sorry dudes no laptop so away frm forums during weekends...
ok my two cents worth
one cannot compare a corolla n allion to a cefiro for the primary reason that both those cars r 1500cc 4 pot engines (though allions also come wit 1800cc motors) and the cefiro comes wit either 2000cc, 2500cc or 3000cc V6 engines (i will base my discussion on the most common which is the 2000cc V6)...these cars r of two totally different leagues
in my opinion n im sure all of u agree, performance is judgd by how quick ur car is...the A33 cefiro has 165bhp n almost 200Nm of torque to get this bit of bulk frm A to B pretty quick...but i repeat bulk...the car is quite long, wide n heavy n so fuel consumption wud roughly b abt 7km/l in the city with smooth driving n 95 octane juice (i get better fuel consumption out of my A32 cos its much lighter than the new one)...7km/l is actually very gud 4 a 2000cc V6 cos ive heard sum 2000cc 4 cylindrs do abt 5km/l in traffic...this is mainly due to the fact that the cefiro engines hav individual ignition coils for each cylinder n thus hav better spark firing capability (the details of which i shall not go into now) which obviusly leads to more fuel being burned per combustion stroke...
wit respect to parts, well i only use genuine nissan parts n most of my maintenance is done by the agents (A*W) which is a pretty expensiv affair but if u luv ur car u'd do d same...i dont knw if other ppl stock parts so i cant help u there...
on the plus side as isuru said, the VQ series of engines (note the 350Z uses a VQ engine too) have won awards in the past, and these engines are work horses...u can add on plenty of miles n not hav to do any major work...i knw sum1 in ireland getting 200,000kms (i kid u not) out of his 1996 cefiro which he uses as a taxi...no1's had to touch the engine yet
the handling is brilliant...i drive hard on smooth roads n i weave through roundabts witout a fuss...thanks to those huge 205/65/15 tyres the car hogs the tar (n anythng else on the road)...brakes r alrite as long as u use the genuine nissan brake pads
comfort n space is ofcourse plentiful
also a very slick car...lot more attractiv dan a corolla (god save toyota)
overall the car is very gud n very advanced but since this car is for ur mum u'd hav to think abt whether she'd b happy driving a big car thru shitty traffic n maintenance is high...ONE CANNOT USE 90 OCTANE ON THIS CAR COS IT IS SEVERLY DETRIMENTAL TO UR ENGINE...plus wud she really want all that power???
if the answer is YES to those questions then i say go for it...try to get a car for arnd 2.5mill n save d rest to do any work on the car cos SL goons hav not heard of regular maintenance...
sorry that was a lot more than 2 cents but i hope it helps...feel free to ask any specific questions abt d car...