My wife and I are in the market for a new car. We test drove a few and narrowed our search down to the Nissan Livina (H).
It’s got a pretty economical “green” engine, as far as I could find out, a Renault designed chassis (don’t know if that is good) while the engine and transmission are from Nissan.
We both like that the vehicle’s sitting position is quite high for such a relatively compact car, with ample room inside.
The boot area seems to be bigger than that of the Honda Fit, and far bigger than the Yaris, but not as big as the Mitsubishi Colt’s. We liked the Colt as well, but both feel that it’s awfully narrow which doesn’t make it feel that safe.
Btw, we have the price down to 500,000 for the H model, which retails at just about 600,000.
If any of you would like to let me have your opinion on the the Nissan Livina, please feel free. I’d appreciate your advice and opinions.
It’s probably one of the better deals out there, but the reason why people buy Hondas and Toyotas are their reliability and resale value, which is important if you know you will be leaving in a couple of years.
That said, the new Nissans are supposedly much better than before, but I think the jury is still out on that.
Well, I think the Livina looks certainly good.
I am having an X-Trail (SUV), it’s now 4 years old and did 111000 km without hassle. I have to admit I bought it because I was attracted to the leather and wood interior, which like a real expensive car judging by my usual (German) standards from back home . Really, in Germany you only get such looks inside if you pay double or more for a car.
I have heard here that Nissan sacrifices quality for the comfort, but as I said, the thing runs fine.
For the X-Trail, Side wind impact is a little high, but that and how it breaks is better than my Mitsubishi I drove back home. That minivan thingy always wanted to swirl a bit left to right when breaking got serious.
Also my BMWs of 5 and 3 series back home (older models, 1980 and 1988) were not so stable when breaking hard compared to the Nissan.
For a seven seater I’d much rather have a slightly used Mazda 5 for the same price which is far more practical but for the one center seat in the middle row in case you seat three middle passengers at a time. The centre seat folds away or becomes a table, but doesn’t make the best actual seat to sit on. The Mazda has the sliding side doors which offer much greater loading ease as well as easy parking and getting in and out of the rear. The Mazda will hold its price better than the Livina too and will little doubt be much more reliable over time. It also offers more rear loading space and impact resistance in the rear.
The Nissan looks nice inside I give it that, but it isn’t practical as a modern seven seater and is bettered by others. I think it was out of date before it was released due to its lack of clever storage space and ease of use and feel. Sorry if I sound a bit too harsh, I try to give credit where its due.
Mazda 5 interior for comparison. Notice the flat rear floor which leaves plenty of headroom and legroom.
if possible, you may want to take a look at Tida instead. They are basically the same car with different roof lines.
My co-worker was thinking about Lavina for about 3 month, did all the research and walked into the dealer intended to buy one. In the end, they walked away with a Tida.
Big reason he chose Tida over Lavina was the adjustable rear seats. The seats can be move back and forth for additional cargo space or leg room. Seat back can also recline which makes rear passenger quite sleepy.
Of course, Tida will cost more, but you also get more. It’s best to get the best possible car you can afford and forget the rest.
Without trying to compare apples and pairs, here’s my opinion.
Small cars:
Honda Fit. My top small car because of its versatility and interior space coupled with Honda reliability and low price. Its extremely well laid out, inside and out, and did I mention its amazing low price?
Toyota Yaris. Very difficult to say better than the Swift, but it comes down to practicality for me and interior space which makes Toyota’s Yaris just that little bit easier to use, plus Toyota’s famed reliability. Its short comings however are the low rear roof which doesn’t offer 180cm rear passengers much headroom, and Toyota’s high new car price. Reisduals are good though as Toyota loses value much slower than all other brands in Taiwan. The small car that feels big, but not quite as practical as the cheaper Honda.
Suzuki Swift. The best drive of all the fore mentioned, and cheap to purchase. Used cars galore to take ones pick. Suzuki has produced a very nice interior and comfortable seats for the Swift but left little room for luggage and passengers. In terms of interior space it doesn’t compete with either of its newer rivals. Residuals are poorer than its rivals too, but on the bright side makes a used car purchase more tempting.
Since this thread is 4 years old, I’ll ask again because I’m about to buy a Grand Livina 1.8, 7 seater. I now have a Nissan Sentra that’s 13 years old, with almost 300 000 km on the dial. It has given me almost no hassle until recently. It’ll probably be cheaper now just to replace it.
Are there any other brands out there now that compare to the Livina in terms of size and price? I saw a Toyota Innova the other day on the street. Looks similar but not sure if there is a 7 seat option. We only have Nissan and VW dealers in town so I’ll have to get to Kaohsiung to have a look around.
