Sulit.PH now begins a series of car reviews we have aptly titled, “Was It Worth It? Sulit Ba?”
This series will be focused on reviewing used vehicles to see how they are holding up after a year or two of use.
The Nissan Terra.
I called my friend who got his Terra a little over a year ago and made arrangements to meet up with him to try out Nissan’s latest mid-sized SUV. It’s worthy to note that the Terra was launched in May 2018 with not a lot of fanfare. This car literally sold because of good looks & word of mouth as it became a popular alternative to the Toyota Fortuner & The Mitsubishi Montero. It also bragged about its Nissan Intelligent Mobility – their technology for a better ride & road safety while touting comfort using the same platform of the Nissan Navarra pick-up line.
My friend certainly has kept his SUV in good shape as it still looked almost brand new with its brilliant white exterior, 18” rims & tires and rather rugged, tough looks that made it popular. This variant was the Automatic 2.5liter VL Diesel 4×2 and it carried a mileage of 9000kms, purchased in January of 2019.
It was my 1st time to see the interior of the Terra and honestly it wasn’t anything impressive except that the brown seats were a welcome contrast to the normally all-black interiors of the same vehicles in its class. Nissan decided to impress with the technology & platform they placed in the SUV. There was ample legroom for both front & rear seats although similar to other SUV’s, the 3rd row that allowed the vehicle to be called a 7-seater was still rather tight.
There was a delay upon pressing the start/stop button which was not common for me. The engine sounded like your typical Diesel engine of new models but upon driving the Terra on a regular road, I could instantly tell the 7-speed turbo Diesel engine was a solid, impressive one that packed power. I found no problem with quick acceleration on long city roads such as Ortigas avenue and EDSA.
I took note of all the functioning interiors from the almost 7-inch screen, to the 6-speakers powered by Bluetooth technology, the drive-assist displays and the very comfortable leather seats. The ride itself was very comfortable due to the zero gravity seats inspired by the posture of astronauts in space and the Terra’s fully boxed ladder frame which is unique. It certainly appeared to me that this vehicle was made for long drives with comfort and power in mind.
Gas consumption was an above-average 7 kilometers to a liter of Diesel in city-driving and bumps up to 9 kilometers on road trips and highway driving.
I finished my test drive by speeding through C5 comfortably. Note that the test was done during GCQ implementation in Metro Manila so roads were light during non-rush hour times. All in all, I thought the test drive went very well, the vehicle was still as impressive as a brand new one & this Nissan Terra rated an overall 8.5 out of 10. Nissan may have a resale value problem here in the Philippines but the Terra could be the model that busts that issue. That would definitely make this model worth it!
