Nothing has gone wrong with this brand new car, however small niggles to note are that the interior door handles feel a little loose. Meaning they have a bit of free play when you pull it to close the doors.
There is also apparent NVH at 3000rpm that can be felt through the accelerator pedal. (However it is more apparent on older 2005 models)
This review applies to the 2006 Nissan Tiida (Japan Market) / Nissan Latio Sport LSR (Singapore Market) 1.5 with CVT.
Exterior: the car is generally well made and well designed. The paintwork is of good quality and the car was delivered with zero faults. The stock 185/65/15 allow wheels (local fitment) look a little silly in my books as they appear small and recessed.
Interior: Covered in half leather and Alcantara, passengers sit tall in the car and the interior appointments are rather plush. The driver's seat is height adjustable (manual), and very big and cosetting. Personally, I have a problem with them as I find the under-thigh support far too high (non adjustable). This causes my right under thigh to cramp up and hurt. In conversation with other Latio/Tiida owners, I seem to be alone in this.
There is PLENTY PLENTY of space. Perhaps even more legroom in the rear than a Cefiro. My rear seat passengers tend to fall asleep. It's that good. Plenty of little storage areas and lights to illuminate (colour of reading lamps a bit off). The car came with standard 6 speakers and a Kenwood 2DIN set (local fitment). The car is also very quiet. This I am told is due to the thicker glass, and double sealing on the doors and double flooring.
Engine: this is a real gem of an engine. I'm getting similar fuel economy as my previous K11 March. As this car uses a CVT transmission, it is very smooth and quite responsive. However, a concession has to made that CVT's tend to take a second longer to spool up. Thus it does not have the immediacy of a down-shift in a regular auto or manual transmission.
As stated earlier, there is a defined NVH at 3000rpm. It's fine at highway speeds as you will feel it less, but slower city driving, it is more felt.
The CVT transmission is great on the highway, and unlike other transmission boxes I can think of, you will find that the gearbox intelligence will allow you to drive the car flat out with only a slight depression of the accelerator pedal.
Handling: The car rides a little hard and corners quite flat. On stock tyres, the handling is not bad for fast roads, but there are limitations to those Toyo's. There is also a feeling of disconnect with the tyres, and this matter has been addressed. The car's steering tendency is quite neutral when pushed around corners at speed. It brakes well (even though the brakes look very very small).
Enhancements: So far I've swapped the Toyo's 185/65/15 for Continental Premium Contact 2 tyres 195/65/15. The ambient noise has increased, but with a slightly wider contact area, there is much more road feel, much more confidence in the handling of the car. I think demanding drivers would definitely need a tyre upgrade. My tyre choice has also swelled the sidewall for more comfort. I understand that my tyre selection is not common as most would opt for lower profile 205 or 225 tyres, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice ride comfort and acceleration for road handling.
I'll be coming back here and updating you on my new acquisition. Hopefully it will be as good as my previous car. http://www.carsurvey.org/review_23915.html
Very nice comment, thank you.
Please tell us more about the engine power, and suspension on bad roads!..Tarek.
Thank you for your elaborative comments on the tiida. Its truly proven useful for car buyers considering a tiida/latio or any other similar cars in the range.
I hope you find more motoring joy with your new latio, as you have with your previous march. Happy trails...
Very nice comments. I am pleased you like your Nissan Tiida. I have just bought one myself, having traded out of a 2002 Mazda 323 Astina for it.
Looked at everything from used Audi, Beemers, Mercedes, Saab and Volvo for similar dollars, but realised that with cars like that it would be anywhere between 7 and 12 years of age.
Volkswagen Polo's, Ford Focus, Honda Jazz and all of the Koreans in the market and even considered getting another Mazda in the form of the 2, but when I saw it, I was so put off by the styling.
Finally decided on the Tiida after a couple of drives and very happy with it. OK, it is a bit of a girls car, but I do not care. For my job and the size of my home, I can live with it.
Here's an update on the Singapore Latio / Tiida. The car is now pushing 9000 km and things are moving along rather well. I'll break up my comments into catergoies.
