Owner Review: A real head-turner with a comfortable ride - My 2020 Nissan Almera

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Basic information 

2020 Nissan Almera 1.0 T

Reason why I bought this car

My very first car as I'm graduating soon and about to work. I've been driving my brother's 2017 Nissan Almera N17 but he also started working so I needed my own car soon.

I was looking for a sedan that is comfy in ride, saves petrol, is able to drive well for at least 10 years and impresses my girlfriend's parents. (Still need to face the Asian mindset of our parents)

Car selection process

• I had a budget: RM 85,000
• Models that I have considered include: New Toyota Vios, All-new Honda City, Proton Persona, Perodua Bezza

The reason why I choose this car

A bit of background history is needed with this. I've always had a bit of a bias towards Nissan because the first ever brand new non-national car that my parents ever owned was a 2015 Nissan Grand Livina. My parents grew up dirt poor and I grew up seeing their hard work earning from driving a humble Proton Wira. We mainly kept changing to P1 and P2 cars until we finally earned enough to buy a Japanese car. I remembered the first time my parents made the purchase decision of the Livina was one of the proudest moments my parents ever went through. The decision marked they no longer saw themselves as struggling financially. Because of this I always had a soft spot in Nissan.

From that point my brother then bought a 2017 Nissan Almera N17, and finally it was my turn to pick a car. Seeing that we never had any reliability issues (are we lucky?) and had superb after sales service all these years, I also first went back to Nissan and looked at the all-new Almera N18. What hit the points were:

• Super comfy and cushy seats (Like the seats in the showroom Teana I sat in when I was younger and my parents were deciding between the Almera and Livina back in 2015)
• Quiet/well insulated engine
• Very low fuel consumption
• Acceleration is nice
• The only car out of the 3 Japanese brands that looks like it's ready for 2020 and beyond
• Still has a mechanical handbrake. Call me old fashioned but being an electronics engineering student myself I still believe a backup system must never be electronics-based.

I did check out the all-new Honda City afterwards, but was disappointed as it felt and ride the exact same, with only different looks. I also checked out the Vios afterwards because if I was paying this price I rather have a Toyota that I can drive for years instead of a Honda. But after a test drive of a Vios I also came out disappointed and called my SA to confirm my booking right as I left the Toyota showroom.

User experience

I have already done 5000 km.

In my 5 months of owning the car I've been driving the car 95% of the time in the congested roads of PJ and Puchong. The most I've ever driven the car was to Semenyih hence I can only give a fair review of this car in a city driving experience point of view.

Wish more people would get this beautiful car. How I would like to start talking about this car is the same is as how most people reacted when I drove this around town. This car is a real head-turner that induces visible confusion in the faces of the public that has the image of boring and outdated Nissan cars. This car glues many eyes almost everyday that I drive it around with looks of absolute disbelief.

"Is this a Nissan?"
"Wait, there's a new Almera?"
"Oh wow, I didn't know this car existed when I bought the new-ity."

These are the reactions that I still get today after owning it for 5 months,  all while sipping 8L/100km in the fuel consumption department daily driving it in congested PJ traffic. It is legitimately a very weird feeling. To compare the first gen Myvi our family daily drives averages around 8.9L/100km under the same conditions, while our Almera N17 averages 9.8L/100km. I still can't believe the numbers are so low.

As a driver I've always focused on the comfort and ride stability aspect of the car. The ride satisfaction of my family and significant other has been the top priority for me. And this is where the new Almera really cemented my purchase decision as it focuses on giving a nice comfy interior with amazing seats. There is also ample leg room for all the car's occupants, although the rear headroom could be a bit more.

Continuing with the interior, it is a massive step up from the previous generation. Granted, the previous Almera's interior felt cheaper than old Nissan's. The interior in the new Almera is definitely better than the Vios and City, the soft touch plastic paired with faux leather stitching is a huge plus compared to glossy plastic. My only gripe are the beige accents, which will definitely get dirty overtime. Luckily I swapped my dash with a VL-pec owner from beige to grey. Now if only I can swap my seats to the grey leather given in the VL spec.

Onto the exterior, the design looks years ahead of what the other two Japanese sedans can offer. Probably because this is the same design that's also available in more developed markets. I went with a subtly aggressive tweak to the look, gave the car a matte black wrap all around the lower edges with some blue accents. I then added front and side skirts and called it a day.

After daily driving for months, I can conclusively say that the ride comfort is somewhere between the comfort-oriented Vios and the more rigid City. A nice balance for me although the stock tyres are very noisy in almost any speed. I quickly swapped the stock Continental UC6 to Michelin XM2+ 800km in as I couldn't stand the noise anymore. A month later my car became the donor for SUPERCIRCUIT to develop their chassis strengthening bars. From the deal I grabbed a set of free rear anti-roll bars, front mid brace as well as rear and front lower bars. This further improved my ride stability and handling without sacrificing too much ride comfort.

