The Nissan AD van is among the current cheapest cars in Japan, which is slowly gaining popularity in Zimbabwe.
This Nissan is a station wagon car that has an impressive design and is generous on its boot space offering spacious interior and functionalities that connects with an African motorist or family.
It comes with a choice of four engines that include 1.2-litreCR12DE, 1.5-litre HR15DE, 1.6-litre HR16DE, and 1.8-litre MR18DE petrol engines.
It has an angular body with an extended face; its sporty design provides comfort and a magical driving experience. This five-seater is pretty competitive due to its class-leading features and functionalities that are outstanding in every way.
Its engine is linked to either 3- or 4-speed automatic transmission with fewer human interventions allowing you to enjoy stress-free driving.
The interior is impressively built of high-quality upholstery that lasts long. It is very spacious, with both the front and back seats offering ample legroom and headroom even for tall passengers.
The Nissan AD van has adequate luggage capacity and can be customised by folding the back seats to create more room.
This allows the car to be multifunctional to the Zimabwean motorist in which one can use it to transport goods as a business while accommodating up to seven passengers for a large family.
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In this country where the public transport system is not yet well structured many have started using it for mushika-shika kind of transport business.
When compared with the option to use a Toyota Wish one finds it better because of a lower purchase price and lower fuel consumption.
Its standard features include power steering, power lock doors, air conditioning, stereo speaker.
It is also packed with high-end GX variant features that include satellite navigation, keyless entry, power windows, and climate control.
This vehicle’s updated engine technologies enable it to be fuel-efficient with minimum carbon footprints.
Its average fuel consumption is 13.00km/L, which is relatively lower than most cars within its range making it idle for business to make better profits.
This Nissan AD van is a direct competitor with the Toyota Succeed and Toyota Probox.
These cars have several similarities, but one significant difference is the fuel economy of the AD is lower than the rest.
It is related to the famous Nissan Sunny that has similar ease of drive and adequate space.
Overall, this car’s excellent performance and spacious interior give other brands a run for their money. But must say the seats are hard and tend to be uncomfortable for long journeys.
The Nissan AD van FOB price from Japan is ranging from $1,500 to $3,500 depending with the grade, mileage and engine type.
The cheapest route to import the vehicle into Zimbabwe is via Dar es Salaam port with the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) being between $3,500 to $4,800 also depending with the specific condition of each car.
The total landing price to Harare including all other costs and taxes are quite friendly compared to other cars; ranging from $7,500 to $8,500 for a 2015 model being the minimum age allowed in the country.
In my view it is more affordable considering a combination of the specs, features, and interior space that this car offers.
Having evolved longer than most cars, this model has made design and feature tweaks to fit the user’s needs growing its popularity widely.
This Nissan is on a path to create a success story in this country based on its low price while offering the best of features and functionalities measured with the growing number of vehicles on the Zimbabwean road being used for business. The beauty about this car model is its wide selection of engines.
The1.2-litre CR12DE is idle for those sensitive about the fuel consumption, but interested in carrying voluminous goods.
The 1.5-litre HR15DE and the 1.6-litre HR16DE fits to those requiring a little bit of power and perhaps covering relatively longer distances every day.
And if you really need more power and perhaps driving through bad roads then the 1.8-litre MR18DE AWD can do the job for you in any road terrain.
In this country we have cars like the Honda Fit, which became the darling of every motorist but when I look at the main reasons the whole thing was influenced by pricing.
So I see the same story unfolding through this Nissan AD van. Of course the Honda Fit benefited from an old policy where there was no age limit on the cars that could be imported back then and that made the majority of people be able to afford it.
However, the Nissan AD van is coming at a time when the regulations allows only cars that are not older than 10 years and the total landing costs is much higher than what pushed the Honda Fit into this market.
Nissan is a common brand that is fairly acceptable locally, but the availability is critical to create convenience to the motorist driving this model.
The speed at which people can get the spares will be influenced by the number of units that can be imported into the country at a shorter period where the accident damaged units will feed the parts supplies.
It is my advice that those buying these cars at this stage should improve the security of the cars by reverting all the view mirrors, putting car identity on all the car windows and fitting lock nuts on the tyres among others.
Furthermore, it is advisable that motorists maintain the recommended service intervals at 5 000kms to keep its performance to remain perfect.
I say this because it seems like most people deliberately do not want to service their cars and only do so when it breaks down.
*Stanley Makombe has 25 years of experience in the motor industry, currently handling vehicle imports from Japan, Thailand, the UK, and South Africa into African countries. He is writing in his capacity and can be contacted on +254 743 900 590, on X @Stan_Carsales, email: [email protected], www.stanleymakombe.com
