Would you like to own a used Olympics BMW?

Some great news for all Beemer fans here in the UK. BMW plans to sell off most of their Olympic fleet cars. This includes the 320d and 700 520d EfficientDynamics as well as the new 1 Series ActiveE electric vehicles, MINI E (electric vehicle) and 5 Series ActiveHybrids.

The great news is that there are more cars then their dealers here in the UK can distribute and more than 50% might go up for auction, where some lucky fellow might be able to get them at a bargain (or maybe not). No cofirmation yet as these are all rumours.

It's about time to upgrade my old car for a new one and a Beemer would be ideal. Not sure whether I can afford the Olympic cars even though they are used. I would love to try out the 1 Series ActiveE electric vehicles or Minie Es.

An electric car is an option I am considering for my daily commute to work as we have free recharging points in our car park. I was really jealous when I learnt that several bloggers in Malaysia had been given Nissan Leaf cars to review for a few weeks. That's another car I would love to try out.

GE Joins Hands with Nissan

GE and Nissan has announced a joint, two-year R&D collaboration to speed up the creation of a reliable charging infrastructure for electric vehicles like the Nissan LEAF.



They plan to focus their resources on two key research areas:

1. integrating electric vehicles with homes and buildings and
2. investigating EV charging dynamics and the future impact on the electricity grid once millions of EVs are on the road.

I found it really interesting to learn that 25 percent of the world’s electricity is generated or distributed by equipment designed and made by GE,;

For more information read the complete GE Report.

The Nissan Land Glider

One of my friends who works with Proton, the Malaysian auto maker mentioned that the Peugeot BB1 concept looks like the Nissan Land Glider.

Nissan Landglider at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show

The Nissan Land Glider concept was unveiled at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. Similar to the BB1, the Land Glider also has a motorcycle-inspired Tandem architecture. The rear view mirrors have been replaced by cameras and monitor. Another innovation was the non-contact charging system that enables it to be recharged at any wireless charging station.

First Leaf electric car goes to Nashville family

According to a news report, a family in Nashville, Tennessee, US, has become the first family to receive keys to the much talked about full electric car - the Nissan Leaf. This car won the Car of the year 2011 - the World's first electric car to win this award.



Actually the report might be wrong because the first person to get the Leaf in the US is Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, the official spokesperson of Nissan Leaf.

The Leaf will be available in the UK in March next year and will cost £23990 after the £5000 Govt. discount.

More good news for the British auto industry

Following the news of Jaguar Land Rover announcing a net profit and re-entry of Lotus into F1, there is more good news for the British auto industry.

The British Government recently announced £381 mil. support for Ford motor and Nissan and has extended a £20.7 mil. grant to Nissan. Nissan plans to manufacture their Leaf electric car for the European car market at it's plant in Sunderland here in the UK.

Nissan Leaf at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show: Tennen-Gas

For your info, the Leaf is a five-seater hatchback and said to have a range of 100 miles with top speed of more than 90 mph.

Nissan Leaf unveiled

Nissan unveiled their much awaited electric car called the Leaf yesterday. In their words, it is the "World's THE WORLD'S first electric car designed for affordability and real-world requirements".

The hatchback will be launched in late 2010. It comfortably seats five adults and has a range of more than 160km (100 miles).


In case you are wondering about the name,

The "LEAF" name is a significant statement about the car itself. Just as leaves purify the air in nature, so Nissan LEAF purifies mobility by taking emissions out of the driving experience.

The car is powered by laminated compact lithium-ion batteries, which generate power output of over 90kW, while its electric motor delivers 80kW/280Nm.

or more information about the car, check out their press release.

However, they failed to actually say how much the car will actually cost.

Nissan conversion

Roshaizul who blogs at autolure recently sent me some pics of a Nissan Cefiro converted to the Skyline R34 by a young Malaysian car Modifier.




More about the car on the blog post "Nissan Cefiro Skyline R34".

Thanks for the pics Roshaizul.

The Nissan Z tour

The Nissan Z has developed quite a following and as a warm up to the upcoming launch of the all new 370Z, Nissan is having a rally across the US. You can Follow the Z North American Rally which is currently in Washington D.C.. This will be followed by a stop in Gaithersburg, Maryland on December 11th.

