booklet, etc. Got the keys + sweets

Accessories:

Got mud flaps and floor mat from dealer (few others to be chosen by next week, put together worth of 10k)

On 3rd May taken the vehicle to Sun Enterprises - Coimbatore and following accessories were fitted
1) Seat Covers : Custom made (Color selection by wifey)
2) Full floor mats (PVC)
3) Head lamp upgrade (Philips 100/90W)
4) Hella Black pearl horns
5) Reverse Parking sensor (Torq)

Quality of seat covers were good, but the mistake they have done is I asked them to put steering cover, of same color as the seats and left out for lunch. And what they have done is made a custom steering cover of same material from seat covers.

This looks a bit odd and imperfect. Will get them changed ASAP.

Ownership review:
Adding few points after few hundred km of ownership. Lot more to come in near future.

Likes:

- New car feel
Hope everybody here will agree on this point. After driving used cars for past 3 years the moment I sat inside Sunny new car smell, clean & untouched interiors, covered seats Couldn't express the feeling. Last time I experienced this feel was around 10 years back when we got Wagon-R in 2005(later days I was away from home when we purchased other cars)

- Features
Sunny comes loaded with features (ABS, Air bags, i-key, power folding mirrors, rear blower) i-key was something I loved without any reasons. It took a long way for me to reach i-key (Converted normal key to Flip Key in City, used Flip key in Linea, and now graduated to i-key / smart key) And the power folding mirrors which I hardly used in our Civic and in Sunny too (individual house parking with ample space, and office parking is also not cramped. Used to fold the mirrors only in malls / cramped areas, one in a while)

- Space, space & space at the rear
No competition on this subject (from same segment) From the other cars I had in past, rear space is in the order Linea < City < Sunny.

Immediately after getting into the car, reaction from my Mom was "wow, this is what I expected". Traveled few hundred km on the rear bench and she never complained about the space (of course none could complain for the kind of space available with Sunny)

- Excellent City drive-ability
After driving Civic & Linea, I feel Sunny is more easy to handle in city traffic. Be it the low end torque or the steering effort, Sunny will never let you down. There is negligible turbo lag when compared with Linea (I'm comparing with 60k ran MJD) and has got sufficient torque to pull the vehicle in 2nd gear even in B2B traffic.

- Practical Driving Position
Couldn't comment much here, but I feel the driving position / posture is very much practical (for both city & highway driving) Driver seat height adjustment and sliding has got a good range. But one thing I noticed is in my earlier rides for my driving position my head is almost inline with B-Pillars and in Sunny it is ahead of B-Pillars (may be the entire driving posture is shifted towards front to provide ample rear space)

- Interior quality
I feel the interior quality is better than Linea and they are soft (or may be because of brand new car) Linea door pads and dash were bit hard when compared with Sunny. Though I like the interiors I'm afraid it may attract dirt / stains much easier than the dark interiors of Linea. I wish Sunny had dual tone interiors.

Dislikes:

- Braking
This is something which needs a lot of improvement in Sunny (there is a considerable improvement w.r.t initial batch of Sunnys, but definitely not upto the mark / at-par with the competitors) For sure the stopping distance is almost same as competitors, but the level of confidence on brakes until the vehicle halts is a big question mark (any suggestion for improvement?)

- Poor Fog lamps
Fog lamps were just for show-off, they fail to do the job what they are meant for. In Linea I used drive with Fog lamps in B2B traffic (that is more than sufficient) but in case of Sunny, the illumination from Fog lamps is little more than the parking light. And the light throw / spread is very limited (say less than 2m) Thinking of upgrading the bulbs (need suggestion)

- Front door armrest
They were placed oddly (bit lower side) To hold the steering wheel in proper position one should always lift the hand from armrest. I got used to the driving style of keeping both the hands in arm rests (in Linea) and now I'm missing it badly. For city driving it doesn't matter but for highway & long drives it definitely matters a lot.

- Poor Under thigh support (Rear seats)
Sunny is quite popular for the rear space, but the thigh support is poor (though with stretched legs there is a better support, but can't keep the legs stretched every time) Haven't traveled long in the rear bench of Sunny, may be I can add more comments once I get change to be there in rear seats for a long drive.

- Narrow Front seats
My bad, whenever I change my car my front seats are growing narrow (seat width comparison: Civic (Bro's car) > City > Linea > Sunny) Seat cover maker suggested to increase the seat width but I denied (to retain the stock looks) I have seen few of their products (Alto & i-10 seats width being increased) and quite impressed with the quality of work. Mind wanted to go with it and heart said no. Finally the heart won.

- Uneven panel gaps
Known fact, should I comment something? Thank god the bonnet panel gaps were maintained in such a way that my fingers don't get inside.

- Small Glove box
Glove box is too small (it can't accommodate my camera) haven't tried placing the owner's manual inside, but I suspect it can't be. In Linea I used to keep my camera (Nikon P500) + User manual + mobile charger + mobile holder + spare bulbs + CD pouch + pouch of wet tissue. Even after dropping all these items it will be still left with some space for chocolates.

