New to the site and need some help! We are in the market for a new car and have narrowed the field down to three choices, one of which is an X-Trail 2.2 dCi Columbia.
We had a test drive today and all seemed fine, however dilemma is this.....
A good friend has owned 2 and swears by them, but we've read various reviews and forums and are starting to become a bit worried by the "juddering problem", the "turbo problem", "poor fuel consumption" and "poor after-sales service".
Question is.....
DO WE BUY OR STEER WELL CLEAR????
Is there anyone out there with anything positive to say.
I had "the juddering problem" but don't get it too out of proportion. It amounted to an occasional hiccup at 2200 rpm. So slight that according to the service manager at my dealer most customers have never even noticed. May have been that some were more affected than others. In any case all it needed was a tweaking of the ecu settings.
Apart from that my car has been faultless and I'm not easy to please. Two others in my extended family have the X-trail and their experience has been the same. I noticed in a copy of 'Which' I glanced at that 86% of owners would recommend to a friend which was the highest level I could find for any car. Higher than the Honda C-RV or the RAV4 and for the Freelander it was 46%.
What was bad was that it was something that a lot of customers found irritating yet Nissan took months to fix it and their UK office gave the impression they didn't much care. X-trails are expected to be reliable and they didn't seem to cotton on that when customers buy one they expect it to be perfect. They gave those that asked a small amount of compensation but was irritating nonetheless.
If you go to any brand-specific forums like this you'll usually find two things: lots of owners saying it's the best car ever made and lots of people with problems who have registered for that reason. Neither give an accurate picture. I first looked here because of the misfire problem but there are problems with all makes. The other forums I look at are for BMW. There you'll find lots there worried about the turbos blowing up and suspension problems after fitting new tyres. A few years ago they had the Nikasil cylinder liner problem which meant engines had to be replaced.
For aftersales service the important bit is to buy from a decent dealer and you could buy an extended warranty for a few hundred if you felt you needed it. I've only had mine 5 months, so far faultless apart from the ecu hiccup, may be able to be more critical in a year or so.
Basically, the X trail is a good package ... I've had an Aventura 2.2dci from new since March '06 and it's generally been ok. It's a great motorway cruiser and very nippy, with very good handling. The Aventura's leather interior is very comfy and welcoming, with a well built "feel" to it. Passengers like it and it's got a decent sized and well shaped load area.
Engine juddering does occur, but it's not a major issue. Rattling from the dash in colder weather (passenger airbag hatch, I think) is an irritant, but no more than that and a "sloppy" handbrake is liveable with as long as one remembers it when parking on an incline! All of these issues should be reasonably straightforward to remedy when the car goes into the dealer for ECU tweak.
Which brings me to my major gripe. The attitude of Nissan UK and their local dealer in getting the ECU issue resolved has been lamentable. Poor communication has really dented my faith in Nissan and, worse for them, has knocked my belief in their (otherwise very good) product. However, I should point out that I received even worse customer service from VW when I bought a brand new Polo a few years ago and it borke down 30 mins after I took delivery!
Would I buy an X Trail today, if I was starting from scratch? 0% finance was / is a big attraction, certainly, but in product terms the competition has really "hotted-up" in the last 6 months. Putting the finance issue aside, I'd probably spend my money on the new Hyundai Santa Fe, or wait and take a look at the new Honda CRV. I see that Mazda and VW are about to launch compact 4x4s as well which promise to be strong and competitive packages.
Hope this helps
Last edited by Piper : Nov 30th, 2006 at 07:08 AM.
As I remember the new Honda C-RV has a ground clearance of about an inch lower (which I don't particularly like) and the current version available in my country is a bit under powered and thirsty compared to the X-Trail. Built quality (especially trim?) of Honda seems to be better in my books...
As far as I know only available in petrol, but if space is not a very important criterium, then be sure to also have a look at the Subaru Forester. Hyundai = lately good quality but mostly thirsty engines? I think one needs to compare the Tucson (small boot) with the X-trail (not the Santa Fe).
In a nutshell I would say that the x-trail good & bad bits are as follows:
Good bits:
Great car to drive with a commanding driving position
Good on motorways
Good accomodation and comfortable seats (mine has the cloth)
Great Sat Nav system
Good torquey engine
Good boot space and practical floor surface.
When you but a new Columbia you get a free Columbia jacket.
Bad bits:
Dealers are as good as useless. I have had 2 issues (Sat Nav coating and EGR problem) and they appeared oblivious of both issues until I flagged it up to them. Even after that I had to keep chasing them as they seemed not to knpow how to make outging calls on their phone system.
Fuel consumption average is not as good as spec, although I suppose 36 - 40 mpg's not bad for a fairly big vehicle.
It would benefit from a seperate outside temp gauge as it's combined with the trip computer. Not that much of a problem but niggling.
Radio's OK but not brilliant and CD is only single slot when you have the Sat Nav.
I would definitely recommend the vehicle. Just hope you live in an area with a good dealer.
HELP PLEASE - Should we buy?????
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