Is it just me?

Before I decided buying the GL, my original desire is to buy a Kia Carens way back 2008. Due to the prohibitive price of the Carens, I search for an alternative. And I fall in love with the Grand Livina. Very good engine response, cold aircon, nice interior ( pati clippings ng seatbelt ). I remedied the lack of space when sitting 7 by installing a cheap roof rail and rack. I felt that it was a solid car until I reach 10,000 kms.

I have also the chance of driving the cars of my officemates like Honda City ( barely 2 years old with 20k odo reading ), CRV, Fort and Sta Fe ( with 65k odo reading ). Halos sabay sabay kaming kumuha ng bagong tsikot dahil sabay sabay bumaba yung transpo allowance namin as additional benefit.

Ngayon balik tayo kay GL. After 10k kilometers, nakaramdam na ako ng vibration. Initially akala ko sa steering wheel pero later on naobserve ko na parang galing sa suspension sa harap. Also parang hindi solid ang steering wheel, yun bang parang hindi ka nasa even surface when making a full turn at low speed. After bumiyahe ng more than 400 kilometers nakakarinig ako ng maliliit na ingay galing sa loob pero nawawala naman later on. Ngayon naman, nararamdaman ko yung sasakyan napupull ng imperfections ng kalsada dati naman wala. Sabi ng expert, sa gulong daw ito dahil medyo nauupod na gulong. Malalaman ko pag nagpalit ako ng apat na gulong.

In short, compared sa mga na drive ko na kotse sa itaas at compared sa Revo ko nun ( which I bought also brand new ), hindi ganon ka solid ang GL considering na 30k pa lang natakbo ko. To be objective, you can hear tiny vibrations sa loob compared sa 65k na sta fe at 20k na city. Lahat ng problema ko inirefer ko sa Nissan pero not corrected. Maingat ako sa sasakyan at lagi iwas sa lubak. Yung revo ko noon naramadaman ko na luma na siya nung umabot na sa 90k natakbo ko. Ngayon naman feeling ko luma na GL ko. Sa 2 years kong ginagamit si GL, thrice ko pa lang napatakbo ng 180 sa SCTEX for a short period of time. May epekto kaya yun? Napalitan na nga rin pala RH side sa likod na shock absorber ko ( warranty ). Yung carrier ko pala tinatanggal ko yun pag walang ikakarga na marami. Halos holy week and december ko lang naikakabit.

Anyway, I am just sharing my observations with GL. Wala pa naman akong buyer remorse pero iniisip ko minsan dahil kaya Taiwan assembled unit natin di sya kasing solid ng mga japanese or korean cars? Minsan nga iniisip ko di kaya test drive unit ito noon at ibinenta sa akin.

Please feel free to comment or share.

this is my first time to own a brand new car so i can't comment much. sa part ko medyo meron akong naririnig na small vibrations coming from the interior and not much on the suspensions, i'm nearing 20k by the way. i agree na nakaka-frustrate ang after sales support ng dealers but again pinag-aaralan lang din nila yung GL natin like us since the Livina is new here in the market.

i just hope we continue to share our experiences sa mga unit natin para ma-educate din tayo on how to resolve small issues and not to raise it to our dealers anymore dahil alam naman natin na hindi naman nila naasikaso ng husto ang mga sasakyan na pinapasok sa kanila.

Hi Emm. I sort of agree with you on comparing GL with other car brands. I have owned and driven longterm several brands as well such as a 1991 Corolla, 1995 Civic ESi, 1997 Rav4, 2004 Revo VX, 2007 Civic all having brand new status. Their quality were better than my Livina in terms of having a solid feeling ride.

My bro-in-law's cheaper 2007 Civic has a more solid feel on driving and the interiors are better looking. Sorry about this negative comment about the livina. I guess its just Ive had a very bad experience with Mantrade. Before I bought the livina, I did a lot of research on reviews and most of them were very good that's why I was convinced to buy it. Yun nga lang after 5K or more parang iba na yun feel unlike my other former cars.

I think the GL need not be better than other vehicles (although it's a bonus if it turns out that way.) My expectation is that it should be reasonably fit for the purpose for which it was purchased. On that account, I'll give the GL a "pwede na" grade. This has nothing to do with the excellent service I get from my dealership. If that is taken into account, I call myself a satisfied GL owner.

