TEST DRIVE: Nissan Teana 2.3

To be honest, ETCM’s invitation to try the Nissan Teana came as a bit of a surprise. While I had known they were offering the public opportunities to try it during their Nissan Test Drive Campaigns at various branches around the country during the past 12 months, they were reluctant to let motoring journalists drive it because it was ‘not officially on sale here. So they didn’t want too much publicity for it last year and my requests were usually politely turned down.

Then came the call to test it and also mention that it would be launched in early April and as this website usually manages to be the first with new model information, I even rescheduled another test-drive to have an early go at the Teana.

This Nissan model is not new to me and I am sure many readers also know about it. It’s been sold in Singapore for a few years and has been quite well received there. Occasionally, you will see one on Malaysian roads as Singaporeans come over on holidays and everytime I see it, the size of the car impresses me. It looks big and very first time I saw it in Singapore, I couldn’t believe it was meant to be the successor to the Cefiro. Compared to the somewhat conservative-looking Cefiro (I still like the first generation, though), the Teana had a much more appealing shape.

The particular unit loaned to us was actually a Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) used by ETCM’s product development people so I was requested not to take any pictures of it for this report. Furthermore, it was the pre-facelift version and Malaysians will get the latest one which has a number of cosmetic upgrades. Anyway, the main aim of the test-drive was to get an idea of the car’s performance more than anything else so it was an acceptable condition.

The Intelligent Key provided was the old version which had almost the same functions as the latest one and I came to enjoy the convenience. No fumbling for keys to open the door and you don’t even need to insert a key to start the engine – just turn a switch by the side of the steering column and it fires up. In an emergency, a conventional key is available so battery failure of the key unit won’t prevent you from getting home.

The VQ23DE engine is a smooth and quiet unit even when idling, which makes me understand why the VQ engine family has won a ‘Best Engine’ award from a leading publication in the US for 12 consecutive years. The 2.3-litre version in the Teana is a short-stroke unit so it starts off with free-revving character but with CVTC, torque delivery is kept consistently high even at the low end. It showed very impressive midrange performance and responds almost instantaneously to kickdowns, pulling strongly to the redline. Noise levels during hard driving were low too with the nice V6 growl giving a sporty feeling.

The transmission was also pretty nice in use with smooth transitions between gears. Though it is not a tiptronic type unit, there is at least the possibility to go from D to 3 quite easily by pulling the lever to the right. The 3rd gear ratio is a well chosen one for helping deceleration into turns and shifting action is effortless.

In its time, the Cefiro was a pretty decent handler but rivals have since made it feel a bit clunky. The Teana brings the model right up to date in the handling department with better road feel and responsiveness. The long body behaves well on twisty roads and I think that having the multi-link layout at the rear gives it an edge over its main rivals though the Mazda6 is still sharper in this area.

Ride comfort is something which should be of a high quality in the Teana but the tyres on the JDM model generated a lot of road noise. So I will have to reserve comment on this aspect for now as the ones that people buy here may have better insulation and tyres. But I can say that the ride is firm and comfortable, befitting of a sedan in this class.

Different people had different opinions of the interior with some thinking it was unacceptably bare. Perhaps they are used to the knob-filled dashboards of other models but to me, the whole appearance was actually refreshing in a minimalist sort of way. The interior designers focussed on what was really essential and reduced ‘control overload’, which I appreciate. After all, a car is not a jet fighter and when driving, you want to be able to concentrate on driving and not trying to pinpoint and operate many buttons.

I can understand why wood is present – to give that ‘handcrafted look – but I’m not a fan of wood finish (prefer the carbonfibre look) and very often, the wood panels (fake or real) are too glossy. Nevertheless, the presence of wood trim in the Teana somehow appealed to me and it may be that it’s not glossy. It’s a natural finish which, as the designers intended, looks like the table or cupboard at home.

At RM230,000, the Teana costs more than its rivals in the Malaysian market (you can blame the government for that) but ETCM has at least provided a generous number of standard features. They are not expecting to sell many units, especially as their allocation of APs is very small compared to certain other companies, and it will serve as a flagship model. Initial response has apparently been very good and quite a number of units have already been booked in advance of the launch next week.