Willow's Limo

[Willow]

As most of you know Willow is our dog's name. Well last night we picked up her new limo.

It's a Nissan Xtrail SE.

For my American Polkies, this vehicle is not available to you (as far as I know)
Fully loaded.
My wife loves the heated seats ! and have you ever seen such a big A$$ sunroof ? it reaches past and on the back seats, giving a convertible feel.
Oddly enough Willow has not yet had a ride in it. Heck she can't even jump high enough to get in the back seats. (she's 16lbs and a min american eskimo)
The front cup holder are temperature related so in the summer when the AC is on the drinks stay cool and winter they stay warm. In the centre Dash there is a cabinet where we can again keep 2 500ml bottles of water either cold or warm.

after 250kms on it (it's not even 24hrs old yet) we are loving it.

[janmike]

Congrats Willow. Nice looking vehicle. Yup, nothing like heated seats on those -30 mornings.

[Fireman32]

Nice looking ride congrats

[schwarcw]

Very nice! Congrats and good luck with your new ride!

[cfrizz]

For a spoiled ass dog!:p ;) :D

[audiobliss]

Looks nice! I wanna see some pics of the inside....and all those neat features!!

[Willow]

Looks nice! I wanna see some pics of the inside....and all those neat features!!


Thanks every one. All I want to do is drive it. By far the best vehicle we have owned. It's smooth. The seats are a tadd stiff.

I will take pics tomorrow of the inside and post them.

[michael_w]

Very nice. Pretty shiny, but considering it's black that won't last too long ;)

[wingnut4772]

What a nice lookin' ride for Willow.:)

[Willow]

more pics of the inside

[Willow]

the first 2 are of the centre console keep cool/keep warm
the single cup holder does the same there is a smll lever you can pull up or down to close the vent.
The sun roof which does open about 2" in the back on an angle or opens up all the way.

[audiobliss]

Looks very nice!

[Willow]

thanks

I just don't understand why in 2006 they would include a tape deck. It did take a bit to feel alright with the centre mounted display but now we are fine.

[audiobliss]

Ha. I wish I had a tape player in my car. I would use it!

Yeah, I wouldn't like the center mounted guage cluster.

[michael_w]

You'd think it'd almost be more expensive to put a tape deck in than a cd deck... I mean just look at the abundance of cheapo dvd and cd players. The center mounted gauges would creep me out too, but I guess you get used to it.

Looking good!

[VR3]

Very nice ride...

Mix of the old and new - anytime your Dash has integrated doors with a handle, you're taking it back to the good ol days. Very nice. Your dog must be happy!

Michael... "Carnuba Wax." - He'll just use alot more of it than normal. Not near as bad as red though.

[Willow]

thanks again guys.

I forgot to mention it comes with an in-dash 6 cd player, but does not play MP3. In the driver's glove box is a power outlet to which I connect my Ipod and run it via an FM transmitter. looks clean but can't skip songs without opening the glovebox.

and this pic is of the heated seats

[brettw22]

I've only seen the center mounted displays in the lower end econo cars (yaris, echo), so it's surprising to see it in an SUV. I like the look of the truck Willow. It looks a blend of the little Land Rover (hood line) and the back end of a CRV(tail lights).

[Willow]

and lastly

it's powered by a 2.5 litre V4 which uses 2 litres more per 100Kms than our Matrix, not bad. It is said to have the most HP 165, out of all cute-utes except for the new V6 Rav4. I have not been able to gun it yet as we are still in the break in period.
4 wheel disk, EBD with brake assist. Snow mode which makes sure the tires don't spin on wet/snow covered roads. ABS.

Can't wait till winter, not that I will drive like a fool, but to be able to test out all the gadgets.

[Willow]

Thanks Brett,

I know it's true about the centre mounted dash. Apparently from what I have been able to read is that they have done this as this car has been available in europe, australia and mexico for a while since 2000. It might make it easier to switch the steering wheel from one side to another.
And this is far from low end model not top of line mind you but no echo either.

