Next Car Opinion - Qashqai vs C-Max

hcb42

We have got the highest spec Qashqai (N-Tec?) and have had for about 18 months. It is an 11 plate and been trouble free for us. Great car, and I love the driving position too. Expensive tyres though - 2 just cost us £330 or so, but no price on safety.

interstellaflyer

hcb42 wrote: »

We have got the highest spec Qashqai (N-Tec?) and have had for about 18 months. It is an 11 plate and been trouble free for us. Great car, and I love the driving position too. Expensive tyres though - 2 just cost us £330 or so, but no price on safety.

The N-Tec isn't the highest spec, the Tekna is the top spec, the N-Tec is a step down.

PollyOnAMission

I have a 2008 1.5 dCi Tekna, owned for three years now.
As others have said, 1.5 dCi QQs of that age do not have the DPF. Shock absorbers were a known fault but these are replaced under warranty (and if not, I suspect a proper Nissan dealer would do this before sale).

I average around 48mpg fuel consumption (calculated from brim-to-brim top ups), but a lot of this is commuting miles. I tend to get closer to 55mpg on the motorway.

It's a great car with a lot of toys for the money. You might want to fit your own Nissan Connect in place of the factory fit stereo; I did this (very easy) and it gives me touch screen, sat nav, USB/aux port...very good. Didn't cost that much either because I got a unit for around £120 on Ebay and fitted it myself.

The egine won't knock your socks off but I don't find it underpowered; it's a good all-rounder. Boot space is good (but not enormous) and the car is very comfortable. It's nice to drive and I would recommend it, but I don't think it's as well geared for families as other cars (no power thingies for the back seats, for example).

If you want to lot of QQ info I'd really recommend this forum
http://forum.qashqaiclub.co.uk/forums.html
I've found it SO useful.

I agree that tyres don't come cheap! Mine are around £120 each (17 inch wheels). Not sure if the Accenta takes the same size but certainly mine aren't all that common a size (quite hgh profile) so it might be worth checking out in advance.

My car has now done 50k miles (33k since I bought it 3 years ago). The only problem I've had was needing a new anti roll bar link, but this was done under warranty (1 year used car warranty from Nissan dealer). I'd definitely recommend going to a main dealer if they are in your price range.

PollyOnAMission

By the way, if you're willing to travel a bit for the car (or can tie collection in with other journeys) you might be able to get a really good deal. I found that the dealer in Harrogate (Mill Garages) had prices a lot lower than other Nissan garages. It was well worth a trip from Nottingham and might also be worth a trip from Newcastle for the right car.

I've just done a quick search on the Nissan Used Car Locator. There are several Acentas around the £8.5k - £9.5k mark with under 50k miles. A mixture of 07/57/08 plates and one 59 plate. They are in Birmingham, Preston, Stockport and Blackburn if that's any use to you.

johnson293

Went to have a look at a QQ yesterday, purely as the dealer hadn't put any pics of it on the Autotrader at the time. 57 plate 1.5DCi Acenta, with 42k miles on it for £8k, in bright red paint.

Was ok, however have seen a very similar one at an Evans Halshaw dealership, same car except with the pan roof for £8.5k. Having seen the pan roof on a work colleagues QQ (N-Tec), I think its a feature I'd like, if I can find the right one.

Bristol Street Motors have a 0% finance offer ending this weekend, so it could be a trawl around some of their local dealers to see what they have in - their website is rubbish, and doesn't list mileages or locations of cars until you contact them.

An adjacent dealer to where the QQ was yesterday, had a 2007 C-Max in (albeit only a 'Style' model), and I had a look around that too. Whilst its ok, I think I may have made my mind up to go for a QQ now.

However, can I clarify - the pre-09 1.5DCi's don't have the DPF... but facelift 09/10 1.5 models would?

Reason I ask is, that if there was one at Bristol Street, on 0% finance, with trade-in I might be able to stretch to 10k, and that could bring newer cars into play.

alleycat`

If the engine is euro V it has a dpf.
If it is euro IV it doesn't.

The QQ+2 got the DPF before the QQ did so it'll be hit and miss around the 59/10 plate area.

