Nissan made its intentions quite clear at the launch of its all-new Tiida late last year. It wanted to knock a dent in Toyota’s monopoly over the passenger-car C-segment and, to do that, it would have to attract ordinary people rather than just the fleet owners who traditionally bought the outgoing Almera by the bucket load.
Nissan’s passenger cars have always been superbly reliable, but many were blighted by a lack of personality and, well, a tinny feel that hinted, wrongly, at inferior build quality. We were impressed with the Tiida hatch and sedan at the launch, because the designers obviously went to a lot of trouble to imbue the new car with a quality feel. The doors closed solidly, the interior looked and felt extremely classy, and noise, vibration and harshness levels were impressively low.
While the car isn’t a rocket ship, performance was as good as that of its peers, thanks to the new 1,6- and 1,8-litre aluminium engines that produce 80kW/153Nm and 95kW/175Nm respectively, and ride and handling were excellent. Where the Tiida scored particularly well was in terms of space. Comfort and safety levels were also impressive, making the new Nissan a real contender in its market segment.
I don’t know how far Nissan has succeeded in persuading non-fleet owners to buy Tiidas, but loads of South Africans are coughing up the necessary cash to get them rolling out of dealers’ showrooms, and the Tiida comfortably sells more units than all of the other Nissan passenger vehicles combined.
In the last six months of the Almera’s reign, from February to July last year, 3Â 446 of the outgoing model were sold, at an average of 574 a month.
During the next six months, 6Â 007 of the replacement Tiidas went to new homes, meaning that Nissan was selling ’em at an average of 1Â 001 per month. That’s an increase of almost 75% in a market with more and more quality competitors jostling for position every month. The marketing guys at Nissan must be feeling rather smug right now.
So the question remains: What’s the Tiida like to live with every day?
We’re going to find out over the next six months when we use the 1,6-litre hatch as a normal family car. We’ll take note of any niggling rattles and squeaks, we’ll record any service issues and reliability problems, and we’ll monitor the fuel-consumption in real-world conditions, with the car being driven by three people with different driving styles.
FACT FILE
Model: Nissan Tilda Acenta 1,6-litre five-door hatch
Price: R162 900
Engine: 1,6-litre fuel-injection
Tech: 80kW, 153Nm
Top speed: 190km/h
Tank: 52 litres
Services: 15 000km