Check out the new Z promo video clip:

Buying a used car - my experience 1

Buying a used car is a tiring and frustrating task. I have learnt that over the course of thiese few day. Ever since my car broke down along the A14 and I found out that repairing the engine would cost me more than the value of the car, I have been looking for a good used car.

Besides looking at the newspapers (where I didn't find anything I liked) I also went to the Auto Trader site. Initially I looked for private sellers listing their Toyota Avensis but all the good ones (read best prices) had already been sold. It's amazing how popular this model is here in the UK. My next choice was the Nissan Primera because of the good review. I usually refer to Honest John which lists1200 comprehensive car reviews. Coming back to the Nissan Primera, it was my choice because it receives quite favourable reviews. However, every single one I liked on the Auto Trader site was beyond my budget (which is not really much to start with).

A relative living in Birmingham gave me some leads around Birmingham. My friend Ishan kindly consented to drive me around. My first car was a Nissan Primera at a car dealer in Solihul. I didn't like the car the first time I laid my eyes on it. It was in a really bad shape and when I gave it a test drive, it had a really unbearable odour inside. I don't need to tell you my decision.

Next was a 1.8 Turbo Diesel in Birmingham. I really liked it but the guy who was selling it really talked a lot and it was really suspicious because the price was too cheap. He seemed over eager to get rid of the car as well. Never-the-less I decided to buy the car and gave him £70 as deposit after agreeing on a price. However, I just couldn't get rid of this nagging feeling. 

I had passed over the details of the car to my wife and I didn't know it but she had done a check on the car's history on the RAC site. You have to pay £5 but you get to learn some important details about the car. In this case, she discovered that the car had previously been involved in an accident and had been recordered as a total loss by the insurance company. It was listed as a category D "Vehicle damaged but repairable - the insurer decided not to repair". Not all category D cars are bad but I was not willing to take the chance and turned back at once. The guy agreed to give me back my deposit and he looked really miserable and I pitied him, but I had no choice.

Now it was back to the Auto Trader site and I widened up my option. I started looking for Ford Mondeos, VW Passats, etc.

To be continued in next post...

The Nissan Sylphy

One of Nissan's best selling cars - the Sylphy has finally reached Malaysia. It was launched last week by Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd, Nissan's official distributor in Malaysia.



It features an alluminium MR20DE 4 cylinder engine with continuously variable transmission (CVT).

The 2-litre executive sedan is locally assembled and is priced approx. RM112,800 between and RM116,800 on-the-road. It will be available in 6 colours.

Nissan to build new model at Sunderland plant

According to latest reports, Japanese carmaker Nissan will build a new compact car at its Sunderland plant in the UK. That is good news as it means more jobs. At present the Sunderland factory also makes the Note.

It also plans to move manufacturing of the Micra to Chennai in India.

According to Carlos Ghosn:

"By delivering on tough commitments, our employees at Sunderland have demonstrated our plant can be a globally competitive centre for the production of high-value products. We are encouraged by the proactive support shown by the British government to decide new products for the Sunderland plant."

Read the full report here: NISSAN ANNOUNCES NEW VEHICLE FOR SUNDERLAND PLANT

Nissan GT-R demand outstrips supply

There has been an overwhelming demand for the Nissan GT-R here in the UK. They were swamped with 700 orders within 48 hours of the official opening for orders on 2 April 2008, even though the cars would only be delivered in March 2009.

Nissan UK even had to request an additional supply for UK in order to meet the demand.

Read the full report: "NISSAN GT-R GOING EVEN FASTER THAN EXPECTED".

The car is available exclusively through 10 Nissan High Performance Centres in various parts of the country.

1. Alex F Noble GT-R, Edinburgh
2. Benfield GT-R, Newcastle Upon Tyne
3. Hursts GT-R, Belfast
4. JFE GT-R, Exeter
5. Marshalls GT-R, Cambridge
6. Middlehurst Motorsport GT-R, St Helens
7. Motorline GT-R, Tunbridge Wells
8. Sims GT-R, Oxford
9. Westover GT-R, Bournemouth
10.WLN GT-R, Mill Hill, London

In case you are interested, you can also place a reservation online at www.gtrnissan.co.uk.