In theory a 10 plate should have the DPF but some didn't due to production v's registration.

Chippie

johnson293 wrote: »

I'm looking to change my car potentially in the autumn, but maybe sooner if the right car/deal comes along.

Have narrowed the selection down to two that I fancy...

Nissan Qashqai 1.5 DCi in Acenta trim or above (probably 2007-2009) or Ford Focus C-Max 1.6TDCi Zetec or above (2008 Facelift).

I believe the 1.6 TDCi C-Max falls into VED band C, so £30/year? Whereas the Qashqai is £120/year.

The main thing that is putting me off the Nissan, is the fact that (I believe) it uses the same 1.5DCi engine as Renault use in their cars.

3 years ago, I owned a Scenic with that very same engine in it, which was burning oil due to a supposed 'common' issue of sticking/worn piston rings. My dad also had a Megane with the same engine, which suffered from Injector faults. Both of these Renaults were around the 70k mile mark, and a lot of the Qashqai's in my price range are approaching that mileage.

I'm basically after some opinions from people who own/have owned either vehicle.... pros and cons, and anything to watch out for.

I will trading in a 2004 1.6 Astra which has given me almost 3 years trouble free motoring, but its not getting any younger, and we need a change and fancy something a little bigger, but that wont be a massive jump in the costs to run.

Cheers for any advice/opinion offered.

MJ

Can't comment on the Qashqai but ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN A FORD!

johnson293

Been to have a look at another QQ at lunchtime -went to view a 2009 (pre-facelift) 1.5DCi Acenta in Silver, but that has 65k on it, for £8500.

They also have a Black 2010 1.5DCi Acenta, with 38k on it, for £9999. A deal could make it affordable.

Bristol Street have a very similar car, but with 31K miles, for £10995, again, if they can sort the right deal with interest free, then that would also fall into price range.

Suppose part of this comes down to potential DPF issues. 5 miles of my 13 miles (each way, 26 miles per day total) daily commute takes me along the coast road dual carriageway, at speeds of between 50-70mph. Would that run, twice a weekday be enough the help clean out the DPF, in addition to any longer runs on weekends?

Last thing I want is to buy something that's gonna start having trouble.

If affordable, I'd like to get the newest I can, with least miles on it.

EDIT: Decided against seeing that one tomorrow for almost £11k. Think I was just getting a bit carried away, and need to rein it in a bit and stick back to my original budget of between £7.5 and 9k tops, even though it means an older model, with a few more miles on it..... and at least no DPF issues.

PollyOnAMission

I suspect your daily dual carriageway blast would be fine for the DPF to be honest, especially if you're doing more at weekends.

One way to tell if a particular car you are test driving has a DPF or not: I believe there is a light on the dashboard that comes on briefly when you start the ignition, or if not I think there is a DPF warning light (although hopefully it wouldn't be lit, you should be able to see the 'ghost' of the light if you look closely on the dash).

Although this isn't from a QQ, I think the light looks like this:

http://www.dpf-busters.co.uk/images/cars/navara01/dpf_off_navara_06.jpg

johnson293

Well, an update, and a slight change of direction.

Having looked over a few QQ's, I was starting to prefer the facelifted models, which were all way over budget, and when I started doing the math, I think with the length of finance I wanted, i would be stretching it a bit far on an older model.

I looked at the C-Max, and it wasn't quite what I expected in terms of size - and of those available locally, the spec levels/price weren't where I wanted to be.

However, I have done a deal on a new car, which I pick up tomorrow.

I am getting a 2009 Focus Titanium, 1.8TDCi, with just over 50k on the clock, for £6799 screen price. I'm getting £1650 trade in off the Astra, so financing just over £5k, which is better than I would have been on a QQ.

The Focus is a lovely car and my dad has one already, so I knew what they were about - and being the Titanium, it has all the toys (Sat Nav, Cruise, etc).

I could have waited till the autumn, but the Astra was probably only going to lose more value in that time, so I felt the time was right to trade it in.

So anyway, thanks for everyone's input, it really was invaluable in helping me along the way.

Cheers :beer: