Looking at a Nissan Primera 2002 - advice?

Tea_Bag

a guy i know has a nissan primera 02 1.6L up for sale, and i think he'd take €1500, cause he needs a quick sale.

aside from being a rather boring and mundane looking car, and probably very slow, is there anything to look out for on these? high maintenance or anything? any rust points?

is my money better spent elsewhere?
its kind of an impulse buy tbh, but id love some opinions, cause im very strapped for cash.

thanks!

EDIT:

its got 125 000km on the clock, and it had a new gearbox installed at around ~105 000km time. is this a weak point on the car? is it taken care of now that the gearbox was replaced, therefore not an expense i should encounter?
nct'd until 2012

FWIW its this shape model, but it doesnt include the satnav/colour screen/reverse cam.

CiniO

All primeras p12 include reversing camera.
From being very slow, there's nothing really to worry about.
Engine like to burn some oil sometimes. While driving on potholes, some suspension balljoints or bushing might get loose.
Besides it's a very good car.

ShadowHearth

Gearboxes are horrible on these m8. Weak point, they go for 600 eu in scrapyards, even if you are lucky enought to get one. It was chamged once, it will be changed soon again.
Seen blown gearbox on 2002 myself, damn things just explode and make huge hole in gearbox shell.

Almeras and primeras post 2000 got this problem. I would stay away. Got a friend who bought same primera amd changed gearbox too. Has loads of trouble with this car. My mechanics/friend told me to stay away from it.

And i am nissan driver, and i think those primeras horrible, specialy the dash board

CiniO

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Gearboxes are horrible on these m8. Weak point, they go for 600 eu in scrapyards, even if you are lucky enought to get one. It was chamged once, it will be changed soon again.
Seen blown gearbox on 2002 myself, damn things just explode and make huge hole in gearbox shell.

Is it just with 1.6 or with 1.8 as well?

Never heard about that gearbox problems with Primeras.

Besides 600 euros for a gearbox???????????

Just an example:
http://allegro.pl/skrzynia-biegow-nissan-primera-p12-1-8-16v-2002-i1445403874.html
That's a gearbox for Primera 1.8 from Polish website, for 399zl which is about 100 euros.
Add another 50 to 100 for postage, and you have a gearbox for less than 200 euros.

ShadowHearth

Wouldnt be far away from each. Uf i am not mistakem they could share same gearbox. I am not sure now.

But particular cars i know about all were 1.8

ShadowHearth

CiniO wrote: »

Is it just with 1.6 or with 1.8 as well?

Never heard about that gearbox problems with Primeras.

Besides 600 euros for a gearbox???????????

Just an example:
http://allegro.pl/skrzynia-biegow-nissan-primera-p12-1-8-16v-2002-i1445403874.html
That's a gearbox for Primera 1.8 from Polish website, for 399zl which is about 100 euros.
Add another 50 to 100 for postage, and you have a gearbox for less than 200 euros.

What do i know i just seen that happen and ops mentioned car had gearbox replaced. Gj on being polist too, but alot of people here are not from pola d amd not ordering parts there. I am lithuanian and i know parts are cheaper there, but i am not saying poeple here to shop in lithuanian websites.

I am in ireland and i am saying irish prices.

CiniO

ShadowHearth wrote: »

What do i know i just seen that happen and ops mentioned car had gearbox replaced. Gj on being polist too, but alot of people here are not from pola d amd not ordering parts there. I am lithuanian and i know parts are cheaper there, but i am not saying poeple here to shop in lithuanian websites.

I am in ireland and i am saying irish prices.

But if Irish prices are crazy high, there's nothing against buying abroad cheaper.

Don't you agree that it's better to buy a gearbox from Poland with postage for 200 than in Ireland for 600?
No matter if I was Irish, Polish, Lithuanian or Chineese I would go for it.

I have primera 1.8 and gearbox works perfectly.
It's 03 with 76k mls. Hope it won't break down.
But you really surprised me, as before buying primera I made a good research about this car, and never heard anything wrong about gearboxes.

ShadowHearth

I newer heard that too, untill i have seen it woth my own eyes a hole in gearbox, car was driven by woman who is not racing...

Talked with mechanics, helped to find gearbox. Even got one from scrap yard with indentical damage. Good thing they were doing delevery themselfs...

As for ordering stuff from ather countries its fine, but you got to understand not all people know about it, have languadge or information. In all fairness i wount order anything second hand for the car online when i wount even see item. Its lottery.

Some people wount have time too to wait as if person got a car, it means he needs it every day. So he wount be waiting...

Sorry for offtopic op. Hopefully more poeple can give better advice.

billyboy01

Nissans especially the 2000-07 models like Almera's and Primera's are petrol guzzellers! Except the Micra, and even that has a higher fuel consumption, compared to other supermini's!

I would look elsewhere!

CiniO

billyboy01 wrote: »

Nissans especially the 2000-07 models like Almera's and Primera's are petrol guzzellers! Except the Micra, and even that has a higher fuel consumption, compared to other supermini's!

I would look elsewhere!

????

My primera takes 8 l/100km on a windy mountain road driving.
On a quite straight road with speeds up to 90km/h you can go as low as 6 l/100km.
City driving is probably about 9 l/100km.