But most people who considered this car are curious about the engine. Having tested the Ativa I can definitively tell you that the difference is heaven (Almera) and earth (Ativa). The Almera's power delivery is much more smooth and refined. I could feel more torque is available to me compared to the anaemic Ativa. Shame though, the Ativa being such a popular model means that it will only taint the true colours of this well refined 1.0 Turbo engine. A downside of this engine is that it run of steam after around 120km/h, and a noticeable lag in power delivery if the gas pedal was slammed too fast.

I personally love the inclusion of a mechanical handbrake, because it means I have more control of the car as a driver. And as a student majoring in electronics engineering, I will not trust my backup systems in electronics. Which is why a mechanical handbrake is still important in my car selection process.

I will not omit some glaring cons that this car comes with, most notably for me was the lack of Android Auto (AA) support. It's not that I can't afford an Apple device, it's that Google's voice assistance and app integration makes Apple Carplay look like a joke of an app. Hence, before I took delivery I was already looking up for brackets for the Nissan Note and Micra on eBay to install an aftermarket Sony XAV-X8000 stereo onto it, albeit throwing away steering control support.

The car also utterly lacks insulation in the sides, rear and roof. I can see that ETCM only did sound insulation of the engine bay and saved cost on other places. The lack of roof padding bothered me the most. The last straw was when it was raining heavily one day, I had to shout at my brother in the passenger because he couldn't hear me over the raindrops banging the roof so loud. After that it was straight to the soundproofing shop.

Another small gripe I had was the lack of a full-sized spare tyre. Over the years every car my family owned has seen usage of the spare tyre. A full-sized spare allowed us to continue with our day and go to work as if nothing happened, as it lets us decide when we want to get the tyre fixed at a later time.

Ratings

Total Score: 5
Performance: 3
Quality & Features: 5
Space: 4
Ride Comfort: 4
Fuel Economy: 5
Price & Cost: 4

Pros & Cons

Pros

• It feels like a car for 202x, for the new decade.
• I like the spacious legroom for front and back passengers (seeing that my family only owned P1 and P2 cars), super cushy seats
• Interior is much better than the mainstream rivals, anything glossy I immediately flinch
• Suspension is nice, somewhere between the two main rivals. Though I prefer more on the comfort side
• Looks great, can't lie on that
• Driving it around, people turn their heads and I always remember that guy that smiles at my car with his eyes popping out each time I go for a cruise around my neighbourhood.
• I have never seen such low fuel consumption in my life on a car this size. 8L/100km driving in the city 90% of the time in PJ traffic? Wow
• I can use this car to pick up my girlfriend and impress her parents.
• Has a mechanical handbrake.
• A lot of flat space on top of the dash to put things and decorations on
• Zippy acceleration from the turbo engine

Cons

• Wished there was more headroom in the rear. But no choice this is the shape of the car
• No Android Auto
• So many steps to turn off AEB and VCS. Wish there was a dedicated button like the lower VL spec
• Boot could be a bit taller
• Original tyres are not comfy and loud
• No full-sized spare tyre originally
• No insulation at all in the sides, tyre, roof and floor.
• Engine bay looks like a pain to work with. Probably gonna stick with ETCM service for quite a few years so at least when it messes up ETCM has to deal with it.
• Engine feels like running out of gas over 110 km/h

Summary

I really like this car, I really do. Readers should be able to tell based on how much I tweak this car to my liking. Because I am dead set on keeping this car till it's going to the scrap heap, which was why resale value was never on my priority list. With the head turning looks, refined engine, comfortable ride and the good after sales relationship we had with Nissan is why I chose this car over the competition, I do not regret my purchase decision.

All the cons that I have found are mere nitpicks in my tough love for the car. It really does feel like a car that suits 2020 and beyond. My sadness is due to the utter lack of marketing done by ETCM, and in the entirety of my 5 months I've only seen 3 other all-ew Almera's in the wild. At the same time seeing over 50 cars of the competing brands. The only hope I have now is that more people see this sequestered gem of a car and give Nissan another chance.

Some interesting events

On the first month when I was driving my car home, my neighbour caught sight of my car. With his eyes popping, mouth gaping wide and his head fixated as I drove pass, he followed my car on foot all the way to the front of my house as if he was hypnotised. As I stepped out he tried to act like he was just going for a slow jog but I could tell, with his frequent glances as well as him pacing up and down the street in front of my gate. Sadly when I stepped out of the house to try and talk to him, he immediately turned back and walked away. It was a hilarious moment.

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