The price of the Livina is now listed as 680 000NT. The OP mentions that he was able to bargain 100 000 off the listed price. Any tips on how you go about doing this? I’m hopeless when it comes to haggling. Salespeople walk all over me.
The Livina can’t really be compared to an Innova in my opinion. The Innova is based on a ladder chassis (truck chassis) and is also powered at the rear wheels. The overall drive of the Innova is as one might expect from such a vehicle with this arrangement and although fairly comfortable at low speeds is quite difficult to manage at higher cornering speeds. The Innova is a thirsty, high tax bracket, poor performer when it comes to moving people. It can be adapted in the rear cargo area to home a third row seat, but is strictly illegal in a normal “passenger vehicle” category.
The Livina as of reasonable build quality, but I would say a little poorer than the smaller Tiida, which is one of my present favorite Taiwan cars. Paneling and sound proofing are fairly poor and the car seems as if it has been really built down to a price. It isn’t an awful car by any means, but I don’t think it works well as a seven seater when compared to alternate options. Those options would mainly be the Mazda 5 and Toyota Wish model.
Of course there are practically no seven seaters which are amazing to drive by any sense, and so drivability or driver feel shouldn’t be a high priority when contemplating a seven seater, but things like leg room, load space, ease of access should be areas to consider. I personally think that the Mazda 5 delivers best overall in those areas as well as being practically the only seven seater with a reasonable ride quality. The C1 platform which it is built upon has been very well received by enlarge throughout the models which it serves, including the Mazda 3, Ford Focus and various Volvo models. The platform offers sprightly handling at a reduced build cost. It does suffer early suspension wear compared to many other Japanese platforms, and can be relatively more expensive to repair, but it does provide reasonable flat cornering ability as well as bump absorption. Staying on performance for a second longer, the Mazda 5 offers reasonable fuel economy and reliability, but main complaints tend to be about the rather low power from the stock 2.0 litre engine and rapid tyre wear.
The interior of the Mazda I consider to be extremely versatile due to its clever centre seat arrangements and flat loading in the rear. Loading of items or people is also made much easier due to its side sliding rear side doors.
The Mazda 5 has continued to be a very popular model both on the new and used car markets and residual value is relatively strong.
The Livina isn’t generally sought after in the used market and is another typical example of residual used value of Nissans being relatively poor. As usual I would generally advise buyers to consider three year old models as these can be purchased relatively cheaply and can be found in reasonable condition.
The reliability of the Tiida and Livina in recent years has been quite good overall. They are noted to suffer early suspension wear due to quite poor damper design. Even when new these dampers don’t offer very good shock absorption and result in a rather crashy ride. If I were a Tiida or Livina owner I would strongly consider better quality dampers. I think that the Tiida is a very good car for the money as it offers good passenger room, a good loading capacity and very comfortable interior. Having said that it looses points for a step in it’s rear floor with the rear seats folded down. The Livina further looses points for it’s hinged rear side doors making it difficult to load and unload people as well as the lack of third row leg room.
Personally for the price of a new Livina I would easily prefer a used Mazda 5 for it’s far better ride and versatile interior, not to mention the fully adjustable steering wheel, as opposed to the rather basic Livina. If I were to go for reliability alone, then I would prefer the Toyota Wish. If I were to require a heavy duty van, then I’d go for the Innova.
I’ve been to several used car dealers, most of whom are offering 10+ year old cars similar to the Wish and Mazda 5 for 3-4 hundred thousand. I really don’t know a thing about cars so I’d rather take the 8 year warranty and pay double the price for a new rig.
I scoped out the Tida, too. If I was buying for myself, there’s a good chance I’d go for that. But I see a need in the future to cart around a few students, not that many that I’d have to go for a VW van, but probably more than four.
Even the new March is a fine looking vehicle. Saw one the other day and couldn’t figure out what it was until I was close enough to read the letters.
It’s come down to the Wish and the Livina. If I thought I was going to be on the road a lot, I’d probably go for the Wish. I’m 186 cm and the Wish is better suited to this frame. But I don’t see myself driving it long distances, and paying almost 200 000 less might be the deal maker.
I didn’t negotiate the sticker price on the Livina, but asked for extras instead. So far for 688 000 I have the car, DVD, GPS, some kind of TV, back up camera, front video camera, first year insurance, an extra i-key, a few other things not worth mentioning, and for some strange reason, two nights stay in some hotel chain.
The Toyota guy seemed less eager to bargain. Maybe I’ll have a go at a different dealer.
. Really, in Germany you only get such looks inside if you pay double or more for a car.
