Test drive Nissan Almera Tino 2000 - 2003 Minivan

Perelmarok

We, now living, are witnesses to the formation of a new school of the European Japanese automotive industry. Machines with familiar Japanese names are developed specifically for the inhabitants of the Old World and manufactured without leaving the cash desk at the factories built in Europe. Suzuki settled in Hungary, Mitsubishi in Holland, Nissan in the UK and Spain. The acquisition of the second citizenship clearly benefited the Japanese cars in Euro -Japanese cars are becoming more expressive and interesting, attracting the attention of spoiled Europeans.

Nissan Almera Tino is the most important representative of the new school, created taking into account all the wishes of the average resident of Europe. And these wishes are as follows: the car should be universal, compact, spacious and inexpensive. This is eloquently indicated by the dynamics of compactweight sales. It is these cars that combine all of the above qualities.
 
Tino design leaves no doubt about the utilitarian essence of the car with a moderate length, a limited class of the class, the machine is quite wide and high. The characteristic nostrils of the front of the a la BMW, which became the family line of the Nissan of the last years of release, make the car recognizable. This is if you look in front. The feed of the special impression does not produce vertical lights located on the racks of the body, nowadays have become quite commonplace. And still, Tino will not be lost in the city stream. We do not have many compactwenes, and the car so unusual in the Russian view of forms simply cannot go unnoticed.
The large door opens and we find ourselves in the cabin. We will say right away: the seats in Tino are located quite high, and therefore you don’t get into the car, like a regular car, but you enter. And immediately you are amazed at the inner space, there is a feeling that you got into the car with a class above. This impression is strengthened by the unusual architecture of the front panel, which is made inclined near the windshield, it smoothly drops down. A music center rises on the central console, which includes a CD-resort and FM tuner. By the way, from the point of view of Almera Tino acoustics, it is very not very good. In addition to the already mentioned head device, the car is equipped with four speakers (one on the door) and twitter in the front stands of the body.

Around the riot of colors! Inside Tino is finished with light and dark plastic, and the upholstery of the seats and inserts on the doors are made of tissue of the color of the sea wave; The keys and rotating handles, heads of microclimate, are silver, and the inner doors and button on the transmission control lever are completely chrome. The last bright stroke red gland of the emergency alarm buttons.
The car interior is striking in the scattering of all kinds of shelves, messengers, cup holders and other pleasant bonuses. No matter where you look, they are everywhere. Apparently, such an abundance is compensation for a glove box of a very modest size. There is a box on the front panel, and under it there is a niche for any little thing. On the ceiling is a pocket with a microlift, where the owner of Tino is highly recommended to put sunglasses. In the neighborhood there is a 3D patch of lightning of a significant lamp with three sections, each of which has its own switch. Under each seat, you can find a roomy box, and those that are under the rear seats are melt in themselves baskets, similar to those in supermarkets. It is also worth mentioning the nets on the front doors.
 
Almera Tino is a real transformer. This is now fashionable. True, due to their relatively compact sizes, the possibilities of transforming the salon are not as extensive as in large seven -seater minivans, but still the car allows a lot. The rear seats have two adjustments, including longitudinal. The middle chair folds, forming a very convenient table with cup holders. By the way, the rear seats can easily be folded in bulk (for this, the handles are provided) or simply removed by increasing the luggage volume to an impressive 1950 liters. In fairness, we note that the trunk itself is not very large.

But the steering wheel is the main detail of the cabin is exactly the same as on ordinary almeras. The steering wheel is sheathed with skin, in the places of the grip there are thickenings and perforation, and between the knitting needles there is a remote control for music control.
 
The interior of the salon can be studied. The experimental almera Tino was equipped with a two -liter gasoline engine, in the load to which there was a stranded wedge -repair variator. This unit is nothing more than an energy vampire that sucks horsepower from a vigorous and puffing health of a two -liter engine. Judge for yourself: when you press the pedal in the floor, the engine is spent up to 5000 rpm and monotonously buzzing, and the car is gaining speed at that time. But how he does it! By the way, how does he do it? The difficulty is that it is not possible to predict the actions of the variator. To understand the course of his thoughts, you must become a variator yourself. Pretty assertive acceleration occurs unevenly. The car begins the movement of the reluctantly low start failed. Then, as if thinking back, the car wakes up, and acceleration becomes really overclocking. And so all the time. The throttle drive by means of rubber rods? You have to get used to it.
 
Hmm, what is this button on the variator selector? Press the inscription Sport light up on the dashboard immediately. Sports mode of transmission!
 
We will not turn off this button anymore. Sport added a life machine. In this mode, the car literally follows the accelerator pedal! Moreover, even some kind of braking by the engine appeared. Unfortunately, sometimes, nevertheless, the variator continues to slow down, but it does not hang.
 
Tino is equipped with disc brakes on all wheels. The brake dynamics is beyond praise: the force is easily dosed, and to keep the wheels on the verge of the operation of the ABS will not be difficult.
 
Of course, a family car is not a racing car, but still we will try to go quickly. In the maximum modes, Nissan behaves worthy of the rolls is small, and a reactive effect is constantly present on the steering wheel. And against this favorable background, the suspension work pleases. The car is very comfortable. Small irregularities in the body are practically not transmitted, and the level of vertical accelerations is within acceptable limits. But serious pits are better to go around Tino to Russia as it is, without any adaptation and bags for bad roads.

Nissan Almera Tino is a purely family car that has a single family. In the city, calmly and without stress, beyond its borders quickly and naturally. A comfortable suspension, a powerful engine and a salon with all the amenities what else is needed to travel with home, say, to the south? In summer, on vacation, on workdays on work, life continues.

The car is provided by Illan.
During the test, the car is insured ASK Trust.
We thank the vacation complex for the old mill for help in organizing the filming.

Text: Kirill Brevdo
Photo: Roman Ostanin



 

 

 
 

Source: Wheel magazine [No. 56/2002]