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Nissan NV200 - New Player In A Tough Market
You see small vans everywhere you go and its little wonder as there are over 3.7 million of them on our roads. Everyone seems to drive them, from the postman who delivers your parcels, to the florist that impresses the wife on her birthday, right through to the guy who mends your boiler and the chap that carves you up at the traffic lights. Let’s face it, they are everywhere.
Well there is a new kid on the block and its one we are all going to become very familiar with and it’s from one of the UK’s biggest car makers Nissan. The new van is called the NV200 and we think it’s going to hit the spot for many companies who are looking to keep costs down, yet keep deliveries up.
I guess it’s easy to ask what’s so special about this new van and the easy answer would be to say “nothing, its just a van” but fact is Nissan have produced a van that’s both environmentally friendly and that crosses the segments meaning it will appeal to buyers of both car derived type vans and compact vans, and that’s an attractive mix for companies that want to save as much money as possible by getting one van to do two jobs.
Before we look at the NV200, we need to explain that Nissan’s approach to light vans has changed. Previously, Nissan have been offering re-badged versions of the Renault Master, Trafic and Kangoo, and Master & Trafic were also shared by Vauxhall as Movano and Vivaro. The Nissan Kubistar, Primastar and Interstar as they are known, are for sure, decent enough vans, but because they were pretty similar to the other offerings, it was always going to be a situation where buyers for that type of van were going to be split 3 ways, with often the final decision purely coming down to the price as to which one they chose.
With the NV200, that’s changed, it’s an individual van and has been designed in-house by Nissan and whilst it takes its chassis and mechanicals from Renault, everything else is different and to be honest, it’s nicely different and we think its going to win fans and be strong competition for everything else in its class.
Before we look at the mechanical details and what you can get in it, we need to talk about how expensive it is to own and run and from that we mean buying it, putting fuel in it, repairing it, servicing it and of course, what you’re likely to get back for it when you sell it.
Well, its early days yet, but looking at the most credible sources of information and comparing the NV200 with its major competition from the same data sources, it’s a pretty positive picture for the new Nissan and for the customers who decide to order it.
Maintenance costs, which effectively include, all regular servicing and repairs, along with tyre costs, show the NV200 costs over 3 years, covering 60,000 miles at lower than Berlingo, Partner, Kangoo, and even Ford’s excellent Connect and the well thought of VW Caddy and in one case, we are talking about as much as a 25% saving in costs, and that’s pretty impressive. The NV200 comes with a 3 year 60,000 mile warranty and 12,500 mile service intervals.
How much are you going to get back when you sell it? Well again, using the most credible data available and comparing like for like with other vans, the NV200 predictions (or what you’re going to get back) come out ahead of pretty much all of its competition, with only the VW Caddy out pointing it, so this means its going to lose less of its value, making it cheaper to operate, another major factor in deciding if you buy it or not.
Let’s take a look at fuel costs and whilst we haven’t tested this ourselves, Nissan say the NV200 will return up to 54mpg on the combined cycle with emissions of just 137 g/km, so you have to say its ticking the boxes there as well, giving you good value for your £5 gallon and not destroying the planet in the process.
As for the van itself, well it’s a big little van and although its just under 4.4m long, and 1.84m high, the NV200 still has the largest load space in its class at 4.2m3 and a load bay that’s more than 2m long (2,040mm), taking 2 standard ‘euro pallets’ with ease. Getting stuff in and out is a breeze as well as the NV200 has the lowest floor loading area in its class at just 520mm from ground level and comes with twin sliding side load doors. In terms of payload, the NV200 has that covered as well, offering a very healthy 751kg, which again, beats a lot of the competition.
Mechanically, the NV200 comes with a torquey 1.5DCi 85ps unit and that’s more than enough for the rigours of the urban grand prix and of course, the postman, the florist, the boiler repair man and the guy who carves you up at the lights.
To make it all a joy, the NV200 has lots of car like bits as standard, such as Keyless Entry, CD Player, Drive Computer, ABS, EBD, MP3 jack etc and it even comes with a Rear Parking System. The NV200 has a well thought out; comfortable interior and drivers are going to like it a lot.
The NV200 will be available in two specifications, the first the lead-in E version and the higher specified SE version and both are priced well, with prices starting at around £11,850 for the ‘E’ and just £500 more for the ‘SE’ which gets extra stuff like electric windows and electric mirrors. Air-conditioning is an option, but only on the SE version.
Despite all the things we have said about this new van, it’s entering the toughest of markets, as choosing a van is different to choosing a car. It’s a decision that’s made with the head and not the heart, but more often now days; the decision is made with the wallet, but however it’s arrived at, it’s an emotionless procedure which often sees customers buying awful product, purely based upon the ticket price. How a vehicle drives compared to another, just does not seem to figure, for in most cases, the “boss” that buys it will probably never even sit in it, let alone drive it, so isn’t too concerned, providing its cheap. Let’s hope in reality, the well priced Nissan can cross that divide giving businesses a ‘proper van’ that delivers for both the company and the driver, for on paper the NV200 certainly achieves that.
We haven’t yet had an NV200 on long term test, and will report back when we do, however we have liked every Nissan that we have tested in the past 5 years or so and certainly the customers that lease Nissan product from us keep coming back for more, so I am pretty confident the NV200 will “deliver” but I guess that’s what a van is supposed to do anyway!
Bet white van man can’t wait.
For a quotation on the Nissan NV200 or any other Nissan, please contact us. |