As for me, there have been several times that I had to bring it to casa so they can solve small noises (here and there) coming from the dash and overhead liner. My consistent patience (and pakiusap) has paid off since nawala na ang mga ingay. Even sa rear door na ingay, na-resolve na din. Yung air vent issue naayos na din nila. I also claimed warranty sa rear seat na di nag-lock into place, 2 headlights na may crack and sa steering coupling that exhibited noise overtime but I don't see it as a complete disappointment since Nissan replaced those components free of charge. Of course hassle lang talaga to have the necessary parts checked, evaluated and finally approved for a fix and replacement. But what is important, the issues were rectified and fixed so it is always good for us customers to feedback our issues so the manufacturer can make their products better. This is not limited only to Nissan but other manufacturers as well. Meron din sigurong issues yung mga cars na ne-release ng ibang car manufacturers early sa market which was rectified later on. My dad's sta fe had a brake caliper issue even before it reached 20K and was replaced for free by Hyundai. Ngayon 30K na and odometer reading nito, me mga ingay and rattles na akong nadidinig which is even worst than sa GL ko before. The warranty is there to fix manufacturing defects and issues with the product and give us consumers peace of mind. 2010 was a year of recalls in the US which should serve as a reminder that all manufacturers are subject to product issues which can be rectified if we consumers tell the manufacturers about it. For me, I bought the GL for its intended use to ferry my family and of course goods which a normal sedan cannot accommodate.

Ok naman ang GL and it is oftentimes very tempting to compare it with other cars but I rather not compare it and possibly giving myself unwanted stress why I made the purchase in the first place. It's best to move on, enjoy it and maximize its use and of course utilize your right as consumer to demand a fix for any annoying issues and ask a 2nd opinion from another dealer if the issue is not rectified by the existing dealer.

I read somewhere that having a perfect car is not entirely good since it does not become personal to you since you don't find anything wrong with it. However having a car with some sort of problem makes you more concerned about your vehicle because you want to fix its issue. Once solved, you feel more connected to it since there was something in the vehicle that made you think about it and likewise the experience made it more memorable to you. I do agree with what the writer says since I did experience it in my GL first hand. It's not much different with our lives anyway....we live to make our lives better (bearable) by solving todays problems. We just need to tackle it one at a time and as we all know, problems will never run out.

very well said sir, and i agree . . .

good point sir Lydemer.

As for me, GL is pretty solid just like other cars we had and from friends cars that i ride with. For an MPV, I am blessed to have a GL as my car. I will not trade it for any other car of its class. Not even from my old car (though i still miss our first car - '97 honda city, it is so hard to let go). But now, i am proud to sit more than 5 people, that is myself, wife and my baby (in her own recaro baby car seat), 2 parents, plus 1 maid, a stroller, a 4x4x2 cooler, 2 baby bags, 2 big umbrellas, my mother's personal 2x2x1 cooler, and some other bags/things that i am not sure why we need to bring it.

these things i cannot load into my old 5 seater sub-compact sedan. And sad to say, which i cannot even fit to a brand new compact sedan or even a full size sedan in that case. For the same price as my GL, a compact sedan cannot do what i am doing with my GL. Other MPV or AUV is a bit more expensive, where as it will only do the same with what i can do with my GL.

As for the noises, i am blessed not to experience them with my GL at the moment. Though there are sound that i soon discovered only to come from a loose seatbelt (stopper not removed) tugging itself against the pillar or a my baby's toy rolling arround the door pockets or some other things left inside the car squishing itself against the leather seat cover, masakit sa ipin yun hahaha. But i am already anticipiating it would happen someday that i will hear some noises from my GL based on the punishment it is taking from me and my family. I drive to and from work everyday at night (25 kms total), then when i arrive in the morning my wife will use GL to and from work (10kms total). On weekends. i use GL to drive to and from my mba school (25kms total), roam arround any mall or park of my wife and baby's choosing.

my GL is 1 year 5 months old, registering 22,000 + at the moment. Still, the engine pull is solid from every step I give when I open my GL, and shocks are still holding up with every twist and turn I make. With proper care and timely and decent regular maintenance, I am confident that I will be enjoying GL like it is still new for a long time.

Wish ko lang talaga sana makapag upgrade na ko ng audio system! sawa na ko sa FM. hahahahah! hirap mag budget

I cannot do without comparing it with my past cars with brand new status. Money used in buying these cars came from the same source, hard work. And surely everybody wants to spend their hard earned money wisely especially when buying a little less than a million prized car. Thats my reasoning why I compare my Livina with my other car brands. The question that always linger in my mind when I compare is "Bakit ganun ang quality ng Livina ko kahit na mas hamak naman na mura yun Civic at Corolla ko dati".