PERFORMANCE: The car is opening up quite a bit and proving to be quite zippy, abeit in a quiet stealthy sort of way. Let me explain. I took a drive in a 2003 Opel Astra 1.6 lately and thought to myself, "wow this car is quite powerful". However a quick traffic light drag race later and the Latio proved to be the better car! Its really in the manner that the Latio delivers the power that gives you the illusion that its not that powerful... but it is. There is still issues with the fact that starting off does not feel that brisk, but the car really comes into her own on the road.
NOISE VIBRATION HARSHNESS: I'll have to clarify about my previous comments about the 3000rpm NVH... you'll have to forgive me, but the car is VERY VERY QUIET and there seems to be this point in the rev range at 2900rpm when the engine 'awakes'. Now when I say awakes, think of awakes to regular car decible levels. so though it does wake up at 3000rpm, its still at very very tolerable levels.
HANDLING: Driven smart, the car has very predictable handling, very typical initial understeer with hints of oversteer on mid corner liftoff. No complaints there. She still stops really really well. (on the better tyres of course) and I have found that ABS is not usually summoned.
ECONOMY: So far if I behave myself I am averaging real world 12 km / l. That's with 80% highway driving at 90km/h some stand still traffic and some full throttle overtaking. The worse it has gone is 9.8 km/l when I was in Go-Kart mode.
COMFORT: For friends that know me, you'll know of my 'fight' with the drivers seat. Yes friends... where the rest of the world finds this car seat fine, it is absolutely driving me CRAZY! This is whats happening. Apart from a perfect everything else, the car seat seems to be not quite right. It will sink your bum low and lift your knees up high. this coupled to a highish seat height and a steering wheel that feels just a bit to far away causes my thighs to hurt. So far in no matter what seat position I put the chair in, there will always be a muscle group that hurts. I've not elaborated much about this in my previous posting as I wanted to be fair about the car. I guess fair advise to potential buyers. Take a really long test drive and make sure you feel right about it. The car is absolutely perfect if not for this one issue of me vs. the car seat.
NIGGLES: The rear parcel shelf is annoying me a little. I have been hauling stuff lately and it's a chore to put on and off. Its not a big problem. It's a really small thing, but I am thinking of leaving the shelf at home. Also a little clunk-clunk sound has surfaced when I turn the steering full left (or was it right) nothing alarming and probably just mechanical noise.
SO FAR: Apart from the 'Seat War' i'd recommend this car. Much more refined than a Jazz/Fit 1.3 and swifter than a Swift 1.5.
Thanks for the comments so far. I'd like to know if there is anyone waging their own 'seat war' of their own too.
These comments are for the poster of this message:
"...Please tell us more about the engine power, and suspension on bad roads!..Tarek..."
Engine Power: It really is quite fast. Delivery is very very smooth and because the car is so well insulated from the road noise, the power of the car is not very apparent. As stated earlier, the initial take off from the traffic lights are not as fast as I would like it to be, but decent enough for a 1.5 litre engine.
Suspension: Driving on cobbled roads (like you find in some carparks and all over the old part of Malacca, the car with my tyre upgrade is excellent. Having compared it to a Mitsubishi Colt and Honda Jazz on stock tyres, I can assure you that the Tiida is miles and miles above in comfort and noise on this type of surface. On bad and undulated roads, the car handles fair. Its not magic carpet, you do get bounced around a bit, but not very much, this I suspect is helped due to a longish wheelbase of the car. So while its not quite Citroen territory, it is very very acceptable and expected for this type of car/ car class.
The Tiida of this main article is now pushing 10,000km everything is still running smoothly... oh hang on, some things I have found. The car occasionally drops the RPM during idle to around 600rpm. this causes very very mild vibration through the car. Please note, this is very very very slight and only the most sensitive would notice it.
Will update you soon... and yes... seat fight still on...
Good luck with your seat war! Personally, I've always found the seats in most Japanese cars on the high side, as compared with the German makes. Sorry to hear that its afflicting muscular pain! Surely hope you'd find a cure to pain you're up against...
Thanks for the insightful information and wonderful comments. Regret to hear about the situation with car seat.
Would like to know if anyone can advise on the significant differences [in terms of drive-ability (handling), fuel consumption and other issues etc] between CVT and 4AT model.
On paper, both 4AT & CVT engines are identical.
Appreciate further comments on this topic where applicable.
Thanks & Cheers!
Potential Latio soon to be owner.
Thanks for all the well wishes. The seat war is still waging and the victor is not in sight. :)
Back to the previous comment, I think the CVT is well worth it. It potentially uses the engine more effectively, particularly on the move. Agreeably it may not take off as quickly as a 4AT, but when the 4AT changes to second and third gear, the CVT will begin to shine. Additionally if you are referring to the Singapore market, then the better specified Sedan Premium is much nicer. The centre arm rest is a good addition and leather seats are very nice in feel. I'm not a big fan of the Alcantra. It feels nice, but I don't like it when your clothes cling to it.
If you live in Singapore, you may want to consider a used Latio. You could save a bit if you are on a tight budget. Cheers.
Sorry for your problem with your driver seat. I think you caught a real drawback with this car. This is a part of a review which comments on your problem (the thickly padded driver's seat forces the seat-height adjustment ratchet on to the left-hand side, which could be mistaken for the handbrake. The seat lacks comfort over a long (say, two-hour) tour, highlighting the absence of lumbar adjustment. And the footwell is too shallow to make the footrest a convenient item).
I am not glad to say that I started to think about buying another car for my dad because of this problem. He owns Skoda Fabia 1.4A/T which is a good car, but lacks comfort completely in seats. at first glance when you look at the driver & passenger seats you get the feeling that these seats are not designed for a normal human :p, you must have a flexible back shape :).
Finally I think you can start thinking about replacing the front seats my friend as changing the material itself could help even a little bit relieving your pain.
I've finally figured out whats bugging me with the rear parcel shelf. Its simply too narrow. See as part of the ingenious and comfort oriented design of the car, the rear seats are able to move fore and aft and recline quite a bit as well. So the reality of this is that the rear parcel shelf of my hatch back has actually got to be quite narrow to accommodate all this seat movement (for the betterment of the rear seat passengers of course) Anyway, the shelf becomes an issue as tilting it up to allow you to put in slightly bulkier things like large shopping bags and the like does not make the boot aperture significantly bigger. With regular shopping bags you're OK. with slightly larger bags, tilting the shelf up is not going to work. You'll actually need to remove the shelf altogether. that means take it off its hinges, put your stuff in and then replace the parcel shelf. Because quite honestly, I don't remember taking the parcel shelf off as often in my previous Nissan March. That's it for now... to be continued.
I am a fellow Latio owner at approx 3300KM, I also hear a clunk sound when turning both left and right, not necessarily all the way, in fact, at about a quarter turn, the single clunk would happen.
It's a single clunk sound, not a constant creaking sound when turning.
I noticed it since about 2000KM.
I wonder if its the steering rack, or perhaps the locally fitted rims were not screwed on properly.??
I've experienced loose fitted wheels before and if memory serves me right, there would be some kind of rhythmic clunking in a straight line as you drive... particularly at medium speeds of 60 km/h. I suspect this is a mechanical noise from the steering system. at 12000km it does not appear to get worse so I am assuming it to be safe and 'part of the design'. I mean there are a lot of little joints and moving parts in the steering / suspension system. Perhaps a check with Tan Chong at your 5000km service.
Hello all.. its me again with the final installment of this Singapore Tiida /Latio. The war is over. I repeat the war is over. The car is sold. I've had enough with achy-breaky legs. It's a real shame because the car has so many merits. I'm car-less now and will not be for too long. Feel free to drop me questions about my experiences. I'll be happy to answer.
You can read about my previous car
1998 Nissan March / Micra
http://www.carsurvey.org/review_23915.html.
Or the car I drive while on holiday
Chevrolet Venture
http://www.carsurvey.org/review_61465.html.
Hello All.
First, thanks for the information from the forum.
I'm planning to buy a Tiida hatchback 1.5L soon.
Please send me all positive and negative experience you got or know about this car.
I have read about clunk, legs problem, etc.
So tell me all that will help me to decide before buying this car.
With Thanks from Niky.