It does allow a vent right behind the steering wheel which helps cool off the driver and my hands are never in the way of the gauges. I don't love it but don't hate it either.

[Fireman32]

I've only seen the center mounted displays in the lower end econo cars (yaris, echo), so it's surprising to see it in an SUV. I like the look of the truck Willow. It looks a blend of the little Land Rover (hood line) and the back end of a CRV(tail lights).


I have the Yaris and i like the center mounted display. Took a day or two to get used to it but i like it now.

[brettw22]

The import/export idea makes a lot of sense. Minimizing the amount of adjustments is a good idea......

I think you meant it's a straight 4, right? I don't know that a V4 even exists....but it's 6:30am and I haven't gone to bed yet, so i'm not on all cylinders myself.....lol.

I'm off though........nite.

[Willow]

Brett you are correct it's a 4 cyl. Don't know why I added the V.
Sleep tight !

Fireman, tomrrow it will have been a week since we owned the car, I am getting the feel for it in the centre. I do like that the driver has a storage compartment and a vent right behind the steering wheel so I can crank up the AC right on my face or blast the heat.
When I first saw the X, I thought that car is beautiful I love how it looks on the outside, did some research and saw it had the centre mounted gauges,it turned me off a bit. The more I saw the outside the more I thought Blah, I can get over the centre mounted dash. The day we took it for a test drive boom I fell in love with the way it drove, it has more of a car feel than our Matrix did. So we test drove the Rav4, Tuscon. The new Toyo I just didn't like the spare on the back and the new styling (ours has a full spare inside) and the Tuscon, well all though we could of had that puppy dirt cheap, it also felt and looked a tad cheap on the inside.

[disneyjoe7]

A 4 cylinder a little of topic but what's your gas mileage? No not the sticker rating but yours.

[Willow]

We've driven about 500kms on one full tank of gas (holds 60Litres). I'd day that pretty good. Not amazing but for a SUV it's good. It's a bit more than our Matrix and that was supposed to have very good gas mileage.

[disneyjoe7]

Broke that to english sorry metic is hard for me, they tried to convert us but no go.

500km = 310 miles

60 liters = 15.85 gallons

about 19.5 mpg not bad, not great, but not bad.

Ok for a SUV that's GREAT.

Thanks for the info.

[Willow]

here are the calcs, much better than posted

29MPG city
38MPG hwy

much better

it's about 10 ltrs per 100Kms city and say 7-8 litres per 100K hwy

[audiobliss]

Hmm. that's not much better than I'm getting from my '95 Cherokee (~17mpg).

[disneyjoe7]

here are the calcs, much better than posted

29MPG city
38MPG hwy

much better

it's about 10 ltrs per 100Kms city and say 7-8 litres per 100K hwy


In really life I never seen an sticker EPA rating the same as what you get in really life.

[disneyjoe7]

Hmm. that's not much better than I'm getting from my '95 Cherokee (~17mpg).


I also agree as my 4 Runner gets ~17mpg also, and not bad as it a tad larger also with a larger motor V6 3.4 liter.

[audiobliss]

Yeah. I mean, I guess at today's gas prices, the difference between 17 and 19 mpg is pretty substantial, but I was considering the fact that I drive my Jeep like I stole it...everyday. ;)

[VR3]

HAHAHA! Well guess what??? I get 15 IN MY HYBRID!!!!! p\/\/|\|3|)!!!!!!

Im jk, very nice specs. Gas prices are falling kind of over here.

[audiobliss]

Yeah, I think I payed 2.69 last time.

Hmm, I started my last two posts with 'yeah'.

So, yeah,...

[VR3]

I paid 6.64 two weeks ago. 2.60 now.

[audiobliss]

6.64?! Man, we never saw it that high, that's for sure! At the peak here in the piedmont I don't *think* it crossed the $4 mark, but if it didn't, it wasn't but maybe $.15 over and only for a short period of time.

