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FleetCUBE had the opportunity to briefly test the Nissan Primastar over a 3-day period travelling down to the Natal midlands for a weekend. FleetCUBE test vehicles on a regular basis from various manufacturers and report back on our findings with regards to fleet specific applications. The Nissan Primastar forms part of Nissan's strong commercial range and was launched in February 2007. Nissan corporate message for the Primastar is to SHIFT_business and we wanted to see if that is true.
Space
The Primastar has an intelligent cabin design, smart load space and car-like interior; it is well suited for both business and pleasure. It offers up to 1.2 m³ of luggage or storage space when configured for a full complement of 9 occupants (including the driver). With the rearmost row of seats folded away, that increases to 2.5 m³. According to Nissan SA it’s also the only vehicle in its class that has a re-enforced chassis designed for local conditions.
Service backup
The Primastar comes with a three-year or 100 000 km warranty and a three-year corrosion warranty with unlimited kilometres. Service intervals are set at 10 000 kilometres, with the backing of Nissan’s 126-strong dealer network located nationwide.
Driving impressions
The driving position is comfortable and handling is very good for a vehicle of this size. We had the brief encounter of driving for approximately 15 kilometres on a fairly bad gravel road, and apart from the road noise the Primastar inspired confidence with its ABS and EBD as standard equipment. On tar surfaces the noise levels are exceptional for a “commercial” vehicle and straight-line stability at 120km/h is another strong point of the Primastar. I must say that it was difficult to stay within the speed limits purely because of the comfort and car like cruising abilities of this vehicle, a real pleasure to drive.
Comfort
The Primastar offers air-conditioning front and rear, power-operated windows in the front, dual exterior rear-view mirrors, and a radio/CD player with front-end loading, dual sliding doors and sliding windows.
Diesel power and economy
The Primastar is powered by a 1 870 cc, four-cylinder, eight-valve per cylinder diesel engine with direct common rail injection. This power plant delivers 74 kW of power at 3 500 r/min and 240 Nm of torque at 2 000 r/min. Power is delivered to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. All this equates to more than adequate performance complemented with excellent consumption figures. On our trip we averaged 8.68l/100km which is excellent considering the load.
Safety
 Safety was obviously a main concern for the creators of the Primastar because it offers ABS brakes, electronic brake distribution (EBD), dual airbags in the front, an engine transponder immobiliser, three-point safety seat belts for all occupants, remote central locking and remote dead locking.
In the comparison table courtesy of Disk Drive the main competitors are listed based on a similar power plant as well as similar features. It is obvious that there are a lot to choose from in that segment but the Primastar will be a worthy competitor.
Typical applications
- Airport transfers/Tourism industry
- Company pool vehicle for the transport of up to 8 passengers
- Family vehicle/Moms taxi or second vehicle
- General transport services
In summary I think it is safe to say that this vehicle definitely has all the features, attributes and benefits to shift your business.
Fact sheet during review period as well as cents per kilometer calculation based on an assumed usage of 4yers and 120000 kilometers are given below:
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