Siren Song: Nissan Serena (2002)

July 02,2002

For many families these days, five seats are no longer enough. The desire to bring along the whole clan during weekend jaunts to the mall or out of town dictates a form of transportation other than the typical four-door sedan. Fortunately, the vehicles that are up to that task have been proliferating lately. Just a few years ago, the choices would have been one of the AUVs or a refrigerator van. Now there are several minivans, SUVs, AUV-SUV hybrids and even versatile wagons that can do the job with a minimum of fuss and some semblance of style.

Enter Nissan’s Serena Q-RV. Nissan chose not to revive its AUV (a wise decision, we think) and instead came out with its own minivan that can officially seat—you guessed it—10 persons. That’s two front buckets, second and third-row benches good for three each, and two side-facing jump seats in the rear. It retains the classic minivan two-box body style with sliding rear doors and hatchback-style tailgate. It’s at once shorter (from nose to tail) and taller than its chief competitors, the Kia Carnival Sedona and Chevrolet Venture.

If the body configuration is all too familiar, the face certainly is not. The Serena’s visage could have been painted by Picasso. Its has oversized eyes—er, light clusters—which contain low and high beam, with the signal lights mounted on top and the park lamps wrapping around to the sides. The current favorite exterior part for denoting luxury, the large toothy chromed grille, is duly present. The rear features a large backlight and bulging trapezoidal red-and-clear lenses.

Viewed head-on or directly from the rear, the fact that the Serena is one of the tallest minivans out there is pretty obvious. From the sides, the short glass area, two-tone color scheme, pronounced crease, glass-covered rear pillar, and thick window frames all help to disguise the vehicle’s tall stature. The side-view styling makes the van look more stable and better proportioned.

While the height may not do the exterior looks any favors, it does pay dividends inside the passenger compartment. Anyone shorter than the Incredible Hulk should have headroom to spare, and all passengers will enjoy enough clear space above their heads, all the way to the rear jump seats.

This doesn’t mean that you should actually consider putting someone you care about on those jump seats. The seat cushions are way too narrow and the seating position too upright. You can keep those seats mounted there, but they’re for emergency use only.

A better option would be to remove those seats once you bring home the van. The jump seats were obviously not part of the original design and prevent the third row bench from sliding all the way back for maximum legroom. Removing the seats will also increase the luggage space in the hatch area.

The interior trimmings are one part mid-class car, two parts passenger van. The instruments and soft-cloth trim are like a normal car’s, but the steering wheel is a little more horizontal and the accessory controls like the stereo head unit and the aircon switches are angled upwards. It’s actually a logical way to mount them, as they’re easier to read from the high-mounted front seats. Most of the switches are easy to find and understand. The exception is the stereo unit from Clarion, which could improve on its button response.

The view from the driver’s chair can induce a feeling of tunnel vision. The windshield base is way out of reach, and the nose can’t be seen, either. However, there’s hardly any nose anyway, so it doesn’t present much of a problem. There aren’t any cubbyholes or a center console for the driver’s gear, like shades or a cellphone. In place of a center console are folding armrests. The gauges are the luminescent type, glowing when the ignition is fired up. It doesn’t measure up to the latest displays, though, as the dials and needles wash out in bright sunlight.

As with most vans, the best seats are in the second row. From the second row, you can reach up to the remote aircon and entertainment-system controls, and flip down the standard video monitor. The bench is wide enough for three and the view out the partitionless power windows is in full-glory widescreen. The third row is narrower and most comfortable with just two passengers. There are windows in the back, too, but they’re cut short by plastic paneling. One glaring inadequacy is the lack of seatbelts for the third row. It’s also a bit difficult getting out of that row, as the second-row seatbacks don’t fold flat forward. The seat portions of both rows do flip up, however, in case you need more luggage space. The two rows are mounted on a pair of rails, so they can be individually folded and then slid all the way forward or backward.

Under the hood is a familiar powerplant. It’s the 16-valve twin-cam 2.0-liter inline-4 previously seen in the Altima. It pumps out 145 bhp at 6000 rpm and 183 Nm at a rather high 4800 rpm. In practice, though, it’s well matched to the minivan’s weight and to the four-speed automatic. With just two passengers on board, the throttle response was instantaneous and invigorating, even on steep uphills. There was none of the customary delay that plagues heavy automatic-equipped vans. We can imagine that the response will be diminished with a full load of people and luggage, but apparently the engine can carry the load with some grunt to spare. There’s a power mode for the automatic that might help at full loads. During our lead-footed mostly-highway driving we managed 7.7 km/liter, giving the Q-RV a range of about 440 km per tankful. (Count on about 360 km before the low-fuel warning light starts flashing.)

The engine response was a pleasant surprise and would have made the short and narrow vehicle a delight to drive. That is, until you turn the steering wheel. The steering is much too light, feeling totally disconnected from the front wheels. It’s probably been set for easy parking-lot maneuvers, but feels extremely disconcerting out on the open road. There is heavy understeer, but not so excessive as to give you nightmares.

The Serena is one of those rare vehicles whose height exceeds its width. Given that, the body roll is well-controlled, and there was no sailboat swaying motion. The ride is also quite compliant, absorbing road imperfections with no fuss. Even if you sit in the third row for a few hours, your butt and back should still be in good shape.

As for stopping, the front discs and rear drums are equipped with ABS and EBD. The brake pedal is firm and responsive.

It’s amusing how quickly we begin to take some features for granted. Devices like rear air conditioning and a VCD player would have been a winning hand some time ago, but now they’re only good as an opening gambit. For its part, the Serena Q-RV counters with its manageable exterior dimensions and roomy cabin. The responsive drivetrain and pleasant ride are its hidden aces.

Overall, it’s a fine effort from Nissan—an efficient, more compact package that can seat eight comfortably. With tighter steering and less understeer, this could be the best of the current lot. Life is certainly getting better for traveling families.

motioncars.com would like to thank

Nissan Motors Philippines Incorporated for providing the Nissan Q-RV R Limited A/T for this road test.

By Jason Ang | Photos By Ulysses Ang and Jason Ang
Originally Published in the July 2002 Issue

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