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Hatchbacks Nissan Versa Nissan Versa New Owners Report
104 messages, Last post on Nov 06, 2009 at 2:33 PM
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| Are you a new Nissan Versa owner? What do you think so far? | |
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Ok people I've been looking for the last 6 months for a new car, I went to the Detriot autoshow to check out all the new cars.. I test drove them all, the Honda Fit, Yaris, the Rabbit and now the Versa. At the autoshow I knew the Versa was going to be in the running, it was very roomy and I liked some of the options that came on the car. So after driving them all, I bought the Versa SL. The dealers here in PHX are finally getting them. I paid $16,100 the car has CVT and Conveniece package, XM sat (had them add it) and floor mats. The dealer already added on window Tint, Door edge gaurds and paint protection. The dealer was asking $18,700. It wasn't hard to get them talked down, they still make roughly $1K on the car. Traded in a 2000 FOrd Contour SE w/83K miles and they gave me $1900 for it, I'm leasing the car, so nothing out of my pocket, and payments of $270/w tax for 24 months and 15K/yr. The Resdiual for the car is 68%, which I thought was very high, but hey, that is nissans problems in 2 yrs.. I have had the car now for roughly 8 hrs... So far I really like, I have my bluetooth phone programed in, and I love that feature, and the keyless entry and start is great.. The h onda dealer wouldn't deal on the Fit, basically it was take it at full MSRP or leave, so I left. The Fit is smaller, and doesn't have some the equipment I was looking for, Bluetooth was one of them, now I can have a conversation on my phone without holding the damn thing.. The lease payments for the Fit were more then what I got the Versa for... The Rabbit I thought was nice, but the quality of VW's latley haven't been that impressive, and the dealers are dealing on then.. I'm very happy with the Versa, tomorrow, I'll get to drive it more and get a feel for the car, I'll put a review up in a week after driving on my commute to work for a week.. Tony 
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Replying to: flightnurse (Jul 06, 2006 9:06 pm) |
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Replying to: flightnurse (Jul 06, 2006 9:06 pm) Thanks for the write-up. My situation is almost exactly the same as yours...I've been researching and looking for months and am now just waiting for the Versa to land here in my area (Minneapolis) so I can do my final head-to-head comparison and make a decision. Like you, I checked them out at my local auto show. I was surprised how much better the Versa came across when I saw it in-person vs. the pictures. It looks like the type of car you'd see on a European street (definitely more Euro than Asian) and has the in-person stance of a VW Golf III or IV. I likewise thought the Fit came across better in-person, though at the end of the day the Fit just has this toy-car, non-substantial look to it. If it got 50-60MPG like a Smart car or something, you could justify the looks as "function over form"...just my subjective opinion. Also the missing options and dealer unwillingness to deal (much less to even have one available for test driving) makes the Fit a mediocre value. So for me, it will come down to the Rabbit, Mazda3 or the Versa. I'm very interested that you compared the Rabbit and Versa also and am wondering if you could elaborate more on that. I've always had great luck with VWs personally so reliability is not an issue for me (I think it's improving dramatically in recent years anyhow). What bothers me about the Rabbit is the city fuel efficiency (22 vs. 30 in the Versa) and the fact it's basically a $20,000 car when you option-up a 5-door. That's well within my budget, but a loaded Versa shouldn't cost more than $17K out the door, which is more the price point I'd like to hit for a 2nd, commmuter car. Tony, please give us details on your "real world" fuel efficiency in the Versa, including details on your hwy/city mix and how you're driving it. I suspect most auto journalists are driving a car, that's not even broken-in, much harder than the average person would who's driving for efficency. So let us know what you find. Thanks! Thanks to others giving their first-hand impressions...it's very helpful to others who are considering this car. Cheers, Pete
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Replying to: peteinmpls (Jul 07, 2006 6:46 am) I have a few coworkers who have 94 and new Jetta's and Bettles who have had window Regulator problems as well as window switch problems. If you go to the VW forum here, that seems to a common problem with VW.. Also for the price the Versa is in my option a MUCH better bargin. BTW, I forgot to mention the Yaris, it looked something from the movie CARS.. too much like a toy for me.. SO far I really do like it, I don't drive the car hard, since its not a race car or sports sedan. the CVT is something to get use to, leave a stop light and the engine revs to 2500 and the car pulls away, the engine revs go up to about 3K and stays there and you move along. Its very easy to speed in the car, since the engine sound doesn't change you really can't judge speed that way.. I went to brekfest this moring with 2 friends, both over 6' tall and both weight about 250lbs. They were impressed with the amount of room in the car. One has a 05 Nissan Altima 3.5SE the other 06 Maxima SE. With all three of us in the car it gets around town with no problems.. So far the fuel gauge still shows full with 57 miles on this tank. I love the XM radio now I wont have to bring my iPOD with me in the car... One thing that will take a while to get use to is the seat adjusters, they are located on the right side of the seats. But for me once I find a comforable position I don't touch them. Getting in and out of the car is very easy and simple, I love that my car has the key less system for the doors and start, this feature well spoil me and I can see why Nissan has added this. Its a good way to keep feature buyer as all of thier cars will have this option starting in 07... Now regarding a fully loaded Versa, my perfect one would have had the audio package, sunroof as well as ABS package, but I took what I could, you are looking at 18K for one of them. That is at the midlevel Sentra price... But currently I am very happy with the car, my insurance will go up $300/yr which isn't too bad but I should save that in fuel saving... Tony P.S. More to come as I get more miles on it.
