- Tue Jun 08, 2021 4:39 am
#92
My current car is a first generation Nissan Note from 2007 :
It's got a 1.5L dCi (turbo diesel) engine which is supposed to make a massive 86 Hp... which doesn't sound like much, but in reality makes no difference being stuck in city traffic all the time, lol. Although the car is a Nissan, the engine is actually built by Renault apparently... so there you go, the more you know ! As far as I can make out I've got the Mix edition... although some VIN decoder websites say that it's an Acenta edition, however the spec listed for Acenta doesn't seem to correspond with what I've got and what I can find on other specification and review websites, so... it's hard to say for sure... but I'm guessing it's the Mix one in reality. Equipment is pretty standard for the time, ABS, power steering, central locking, electric windows, manual air conditioning, trip computer... and the awesome brown interior colour !
The car was originally Mom and Dad's, but I had it off them back in september 2018. I needed a cheap new car because my old Volkswagen Passat VR5 estate car was basically only good for scraping after badly failing it's MOT, and as it happened Mom and Dad were looking to change cars at the same time... so once they'd found their new car, a Skoda Octavia estate, I was able to go and collect the Note from them... !
Memories of a trip to Dinan in 2017 when the car was still Mom and Dad's :
The car just after I got home from collecting it back in 2018 :
When I initially got the car I made the following changes :
- Got new number plates with the Brittany flag / number on them
- Installed Bosch Aerotwin Retrofit wipers front and rear (look and work better)
- Transfered my old Pioneer DEH-2800UI headunit over from the Passat to the Note
- Installed a CTSNS007.2 steering wheel control adaptor for Pioneer headunits bought on Ebay UK
- Replaced the original 15" steel wheels with 16" alloy wheels from a 2nd generation Note bought on Ebay UK
- Got Michelin CrossClimate+ all season tyres from Allopneus.com (195/55R16 91 V, XL, M+S)
- Got the Crit'Air pollution rating sticker that's required in some cities (basically pointless...)
At this point the car had become slightly more my own, being more funtional and looking a bit better, all at realitavely low cost.
Between doing the school runs, going to work, shopping, family outings to the beach or even to Ikea, it's been useful and reliable !
When I got the car it had just under 152000 Km on the clock, and now it's just passed the 174000 Km mark.
I get on average around 4.8L to 100 Km in terms of diesel consumption, which Google converts to around 58 mpg.
In terms of maintenance or actual problems, not all that much has gone on really (* touch wood) :
- A blub went in the rear left cluster, not that hard to change, but more complicated than needed
- It failed the MOT last year due to the pollution opacity readings and more surprisingly... the tyre sizes !
The pollution problem was fixed with two bottles of Wynn's (injector and pre-test cleaner) along with driving around at higher load / rpm for a few days to burn off the soot accumulated by mostly only driving around the town for short distances. As for the tyre size matter, well... that's entirely debatable... !
The car came with 185/65/R15 tyres on it, on the orignial steel wheels.
So, if you put those dimensions into a tyre size calculator, you get the following :
Which bascially boils down to the following :
185/65/R15 vs 195/55/R16 = 0% difference
185/65/R15 vs 185/55/R16 = 2% difference
So you'd think that the 195's would be the right choice, right ? As they are closest to the originals... ?
Well... nope... not according to the MOT test centre...
You have to have the manufacturers specced 16" size on, even if it's slightly worse than what you've got on already.
My only guess is that the 195/55/R16 wasn't really available as a size back in 2007, maybe... and thus not qualified... ?
Anyway, the problem was solved by changing the tyres to Bridgestone Weather Control A005 Evo's (185/55R16 87 V, XL, TL).
So, I think that sums up the Note's story for now...
It's got a 1.5L dCi (turbo diesel) engine which is supposed to make a massive 86 Hp... which doesn't sound like much, but in reality makes no difference being stuck in city traffic all the time, lol. Although the car is a Nissan, the engine is actually built by Renault apparently... so there you go, the more you know ! As far as I can make out I've got the Mix edition... although some VIN decoder websites say that it's an Acenta edition, however the spec listed for Acenta doesn't seem to correspond with what I've got and what I can find on other specification and review websites, so... it's hard to say for sure... but I'm guessing it's the Mix one in reality. Equipment is pretty standard for the time, ABS, power steering, central locking, electric windows, manual air conditioning, trip computer... and the awesome brown interior colour !
The car was originally Mom and Dad's, but I had it off them back in september 2018. I needed a cheap new car because my old Volkswagen Passat VR5 estate car was basically only good for scraping after badly failing it's MOT, and as it happened Mom and Dad were looking to change cars at the same time... so once they'd found their new car, a Skoda Octavia estate, I was able to go and collect the Note from them... !
Memories of a trip to Dinan in 2017 when the car was still Mom and Dad's :
The car just after I got home from collecting it back in 2018 :
When I initially got the car I made the following changes :
- Got new number plates with the Brittany flag / number on them
- Installed Bosch Aerotwin Retrofit wipers front and rear (look and work better)
- Transfered my old Pioneer DEH-2800UI headunit over from the Passat to the Note
- Installed a CTSNS007.2 steering wheel control adaptor for Pioneer headunits bought on Ebay UK
- Replaced the original 15" steel wheels with 16" alloy wheels from a 2nd generation Note bought on Ebay UK
- Got Michelin CrossClimate+ all season tyres from Allopneus.com (195/55R16 91 V, XL, M+S)
- Got the Crit'Air pollution rating sticker that's required in some cities (basically pointless...)
At this point the car had become slightly more my own, being more funtional and looking a bit better, all at realitavely low cost.
Between doing the school runs, going to work, shopping, family outings to the beach or even to Ikea, it's been useful and reliable !
When I got the car it had just under 152000 Km on the clock, and now it's just passed the 174000 Km mark.
I get on average around 4.8L to 100 Km in terms of diesel consumption, which Google converts to around 58 mpg.
In terms of maintenance or actual problems, not all that much has gone on really (* touch wood) :
- A blub went in the rear left cluster, not that hard to change, but more complicated than needed
- It failed the MOT last year due to the pollution opacity readings and more surprisingly... the tyre sizes !
The pollution problem was fixed with two bottles of Wynn's (injector and pre-test cleaner) along with driving around at higher load / rpm for a few days to burn off the soot accumulated by mostly only driving around the town for short distances. As for the tyre size matter, well... that's entirely debatable... !
The car came with 185/65/R15 tyres on it, on the orignial steel wheels.
So, if you put those dimensions into a tyre size calculator, you get the following :
Which bascially boils down to the following :
185/65/R15 vs 195/55/R16 = 0% difference
185/65/R15 vs 185/55/R16 = 2% difference
So you'd think that the 195's would be the right choice, right ? As they are closest to the originals... ?
Well... nope... not according to the MOT test centre...
You have to have the manufacturers specced 16" size on, even if it's slightly worse than what you've got on already.
My only guess is that the 195/55/R16 wasn't really available as a size back in 2007, maybe... and thus not qualified... ?
Anyway, the problem was solved by changing the tyres to Bridgestone Weather Control A005 Evo's (185/55R16 87 V, XL, TL).
So, I think that sums up the Note's story for now...
- By Mik