[michael_w]

$2.60?? Here it's usually floating around $4 / gallon.\


Snow mode which makes sure the tires don't spin on wet/snow covered roads.
Pfffttt that's no fun :p

[audiobliss]

Pfffttt that's no fun :p
Amen! I get a big ol' grin when the rain start pouring down and I have to drive somewhere. :D

[VR3]

I meant 2.64....

If gas got to 6.60 - Id be driving a Yaris...

I spun my tires for the first time today...

Basically I was sitting at a redlight and an ambulance was behind me and then his lgihts turned on and he had to go...light was still red...

I kept trying to move, but I had to drive onto the median and into the other road actually (opposing traffic) just to make a path... to get back over I got stuck in the flowers/grass and spun a tire! ;) HA!

I havnt even spun them in the rain. I wont drive my truck in the snow...thats suicide.

[Zero]

Very cool ride. I mean, where else can you find a vehicle that has a button called "Snow"!

I like it. Enjoy, Willow!

[audiobliss]

Hahaha, you could've come up with a MUCH cooler way to spin your tires, Sid!

[Fireman32]

Im getting 40mpg in my Yaris. I paid 2.65 at the pump and it cost me 25 to fill it up and it will last me 2 weeks.
Willow the longer you drive it the more you will like the center monted guages

[audiobliss]

Now that we're bragging about gas-mileage....:D

Dad's Jetta TDI 5spd get's about 48mpg. That's definitely better than the Jeep, Town & Country, or Suburban get!!

[faster100]

Im getting 40mpg in my Yaris. I paid 2.65 at the pump and it cost me 25 to fill it up and it will last me 2 weeks.
Willow the longer you drive it the more you will like the center monted guages


Fireman,
I was just looking at one of these locally and we were considering one to supplement the SUV we have that sucks on gas..

did you get the hatchback or the sedan? mind me asking what ya paid or close to? I seen the stick shift hatchback starts at like 10k something.. likely more like 11k + on the lot .. how do ya like it? y ou can pm me if ya want so we dont side track this thread..

[Willow]

Actually my findings are a tadd better than the EPA.
I'm glad I figured out the proper amount as our first findings where you converted based on what I gave you would have been horrible I might as well be driving an 18 wheeler.

Go figure EH ! about the snow mode. I'm not sure if vehicles in Europe come with this option.

Currently I filled up the tank @ .88c a ltr

I know the gas mileage is not as good as the Matrix, to be expected considering it's a 2.5 ltr vs a 1.8 and so on. But I am glad that we are not getting the 18mpg.

[Willow]

Fireman, been driving today and it was second nature to look over to the centre. I think I'm getting the hang of it and dare I say I might actually prefer it ?

It's more visible at all times, the only down side is I can't speed and tell my wife I'm not as she has full view of it as well.
Another feature I am enjoying and think should be on every car is the side mounted turning signals. Usually found on Mazda, Mitsubishi and the Yaris and Prius. It comes in handy when on the HWY and want to change lanes cause not everyone has a view of your A$$ or nose (of the car).

As nice as the carbon fibre removable trunk is, our bags slip and slide everywhere, by the time groceries are done our salad has been tossed for us. Will need to go out and buy an anti skid type carpet/liner.

[Fireman32]

Willow, glad to see that your getting used to it. The speeding part i didn't think about.

[Fireman32]

Faster PM sent to ya

[audiobliss]

The speeding part i didn't think about.
That's the first thing I thought about! :D

[disneyjoe7]

Well to tell you a story...

My brother in-law will not go for another ride with me in my wifes Acura TL-S since I think he pissed his pants during a HP demonstration. He didn't tell me but told everyone about me, and he couldn't even see the Speedometer, wonder how large the fear / story would've been if he know how fast I pushed it.

So a car with the SpeedO in Front -N- Center may kill my interest in any car.

[audiobliss]

Well, I just filled up this evening at $2.69/gallon, I believe. I got 15.9mpg on the last tank (in my Cherokee).