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Replying to: flightnurse (Jul 07, 2006 9:36 am) Yeah, I know a lot of people that will never set foot in a VW dealer after the window regulator fiasco. Our household's other car (not the one we're replacing) is a 1.8T Passat Wagon manual. We had one problem with coil packs a couple years back that was quickly taken care of...other than that, completely trouble free. So we've been fortunate in that regard. If I go with the Versa, I'll be looking at a loaded SL with the six speed manual. If I have to wait a month or two for it to arrive, that's fine. MSRP with destination should come in around $17.2K I have a long-standing relationship with a local dealer so at a minimum I'm sure they'll knock off the destination fee for me which will put it around $16.7K before T.T.L. On paper, it's the one to beat. What I'll be looking for in the test-drive is how it performs (obviously!)...specifically as compared to the Rabbit and Mazda3. I think you could say they, along with the Fit, are the current benchmarks for steering/suspension/handling among subcompacts and compacts. I'll also be looking for any overt feeling of cheapness or cost-cutting...based on everything I've heard, I don't expect to find that at all. On the contrary, I thought when the current Altima, Maxima and Titan came out they all felt very comprimised in interior quality. Finally, I want to know if the Versa really delivers on fuel efficiency...because for me that would make up for it being perhaps 80% of the drivers car that the VW & Mazda are. Like you, I don't push my car to the limits all the time either (but like most people I'm a sucker for the feeling of "I could if I wanted to") The Versa seems to be somewhat polarizing in its exterior looks. How have people, friends or strangers, been reacting to it so far? Personally, I'm a fan of hatchbacks and wagons to start with so I'm predisposed to like it. I definitely don't think it photographs well from some angles. But I don't see how some people will say a VW Golf is attractive while the Versa looks like &*%!, as some veedubers say. To me they strike a similar stance. What say you? |
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OK people here is a 3 day report.. For those you don't know, I have 2007 Versa 1.8 SL with the Convience package and CVT. I paid $16,500 for it, dealer invoice on the car was $16,256. With this I got tinted windows (all of them) Door Edge guard, and Automate (paint protection) window sticket was $18,100. So $16,500 wasn't a bad price in my book.. I have 195 miles on it. One thing that I dont' like is the gap between the sunvsior is too wide and when you drive westbound (I live in Phoenix,AZ) you get blinded by the sun, the sunvisors are useless... So far that is my only gripe with the car.. For those of you who aren't aware of what ocmes with the Convience package, the two main things are Bluetooth and Intelli Key. I love them both, I have my cell phone paired and the interface/voice reconition software is top rate... Also the Intelli-Key has made more so spoiled... Just for those 2 items is well woth the $700.... The CVT transmission i'm getting use to driving, the more I drive it the more I really like it. I can see that this is new transmission of teh future. The car has a european ride to it. For a "small car", its very comfortable. Its very easy to cruise down the freeway doing 80 without really knowing you are doing that. One of the other items that comes with the Convience package is the stereo 6 disk in dash, Satilite ready. I'm getting that installed this week, not going through Nissan but a third party. I'll go with XM. So far its very hard to realize you are driving a "entry" level car, when you close the doors there is a nice THUD to them, the suspension soaks up the bumps very well, again very European like... I know people have budgets, but if you can spend alittle more, get the SL with the convience package. The Intelli-Key should be standard on all cars, a great safety item for women... More to come on Friday.. That is the day I'll fill the tank up and get my first MPG.. Tony
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Replying to: flightnurse (Jul 09, 2006 8:32 pm)
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Replying to: bodhisun (Jul 10, 2006 12:18 pm) Peiora Nissan is where I got mine, sales person was Mike T (in the internet department, tell him Tony with the Versa sent you) invoice for my car was $16,256, paid $16,500. Mine is a SL, with Convience package and carpet kit. They also had tacked on extra for Tinted windows, Door Edge Guards and Automate (paint Protection), I didn't pay for them at all but have them on my car. I wanted the SL also with the Audio package, but none of thier cars were coming in with that package, Mike told me that July 14th they were getting a couple more cars. As of Sat, they had a Black SL CVT sitting there... Good luck.. Tony
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Replying to: flightnurse (Jul 09, 2006 8:32 pm) |
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