Archive for Nissan

Pick-up trucks are becoming increasingly popular as family vehicles these days. They love the utility provided by the storage bed, the frugality and hardiness of the turbodiesel engine, and the off-road capability to tackle our flood-cursed city centrals. Many small families do not mind the cramped interior that you get most of the time. While pick-ups are available with safety features like airbags and ABS, how safe are they in reality?

For the first time ever, Euro NCAP has tested pick-up trucks in the light of the vehicles becoming more and more popular for family usage, and it reveals to us some shocking facts. Three trucks were crashed – the Nissan Navara (second generation Frontier – ours is the first gen), the Isuzu D-MAX and the Mitsubishi L200 (known as the Triton in Malaysia). The following are the results:

Please read the following full crash test reports for full details:
Isuzu D-MAX, Mitsubishi L200, Nissan Navara

The Nissan Navara scored the worst in adult occupant protection – not even one proper star but only a struck-through star. According to the report, the chassis rail collapsed and the accelerator pedal moved as much as 20cm into the footwell – that would definitely cause really serious injury to your legs. The airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners also activated too late into the crash, which EuroNCAP says poses “a high risk of life threatening injury”.

Nissan has developed new airbag software for the Nissan Navara and all new Nissan Navaras now have the updated software. All existing Nissan Navaras on the road will also receive a free airbag software update at their service centers.

The Mitsubishi L200/Triton scored 4 stars for adult occupant protection, and if you view the full crash report, you will see that the driver’s body and leg protection ranged from weak to marginal, but at least the head received good protection.

Very shocking – please do read the full crash test reports linked above. It’s a pity EuroNCAP did not test the Toyota Hilux. The Toyota Hilux is one of the most popular pick-up trucks used as a family car here in Malaysia, plus a full-bodied 7-seater version of it is sold as the Fortuner.

The new Suzuki Equator was unveiled at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show and as expected thanks to earlier leaked images and an already established relationship between Nissan and Suzuki, it is revealed that the Equator is essentially a badge-engineered Nissan Frontier, and is even built alongside the Frontier at Nissan’s Smyrna plant.

The Suzuki Equator is aimed at Suzuki bike and ATV lovers, who might want a truck with a matching badge for their vehicles. It will come in both Extended Cab and Crew Cab body styles, and power will go to either the two rear wheels or all four wheels via a selectable 4WD system.

There are no diesel powertrain options, instead you have a 2.5 liter DOHC inline-4 putting out 152 horsepower and 232Nm of torque, or a larger 4.0 liter DOHC V6 engine with 261 horsepower and 381Nm of torque. These are both Nissan engines and they are mated to a 5-speed auto for both engines, or a 5-speed manual for the inline-4 and a 6-speed for the V6.

More shots after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Suzuki Equator based on Nissan Frontier unveiled

The Nissan Z-car will be receiving an update at the 2008 Los Angeles auto show, and the new car that some might consider the second generation modern Z-car will have a wider track than the outgoing model (shown above), and as its 370Z name hints, will be powered by the new VQ37VHR engine found in the Infiniti G37.

The all-aluminium VQ37VHR was on 2007’s Wards 10 Best Engines list, and the smooth high revving V6 puts out 330 horsepower at 7,000rpm and 366Nm of torque at 5,200rpm with the help of nifty technologies like VVEL, one of the first continuously variable valve lift systems in a Japanese car, which eliminates the need of a throttle butterfly, much like BMW’s Valvetronic.

More details are likely to be revealed closer to the Los Angeles date in November.

Related Posts:
Infinity G37 features new VQ37VHR engine

The modern automobile engine has fixed compression ratios, that currently usually hover at about 10.0:1 or 10.5:1 for normally aspirated engines and much lower for turbocharged engines. Cars with direct injection can go higher, but we’re quite limited because compression ratios are fixed. A turbocharged engine running off boost makes less power than a normally aspirated engine of similiar cubic capacity because of the reduced compression ratio. While this has been minimized with very fast spooling turbos these days, it is still not ideal.

