Monday, December 20, 2010

5 things I do not like about the Nissan Grand Livina (1.8L review)

The Nissan Grand Livina - a mini MPV that - according to Nissan Malaysia, "Drives like a sedan, fits like an MPV".  I agree that the car was easy to drive around, and the ride comfort is excellent.  Being seated in the car on the front passenger seat does not remind of my experience in a bigger MPV like the Toyota Innova, which was similar to being in a van as I could feel my seat sway left and right when travelling 90km/h on a straight line.






The Nissan Grand Livina







The Nissan Grand Livina




But the Grand Livina does have many things, mostly in the car interior, that I feel Nissan could have easily adjust to improve and make the cusomters happy. Here I list the 10 things I disklike about the Nissan Grand Livina.





1) The primitive audio System

The moment I sat in the car, I can immediately see the very dull-looking audio system.  The buttons are big but they only serve a single function at all time.  This Clarion does not play any MP3, WMA, or USB contents.  And it does not have any AUX input.  The speakers, however, are pretty nice with enough clarity to listen to.




Simple audio system with a single Audio CD player and radio (No MP3, No USB)


2) The noisy air-conditioning system

There are 4 speeds available on the air-conditioner.  The lowest speed is quiet, but I can hardly feel the wind even when seated on either the driver or the front passenger seat.  The middle aircond vents take some getting used to to adjust and you really need to fine-tune it carefully to direct the wind.  On a cool day, this level is sometimes nice.  On a hot day, at least a level 2 is needed to make the cabin more comfortable.  Level 2 gives you stronger wind, however, it also creates more noises in the cabin.  Level 3 or 4 shoud only be used for a short period when you just want to 'turbo' the fan in response to passengers complaints.

Oh and note that there are only 3 positions in the air cond flow paths on the knob (compared with 5 positions normally).

What, only 3 positiosn on the direction control?  Even a MyVi has 5.  Note that the windscreen vent is not available
That's right. No holes on the 'vent' under the windscreen

3) The irritating safety seat belt

I was so disappointed to realize that the seat belt on the front seats cannot be height-adjustable!  I think such design only exists in the 1980's, when I saw often during my taxi rides in an old Nissan Sunny.

So the problem with this is that the belt does make me feel very uncomfortable.  The belt rubs against my neck and shoulder too often during ride, causing irritating skin rashes.  I had to use a belt clip to loosen it but doing this will reduce the effectiveness of a safety belt.



Non-height adujustable seat belt!  This will be first in my not-to-buy checklist when shopping for cars in the future


4) Narrow opening angle of the back doors

Being an MPV, I think the back doors should open wider.  A wide-opening door (like what the MyVI has, or the new Honda City) not only gives enough space for people to move in/out quickly, but it also makes loading cargoes through the doors an easier feat.

This is as wide as it can open

5) Lack of convenient storages for the driver

The car has 1 glove box too deep for the driver, one covered storage (on a 1.8l model) under the cockpit, one door pocket, one small storage on the door which also serves as a door handle, one center storage placed with the hand brake.

Where are the cup holders?  They are combined with the covered storage under the cockpit.  If you have a water bottle, you lose your storage to store small notes, sunglasses, receipts, ...

The glove box is deep, and its door cover has a strange design where there are openings on both side where the hinges are.  Small items will drop off, or get in the way between the hinges to close the door.




The covered storage. Looks OK so far









A cup holder and an ashtray





The cup holder tray with the ashtray can be removed, which gives you more space.  But you'll lost cup holder on the front
The cup holder tray with the removable ashtray



Deep glove box.  Openings on the sides for items to fall off


The center storage where the hand brake is








Driver side door pocket and door handle/storage.  A Touch N Go Smart Tag will most likely be stored here


Door pocket on the back door.  Narrow - enough to fit small thin items only

Price of this car: RM 97,300 OTR
I have more to complain but I'll leave this for now.  Until next time.  Do drive safely!

2 comments:

Jmdaya said...

I have a 1.8 2009 Livina. So far I had to replace the top engine mounting (RM600+), and now the service centre is recommending lower engine mounting.

Anonymous said...

I need to fix suspension on this car and is really difficult to find the parts like crossmember Bush.