The best Primera ever?
28 January 2000: by Brian Byrne.
When Nissan decided to revitalise its key Primera, the second facelift since it was first produced to replace the Bluebird, the company opted not to make major changes to the core car. Wisely, I would agree, as a completely new one will be rolling out sometime next year, and what they had already was still serving well.
Primera has never gained plaudits for style, though I've always considered it handsome (most of my colleagues prefer 'bland'). And as a package to bring people in comfort and safety from one place to another, that same lack of strong style allowed for a roomy and practical interior that would truly manage five people in a reasonable manner (as I write this I am passenger in a Primera with five of our family on board, for a 1600-mile round trip over the next few days, and so far nobody is complaining).
So, stylewise, the changes are to the nose, which is perkier and has more impish headlights, and to the rear, where the boot lid has gained a vestigial spoiler and the lights cluster in a cuter way to give a cuddlier look to the tail.
In between, nothing of the body has changed, though overall there's a greater use of chroming, which actually makes a greater perceptive impact than might be expected.
Inside, the changes are also only to detail, including a two-tone interior trim, a curvier radio/ventilation treatment of the console, and 'chroming' of some of the plastic decoration and controls. Everything that was well-designed from the beginning they've left as was.
They've kept the quality too, both of the trim and fittings and of the way it is all put together.
So, mainly the important changes are under the skin. For a start, they say they've cut noise levels in the cabin by 40%, most of what's been kept out being engine and road rumble intrusion (paradoxically, my wife says there's more apparent wind noise). Then there have been tweaks to the already excellent suspension, with a view to enhancing ride comfort.
But for the purpose of this review, the most important change has been a 1.8-litre engine, brand-new and full of the latest in engine technology, that has immediately become the sparkling jewel in Nissan's engine range.
While outputting only 14 more bhp than the base 1.6-litre which has long been the foot-soldier of Primera's engines, the new engine has considerably more torque and punches it out at a very low 2800rpm, giving the car so equipped a really high level of drivability, particularly in twisting terrain.
They've souped up the safety specification too, by reducing the force required to activate the ABS when braking on slippy surfaces (it seems that they found about half of people weren't pushing the pedal hard enough in an emergency, and therefore not getting the benefit of this technology originally developed for landing jetliners).
The review car also had the latest in lights technology, with Xenon lamps that really do give an almost-daylight effect on the blackest of roads ... you know the cars that have it by the blue tinge in the oncoming headlights.
Oh, there were lots of other minor modification too, which I think I've written of already. But the bottom line is that what was an already a very good car, has been even further improved. To the point that they'll probably only need to change the body for the next version to still have one of the best cars in its class.
Some of my colleagues will applaud the smooth new style of the next one, and probably hail it as the best Primera ever.
The 'best Primera ever' is already here.
Primera facts: 1.6-, 1.8- and 2-litre petrol and 2-litre turbodiesel; 5-speed manual or 6-speed CVT auto; hatch, saloon and estate; price range £17,165-£22,795.
