Nissan / Hyundai insights

[Long Wheel Base]

I see you mention you are looking at the 1.5DCI Qashqai.

 

I drive a 2015 1.5DCI Qashqai (it is the new shape, however there was a face lift about a year or 2 ago), I am very happy with the car, I bought it as a demo with 65km on the odo, and it is now just shy of 120 000km, I have had no issues with it. It is light on fuel (have averaged 5.6lt/100km) over the last 4 years.  It has all the nice features (except maybe for a rear camera there is a model that comes with the camera I just bought one that did not have the spec feature installed), it does however have PDC so no issue for me. Power is also ample even in 6th gear

 

The only "real" issue I have with the car is the rims and tyres, the car has the design spec which means it comes with 19inch rims and fairly low profile tyres (225/45 R19) for a SUV, and privacy glass and roof rails. It is great for road handling but not so great when driving on gravel roads, and unfortunately going to many bike parks in PTA there are a few gravel roads. You feel every single bump in the road and can't really go faster than 40-60 depending on the road condition.  And they are expensive to replace (Original Conti's is about R2200-R2500), I replaced them with tyres that are +/- R1700 a tyre.  Therefore my suggestion if you buying a Qashqai and will be taking some gravel roads now and again, look at the one with the 17inch rims.

 

 

Sorry for the long reply, but back to your original question. I have the same feeling about the CVT gearboxes although I have only driven them in test cars so can't really comment from a personal perspective.

I have however heard the new generation ones are quite a bit improved than the previous generation. 

A friend of mine drives a 2.5 X-Trail with the CVT gearbox, he says he is very happy with it and doesn't feel the gear changes, and it doesn't feel like you are stuck in a gear (like the old CVT gearboxes). He says depending on how nice you drive and the amount of traffic (he stays in Cape Town) his fuel consumption is between 7 and 8.5 (lt/100km), if his wifes drives it is between 9 and 11 

That is because a CVT doesn't have gears to change.

[CogitoErgoSum]

I see you mention you are looking at the 1.5DCI Qashqai.

 

I drive a 2015 1.5DCI Qashqai (it is the new shape, however there was a face lift about a year or 2 ago), I am very happy with the car, I bought it as a demo with 65km on the odo, and it is now just shy of 120 000km, I have had no issues with it. It is light on fuel (have averaged 5.6lt/100km) over the last 4 years. It has all the nice features (except maybe for a rear camera there is a model that comes with the camera I just bought one that did not have the spec feature installed), it does however have PDC so no issue for me. Power is also ample even in 6th gear

 

The only "real" issue I have with the car is the rims and tyres, the car has the design spec which means it comes with 19inch rims and fairly low profile tyres (225/45 R19) for a SUV, and privacy glass and roof rails. It is great for road handling but not so great when driving on gravel roads, and unfortunately going to many bike parks in PTA there are a few gravel roads. You feel every single bump in the road and can't really go faster than 40-60 depending on the road condition. And they are expensive to replace (Original Conti's is about R2200-R2500), I replaced them with tyres that are +/- R1700 a tyre. Therefore my suggestion if you buying a Qashqai and will be taking some gravel roads now and again, look at the one with the 17inch rims.

 

 

Sorry for the long reply, but back to your original question. I have the same feeling about the CVT gearboxes although I have only driven them in test cars so can't really comment from a personal perspective.

I have however heard the new generation ones are quite a bit improved than the previous generation.

A friend of mine drives a 2.5 X-Trail with the CVT gearbox, he says he is very happy with it and doesn't feel the gear changes, and it doesn't feel like you are stuck in a gear (like the old CVT gearboxes). He says depending on how nice you drive and the amount of traffic (he stays in Cape Town) his fuel consumption is between 7 and 8.5 (lt/100km), if his wifes drives it is between 9 and 11

Thanks. Yeah, replacing tyres on any wheelsize larger than 17" is just plain madness. My Amarok had Continetal UHP on - useless nonsense tyres. Decided to go General Grabbers AT. I will keep wheelsize in mind.

[SRBVI]

problem with that 1.6 turbo was its thirst at anything over moderate cruising speeds.

130kw in the Tucson and 150kw in the Veloster and Elantra.

they later had SAC tune the Tucson to 150kw but it introduced some nasty turbo lag into the equation and you ahd to buy it with the brakpan body kit and exhausts.

 

Mine was very unassuming with just a little badge at the back indicating it was the turbo version, the N series was a bit over the top.

 

It was thirsty but I did drive it with a heavy foot 

[PieterJvR]

Bliksem, where did you see them for at that price? I had to replace the front tyres on my wifes in Feb this year and the contis were just over R4k per tyre(and I was not happy with them so didnt want conti again). The michelin was R4800, bridgestone was R4600 and I went with the good year at R4200 per tyre.

 

Apologies, I just realized I understated by about a R1000 and R500 respectively - will fix my original post.

 

Had to replace 2 as I got a side wall slash on the N1 on a conti.

I phoned around a lot to try and find tyres, the Conti's was actually R3200-R3500 (was end of 2017), and everything else was in the same range.  In the end I bought a tyre called Davanti (model DX640) sold by Tyremart for R2200 - I did lots of research about the tyre before I bought it, was scared it was chinese rubbish and would have the same issues as so many others, but found they used in the UK and had pretty good ratings all around (including in the wet).  Below is one of the reviews I found about the tyres on a UK site

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Davanti/DX640.htm

 

Tyres are holding up well, no issues, and wear is normal/minimal.  I bought 2 more begining of 2018

[Long Wheel Base]

Thanks. Yeah, replacing tyres on any wheelsize larger than 17" is just plain madness. My Amarok had Continetal UHP on - useless nonsense tyres. Decided to go General Grabbers AT. I will keep wheelsize in mind.

IMHO the grabbers are the best AT tyre on the market. I have them on my navara. 

[PieterJvR]

That is because a CVT doesn't have gears to change.

 

Very true  , I should have written that better - meant that it doesn't feel it is continuously over revving

[The Ouzo]

Mine was very unassuming with just a little badge at the back indicating it was the turbo version, the N series was a bit over the top.

 

It was thirsty but I did drive it with a heavy foot 

the onofficial N is the one where they bumped it up to 150kw. I'm seeing a lot more of those on teh road lately, they must have had some special running. Initially it was limited to just 50 units.

[The Ouzo]

On CVT boxes

My wife had a 1.4 Jazz with CVT, it was deceptively slow inside the car, but the times that i followed her in my own car I realised that its was pretty nippy, always had to drive my car that little bit harder to keep up than I thought I needed to, my guess is that it was mostly down to me loosing speed on gear changes where she didnt.

[Skylark]

 

 

Bliksem, where did you see them for at that price? I had to replace the front tyres on my wifes in Feb this year and the contis were just over R4k per tyre(and I was not happy with them so didnt want conti again). The michelin was R4800, bridgestone was R4600 and I went with the good year at R4200 per tyre.

Can't you change the wheel size, that's if the brake calipers allow it?

 

That's nearly a super car tyre size and that low profile is ridiculous on an SUV.

[Long Wheel Base]

Can't you change the wheel size, that's if the brake calipers allow it?

 

That's nearly a super car tyre size and that low profile is ridiculous on an SUV.

I am sure you could go slightly smaller if you wanted to but me personally, I'll keep it stock. I guess they putting emphasis on the SPORT is SUV. It's not just the qashqai, pretty much all the cars in that range have low profile tyres on big rims. I am not sure how they come about the price on tyres, my navara has a lot more rubber, yet I paid R2k per tyre for my general grabbers.