Cars - Nissan Almera

Home > Listing Index > Cars > Nissan Almera

	Cars - Nissan Almera

The Nissan Almera is a small family car built by Nissan, launched in 1995. The Almera name is essentially the European export-market name for the Nissan Pulsar / Nissan Sentra.

Nissan Almera Mk I N15 (1995–2000)

The first Nissan Almera rolled off the production line late in 1995, as replacement for the Nissan Sunny, a nameplate which had been in use for nearly 30 years.

Power came from 1.4 GA14DE and 1.6 GA16DE petrol and 2.0 CD20 diesel engines initially in 1995, but a year into production a 2.0 SR20DE engined GTi was added to the range. The GTi had uprated suspension, front and rear strut braces and a quicker steering rack. The Nissan Almera was ungainly in appearance but beneath its bland exterior lay an excellent chassis which gave perhaps the best ride and handling of any small medium car on sale in Europe.

Almost all Almeras sold in the UK were hatchbacks with three or five doors - this is quite different to some other regions such as Ireland, where the saloon version is substantially more commonplace. Specification was good, with all models getting power steering, driver airbag and stereo as standard. Most of the range had antilock brakes, air-conditioning, electric windows and CD player as at least an option. As with all Nissans, build quality and reliability were first rate.

Nissan Almera Mk II N16 (2000–2006)

Launched early in 2000, the second generation Nissan Almera looked better than its predecessor but was still bland in comparison with its rivals. However, it maintained the original Almera's strong selling points of a long equipment list, spacious interior, comfortable ride, excellent handling, rock solid build quality and cast iron reliability.

The Almera was still one of the best handling small family cars sold in Europe partly due to the fact that is shares the same bodyframe with the US Nissan Sentra.

This version of the Almera could be had as a three- or five-door hatchback or a four-door saloon, with 1.5 (QG15DE) and 1.8 (QG18DE) petrol engines as well as a 2.2 direct injection turbodiesel (YD22DDT) or common-rail turbodiesel (YD22DDTi).

Almeras can be also equipped with 1.5 common-rail turbodiesel from the Renault Megane II - Nissan had recently ventured with Renault and the Almera's diesel engine was the first instance of Nissans and Renaults sharing mechanicals.

In the year 2003 the Almera has undergone another update which included a face-lift, re tuned suspension, new engines and an updated interior.

First, the Almera's Macpherson strut front suspension and twist beam axle rear suspension have been re tuned. This results in a quieter ride and a reduction in the amount of rear bump-through experienced when heavily laden, improving high-speed stability and making the car more controllable after an emergency manoeuvre. Overall, Nissan says, the Almera has slighter firmer damper settings and marginally stiffer spring ratings, though there has been no loss of ride comfort or increase in noise levels in normal motoring.The suspension revisions have been executed in such a way as to only come into play at the upper edge of the dynamic envelope.

The face lift included new chrome, projector-style headlights that are set in a titanium-coloured surround that emphasises what Nissan SA describes ad "the bold new face of Almera" with separate lights for main and low beams set behind an enlarged translucent cover. The front bumper now has an integrated engine air intake that runs almost the full width of the car while a honeycomb mesh grille adds visual benefits to the frontal image. Some models also get small circular fog lights.

The interior of the face-lifted Almera has also been redesigned with better quality materials and a large color / monochrome (depending on trim level) center screen which controls the car's climate control, CD player and trip computer. Higher trim levels also include Nissan's Bird-eye GPS system and leather wrapped steering wheel and gear knob.

The Nissan Almera is now in its sixth year of production and is expected to be replaced in the near future by an all-new car based around the running gear of the Renault Mégane. The new car should maintain its predecessor's hallmarks of quality and refinement but also offer more modern style.

The face-lifted Almera is built in Sunderland, UK and are exported to parts of the Asia-Pacific where they are sold as the Nissan Pulsar.

The Almera is also built by Nissan in South Africa.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Nissan Almera ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Nissan Almera; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Cars - Nissan Almera

Nissan Almera Mk I N15 (1995–2000)

Nissan Almera Mk II N16 (2000–2006)

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay