Nissan Almera

My daughter is looking for her fist car (hatchback) and she has 5K to spend she was looking for something around 05 . We have been looking at websites and the best value around that price seems to be Nissan Almera she was thinking of Focus but nothing to suit her budget in that year. The difficulity we have is the differance of price, we are looking at one for 5500 but most similar cars are advertised at up to 9K for same mileage. Is there any true valuation there anymore.

I don’t know about the valuation but I bought a Nissan Almera in 2001, and it is a fine car, but there is one matter that I think should be brought to your attention.

When you open the engine hood of the car, there is a part at the very front of the engine which stretches the full the width of the car; from the right hand side to the left hand side of the engine. It is called a front panel.

The front panel in my car was rusted and a driving instructor said that this would be deemed an automatic failure in the NCT test. Three more people in the car industry confirmed this, and said that it was a quiet common problem with the Nissan Almera for whatever reason. It is known to happen in cars that are only two years old. I won’t go as far to say that it is a design fault, but I do wonder about it.

It costs about €700-800 to replace the front panel. So if I was buying an 05 Nissan Almera, I would certainly double check and ensure that the front panel is completely rust free.

If you are concerned about the valuation, maybe the best thing to do is get somebody who you know and can trust who works in the car industry to assess the car for you. There is a big difference between €9K and €5.5K and I can fully understand why you are questioning it.

One other thing to watch/listen out for is the timing CHAIN.

The Almera, as opposed to most modern cars has a chain rather than a belt. In theory these should last practically the life of the engine but unfortunatly do not, in these Renault designed power units.

Get it checked out thoroughly by a competent mechanic.

my Dad owned an Almera (2001 iirc) and the road noise was awful.

We thought it was the new tyres at the beginning but it never went.

I've never heard anything like it!



Personally, i wouldn't limit myself to any particular year. I've had older (currently driving a 1999) vehicles since i started driving and have never had any problems.

One said:

When you open the engine hood of the car, there is a part at the very front of the engine which stretches the full the width of the car; from the right hand side to the left hand side of the engine. It is called a front panel.

The front panel in my car was rusted and a driving instructor said that this would be deemed an automatic failure in the NCT test. Three more people in the car industry confirmed this, and said that it was a quiet common problem with the Nissan Almera for whatever reason. It is known to happen in cars that are only two years old. I won’t go as far to say that it is a design fault, but I do wonder about it.

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Have heard this too but have also heard that it was more or less sorted out by the time of the 2004 facelift.

SparkRite said:

Get it checked out thoroughly by a competent mechanic.

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+1

Always.