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Following on from your earlier suggestion, I have looked at the new Nissan Qashqai and was quite impressed. They have a slightly smaller well priced car, the Tiida which I feel could also suit our needs.

Any thoughts on this car ?

John

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 8 December 2009

The Tiida is a good car if not a little bland.

It has not been a huge seller but that doesn't make it a bad car and value for money it is reasonably good buying.

Nissans in general have an excellent reliability record.

A couple of things to be aware of however;

The car sells reasonably well to fleets where prices are likely to be heavily discounted which ultimately affects resale values. In other words the fleet deals will be a lot less than what you will be paying as a retail customer.

Not a huge problem if you plan on keeping the car for the long term (say 5 years plus).

Unfortunately the Tiida does not have a lap and diagonal safety belt in the centre rear seating position. Instead it has a lap belt only which is not a good restraint system in the modern motorcar (possibly a negative when reselling also).

I would prefer the Qashqai myself because it does provide the benefits of a SUV (seating position, ease of entry and exit etc) without the add-ons such as 4WD which most people don't really need.

If you still like the Tiida be prepared to negotiate the best deal you can and don't take the salespersons word the initial deal they are offering is the best they can do.

Another car to have a look at is the new Kia Cerato. This is a very good and much improved car at a very competitive retail price.