Which mobility car?

cyclonebri1

We currently have a car on mobility, I'm not 100% happy with my choice, that's my fault but what would you go for?.

My priorities are economy, load space. and equipment levels.

It may help more if I explain what I have now and why I'm not happy with it.

It's a Nissan Qasqai, I went with that as it com es with a superb 1600 Renault diesel engine and the spec on the top models is good. I also liked the ease of getting in and out. Paid extra up front to get the Tekna version.

It's all the nice extras that don't function as well, the car itself is great and my wife loves it but it's the 1st car I've ever had that I really don't like, and I've not had executive models before.

And suggestions would be great.

clark24

I'm currently trying to chose my first one, and my top 2 practical choices are the Astra Elite estate and the Zafira Tourer, based on what we need. But I just can't get excited about them, admittedly cupholders will be nice as my current car lacks them, but ugh they are just soooooo practical and I will miss my beautiful old Rover

cyclonebri1

clark24 wrote: »

I'm currently trying to chose my first one, and my top 2 practical choices are the Astra Elite estate and the Zafira Tourer, based on what we need. But I just can't get excited about them, admittedly cupholders will be nice as my current car lacks them, but ugh they are just soooooo practical and I will miss my beautiful old Rover

Yes, this is our first too, and not getting exited about the car does just about sum it up.
It's when you work out what it would have cost to buy outright that I feel short changed.

And no, to any that thing these things are free, they are not, we end up paying the same over the 3 years as depreciation would have cost us.

The Nissan isn't a near £25k car.

clark24

I'm having a total 'heart or head' time over it. I am slowly accepting that my wheelchair is now a permanent addition to my 'what do we need to fit in the car' list and the other day when myself, my husband, my 2 kids and 2 dogs and the chair needed to cram into my (beautiful and otherwise perfect if it had cupholders) Rover 45 it was a tight and uncomfortable squeeze, add in our grocery shopping and yes I could see why a big spacious practical car would have been better but it's the bloomin' chairs fault, hence my fault and tbh a Vauxhall (or any other car on motability that fits our required specs) just doesn't make me go weak at the knees at all, whereas my Betsy is part of my family

cyclonebri1

I've never got really sentimental over a car, but in over 40 years driving every car I've had has been better than the 1 before, ruined a decent record methinks;)

stiltwalker

We have a Ford Galaxy - with 2 chairs (1 wheelchair, 1 special needs buggy though that will be a wheelchair too before long) and plenty of other kit that the kids need, space was the big factor for us. We went for the 2l with the slightly higher BHP and also went for the titanium model as we needed the privacy glass to reduce glare in back for the kids. I'll confess I'm not really a car person but I do have to say I am enjoying driving Gerald - always had older cars so anything was going to be 'posh' but found what came as standard to be pretty good, we'd looked at Sharan but would have had to add loads of optional extras to get the same spec - we added keyless entry, as so much easier when carrying heavy or stroppy children or hands full, pushing etc and sat nav was a bit of a lux add, but we do go a lot of places so is proving very useful. Was a bit of a pocket wincing moment paying the advance payment (free car?? yeah right - lol) but we're happy with him.

kpwll

We have a Qashqai+2 (1.6 petrol) and neither of us like driving it because the car really needs a bigger engine.
A few years ago we had a VW Touran and I didn't like it but couldn't say why. It was only after we got the Qashqai that I realised it was simply down to the engine and lack of power (I call it our Fred Flintstone car, because it makes me feel like peddling hard to make it go faster, lol). We have decided no more 1.6 engines for us.

Richie-from-the-Boro

A miniature giant, like the two words economy and load space are contradictions in terms. An executive model is the same as the one £1000 less AP, just with knobs on.

What the extra £1000 AP gets is a better trim level between the Visia, Acenta, Acenta Premium and Tekna. In this case Bluetooth, cruise control, hill-start assist, dual-zone air-conditioning, automatic lights and wipers, DAB radio, a 7-inch touchscreen display, a rear-view parking camera, panoramic glass roof, LED headlights and 19-inch alloy wheels, full leather interior, heated seats, intelligent park assist and electric seats, smartphone connectivity and in-car apps.

