2004 Nissan Tino SE from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing so far other than a punctured tire.

Well what can I say it is an average car nothing else. The build quality is questionable, the leather seats are already starting to wear away quite badly and you can tell how cheap and nasty the plastics are as some of the stuck on trim is starting to come away. This is not good on a car which is just over 2 years old and has only done 26,000 miles. Our old Renault Scenic was 5 years old with 61,000 miles on the Clock and the Trim was still in good condition no bits coming away and felt better quality.

Although there are a couple of good things about it such as the good equipment levels you get such as Alloys, Fog lights, CD, Digital climate control, Rear View camera, leather, sunroof and full electric windows. But you can tell that this car was made on the very cheap. All the Plastics feel hard and very cheap and even though it has all of the equipment it all feels cheap. The Scenic felt Better built and the Build quality felt better. I will say this is not my car it is my mum's and I do drive it.

The Handling on the Tino though is a lot better than on the Scenic because it grips the road more and it doesn't wallow in the corners and the suspension set up is stiffer so you can drive faster in the corners.

The performance is OK nothing special, but I think Nissan must have been having a laugh with the poor 114 HP output of the 1.8i 16v engine where most manufacturers have at least 10-15 HP more. 0-60 Nissan quote at 12.4 but is more like 11 Secs you put your foot down in 3rd and it can go. But apart from that it struggles to pull the 1320 KG bulk. Overall the old 1.6i 16v Scenic felt faster. It is one of the Slowest 1.8's on the road.

The fuel economy is awful 27 MPG around town the old Scenic got 34.5 MPG and it does a bare 31 MPG on the motorway the Scenic could hit 40 MPG at 70 mph.

So would I recommend the Tino to anyone? Depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for cheap, reliable family transport then I would say yes, but anything other than that then no. Buy yourself an older Renault Scenic on about an 03 plate they look much nicer and are quicker and more economical. I don't know what the 2.2 DCi 136 would be like, but I wouldn't want to spend that kind of money on the Tino. Not to mention it looks ugly too. Nissan produce some great performance cars, but when it comes to normal cars they leave a lot to be desired. Reliable yes they are, but they are built on the cheap. They have now stopped making the Tino now. Personally I think my mum has wasted her money on this car she should have bought a new Scenic or C-MAX not to mention they look better, but the interior quality is far better. She does like the car, but I think she regrets buying it now.

Overall it is a well equipped car for what it is, but it feels so cheap and the plastic looks nasty. It is a worrying sign that the interior is starting to wear away at this young age.

I am a mechanic so I drive a lot of cars I believe I have a good position to comment on this. I do not know what you look for in cars, but I have to strongly disagree with you. We actually own a black 55-plate Tino, our model is a SE extras which gives it leather and alacantra suede seats which are also in the great skyline GTR. Other things that are on it are 17'' alloys, Climate control, electric sunroof, front fog lamps, centre console display, rear mounted camera, Passenger air bag, trip computer and many more accessories and trim. As for looks I am yet to see a better looking MPV apart from the Mazda and the Mitsubishi, it has sleek lines and an aggressively styled front end. As for the ford and the Renault they are not even in the same league. I won't even go into the alloys and how good they look against the black pearl paint. You also mentioned about the interior build quality, I will give it to you that the leather does wear, but so does the leather on all cars. As the plastics go unless you travel daily in a Rolls there is nothing to complain about.

All in all one of the best looking, driving and satisfying buys around.