1998 Nissan Terrano II RX 2.7 turbo diesel from Australia and New Zealand
Summary:
A competent 4WD at a good price
Faults:
Battery was unsuitable for the tropics as the acid expanded in the heat and leaked when travelling on rough roads. The damage was repaired under warranty and I have replaced the original battery with a sealed unit.
Front bumper has repeatedly come loose as the side brackets fail after sustained drives on corrugated roads such as in the Kimberley. This is really only an annoyance.
General Comments:
The car offers a reasonable compromise between the needs of a getting in and out of shopping centre car parks and going bush. Offroad it has performed extremely well with excellent rear articulation and torque.
A pity it doesn't have 16 inch wheels to deliver comparable clearance to a Patrol or Land-cruiser, or that it is possible to buy a snorkel off-the-shelf.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 16th May, 2001
31st Jan 2007, 15:39
We bought a new 2.7 diesel Terrano II seven years ago and are still very happy with it. We lived in Darwin bought it to explore the Top End. The shortcomings are the front suspension and the smaller wheels, but despite this its off-road performance betters many much more expensive 4wds. It has good power to weight ratio, torque and rear articulation.
We have had some minor issues with the rough conditions in the Top End - the front bumper mounts failed in the same spot three times on the corrugated roads and were replaced three times under warranty. After the prospect of frustratingly waiting for replacement parts for a fourth time, we opted to have the mounts modified in Kununurra by a welder who identified the design fault and they then gave no further problems. This repair cost only $60! We also had to replace the battery with a sealed unit after the original leaked and paint damage was repaired under warranty.
We cracked the plastic front bumper after hitting a kangaroo and replaced it with an East Coast bull-bar with heavy duty brackets which looks great.
We installed a snorkel to get through the top end rivers. - The snorkel designed for the Ford Courier nicely fits the Terrano II panels with a bit of modification to the air cleaner housing. Both TJM in Darwin and Cairns have done this. We had ours fitted in Darwin about five years ago.
At 105,000kms I had the engine serviced at Berrimah Diesel and they installed an adaptor ring to allow the use of a standard fuel filter instead of the expensive Nissan units. At 110,000 kms it is now blowing some black smoke so I suspect the airflow meter is the issue, but it still has good power and drives well.