But I think the question really is "Bakit pangit ang quality ng brand new cars ngayon compared to 5 years ago."

I follow your sentiments sir badtoy, and share this on many other products I bought; LCD TV, Electric Fans, believe it or not some parts of my room airconditioner is made from Styrofoam as compared to my parents old aircon parts made of hard plastics and metal. I have several observations as to why these produce products, not just cars, are in poorer quality as compared before. I believe the following reasons might be true:

- less cost in production (raw materials, manpower, etc.) = more profit.
- if they built strong and very durable products, or cars for this matter, after sales break-fix period will be delayed. More poor quality products, the better revenue they can generate in the repairs or replacement of broken and old parts. Usually, some products may be designed to break as soon as the warranty period expires.
- If they built strong and very durable products like they use to, sales of their new product models may not be as profitable as the first one.
- I also noticed, they don't put all the goodies in your product. Our GL's audo system is so old school. Just before I went out of casa after signing the necessary sales papers, I immediately checked their "accessories" section to browse for a compatible 2-din touch-screen lcd audio system with usb/mp3/bluetooth capability which proudly sits on top of their display shelf. I would say, a very effective after-sales marketing strategy. Unfortunately for them, my budget does not permit me to upgrade at that time hahahaha.

just my two cents po

There may be many other reasons, but for now, this seems to be the trend. My father is still not convinced that the wood trims on my GL's dash and door panels are real wood. He said they don't smell and feel like wood and he is sure its plastic painted to look like wood. He also said that his fiera before is better since he bought himself real mahogany all-wood steering wheel for it and its body frame is as almost as tough as a tank

mejo OT lang...

There is only one vehicle manufacturer that has a reputation of satisfying their customer with their quality work. Their products lasts more than the expectation of their customers thats why there is a following for the product. Its not a high end luxury euro car, its a motorcycle brand. they are Suzuki motorcycles.

Their motorcycle have far better quality and service than other vehicles and as a result they have a loyal bond from their customers who chooses to own their motorcycles on a longer term than other brands. As a result of having superb quality work on their products, their release of newer products takes a longer time. They dont dive in the bandwagon of releasing new versions or new products every so often. To reciprocate their customers loyalty, they release more aftermarket parts hence they take it upon their customers to do the improvements themselves.

i've been wanting to share a letter i wrote to vernon sarne of topgear last year and his response soon after we got our GL. it shows our frustration not with the car but with the whole car buying experience with nissan specially nissan gallery ortigas. mods, how can i post a 5 page letter? hehehe. or maybe i can send it privately to those who are interested to read it.

anyway, the car's odo reading is around 15,000+ kms but will sched PMS next week. not sure if i want to bring it to NGO since they told me they will use synthetic oil every 5000 km which is crap. kaya nga nag synthetic para less ang palit ng langis tapos they tell me that its the standard? pano naging standard when other casas use mineral for the GL? ang mahal kaya ng synthetic! and when you read literature on lubricants, ang mineral pwede talaga dapat gamitin ng more than 10000 km. tama si eggy_reyes, inconsistent sila. kung pwede lang dalhin sa ilolio since yun lang ata ang matinong casa ng nissan dito! (hehehe, take note, linagyan ko ng ata

my take on the whole thing is everytime i bring the car for repairs for repairs under warranty (outside of PMS or insurance claims), it diminishes the value of the car. i lose money because of the time i spend taking the car to the casa which is time i could spend on work to earn money. buying a car to me is an investment since you use the car not only for family and leisure but also for work (although financially, its not really an investment since once its turned over to you, the value and price of the car already depreciates) and for me the best way to get back your investment is to maximize the use of the car. if you spend more time than usual returning the car to the casa for warranty issues, it lessens the time you use your investment, hence, you lose money.

when i compare a nissan to a toyota or honda, the latter 2 has a better ROI due to the significantly lesser number of times our toyota or pre-ondoy honda had to be brought to the casa for warranty issues. aside from the warranty issues, the after sales service experience of Nissan does not help. comparing the GL to our Innova, mas maingay na sa loob ng GL considering na 2 weeks older ang Innova saka 25K na tinakbo. naglalabasan na ang mga langitngit at kalampag ng GL but not like when we first got the car, i'm not stressing myself anymore. i'll just stick to the PMS schedule and have any other warranty claims done during the PMS to lessen the trips to the casa. will just maximize the use of my "investment", maintain it para wag naman ako itirik sa daan and enjoy whatever there is to enjoy. sayang lang talaga, ok yung GL (or as steelpulse put it, 'pwede na' sana). it would have been better than pwede na or ok lang if the people peddling and maintaining the product put more heart and mind into their jobs.

blooperoo send mo sakin yun 5 page letter mo. might help with my communications with NMPI moc.ignacio@gmail.com

thanks.

