02 Nissan Exalta Grandeur A/T Inquiry

[progen]

I am a mostly a Honda and Toyota guy. I would like to inquire about the 2002 Nissan Exalta Grandeur A/T - Pros , cons, Fuel Consumption, Parts cost availability, current price, ride comfort.

Thank you very much for your inputs.

[niky]

Pros: lots of borloloi, acres of nice leather, decent radio with CD changer, easy to drive, soft ride, painless to sit in during traffic jams due to soft seats and powerful aircon.

Cons: not enough suspension travel (bottoms out over heaves and dips at speed, especially with a full load), sluggish automatic transmission (aren't they all), fuel consumption suffers because of automatic tranny and strong aircon. Back seat kinda small, but hey, it's just a compact...

Current price, wouldn't know... probably around 350k. Parts availability, not sure either, since the engine is different from the 1990 - 2000 Sentras.

[tr1ck5h07]

I just got one two weeks ago and here are my initial comments:

Pros:
- luxurious interior
- light steering wheel (good for parking and cruising)
- excellent climate control
- high-tech features abound (handsfree phone kit, backing sensors w/
hidden display on the rear-view mirror, HUD of current speed, etc)
- quiet engine
- excellent front headlamp light output

Cons:
- cramped rear seating (it's really only for 2, max 3)
- only 14" rims
- stereo is not iPod ready
- soft shocks, really bad when traversing sharp bumps


Price range is around 320k-400k depending on how well maitained it is.

[kyle618]

Originally Posted by tr1ck5h07

I just got one two weeks ago and here are my initial comments:

Pros:
- luxurious interior
- light steering wheel (good for parking and cruising)
- excellent climate control
- high-tech features abound (handsfree phone kit, backing sensors w/
hidden display on the rear-view mirror, HUD of current speed, etc)
- quiet engine
- excellent front headlamp light output

Cons:
- cramped rear seating (it's really only for 2, max 3)
- only 14" rims
- stereo is not iPod ready
- soft shocks, really bad when traversing sharp bumps


Price range is around 320k-400k depending on how well maitained it is.

yeah that pretty much is spot on. my daily driver is a black 02 grandeur. the clarion 6 disc changer at the trunk is also good. Basically its very kitted out. some even have the LCD VCD thingy that pops out (top of the line model back in 02 cost us 890k Brand new). the HU is not Ipod ready but you could easily plug an AUX-IN wire at the back because it has an aux in function. it also has 2 tweeters at the front and 4 speakers. the biggest downsides are the boring handling and the oh so slow engine (well compared to 1.6L sedans around). it also has bad cabin insulation imo (reklamo rin ng dad ko)...

i luv the car because of its damn COLD A/C and the backup sensor and the digital HUD. oh meron din pala controls in the steering wheel for the stereo.

take care of the MAF sensor and it should be problem free.

[progen]

Thanks for the replies guys, how about the fuel consumption?
I usually go out of town - Pampanga, Batangas, Quezon , do you think this car is good for out of town trips?

[vinj]

My sis used to have one:

- Very comfy car but the suspension is soft. The bottoming out of the rear suspension can be cured by upgrading to gas shocks at the rears (i got Paraut gas shocks for ours at 1.5K a pop before)

- stable at high speeds. better stability on the highway as compared to an EK Civic or AE101/AE111 Corolla (its heavier then the other two also). The Exalta Grandeur is actually more of a Nissan Pulsar (N-series platform) rather than a Nissan Sentra (B-series platform). Add 15" rims with 195/55 tires and reaching the 180kph top-speed (speed limiter-governed) on the NLEX is very drama free.

- Fuel consumption is in the 8km/L range; the engine uses consumable/maintainance parts similar to the GA series engine of the 1993-1995 Sentra B13 and 1995-2001/Exalta Sentra B14 so parts isnt really a problem.

- the weak parts of this car is the more related to some of the electronic doo-dads; check if the VCD player is functioning well. Check also power door locks and antenna.

- The MAF sensor should be cleaned with electric contact cleaner every 10,000kms or so... (pretty straightforward though... just don't touch the sensor pin); an extremely dirty MAF sensor results in poor engine performance (parang hirap to reach high rpms), some fuel knock, and poorer fuel consumption.

- leg room at the back is more on the tighter side compared to the Civic and 2001 - up Altis.

[tr1ck5h07]

it's very good for out-of-town trips. just took out mine to batangas last weekend and it felt very stable and comfy on the highway.

i get around 9.71 km/lt city driving using premium gasoline.

yea, check if the accessories are complete and working. my LCD screen is having problems and i need to have that checked.

[kyle618]

- stable at high speeds. better stability on the highway as compared to an EK Civic or AE101/AE111 Corolla (its heavier then the other two also). The Exalta Grandeur is actually more of a Nissan Pulsar (N-series platform) rather than a Nissan Sentra (B-series platform). Add 15" rims with 195/55 tires and reaching the 180kph top-speed (speed limiter-governed) on the NLEX is very drama free.

ive only reached 145kph on Skyway. parang ayaw na humatak pa. normal lang ba? kakainis e

[vinj]

Originally Posted by kyle618

ive only reached 145kph on Skyway. parang ayaw na humatak pa. normal lang ba? kakainis e

Have you cleaned the MAF lately? There are several factors to this (dirty MAF, needs a tune-up, filters, etc)...

[niky]

There are also external factors, such as temperature, humidity, time of day, etcetera. My old Sentra's top speed could vary by as much as 15 km/h depending on external conditions and the car conditions mentioned by vinj.

And an automatic 1.6 like that requires lots of room to accelerate to 180... there's not often enough room to do that on the Skyway.

[kyle618]

its the southbound skyway from magallanes. yeah medyo maikli nga. anyway we have it checked up every 5tkm with nissan.