7 February 2011
The Tiida - said Tee-Da - comes in hatchback, sedan and wagon configuration. Though oddly the wagon bears the domestic Japanese nameplate, Wingroad.
A technology partnership with Renault means the vehicle shares a platform with Renault's Clio, but it's built in Japan.
There's no mistaking some French design cues that have made their way into Nissan's design though, the front end looks decidedly like their French counterpart's product. A walk around the rear of our sedan test vehicle though, reveals a natural progression of the outgoing Pulsar's styling.
Gaining access into the Tiida's spacious interior is easy thanks to a generous hip height of the seats.
Once inside the cabin is attractive, but basic, a more generous helping of softer surfaces and colour treatments would not go astray here. The instruments add some flair with a trinity of circular windows, made all the better by the fact they're very easily read.
The cabin is practical, all controls fall to hand in a typical, no fuss Japanese vehicle type of way, and there's also plenty of storage bins and cubbies for sunglasses, cell phones and what-have-you.
Becoming more and more common in the class however steering wheel is mounted audio controls; this is one feature the Tiida has unfortunately omitted.
The front seat adjustments have been moved to the inside of the seat. This takes a little getting used to but allows for much bigger seat bases, the Tiida's seat bases are just 10mm shy of the Maxima's cushy chair in width. This makes for comfort levels uncommon for a vehicle this size, a huge benefit on those longer journeys. Rear seating is also spacious, although Nissan have not fully capitalised on this, offering only the unpopular and less safe, lap type belt for the centre rear seating position.
Powering the Tiida is an all-new 1.8 litre engine that generates 93kW @ 5200 rpm and 174 Nm of torque @ 4800 rpm.
Performance is spritely and the 1.8 powerplant is competent in both urban and open road environments. Contradictory to Nissan's commitment to their well sorted and more fuel efficient, Constantly Variable Transmission (CVT), New Zealand bound Tiida's don't make use of the seamless shifter.
Instead Tiida is mated to a four-speed automatic, or a six-speed manual.
Our test car was fitted with the former, its operation was adequate, but not class leading. And we can also attest the manual's clunky shift throw is not ideal.
Pulling the Tiida to a rest is done via progressive feeling disc front brakes and drum brakes in the rear, ABS and Brake Assist come standard across the range. Brake Assist gauges the urgency of the driver's braking in emergency situations. Inside the front McPherson suspension strut towers hide rebound springs, similar to the design of a motorcycle fork. The ripple control suspension works very well at ironing out smaller vibrations, as well as limiting the strut's extension during hard cornering. Handling errs toward the quiet and comfortable, rather than firm and sporty. Steering was responsive, but at some speeds, mainly around town, we found it felt light and over-assisted.
Passive safety to the occupants includes front airbags, and on the higher spec Ti variant as we tested, curtain airbags. Unusually, no side airbags are optioned which isn't really good enough these days.
Luggage volume is a generous 467 litres with the rear seats upright, but to accommodate longer loads the 60/40-split fold seating drop with ease.
The Tiida is a spacious, practical and capable car; its most outstanding characteristic is comfort, both in areas of seating and ride. But it lacks several features that many of its competitors include as standard fitment. At $32,450 the Ti spec Tiida sedan as tested doesn't exhibit the best value for money in the class.