- No Dead Pedal
Looking to add a dead pedal soon (may be DIY) Suggestions are welcome.

- No Bottle holder at Rear
Front door pads come with bottle holder (but hardly can hold a half liter bottle) rear doesn't have one. We are left with only 2 cup holder in the center arm rest and the same can't be utilized when 3 occupy the rear bench.
Thought of placing the water bottles under the front seat, but in past had a worst experience with Wagon-R, water bottle were left under the front seat and while braking they rolled and came beneath the pedals. Will do that never again. Should think of an alternative.

Neutral:

- Build Quality
Sunny is neither solid build nor flimsy. For a comparison, driving at 60kmph and a bus crosses at 100+ kmph (regular cruising speed for Volvos)
1) In Honda City I could feel a big shake
2) Linea will glide without any impact
3) Sunny shakes little, something between Linea & City

- Engine performance
This is something at par with my earlier ride. Both the power & torque figures of Sunny are little less than Linea, but not much different.

- Boot space
Both my earlier rides and Sunny has boot space around 500L. Never faced space issue in any of my earlier cars even during a 10 day outing. And in sunny I came with 1 big size travel bag, 2 medium size travel bags, 2 laptop bags, around 20 coconuts and even after this I'm left with little space. Only negative point I see is Sunny's boot lid inner side is left without any covering (whereas Linea had a proper and durable cover on the inner side) exposing the boot lock cables and wires.

- Air Conditioner
No comments, almost no difference

-Stock HU
It does the job pretty well for average volume. Definitely better than Linea's stock speakers. At high volumes & bass they start cracking. Myself and better half weren't interested in boom-boom effects, so no thought of upgrading the stock speakers / adding Sub + woofers. Absence of USB is something which none will expect in a car of this segment. Audio clarity with AUX is more than average (but not at-par with CD, will give a try with other AUX cable)

Wishlist: (or the missed list)

- Stiffer Suspension
Sunny's suspension doesn't deserve any serious complains, but a little stiffer suspension is expected to handle much better.

Even with the current suspension setup Sunny will never let you down. It is very much balanced for City & highway driving but extra care to be taken during high speed cornering. The amount of body roll is on the higher side when compared with Linea.

- HU with USB
Couldn't understand the logic behind this. How much will it cost for the OEMs to provide USB option in HU? Or do we customers deny paying the additional amount for it? (atleast this is taken care in Sunny facelift along with bluetooth connectivity) I sorely miss this feature. It was in the wishlist for a long time but unfortunately none of my cars had one.

- Better Interiors
Current interiors in Sunny is not much appealing. Looks like a cup of vanilla. Dual tone interiors will look better than the current one. Facelift sunny has got better interiors (atleast in terms of dual tone) But regarding the AC buttons, I prefer / love the current ones (in silver color) than the facelift Sunny (with glossy black)

- Better MID
MID throws all necessary information (odo, DTE, instant fuel consumption, Trip A&B, average consumption) but you can't have 2 at a time
I got used to Linea's MID with Odo (displaying always) and instant consumption. Also the toggle switch is placed oddly, need to stretch the hands inside the steering wheel to access the toggle switch.

- Extended horn pad
Err, need to stretch the thumb to reach horn pad (though City & Civic had similar layout they were bit easy to operate compared with Sunny)

- Front center armrest
Once we get used to this feature, we always get addicted. And when we don't get it, we miss it badly and desperately in need of one
Fellow members, please help me with getting front center armrest. Universal armrests can't me used in Sunny (tried & they foul with the rear blower intake)

- "Thud" feel from doors
'Thud' from doors always leave a smile in my face and I'm missing it now. Doors weren't flimsy to complain, but definitely not heavier like Italian / European counter parts.

- Wider Tires
Again the mind compares with Linea (195/60R15 vs 185/65R15)
I agree the difference is very much less than 10% in width, but that makes a considerable impact on braking & acceleration (ofcourse with negative impact on FE & Steering effort)

- Rear AC
AC + Blower combo is always in my wishlist. Blower does the job only when the cabin is cool, otherwise it's a hot blower. After parking the car in afternoons (even under shade) the hot air from blower can be used as hair drier. Jokes apart, to be crisp it is wise to use the blower only when the cabin is cooled sufficiently.

- Illuminated Vanity mirror
I don't have any complaints and I hardly used this feature in my earlier rides. But the moment wifey noticed that vanity mirrors weren't illuminated, she said "Italians are more concerned towards women drivers / passengers and Japanese were keen only on cost cutting" And she added that I must retro-fit the illuminated vanity mirrors in Sunny

- Cooled Glove Box
Not a vital requirement, but definitely in the wishlist for long time. Wifey used to get me chocolates when ever she go out for shopping and most of the time we return home with melted chocolates (thanks to our climate) We always used to say, our next car should have cooled glove box (but didn't happen with sunny, hopping to have atleast in the next car)

Fuel Efficiency:
Covered 633km (80:20 highway / city) and I managed to get 22.6kmpl (MID value, will update the actual FE after the next tank fill)

Restricting less than 2.5k rpm for the run-in period.