I think that's a very good result for a car that weights 1300kg.

billyboy01

CiniO wrote: »

????

My primera takes 8 l/100km on a windy mountain road driving.
On a quite straight road with speeds up to 90km/h you can go as low as 6 l/100km.
City driving is probably about 9 l/100km.

I think that's a very good result for a car that weights 1300kg.

Either your trip computer is telling you porky's or you have a super duper Nissan!:)

CiniO

billyboy01 wrote: »

Either your trip computer is telling you porky's or you have a super duper Nissan!:)

My trip computer show even better than that. Usually about 0.5 l/100km better.
But I note down all times when I fill in my tank in an spreadsheet file, and have really precise results. So it looks like I have super duper Nissan

kerten

CiniO wrote: »

????

My primera takes 8 l/100km on a windy mountain road driving.
On a quite straight road with speeds up to 90km/h you can go as low as 6 l/100km.
City driving is probably about 9 l/100km.

I think that's a very good result for a car that weights 1300kg.

I was having very similar consumption with my 2000 1.6 primera too and find it economical for the weight of car.

Tea_Bag

so the general concensus is that, if you've owned the car you'd buy it again, but not having owned it, you wouldnt touch it with a barge pole. and that the gearbox could be a serious issue. is it likely to go foul again, seeing as its been replaced?

fonecrusher1

Is the post 2001 nissan primera a victim of exaggerated derogatory pub talk/ a friend of a friend said.. type bad press or are they as bad as boards rates them?

Brother has a 2002 1.6 primera & he's never had a bother with it.

by the way lads carsurvey.org seems to be full of complete whingers & is in no way a true gauge of how good a car is. As they say; people are much quicker to complain about something than praise it.

Nissan doctor

There have been some reports of gearboxes failing on the primera but they are rare enough considering the amount of P12's on the road. Window regs can fail and some suffer sticking calipers but they suffor no more issues then any other car. Interiors can be a little flimsy and become tatty in cars that haven't been looked after.

As said, all P12's have reversing camera but the early ones are black and white while the later ones are colour. Very few Primera's sold in Ireland had sat nav.

shergar22

I had a 03 Primera 1.6 Acenta. Solid car to drive, gave me no problems and decent feul economy over 5 years. Style is an issue for some: many love the shape, others hate it. I liked it. In short, great trouble free car.

s ger

just bought a 02 primera 1,6 last week myself find it a good car to drive not much power but i m not pushed about that, lost the boy racer in me a few years ago .just wondering would any one know where i could pick up a second hand towbar for it i m living in galway dont want a new one because i dont have the money

lifer_sean

Nissan doctor wrote: »

There have been some reports of gearboxes failing on the primera but they are rare enough considering the amount of P12's on the road. Window regs can fail and some suffer sticking calipers but they suffor no more issues then any other car. Interiors can be a little flimsy and become tatty in cars that haven't been looked after.

As said, all P12's have reversing camera but the early ones are black and white while the later ones are colour. Very few Primera's sold in Ireland had sat nav.

Window regulators give trouble and impossible to get secondhand. New one is approx 260 + vat. Steering racks also give trouble on these and hard to get secondhand.

They don't all have reversing cameras. The one the OP is looking at doesn't have, and I had one last year that didn't have (same car that got the rack and the window reg).

@OP, if car is in good condition, it doesn't sound expensive at 1500 euro.

Nissan doctor

lifer_sean wrote: »

Window regulators give trouble and impossible to get secondhand. New one is approx 260 + vat. Steering racks also give trouble on these and hard to get secondhand.

They don't all have reversing cameras. The one the OP is looking at doesn't have, and I had one last year that didn't have (same car that got the rack and the window reg).

@OP, if car is in good condition, it doesn't sound expensive at 1500 euro.

The reversing cameras were part of the standard spec when the P12 came out. I've seen a couple where the switch was faulty and the camera didn't engauge when reverse was selected.

CiniO

lifer_sean wrote: »

Steering racks also give trouble on these and hard to get secondhand.

What's wrong happening with the steering racks?

lifer_sean

CiniO wrote: »

What's wrong happening with the steering racks?

Seals went on the one I had, pumped out all the fluid.

bren11

No camera on P12 Visia. Accenta is better spec.
Gearboxes can give problems. Had one rebuilt under warranty. Ask any of the gearbox reconditioners, its a good earner for them. They will recommend a gearbox oil change every 20000 miles. Only 3 litres of oil.
Also stretched chain issues for engine. Check that it idles at around 700 rpm and is not hunting.
Drivers side window regulator gave problems. Probably due to trying to force it when window was frozen. Really a main dealer part. No luck with cheap ones on ebay.
No problems with steering rack yet!

If above issues are not a problem go for it.

ShadowHearth

lifer_sean wrote: »

Seals went on the one I had, pumped out all the fluid.

This!!! Happened to that car too!!! And I was told it costs really alit to fix.

EPM

My dad always had Nissan until his new (in 03) was in the garage 11 times in the first 12 months. He swore never again. Not a patch on the earlier models. His was a dodgy immobiliser but that should be well and truely sorted. I have also heard about the gearbox issue. A guy at work has one and he does cork to Dublin twice a week and he had a window reg lately. That was it from memory.