We will be chopping in the A6 avant for a 4wd diesel that must have as much room as the Audi and be under 200g CO2

Looking around 6K to spend and the 2.2 dci X Trail seems to be the one unless I've missed something, the only thing putting me off is reports of the the turbo going.

With my price bracket it looks like a 2005 model is on the cards, does anyone have any experience of running these?

Cheers

 

Mate just bought one : £3900 just gone 4 years old with 40K miles, Sport trim. Only thing is its the 2.5 petrol (goes pretty well though).

Somewhat indistinctive for my tastes Ok otherwise, barring the dash looks like its come out of van, and theres quite a bit of road noise intruding the cabin.

Is the diesel really worth an extra £2K? especially when they have more reliability issues

 

My old man has one. Bought it for bouncing around on building sites and fields etc for shooting. It's the Petrol version, and although it's not too bad, I wouldn't buy one myself. Cabin is awful (for my taste) and the handling is on the wolly side. It's no X5/Cayenne.

Every day run around? Yeah, not bad.

 

Petrol is the way forward in some cases, I have just bought petrol over diesel to save an extra 30% initial premium!

 

Out of the small soft roaders,we chose one.2.5 petrol T Spec.Sat Nav(rubbish) ,leather electric seats etc

Looked at Freelanders but boot was tiny.Also it was for the kids and all the gumph so we liked the leather and no nonsense wipe clean interior (we did look at an A4 Avant but thought it was too posh for kids!)

Ours has done 70k (2004) and has been no problem.Obviously its no X5 but I think it is just a smart, chunky ,inoffensive, very useful car.Really its just a tallish estate car

2.5 petrol no good for you on the emissions front though,its 226 though there is the 2.0 petrol

 

I love mine . . . 2006 2.2 DCi Aventura, so leather, sat nav, huge sunroof etc. I've driven it to the Loire Valley and back and also to Snowdon (not the top ) and back, very comfortable and plenty of space for kit. Not a serious off roader of course, but cruised through deep muddy welsh valleys with all around getting stuck.

 

Yes looking at SVE without sat nav, would rather have the CD multichanger for the kids.

If we bought this it would be kept for around 5 years, and I can see the road tax hammering anything over 200g in a few years time, hence I feel the diesel is the better bet for our situation - it would be the 1st time I've ever gone diesel..

We're going to test drive a couple next weekend, if the cabin noise is really bad then it might not be a goer - what are owners thoughts on Ali's comments?

 

D J Dunk ,on the Sat Nav I said it was rubbish ,basically because there is no post code input I can find (haven't got the handbook).Is there one?

(Jay,ignore this bit and concentrate on the fact its a good reliable car!)

 

The interior is pretty chunky and basic, but its solid enough and I prefer it to the shiny plastics of the Mitsi and Toyota. Love the glove box in front of the driver, small things

I read up on the turbo issues that some people had and bought a newer car with warranty just in case, but you'll find that most have been fixed under warranty or won't have any problems now.

The Sat Nav lacking post code search can be a pain, but that aside it's actually very good. I've never needed to use my TomTom or Garmin since getting this. Faultless when I've used it in France to the Loire and Disneyland plus all over the UK, everywhere I've needed to go I've found. Don't know how I'd have coped abroad without it. It's functional and the traffic alerts & diversions work well.

Road noise I can't say I've really noticed. I came from a 350z so I'm used to noise Its a high fronted, chunky tyred vehicle so I expect a little noise.

I replaced the headunit with an Alpine iPod unit retaining the steering controls which is excellent plus cruise control on the wheel is a bonus. I also fitted a Thule tow bar as I intend to tow a small boat with it too.

 

5th gear did a test on all the soft roaders and the nissan won.
They seem to be very well thought of by those that own them.

 

He's overall pretty happy with it. He bought it as a daily hack to and from work, so is not really fussy as long as it was a solid car and was within his budget (£3K plus £1K for part-ex on his old car).

The road noise is mainly something I picked up on. Its running Good-Years all round, so maybe a different brand of tyre may be a bit better, the road noise mainly eminates from the rear. A bit like the diff/resonance noise from classic/bug eye scoobs. Nothing the radio can't drown out but either way its there.

 

I remember the test they did with the X trail v Freelander and it basically came down to which badge was more prestigious

I went from Audi to a skoda so thankfully I don't have badge problems

I don't think the road noise is that bad at all.Or the interior for that matter.I think they nick a lot of the ***** etc from the 350Z.The first of the X trails weren't so nice interior wise but still ok.We are on the third incarnation of the interior!

 

Like DJ Dunk I have a 2.2DCi Aventura - a question about which you'll see in a separate new thread. Previously I had a 2.2 DCi Sport. Apart from the separate query, I've been happy with both, using it as the bread and butter car (wife has an MR2, so we need the room) and for towing my horse trailer. Yes, the Sat Nav is not terribly good, in that it is inflexible as to how the destination entry is entered, but it picks up the sats very quickly and does the rest of the job OK including automatic nav around traffic blocks (providing it's been notified, of course!). Even as an ex-STi owner, I'm pleasently surprised at the overtaking grunt from the right revs, tho' of course, it's not a patch on the Scooby driven properly!! I'm not SURE the carbon is below 200g - worth re-checking??

Phil

 

Regarding the carbon, looking at the technical spec on autotrader (not gospel I know) it seems if the 2.2dci is pre 06 its 190, 2006 on its 203. Why that is I'm not sure - if the range had a mild revamp it may have got heavier? Who knows, what I will do is check the V5 before buying.

Edit to saythe 2.5 petrol is 226, 1g into highest band IIRC at present, into the 2nd highest revamped band, which I believe will get caned after 2011, hence not an option for me.

 

Aha, interesting!! See my thread about Diesel fuel consumption!

Phil

 

I think you might find it a bit basic coming from the A6, a mate of mine owned an A3 and that was his experience, he still likes the car though

 

If its the same system thats in the Navara that i was reading about then no there isn't a post code input which is madness.