The bargains come and go. When my son's 11 year-old Panda was rammed amidships a week ago by somebody coming out of a side turning, almost certain to be written off, he needed a new car.
Nissan Note Acenta 1.2 petrol, £126 on a 3+35 contract hire deal, 10,000m/yr. Looks good to me. Car comes with met paint and aircon. Averages out at £32 a week over 3 years, plus servicing, petrol and insurance. A sensible decision for somebody who needs a car to get to work IMO. Even the tiny city cars are mostly dearer, and a poverty-spec VW Up! is £60 a month more.
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Seems like a good deal but make sure its the 1.2 DIG-S engine it is a totally different beast to the standard 1.2.
Also consider the Accenta Premium, it adds Sat Nav, automatic lights and wipers and a sliding read seat which adds a lot extra storage room in the boot if needed.
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It's the NA 80PS one, not the DIG-S supercharged one. An Acenta Premium with the supercharged engine is £80 more on the rental.
I think he's made the right choice - no need to make himself £1,000 a year poorer for a few nice to haves,
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Wow as much as £80 per month extra!
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Must say that the website gives me a headache and it is not as useful as some others that allow multiple combinations of mileage and terms.
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I haven't found those, the others I've looked at were all less straightforward and seemed designed to achieve a sales call. Can you share any links?
I gather you have a Note in the household. How do you find it?
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The Ex has one. 2016 reg. An Acenta Premium 1.2.
She likes it but found it under powered compared to her 1.9TDI VW Touran (105 HP compared to 89 HP), but the diesel had more torques ;-)
She is getting used to it, remembering to change down sooner than she would have done previously.
She found parking it difficult at first due to the tinted rear windows but likes the boot space, the driving position is good she is 5' 0" and some lower spec cars have limited seat / steering wheel adjustment.
The cabin is surprisingly spacious and has a reasonable quality feel to it. I find the head rests a little to low and need adjusting when I sit in it.
Would she buy another one? I think if she could have stretched to a Juke she would have got that and would probably recommend the more powerful engine but that was a couple of thousand pounds more and she only does 6,000 miles per year so not really worth it.
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Thanks.
The Note Acenta came today. It looks a lot better than the previous model, and I can only think that it has been marketed poorly if it is being withdrawn next year as I believe is the case.
Interior space is incredible. It's modern, quiet, came with aircon, bluetooth, cruise control, height adjustable driver's seat, alloy wheels, metallic paint, decent radio, even a leather covered steering wheel. The motor is very smooth, no sign of the 3 cylinder drone.
Boot isn't too bad. Sadly it doesn't have the sliding rear seats, as the rear legroom is truly enormous and it would have been useful to pinch some for cargo.
Highly recommended at an average of £32 a week for three years.
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I think the Note suffers from a bit of a lack of eye appeal maybe? My wife had one as a loan car last time her Qashqai was in for a service. She drove around in it all that day, going about her normal business. She freely admitted that it was nice to drive, easy to park, very comfortable, had tons of room in it and even remarked that it seemed to sip fuel by comparison to her own car. ( what's more, at no point did she knock any mirrors off it ) ;-)
But when I mentioned that they were also quite a bit cheaper to buy than Qashqais and that it'd be a fairly easy thing to trade her old one in against a new or newer Note, her eyes glazed over in that way that most husbands recognise as the precursor to a dead horse being being flogged.
When it came down to it, she just didn't like the way it looked. Which is a pretty flaky thing to admit to at one level but I suppose it's just as valid a reason not to want something as any.
Women in particular, though admittedly not exclusively, but perhaps proportionately more than men, seem to favour sitty uppy cars more at the moment. Faux by Fauxs especially. I've learned not to argue. There's no winning in it in the end, even if you think you have...
;-)
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The previous model Note is IMO unappealing to look at. I don't think the current one is bad at all (2013 on), especially compared to a Cashcow.
www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/nissan/note (current model)
www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/nissan/note-2006-2013 (old one)
Nissan say that the new Micra, which will be bigger, will make the Note redundant (I paraphrase).
Looking at this, I see what they mean...
www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor-shows-paris-motor-show/2017-nissan-micra-unveiled-paris-motor-show
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You don't have to convince me Manatee, I actually think they're OK. In fact I shall tell "her" that there's a bloke on the internet says she's wrong. I should think that'll make all the difference...
;-)
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The Note was never properly advertised by Nissan, I never saw a Note advertised on TV.
To my mind it beats the Fiesta and Corsa hands down for build quality, spec, and interior space.
It might not be as riveting a drive as the Fiesta but its aimed at housewives and it is competent.
It is a lot quieter in the cabin then the Fiesta though.
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It's NOT a new Micra - it's a Renault Clio with Nissan panels & badges - Fabrique en France - French engine, French gearbox, French Electronics....................
I will give it a pass - as with any & all French, Italian manufacture
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Neighb has a newish Note and I've driven it a few times but, it didn't appeal to me one iota.
Diesel mind, maybe the petrol version is nicer. She actually bought it on my recommendation, but I meant for her to get the previous model being she is 77 and has a 'new' hip & knee. She's been a farmer you see, so plenty of the green folding stuff knocking about, but you'd never think that, on seeing them (farmers)
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Its funny what floats ones boat.
Mrs B had a MK1 Laguna as a replacement for her Rover 114 - it was her first "big" car and she loved it, despite letting her down a few times (there's a surprise) and always being expensive to repair. It was a 1.8 so a bit gutless, although comfy. When the time came to get rid of it she was really gutted. To anybody else it was just a bland rep mobile.
I bought a Mondeo and it was the exact opposite - did everything I asked of it and never let me down, but I just hated it for no particular reason.
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I was a bit like that with the Qashqai I was once given as a company car. It was a top of the range model, wanted for nothing in terms of bells and whistles, went well, never broke down, comfortable, blah de blah de blah...but I didn't like it much for no rational reason I can think of, whereas "she" loves hers.
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I've had Renaults & Peugeots - 1 of them was bad the rest were truly terrible.
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>> I've had Renaults & Peugeots - 1 of them was bad the rest were truly
>> terrible.
>>
We've had one, that was one too many!
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Had a Peugeot 306. Beautiful car to drive and I reckon they still look good and was no problem mechanically - I had it for four years. Bits of trim were inclined to fall off though!
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Our lesson learnt was a mk2 megane. It did have some plus points, it didn't rust, it was comfy and wasn't really an issue mechanically. But the electrics, complete joke, it was one thing after another. After i convinced the oh to get rid, we went over to small and Japanese stuff, all it's a case of now is add petrol.
Edit, i think I had to change a brake light once a while back.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Tue 22 Nov 16 at 23:58
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>>i think I had to change a brake light once a while back.
Only one!! .. I've had to change TWO sidelight bulbs in the last 3.5 years but, that's all that has gorn wrong wivvit.
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Edit, i think I had to change a brake light once a while back.
Our Yaris is on its original 13 year old bulbs.
It did, however, require 4 new glowplugs 2 month ago...the old original ones came out easily - with care and soaking in penetrating oil and frequent reversing of direction..
Which makes 4 glowplugs and a heater resistor, lots of ARB bushes and one set of front disks and pads in 13 years...
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