The answer is a variable compression ratio engine. Saab showcased a concept version of a variable compression ratio engine back in the year 2000, and it was called the SVC, or Saab Variable Compression. The project never did go anywhere. The SVC was a turbocharged 1.6 liter engine that used a pivoting cylinder head to change compression ratios from 8.0:1 all the way up to a high 14.0:1 according to engine operating status. The pivoting head adjusted the slope of the upper part in relation to the lower part of the engine, thus changing the combustion chamber volume at piston top dead center. Because of this, the top and bottom parts of the engine were separated and each required its own cooling system. Thanks to turbocharging and SVC, the 1.6 liter inline-5 engine produced 225hp and 300Nm of torque using 2.8 bars of boost.

In 2003, Nissan took a different approach to implementing a variable compression ratio system. Nissan showcased its Variable Compression Ratio Piston-Crank System, or VCR for short. It uses a multi-link piston and crank mechanism to vary the compression ratio. Like the Saab SVC, it is also based on a turbocharged engine concept. Compression ratio varies from 8.0:1 to 14.0:1, and the highest compression ratio is used during slow and steady city driving when the car runs mostly off-boost. During hard acceleration when the turbocharger kicks in, the compression ratio is reduced up to 8.0:1. During medium engine loads and low to medium levels of boost, a middle ground such as 11.0:1 is used.

The conventional conrod is replaced by a multilink system that consists of three links An upper link is connected to the piston pin, a lower link revolves freely while connected to a crank pin, and a control link connects the lower link to a control shaft. The control shaft has bearing that has a certain amount of eccentricity to it. When the control shaft rotates, the fulcrum of the control link bearing changes, and this causes the top dead center position of the piston to be either moved up or down vertically. This modifies the combustion chamber volume at piston top dead center, this altering the cylinder’s compression ratio. Basically, the system is designed in such a way that the angle of the control shaft causes the top dead center position to move, so to vary the compression ratio you adjust the angle of the control shaft.

Nissan is also developing a similiar VCR system concept for diesel engines. I’m not sure if a production engine using this technology is in the works or not. VCR has probably been made outdated by direct injection – the Volkswagen Golf GTI’s 2.0 liter TFSI engine is turbocharged yet has a high compression ratio of 10.5:1!

Related Links:
Nissan Variable Compression Ratio Engine
Saab Variable Compression

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The new Nissan Latio has arrived on our local shores a few months ago, and has redefined the B-class economy sedan segment somewhat. We are very used to the baseline Japanese models having 1.5 liter engines as with the Vios and the City, but the Nissan Latio comes with 1.6 liter and 1.8 liter, the same engine displacements that the Nissan Sentra previously was offered with.

Read more about the new Nissan Latio after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan Latio 1.6 and 1.8 Short Test Drive Experience

Chrysler and Nissan has entered a rebadging deal, which involves Chrysler selling the Nissan Latio (called the Nissan Versa in North America) with a Chrysler marque in South America. I’m not sure if the Latio/Versa/Tiida will be badged as a Chrysler or a Dodge.

Chrysler already has does rebadging in South America – Dodge-badged Hyundai cars. This is Nissan’s second cooperation with Chrysler, with the first being a transmission deal – Nissan’s Jatco has been supplying Chrysler with transmisisons since 2004.

Next up: Chrysler assistance for next generation Nissan pickups perhaps?

Related Posts:
Nissan and Chrysler in technical collaboration talks
Chery to build small car for Chrysler
Chery and Chrysler discusses two small car projects
Chrysler and Chery sign small car letter of intent
Chery to build Dodge subcompacts for DCX

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Reader NathenNod snapped these photos of another Nissan Bluebird Sylphy on test in the Segambut today. This is the second photographed sighting of the Civic-sized car on this blog this year. Will we see the Nissan Sentra replaced with an aptly-priced new Nissan Bluebird Sylphy next year?

More spyshots after the jump.

Related Posts:
2006 Nissan Bluebird Sylphy
Nissan Bluebird Sylphy spotted in Malaysia!

Click here to read the rest of Taped up Nissan Bluebird Sylphy spotted again!

Nissan’s FORUM Concept will be showcase at the 2008 Detroit Motor Show in January next year, and it is a vehicle that Nissan hopes to produce in the future for all your Nissan Grand Livina buyers to graduate to one day.

Nissan designed the Nissan FORUM Concept to offer an ‘engaging space’ for children and a ’sophisticated space’ for adults. The interior is done up in leather and aluminium, and features wireless displays for DVD and gameplay.

The 2nd row seats can swivel 180 degrees to create a “living room” configuration, with the second and third row seats facing each other. Passengers can easily engage in activities during a long tiring “balik kampung” drive this way.