Regarding the Nissan GT-R

Powered by a 480 PS twin turbo 3.8-litre V6 engine, the Nissan GT-R is a full time four-wheel drive which can go from 0 to 62 mph in around 3.5 seconds. It's potential top speed is 195 mph (provisional figure).

The GT-R features a paddle shift six-speed transmission that allows the driver to manually shift gears via paddles located behind the steering wheel or they can instead opt for automatic transmission.

As for comfort, all models come equipped, with eight-way adjustable front seats trimmed in leather and perforated Pearlsuede, dual zone automatic climate control and cruise control.

For those who love their music, the car comes with a AM/FM/CD audio system as standard, with six speakers, RDS and MP3/WMA CD playback capability, and features an HDD Music Box system capable of storing 9.4 GB of your favourite sounds.

Regarding safety features, it is equipped with six airbags, special wide-beam xenon headlamps, a tyre pressure monitoring system, Intelligent Key, and a Thatcham-approved anti-theft system.


Just check out the 20-inch alloy rims.

On-the-road pricing for the GT-R is as follows:

* Nissan GT-R £52,900
* Nissan GT-R Premium Edition with automatic headlamps and digital Bose® audio system £54,200
* Nissan GT-R Black Edition with exclusive Kuro black paint, gunmetal grey alloy wheels and black leather and Pearlsuede interior with red leather highlights £55,500

Nissan Navara safety rating improves

When it was last tested by the Euro NCAP, the 08 model year Navara pickup only scored a poor one star rating. Following that, Nissan initiated a service campaign to upgrade the airbag software of all Navaras produced since 2005.

The upgraded car has achieved three stars for adult occupant protection according to a report released by Euro NCAP yesterday.

It has also scored a higher the Child Occupant Protection rating (to four stars).

Shows that some auto makers do take the tests seriously.

Euro NCAP test results for the Nssan X Trail

I have always liked the Nissan X trail and I was quite surprised when I learnt that it had only achieved four stars in adult occupant protection test conducted by Euro NCAP recently.



Read the full results of the test here on the Euro NCAP site.

Nissan unveils the Pivo 2

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., unveiled the Pivo 2, an advanced electric concept car yesterday. The car will debut at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show. It is powered by an advanced Compact Lithium-ion Batteries and featuring a unique rotating cabin - meaning no reverse gear required.

Pivo 2 employs a 'by-wire' technologies for braking and steering.

Each of the four wheels are powered by Nissan's advanced electric In-wheel 3D Motor and can turn through 90 degrees to allow Pivo 2 to drive sideways as well as forward.

Pivo 2 will be on display at the Nissan Ginza Gallery in Tokyo, for an exclusive public sneak preview ahead of the Motor Show.

Venue: The Nissan Ginza Gallery
5-8-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Dates: Oct. 13, 2007 (Sat) to Oct. 14, 2007 (Sun)
Time: 10:00-20:00

Check out the PIVO 2 Website for more information.

More new safety features from Nissan

I wrote about the anti drunk Nissan concept car. Well. here's a a video of the new safterly features being developed by them.

Nissan comes out with anti drunk car

Drunk driving is a leading cause of fatalities in road accidents. According to statistics provided by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), out of a total of 42,642 people killed in traffic accidents in the US, 17,602 or (41%) made up those killed in alcohol related crashes.

Despite all the warnings, all the high profile convictiions some people never seem to learn. One guy actually told me that he was more alert after drinking a glass of Whiskey taken neat. Yeah right! I won't be riding in his car anytime soon.

Won't it be great if the car prevented a drunk driver from driving.

As part of an ongoing program towards the prevention of drunk driving, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has come out with a new concept car featuring not one but multiple preventative features designed to help reduce drunk driving.


The technology was shown integrated on-board a production model Fuga sedan. This includes a number of sensors on the car and will even result in the immobilization of the vehicle if the car detects a drunk driver.

Read their full press release here.

Attention Nissan Bloggers

If you blog about Nissan cars and issues, then go over to this new site called Nissan Bloggers .


According to an e-mail I received from them,

Our intent is to bring Nissan bloggers closer together, and make a positive contribution to the Internet community.