A Few General Questions

AsiJay · May 10, 2016

Dear All,

Although I am very new to this forum I have been reading your comments for a while. Finally I thought I would create an account and raise a few general questions (that I have for a long time) as you guys seem to be more educated and rather knowledgeable about cars/models than me.

Serena/Engine issue- We all aware that what happened to owners at the end. However, Sri Lankans have digested this problem via different ways (replaced by Vannette engines, sell the vehicle for peanuts, etc) I just wonder whether the Manufacturer has taken any steps to fix this problem (to regain the damaged reputation, for example-product recall for Japanese users ?),

Does anyone know any information on this, whether it happened to a specific batch/has Nissan admitted it? I guess that it is certainly an engineering issue.

I remember, a caller asked (at a one of the Autovision programmes) whether it is ok to buy this car or not . Mr.Lal Alawatte mentioned few cons of this minivan and finally came to the point, “I am not condemning any car model as those are designed and made by professionals/qualified experts, but, very frankly, I should say that there is a problem”.

2. Nissan Primera P12 and Cefiro A33: Both models started to appear in our roads after 2000 At the beginning they both were well accepted by “Sri Lankan taste”. Personally, I really like them as they present very decent and professional outlook. However, soonafter, they were labelled as “gas gustling big fat ladies, so stay away”,.. eventually, Primera lost it’s second hand market compared to other rivals like 121s and TI my roads, we cannot blame the buyers as buying a car is an investment for us, so everyone needs something in return, at least the capital that we have put on.

Well, the fact is, we Sri Lankans like to enjoy the luxury and ready spend extra lacks on comfort (because, we all look for full option vehicles with many buttons, no matter what it does). So, why buyers are not ready burn extra few litres of fuel per month?

I feel they arrived too early in to Sri Lankan market in terms of affordability or more futuristic at that time…

Do you think that story is not as bad as we think or is it another myth fabricated by so called “car brokers”, because several good car models have been victimized by them which made owners ended up huge losses.

I totally agree to someone’s comment that I saw in Presea project- or in similar words “those days we used to see vehicle models with taste/charisma and personality that added colour and diversity, but look now, our roads have been flooded with Pruises and Vezels,

3.Toyota Emina/Estima-Can someone explain me why this vehicle could not attract the SrI Lankan market although its spacious/diesel/family carrier. I spoke to few “wahana osthars” but no clear answer was given, (someone told me its not successful either in Japan). Did the price made the matters worst ?

Thanks for your time…

KR,

AJ

Edited May 10, 2016 by AsiJay

Crosswind · May 11, 2016

1. Serena has been discussed so many times in this forum. Please do a search. Afaik there are no 'problems' in the vehicle except an overheating issue (simple fix - no need to replace engine) and mechanics find it difficult to access the engine. Lal Alawatta is a know-it-all mechanic and his work is worse than a village mechanic's work. I know this by experience. Why should Nissan solve a non-existent problem?

2. What is your question anyway? Why buyers are not willing to spend extra money on fuel? Didn't you know that Sri Lankans readily mortgage their testicles to buy cars to compete with Mr. Perera next door and then they don't have money to spend for petrol...

3. Emina looks like a high end coffin. Do you like the looks?

RViji · May 11, 2016

Good to see someone agreeing with my comment on Presea project about losing diversity on our roads.

Estima/Emina were quite popular in Japan and US(I think the US model Estima even got a big award in the 90s for it's revolutionary design),but Toyota killed their own market segment with the introduction of the successful Noah,Voxy models with European front engine layout.