After an uneventful 30,000-40,000 kilometer-stint, the Nissan Cefiro once again showed its poor build quality as the odometer hit 44,000 kilometers. This time, the car exhibited a mysterious problem of pulling to the right side when the car’s speed exceeded 40 kilometers per hour. What’s more, the car’s steering vibrated violently when speeds of more than 50 kilometers per hour are reached.
To cure the problem we checked in the Cefiro at Nissan Gallery in Libis when the odometer reached around 45,500 kilometers. Together with the oil change, other PMS work plus a clutch correction, we hoped that the car could be ready in three days time. Unfortunately, Nissan Gallery continued to play their role by having one of the most incompetent and awful Nissan service centers by actually releasing the unit without repairing the steering problem.
We explicitly told them to correct the steering problem, but the service department merely placed it under ‘suggested repairs’. Remember that we checked in the Cefiro for the unstable steering in the first place. Of course, Nissan Gallery held the unit a few more days to figure to complete a job they were supposed to have completed three days ago (This meant that those guys took three days to drain and put in 4 liters of Mobil 1 and repair a slight clutch problem. My dog could do that job at a faster pace even with its eyes closed!) Two more days later (and many phone calls later), Nissan Gallery found the problem—the tie rod and ball-and-socket joints needed replacement. We gave the go signal only to find out that the ball-and-socket joint needs more than six to eight weeks of repair time since they had to order the parts all the way from Japan (or should I say Yulon Motors in Taiwan…) We had to pull out the unit without getting the steering repaired.
To make things worse, the day we received the unit, we noticed that the Cefiro had become very dirty inside and out—in fact the car’s interior was very dusty as a huge blanket of it settled on the center console area. Moreover, the car smelled as if smelly service attendant apes actually spent their entire coffee breaks sitting inside probably dozing off in the cool breeze of the car’s aircon. It’s ok if Nissan would gas up and clean up the car before return it to the owner free of charge, unfortunately that is not the case and we had to shoulder all the wasted fuel plus spending the entire afternoon cleaning after THEIR mess.
Though service is on the awful side, at least the car is still performing well enough to be considered as an excellent touring sedan. Nissan’s silky-smooth V6 VQ engine is still unrivalled in terms of quietness and evenness. The engine seems to perform much better with the 5-speed manual transmission rather than the sluggish 4-speed automatic. Speaking about the transmission, the unit’s manual gearbox is starting to show its age by become a bit rubbery, especially during cold start-ups. The car still continues to impress me with its highway cruising capability, but above all the car’s amazing agility especially in cramped and twisty streets.
The climate control continues to deliver blizzard air and at least the temperature computer doesn’t seem to act up anymore. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same with the audio system, where despite the fact the car is powered by 6 speakers (4 x 35 watts and 2 tweaters), it seems to lack bass and thus, some CDs sound a bit tinny.
With only a few months before the car reaches the 50,000-kilometer mark, the only thing that’s wrong with Nissan is their service competence. Perhaps they should seriously look at this situation and do something about it.
By Ulysses Ang | Photos by Ulysses Ang
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