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Nissan Primera P12 common problems and radio?

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Roadtrip View Drop Down
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    Posted: 29 Mar 2014 at 2:52am

Hi everyone,

I am planning on buying my first car sometime next week: a 2002, P12, Nissan Primera Estate 2.0 Tekna Plus. It has a full maintenance history, and a verified mileage of 135.000km. It is fully kitted out, with adaptive cruise control, xenon lights, reversing camera, DVD player, steering wheel controls, automatically dimming mirror, ESP, 17” alloys, etc. That is exactly the reason I am buying it: it seems to have a Mercedes level of toys, with a Nissan price and Nissan reliability.

I do however have a couple of questions that I can’t seem to find answers to.

Smartphone connectivity

Right now I drive along in a lender 2010 Fiesta. That car has a 3.5mm auxiliary input that I can use to play music from my smartphone. The Primera doesn’t seem to have such an auxiliary input, replacing the headunit is nigh impossible, and installing an xcarlink requires dismantling the entire dashboard. Is there any easy way to connect a smartphone to the Nissan Primera?

Navigation

GPS navigation doesn’t seem to be included according to the advertisement. However the car is fitted with a DVD drive. Is it correct that every Primera with a DVD drive does have GPS? And if this is the case, is it possible to update the GPS maps?

Fuel economy

What can I expect in terms of fuel economy? I do all sorts of driving: short runabouts around town, 100 mile+ highway trips, and full-throttle runs on the autobahn.

Common problems

Are there any common problems I should be aware of, that I can easily check before buying?


I would greatly appreciate your insight in these matters!

BTW sorry for my possible poor English, it isn’t my native language

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p11primeragt View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p11primeragt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Mar 2014 at 2:58am
Your English is perfect,welcome to NPOC Thumbs Up
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timeshock! View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote timeshock! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Mar 2014 at 9:22am
Hi and welcome to the forumHandshake
Well you seem well informed about the prim so lets get started and what you need to know  on your questions
 
I am not an expert on the levels of trim on the 1st edition P12 (2002-2004) but I would expect Tekna which is now available across here is equivalent to the t-spec, his is backed up by the fact you have adaptive cruise control. The fact you have a DVD player suggests also you have sat nav fitted. You can update the discs from this link:

http://www.npoc.co.uk/forum/nissan-primera-p12-birdview-navigation_topic51425_post772965.html

Smart phone connectivity you are spot on with this no easy way of doing it but quite a few on here have fitted the kits, if you have a look in our 'How to' section there are some instructions and advice

Fuel economy, if it is the 2.0l then that is the petrol engine car, I'm a diesel driver but I think you could expect 35 -38 MPG I will let you do the conversion to metric.

Common problem on the 1st edition petrol:
electrics, check you get no beeping on turn indicators especially right turn (may be left in your case) sometimes there is an annoying fault when the car thinks it is towing.
Check acceleration and no hesitation when indicating this is a different problem, easy fix to the one above.
 
If you have the opportunity to view on a cold day ensure the screen and sat nav is working.
 
listen for knocks and bumps from the suspension.
 
Check your electric windows operate.
 
your model is a bit of a rarity but it has not been unknown for the adaptive cruise control to unexpectedly and frequently turn off
 
That's all I can think off at the momentThumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote roy.2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Mar 2014 at 9:44am
Hi Roadtrip. Welcome to NPOC.   
Check the front crossmember/radiator support. Prone to rust.   
Roy
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gazandsue58 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Mar 2014 at 10:05am
Welcome to the NPOC forums
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MAJOS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Mar 2021 at 11:26pm
My experience comes from owning all the Primera models from p10 to p11 and P12 petrol and diesel, over the years.Reality is reliability has tended genetally to go down with each next model, and correspondingly the maintenance costs especially parts and garage labour.

For your model, the P12 2.0l, with the QR20DE (petrol) engine. This has a number of known and fairly serious issues that you may be unfortunate to meet, as I did.

1) That engine can be a pain to start in the extreme ties of cold tempwratures (winter/freezing conditions)) !! I've never really found out the exact reason, but this problem is said to be an indicator of orc precursor to engine gasket failure /coolant leak problems, and ultimately overheating, smoking and high oil consumption and loss of drivability . At its worst (even without any overheating) you may completely fail to start the engine even with Easy-Start, until the engine warms up or clears itself of the issue. I've had to abandon my estate p12 routinely at home over the years, or early morning end of shift at work, having run down the battery, and as well when the starter motor itself gave up eventually. As for repairing that engine fault or replacing the unit altogether, you will easily be exceeding the market value of the entire car before its all done (however this applies to most cars😭)

2) Clutch : I've found the clutch (friction plate really) very low-lived on the p12 2.0l (I've had 3 of these), almost a sure fail and often after about 18-24months. It's a dearly expensive replacement exercise, first due to the high price of a new kit itself (£130-240 ebay UK), and then also the labour costs (£250-400 in a standard garage). Having done the work myself a couple of times to avoid the costs, I rather agree the charges as quite fair, because its a massive job to do!!

3) Front Driver's side window mechanism : this often goes repeatedly, £35-50 a unit less labour.

4) Rear lights cluster electrical malfunctioning : the real light unit on the P12 is known to cause the lights to malfunction (sometimes even engine power and other subsystems where ECU-connected) due to propensity to self short-circuit. You get problems like the Amber indicators operating from the red brake ones, or reverse lights, partial dimming of the left lights when the rights come on and vice versa, etc. On one of my cars this became worse with the headlights or double hazards on : it was once so acute, I had to switch off the headlights briefly so the guys behind me would know what I meant.

5) Exhaust system : the material on standard exhausts is fairly weak, and thevback box is going to break off at some pint, This isc a weakness shared actually over all the Primera models. A simple job to do, but remember it's a certainly and it will fail you the cars MOT!

6) Radio unit. The custom Nissan factory-installed unit with CD drive is typically unacessible from the front, you will nerd to dismantle carefully the lower dashboard facia panels to get it. The CD itself quite often fails, unless you have a CD changer in the boot (SE and SVE models or as options). Finally the system has tight security which can lock you out (normally when the battery is changed) and only be unlocked via Nissan main dealer.

The above are my own real-life experiences, by no means that it will happen to you. Just make as much effort to keep tabs on them, and it should be a real good and truly lovely car.
      
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MAJOS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Mar 2021 at 11:32pm
My apologies for the typos!! I've posted off a small-screen mobile phone, but also cannot find the edit button! Anyone knows? Thanks.
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timeshock! View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote timeshock! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Mar 2021 at 9:57am
Holy Thread resurrection, it's nice of you to reply but given the date of the original post, if he bought it may well have been sold on a few timeLOL
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