The Tekna will cost new £23k new and does 50mpg. A real car like the Voyager will cost £28k new and give you 33mpg on a good day - I'd settle for the Voyager but the Tekna even with its high AP is a lot of technology [that's what Tekna meant when it was named] in a car, in this world its a lot of 'knobs on'. You will learn I'm sure to love it - give it time my friend.

cyclonebri1

kpwll wrote: »

We have a Qashqai+2 (1.6 petrol) and neither of us like driving it because the car really needs a bigger engine.
A few years ago we had a VW Touran and I didn't like it but couldn't say why. It was only after we got the Qashqai that I realised it was simply down to the engine and lack of power (I call it our Fred Flintstone car, because it makes me feel like peddling hard to make it go faster, lol). We have decided no more 1.6 engines for us.

The 1600 diesel is the biggest redeeming factor in the Qasqai, it is a Renault unit and kicks out 130bhp, it came in as a lightweight high performer and has replaced the 2ltr unit, it's actually a great power plant and should be considering it cost over £50million to develop it.

From memory it came at a premium of around £1500 over the 110bhp 1500diesel unit.;);)

cyclonebri1

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

A miniature giant, like the two words economy and load space are contradictions in terms. An executive model is the same as the one £1000 less AP, just with knobs on.

What the extra £1000 AP gets is a better trim level between the Visia, Acenta, Acenta Premium and Tekna. In this case Bluetooth, cruise control, hill-start assist, dual-zone air-conditioning, automatic lights and wipers, DAB radio, a 7-inch touchscreen display, a rear-view parking camera, panoramic glass roof, LED headlights and 19-inch alloy wheels, full leather interior, heated seats, intelligent park assist and electric seats, smartphone connectivity and in-car apps.

The Tekna will cost new £23k new and does 50mpg. A real car like the Voyager will cost £28k new and give you 33mpg on a good day - I'd settle for the Voyager but the Tekna even with its high AP is a lot of technology [that's what Tekna meant when it was named] in a car, in this world its a lot of 'knobs on'. You will learn I'm sure to love it - give it time my friend.

I understand what you are saying but the premium is around £7k over the base model;);)

Load space and economy contraditions?

I have to disagree. This car has reasonable load space, just not quite enough, but the load area is not flat, there is a 3" step that stops you sliding heavy items in, and the seats do not remove. It's economy is very good if not excellant but I can accept it.
I can get over 70mph on a careful A road run, about 40 around town and overall around 55.
My only comparison to that in recent years is the Renault Megane est I had previously. Much more flat useable load space, and fitted with the 1500 diesel it always gave around 50 urban and when trying would return over 80.
The Renault in it present guise was the car I measured the Nissan against, but with Renault reducing it's dealerships by 50% in the UK to concentrate on electric cars I shied away.

I agree it has a lot of knobs on, but they are poor, they only just work, for instance you can only tell the electric seat heating is working after around 6 miles, and then it is only a slight effect even on high.
The air con is inadequate and the worst I come across.
Pressing any of the knobs on the steering wheel too hard results in the horn sounding, they are effectively mounted on the horn push.
And the other main reason I chose the Tekna was for it's all round 4 camera system, but it's near useless, you have to clean all 4 cameras before you get in as they all collect grime like 3 year olds. And in the wet you can forget it, it's like looking through a wobbly goldfish bowl.
The list goes on and it's all about the add ons, the basic car is great even if very dated and totally lacking in storage space.
Yes it's been back to the dealer, "they're all like that sir".
Grow to love it?, I've had it nearly 1 year and have been counting down the weeks ever since the 1st few weeks.

But thanks for your input, but as you can see I'm not impressed

amerste

Have you checked out the Hyundai ix35, this comes with all the added extra's as standard on the premium model. I have the 1.7 diesel at the moment this has plenty of pulling power.