We bought our GL (brand new) last April 2010 with really low expectations. It just met the requirements of our growing family, needing space for 6 and we wanted to replace our gas guzzling gen2 CRV. I was never a fan of Nissan because of its low resale value and the horror service stories I have heard before. But I have to admit that performance-wise and even design-wise, the GL did exceed my humble standards. I found it easy and light to drive as the engine is responsive (like a civic) while the suspension is outstanding and incomparable to my gen2 CRV. Gas consumption is OKAY, a huge improvement from the previously mentioned vehicle. It also has generous space despite looking small or petite from the outside. By the way, we find the seats very comfortable too. Probably the weak points are the ff: cheaply built interior (rattles, squeaks, etc.), undersized tires, mono horn. Good thing the last 2 are easily replaceable... which I did by the way. now im contemplating on "deadening" the doors and maybe even the floor or ceiling as it might resolve some of the interior noise and dampen external noise too I can say that I'm more than satisfied with our GL, di ko nalang binibigyan ng attention yung casa at hindi naman sila marunong!

got your mail blooperoo. thanks

Eggy... good for you your expectation were surpassed. However its quite difficult to have low expectations with a 908K car and its not a cheap car. hard to think of low expectation with its price. I would probably have low expectation with a 500K china branded car.

badtoy wrote:
Eggy... good for you your expectation were surpassed. However its quite difficult to have low expectations with a 908K car and its not a cheap car. hard to think of low expectation with its price. I would probably have low expectation with a 500K china branded car.

ang gusto ko talaga kasi was the Montero @ 1.5M. kaya the sub 1M cost of our GL was really a good compromise. I know the 2 vehicles shouldn't be compared at all pero yun lang ang nakita ko na pasok sa requirements of space for 6 and fuel efficient. I also considered the Innova (G or V only) as middle ground but then we decided to save a little on 2010 and maybe we can get the facelifted Montero in 2012.

my mother in law's Montero was bought the same time I got my Livina. Nauna pang i break in yun Montero kesa sa GL ko coz we went to Baguio using the MS. For a diesel engine with an automatic tranny, surprisingly response in acceleration is good and very quiet. The klakity klak klak sound of the diesel engine was minimal inside the cabin. Masarap din gamitin yun plus minus shifting going uphill and downhill slopes of Baguio roads. Handling was good despite its an SUV. Come to think of it ang mura ng SUV na ito for 1.5M. Halos ka presyo lang ng RAV4 and ASX. Mahal pa nga ang Forester

yun nga lang when I rode and drove a RAV, langit at lupa ang difference. Nakita ko ang ASX yun MS interiors looked like crap and lalo na nun nakasakay ako ng forester. Now I see the reason bakit ang mura ng MS.

Then driving again my GL. Narealize ko ibang iba ang comfort kesa sa MS. Mas napamahal pako lalo sa GL ko with the experience of driving an MS

we have different experiences with our GL that gave us different point of view on whether our GL is solid in comparison with the other car ( of the same time frame or era of manufacturing) .. In my case, i got my GL last April 2010, but to date (6000 Km reading), ilang beses na ito bumalik sa casa, including sa NMPI plant which it stays there for 3 days just only to disappoinment me further.., lastly i decided to go on some checking done by other car repair shops like servitek and just to find out na di pala na address ng dealer young issue properly since they only make remedy fixing lang.. this is my first car, before, i had an oppurtunity to drive an owner jeep and later a proton wira and kancil in malaysia , so i dont have much idea to compare our GL with other car..however due to the negative experiences that i already had with it..,, it seems and i felt that the unit that i got is a problematic one- not Solid?, may be it is not a brand new one. coz. when i check the seat belt tag (as what i read from other blogs that it tells us the manufacturing date of the car), it shows that it was manufactured 2008 pa! and the battery was already down on just the 5th month although they just sold it to me last april 2010 as a new Road Master Edition, it seems that adding the HUD and body skirt makes it a 2010 model na ( should manufacturing date and year model be the same?) ?.. The unit was originaly a stocked from Mantrade where my dealer get it from as they dont ussually selling GL (its already late when they told it to me)... as of now, Still open ended pa rin and am thinking as the last resort to get the DTI involvements na..

I guess may mga kapareho akong experience with my GL. I learned also a lot from you guys. I won't stop addressing issues with the GL and tire replacement would be my 1st priority.

Satisfied naman ako sa GL in terms of engine response. I know lot of you would agree. Either MT or AT maganda ang engine response. Yung mga maliliit na kalampag talaga ang kinakainisan ko. Galing sa interior hindi sa labas kaya hindi rin maaddress pag nag pa sound proof ka.

at least sa inyo identified nyo na yun mga sounds are coming from the interior. My just resolved issue was vibrations coming from a replaced catalytic converter.

now meron na naman... at the rear end under the car. gonna check it later. I hope there wouldnt be second chapter on my misadventures with mantrade.

for me, i also find that the GL is not as solid as i was expecting it to be. our unit doesn't have any major creaking or squeaking noises yet but whenever i drive it, i could hear subtle rattling noises that i think only the driver would notice (yung ingay na hindi pansin ni misis pero ikaw na nagmamaneho naririnig mo . . i think you guys know what i mean)

i also drive a mazda3 V which is 3 years older than our GL (50k km) but i have to say that that vehicle still feels more solid than the our relatively brand new GL. except for seating capacity and fuel efficiency (marginally), i'd have to say that the mazda3 surpasses the GL in every other aspect (looks, features, amenities, ride, etc.) yes, even engine response and handling (although here, i'm still giving myself some time. baka hindi ko pa lang gamay ihataw yung GL kasi technically, kay misis yun kahit hindi niya dina-drive kaya ingat pa ko, hehehe). yung mazda rin, i only have it serviced every 10k km and after the service, i have never had to check on anything other the water for the wipers. the only thing replaced was an engine support nung 20k niya but that was still under warranty. now that it’s 3 years old already, ngayon pa lang ako magpapalit na ng gulong. and yes, i've had no problems with my dealer for the mazda.

i’m sure some of you would say that it’s not right to compare the GL to other vehicles, especially here that i’m comparing it to a sedan type. but I believe it’s ok if you compare a car to something with the same price range since that would have been the vehicle you invested in instead. and the mazda3 and GL now are indeed in the same price range.

HOWEVER, having said all of that, if i were to choose now between a GL or a mazda3 (or any sedan type for that matter), i’d still go for the GL. if I was still single, i might go for the mazda. But now that we have two children already, i feel i can’t overlook what the GL for me really is, which is a great family vehicle. our choices when we were getting a family vehicle with our budget was the GL, mits fuzion and an innova. i won’t detail our analysis here, but i still conclude that the GL is the best family vehicle out there for its price. talagang it gives the most bang for your buck IMHO. i can live with the subtle less-than-solid feel and the minor quirks that we have experienced so far. so barring any major problems (like the engine knocking or something) and poor dealer support aside, i’m still looking forward to a long and happy future with our GL.

in terms of sounds from outside, tingin ko kulang ang Livina natin sa sound acoustics. malakas ang pasok ng tunog sa labas. i already had this thing of making sure all windows are up kasi feeling ko me naka-bukas na window. i guess one way to fix this is to put some sound deadener sa pinto, it will lessen the noise and definitely will make the car sound solid from the inside.

what I am really concerned of is ngayon pa lang na almost brand new status yun mga GL natin and we feel its not that solid to drive, hearing creaks and squeaks from minor to major ones. Paano pa kaya kung 4 to 5 years old na yun car? or even much older like 7-10 years old. Would the car still hold and be reliable?

baka kasi it is wiser to sell the car after 3 years and let the new owners deal with the future problems at baka sa akin pa matyempo ang isang major problem. But hopefully hindi kumalas ang isang part ng car hehehe

In my case, naka 5 years warranty naman c GL via in house insurance kaya medjo secured ang feeling ko. After 5 years tsaka na lang ako decide kung e letlet go ko na sya.

aln wrote:in terms of sounds from outside, tingin ko kulang ang Livina natin sa sound acoustics. malakas ang pasok ng tunog sa labas. i already had this thing of making sure all windows are up kasi feeling ko me naka-bukas na window. i guess one way to fix this is to put some sound deadener sa pinto, it will lessen the noise and definitely will make the car sound solid from the inside.

Dynamat ftw!!! http://www.dynamat.com/products_automotive_dynamat_xtreme.html

^^ exactly sir, kaso mahal dynamat eh. hehehe

this will definitely make your car feel solid, hehehe..