Nissan Primera which one?

whats your budget?

the p12 primera (which had the 2.2 diesel you list) hasn't been the most trouble free of cars.  the 1.8 won't give a great deal of economy over a 2.0 me thinks, which if that is your criteria along with reliability you might find it a better choice to look at other cars.

I don't suppose that any Primera would cost much over 5 grand, considering that they stopped being made about 6 years ago.  So I'll say  5k is the target.

I didn't realiise that the cars were big and heavy.  I haven't actually examined one yet but will do so when the weather eases a bit.  I vaguely thought that the diesels had a Renault engine which would put me off straight away.

I'm now rather undecided.  Maybe I'm not the positive man I thought I was.

Look for a low mileage P11 2.0 petrol, it will cost peanuts, be reliable if you check all's OK, and do about 38mpg if you don't do lots of short journeys (I get 40mpg summer, 36-38mpg winter but no short journeys).  The money saved over a good 2006 P12 would pay for a lot of petrol. 

I doubt you would get more than 50mpg out of the 2.2 diesel P12, probably a bit less.  At current prices that's equivalent to about 47mpg with petrol, so the difference in cost if you do 250 miles per week works out to about £5 per week extra in fuel costs, so about £260 a year extra.  Not sure of the road tax benefits but the P12 isn't a low emissions tax dodger so perhaps £50 saved.  Insurance about the same, so about £300 per year saved.  Repairs and depreciation will beat this easily so as long as you get a good P11 it's the best buy.

Wow, that's lots of numbers!  I bought my  P12 from e-bay for £1800.  It's a 2.2 diesel, 2002 model. I've got brake light problems (two out of three suddenly stopped, still to fix); fuel consumption around 40 mpg, on a 40 mile mixed-road round trip.  But, I bought it when my much loved Rover 400 got written off, I've tried not to get too enthusiastic about it and some forum comments make me worry a bit, but it is growing on me, pretty much every day.  I don't honestly think any cars  are niggle free, even Audi/VW are pants on many occasions.  It's big, yes, but comfy, easy to relax into and as for sat-nav, well I've picked up the download thread on her, but the AA do a map-nav book for a couple of quid that works for me.... Buy the diesel and be thankful you avoided a Ford.

5 grand will get you a decent passat diesel