Will keep this thread updated with more reviews after testing the machine under high speeds for handling, braking & FE.

Attaching few snaps. Lot more the come soon.

Cheers.

Let me be the first to congratulate you. The Sunny will serve your requirements well. And would reduce your running costs.

Nice pics. And nice perfume in a new car.

Congratulations on the car mate!!! look no where else when rear space is a priority with decent driving dynamics other than Sunny. It can be your personal stretched Limo, beating even the Indigo XL for space and comfort. Yes you may initially miss the crisp handling of Linea. But then, over a period of time, I am sure you will easily adjust to the dynamics of your new machine.

congrats once again, drive safe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gemi_kk (Post 3427317)
Let me be the first to congratulate you. The Sunny will serve your requirements well. And would reduce your running costs.

Nice pics. And nice perfume in a new car.

Thanks dude.
Forgot to mention about the perfume. It's a pretty gift from wifey. This is one of my favorite perfume but never used in past 3 years. By coincidence wife gifted me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sawnilrules (Post 3427327)
Congratulations on the car mate!!! look no where else when rear space is a priority with decent driving dynamics other than Sunny. It can be your personal stretched Limo, beating even the Indigo XL for space and comfort. Yes you may initially miss the crisp handling of Linea. But then, over a period of time, I am sure you will easily adjust to the dynamics of your new machine.

Thanks man. Just in few hundred km of driving, got used to the dynamics and started loving it already.

Hi Boss, Congrats for the new car. This car is really spacious and very comfortable for the passengers sitting on the rear seats. The color choice is also good and you have captured the significant details of the car with great effort.

Wishing you a great journey ahead. God Bless the car with a long and joyful life ahead.

Thanks

AD

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss (Post 3427313)
Audio clarity with AUX is more than average (but not at-par with CD, will give a try with other AUX cable)

Tried another Aux cable and the audio clarity improved significantly:)
Pretty happy now.

Covered 750km and I feel city drive-ability of Sunny is better than Linea.

Congratulations Boss :D

My friend bought a petrol Sunny a few months back. Space at the back is amazing.

Wishing you a great ownership experience :)

Wonderful car..nice colour.

Sorry.. but is that a dent in the rear bumper towards the right or it my eyes playing with me?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDIS (Post 3429448)
Congratulations Boss :D

My friend bought a petrol Sunny a few months back. Space at the back is amazing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorqMaster (Post 3429458)
Wonderful car..nice colour.

Thank you guys :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorqMaster (Post 3429458)
Sorry.. but is that a dent in the rear bumper towards the right or it my eyes playing with me?

That's actually the reflection.

Congraaaaaats on owning the Caaaaar. :)
Indeed a very well decided purchase. A perfect family sedan within budget.

Do keep us posted with more pics of the caaaar. Also please keep sharing the service experiences. :thumbs up

Wish you happy motoring !!!

Congrats on the Car, which is the grand daddy of them all in terms of space. I have been driving one (XLD) since the past two years and it was been a wonderful experience. Yes, the brakes take some time getting used to but they do their job perfectly.

Just one question, are you able to use the steering mounted controls while playing music through an Aux cable.

Update on the ride: Covered 780km
Did a tank fill today and see what am I blessed with,

This summer, I'm blessed with a Nissan Sunny XV Diesel. 5 years / 70k km update-fe.jpg

This summer, I'm blessed with a Nissan Sunny XV Diesel. 5 years / 70k km update-img_2723.jpg

Distance covered: 686.6 km (25:75 City / Highway driving)
Fuel Consumed : 32.75 liters
FE (MID) : 22.4 kmpl
FE (Actual) : 20.97 kmpl clap:

Around 7% difference between MID value and Tank fill to tank fill method.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss (Post 3429773)
Update on the ride: Covered 780km
Did a tank fill today and see what am I blessed with,

Distance covered: 686.6 km (25:75 City / Highway driving)
Fuel Consumed : 32.75 liters
FE (MID) : 22.4 kmpl
FE (Actual) : 20.97 kmpl clap:

Around 7% difference between MID value and Tank fill to tank fill method.

Congrats mate for your brand new Sunny. A no non-sense car. One of my friends has this car for around 2 yrs now & is extremely happy with it. The FE, lesser turbo lag, rear space etc are real positives. 7% error seems to be a standard as I also get the same error in my car. Being a Jap, it should be very reliable. Face lift of Sunny is coming soon. Hope you have evaluated the facelift & about any tangible upgrades in it.

Keep enjoying her & do keep us updated.

Congratulations Mr. Boss

Nice and crisp review. The seat covers colour combination, fit and finish is really nice.

Last couple of pictures have come out very good :thumbs up

Saw Philips 100/90 H4 bulbs along with relay kit in one of the picture, were they instant update after delivery or stock light was so bad that you had upgrade the bulbs ?
I am sure the wiring must have been done professionally to avoid any warranty issues in future.

I am sure your driving skills must be equally good to extract impressive FE for a new vehicle

If you are chauffeur driven at the back seat you will definitely feel like Boss :D

Enjoy your ride, Drive safe.


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