Replacing an Almera under scrappage
I want to replace my ten year-old Nissan Almera and I am told the Nisssan Tiida is it's natural successor.
I've seen very few few on the roads and cannot find a test drive report on it. Do you have any info on this car please?
My budget is up to €20,000 as well as the scrappage allowance.
Pat O'Regan (Limerick)May 2010 Filed under: scrappage
Expert answer
Hi Pat
The Nissan Tiida could probably be best described as an experiment that didn't really work in Ireland. Once Nissan had stopped production of the Almera, a car that was very popular in Ireland, Nissan were left with something of a gap in their product range. Rather than leaving this empty they took on the Tiida, which was a car that was sold in markets such as the Middle East, and as the Nissan Versa in the United States and in any market it was sold it was a budget buy.
There is nothing wrong with the Tiida, but it just isn't the most exciting car to drive or probably own and for that reason it has received a pretty lukewarm reception in Ireland.
There is €4,000 off the Tiida at the moment (including government allowance), so that means you would get the Tiida Diesel for €16,480. If you just want a car for getting from A to B then this will do the job perfectly fine.
However, the reason Nissan haven't been overly worried by the Tiida is that they have been selling shedloads of their Qashqai and that is a really excellent vehicle. It sits quite high up, is quite cheap to run and will be reliable. There is a new 2010 model too and there is a €4,000 scrappage offer on that too at the moment.
The Qashqai 1.5d XE costs €23,995 and with €4,000 off that you would be just about under budget and this would be an infinitely better buy than the Tiida, albeit a fair bit more expensive that the Tiida.
You can read our review of the new Qashqai here
http://www.completecar.ie/testdrives/article/Nissan/Qashqai/Qashqai/231/53
And details on the new Qashqai can be found at this part of the Nissan site
http://www.nissan.ie/new_vehicles/pricing.aspx?CarID=137
There are lots of other cars to consider with your budget
You could have a Hyundai i30, which is an excellent 5-door hatchback from €15,995 under the scheme.
The Ford Focus 1.6 Diesel would be well under your budget, or you could try the new Renault Fluence, if you fancied a saloon. Here is a review I did on it for The Irish Times recently http://tiny.cc/30ag3
I am not sure if any of these will float your boat, but please feel free to come back to us for more advice.
Out of this lot, I'd have the Qashqai though.
Complete Car Adviser