The second and third row is accessed via long sliding side doors using a special hinge system to allow for a clean, trackless profile, and the omition of the B-pillar, safely engineered by reinforcing the roof and door frame.

Each headrest has speakers in them, and the audio system is engineered by Bose. Cameras mounting the 2nd and 3rd rows send images to a display at the front – a CCTV system of sorts to monitor your kids. There is also a “time out” button to pause all media (each passenger can view his own media, like on a plane), allowing the front occupants to announce whatever they need to announce.

More photos of the Nissan FORUM Concept after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan FORUM Concept

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Here are some ideas from graphic artist Theophilus Chin for those who are into modifying their cars and plan to get a Nissan Grand Livina. Above is the Nissan Livina Geniss grille, which is not the same as the one Edaran Tan Chong Motor has chose to specify on our Malaysian Nissan Grand Livina car. Ours is more Murano-like, similiar to the Grand Livina in Indonesia.

Anyway you will find after the jump a few creations from Theophilus inspired by the Nissan Skyline, the Nissan Murano and the Nissan Qashqai.

View the images after the jump.

Related Posts:
Nissan Grand Livina 1.6 and 1.8 unveiled in Malaysia

Click here to read the rest of Nissan Grand Livina front grille modification

Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd has unveiled the new Nissan Grand Livina MPV in Malaysia, and it comes in three variants – 1.8 automatic, 1.6 automatic and 1.6 manual. Simple and easy, no highline or lowline stuff for you to fret with.

The basic NIssan Grand Livina is the 1.6 liter manual model powered by the HR16DE. This is not exactly the same HR16DE as the one in the Nissan Latio though, somehow Tan Chong has elected to equip the Grand Livina 1.6 with a variant of the HR16DE that does not have variable valve timing. It puts out 105 horsepower at 5,200rpm and 150Nm of torque at 4,400rpm, while the Latio’s HR16DE does 109 at 6,000rpm and 153Nm at 4,400rpm. The gearbox for the manual is a 5-speed, while the slushbox is a 4-speeder.

You can differentiate the 1.6 liter and the 1.8 liter unit via the front grille, which is chrome for the 1.8 liter – very Murano-like. The 1.8 liter only comes with a 4-speed automatic gearbox and its MR18DE engine produces 126 horsepower at 5,200rpm and 174Nm of torque at 4,800rpm. This engine is the same one in the Latio 1.8, and is equipped with Continuously Variable Valve Timing.

The Nissan Grand Livina can carry 7 in a 2-3-2 arrangement. Suspension is a MacPherson strut setup at the front, while the rear uses a torsion beam. This is a similiar setup to the Nissan Latio, in fact the Nissan Grand Livina is actually built on the Nissan Latio’s platform. This should bode well for its rear passengers – none of that discomfort associated with body on frame MPVs derived from pick-up truck platforms!

As with most vehicles designed to carry lots of weight, it has Electronic Brakeforce Distribution which automatically varies braking force between the front and rear brakes. This so the Nissan Grand Livina will remain stable under heavy braking with heavy loads. Other safety features include ABS and dual passenger airbags for all variants.

The other external difference between the Nissan Grand Livina 1.6 and 1.8 liter variants are the alloy wheels. While both variants use 15 inch alloy wheels with 185/65 R15 tyres, the alloy wheels on the 1.8 liter model is polished. The 1.8 liter model also has foglamps. Under the hood, the 1.8 liter model has an engine cover while the 1.6 liter unit does not. In the interior, both models have a cream interior but the 1.6 liter variant gets silver trim while the 1.8 liter model gets wood trim. All models have 7 cupholders but the 1.8 liter model’s front cupholder has a lid. Seats are cloth for both models but leather is an available option at extra cost.

Tan Chong has taken down 1,800 orders for the Nissan Grand Livina to date in a pre-launch booking campaign, so the initial stock already has owners. You will have to wait for the Serendah plant to produce more before you can have yours delivered if you book now.

Pricelist:
Nissan Grand Livina 1.6 Manual – RM82,000
Nissan Grand Livina 1.6 Auto – RM86,600
Nissan Grand Livina 1.8 Auto – RM95,000

More photos and videos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan Grand Livina 1.6 and 1.8 unveiled in Malaysia