1996 Nissan Primera eGT 2.0

Summary:

One of the best handling front wheel drive cars

Faults:

Exhaust gasket between centre section and rear silencer has popped twice.

Radiator now decaying and refusing to pass coolant around the engine when heater flap set to cool.

Driver's seat creaking due to previous owners inability to abstain from cakes.

General Comments:

Don't be fooled by the eGT badge. It is not particularly quick. When you consider that cylinder pressures haven't changed that much over the last 30 years, manufacturers let their cars rev higher to generate BHP. It is a quick and high revving engine. Torque is just a memory from my Subaru days.

The handling is excellent for a front wheel drive car. Yes, it has ridiculously poor traction in the wet, but then so does every other front-drive car on this planet, but has very good anti-dive and anti-squat geometry. Torque steer is well muted too. Passive oversteer is available. Terminal understeer will result in damp conditions if care is not taken in setting the car up for corners. There is very little evidence of body roll. The shell feels taught with only minimal discernable twist when pressing on. Rear suspension geometry exhibits passive steer under roll and can generate come quite improbable cornering loads. Very amusing.

The brakes have excellent bite, the steering good ‘feel’ and the clutch a commendably short travel. The gear change is short too, although it’s possible to outpace the syncromeshes when excited.

The rear suspension is mounted to an empty diff cradle, which brings me to my only real gripe. This car would be perfectly fabulous of Nissan saw to fill that diff cradle and make it rear wheel drive. As it is, the only real shortcomings with it are those pertaining to front wheel drive. This may not unduly concern you, as most people today are unable to feel any difference and base their purchases on the ‘tinsel factor’ whereas I like to giggle when I drive. On reflection, more torque would have ruined it’s handling to engine balance.

The suspension is 'exotic' because it was required for homologation into the BTCC in the mid to late 90's. The later cars that weren't raced have a much simpler (and inferior) affair.

The ride can be a little firm and can jar on rougher roads. If you want “relaxing” then this vehicle isn’t suitable.

Insurance ridiculously expensive (more than my Subaru Legacy Turbo) and quite disproportionate to vehicles performance. This would perhaps indicate the claims made for this car by other drivers and hence the sort of people who buy it.

I’ve fitted an LPG conversion and it works rather well. The spacious boot contains a 100 litre LPG cylinder, giving a range on gas of about 500 miles. On LPG and empty, challenging roads, economy works out about 27 mpg. On petrol, reckon on seeing low 30’s.

Nissan dealer is marvellous. They collect the car from home and return it when done. I’ve used them for about 4 years and would recommend them to anyone.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th June, 2002

6th Jun 2002, 07:19

A refreshingly thorough review. There are a few points/questions that I would like to raise though...

I think the exhaust on the Primera may be a weak spot. What are the symptoms of the exhaust gasket going? Could it be mistaken for a loud sounding engine?

Does anyone else find the steering wheel too big and the rim size too thin? Does the eGT have a smaller steering wheel than other sporting P10 Primera models?

Terminal under-steer in the damp can often happen with rear wheel drive cars. Some of the less sporty "family" models have a setup biased heavily towards under-steer to prevent power over-steer on a damp shopping trip with granny! I find with the Primera that it will over-steer before it runs into the hedge or lamppost. I demonstrated this last winter when I hit a patch of black ice mid turn. I lifted off, cranked in more lock and the back end swung out making it easy to slot through the narrow gap between traffic island and pavement. I went happily on my way. If you keep the power on it probably will keep under-steering - a symptom of front drive.

How noisy is the eGT engine? Is it worse than the standard models?

1996 Nissan Primera LX 1.6

Summary:

Definatly a drivers car!

Faults:

Suspension made a squeaking noise at around 30000 miles, but was fixed easily and took only 5 minutes to repair.

Front fog light blew.

General Comments:

An amazing and highly underrated car, which looks great and drives very well.

For a 1.6 it accelerates away very quickly and have impressed friends with its speed who own much more acclaimed sports cars.

Looks great especially from the front, due to fog lights the car is much lower from the front, which enhances its appeal. This was not present on later models.

Fuel consumption is good and if looked after will continue to run like new.

The handling is a little under steered through high speed corners, but invites you to throw the car about and accelerate hard out of corners.

Very practical car with a huge boot and ample room in the rear.

This car has given me immense pleasure and drives like a dream with very few faults (touch wood) and is good for a family man, businessman and driving enthusiast.

You will love this car, but get one with full service history.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st June, 2002