A Date with the 2012 Nissan Sylphy

Tim Chew 13/07/2012 1 Comment

[Test Drive]

Dragged myself up early on a Saturday morning as I had a date with the new Nissan Sylphy, Malaysia’s Hottest Bloggers Naomi, Bell and Valerie and our friend Christopher Tock.

New Nissan Sylphy? What new Nissan Sylphy? Hasn’t it been in the Malaysian market for a while? Yes it has been in the market for almost 4 years and was also named by AUTOCAR ASEAN as the magazine’s Overall Car of the Year shortly after it was launched. Well this time we got to try out the new facelift version – the Nissan Sylphy 2.0XV Premium!

On the exterior (front) of the Sylphy 2.0XV Premium there is new more aggressive looking bumper, a new chrome grille, and new headlights which gives it a more modern and sporty stance.

After a quick briefing on the car and it’s features (which I will highlight later) Valerie, Bell and myself headed down to Pavilion KL in one of the Sylphy’s while Naomi, Christopher and Alfred from Nissan went in the other.

The interior of the Nissan Sylphy 2.0XV Premium features a cool black interior theme with fine cherry wood trim, a sporty new silver-ringed combi-meter design incorporating a Multi-Information Display; and a new audio system head-unit with MP3 and Auxiliary input. The display also doubles up as the screen for the reverse camera which we were pleasantly surprised to find while we were reversing out of the parking lot. A good first impression for us!

The journey to Pavilion was largely uneventful with Valerie enjoying the ease of handling the car while Bell and I decided to play with the multi-function display and managed to pair my Samsung Galaxy S2 with the unit and test the car’s handsfree call feature.

We soon pulled up to Pavilion’s Porte Cochere (the one at the Centre Court) valet entrance and after leaving the cars with the valet service headed into the mall.

We made our way up to Groom EXP salon in Tokyo Street (Level 6) for our hair makeover

Before – Valerie and Naomi

Before – Bell and Christopher

Before – me with the girls

Ok the stylists did a whole bunch of hair treatments to our hair but I think it’s better you read the girls’ blogs if you’d like to know more about the treatments:

Naomi Tham
www.naomitham.blogspot.com

Valerie Chua
www.princessmiharu.net

Isabella Wong
www.isabellakuan.com

The nice folks at Nissan made sure we were well looked after with breakie featuring pastries from The Loaf and bubble tea from Ochado!

One of the owners of the new facelift Nissan Sylphy Miss Teo Chin Shia joined us for the experience and we managed to corner her to find out exactly why she choose to own the Sylphy

MHB: What is your first impression when you saw the Sylphy?

Miss Teo: I thought it was elegant, just the right size for me and had a spacious interior. I fell in love with it immediately!

MHB: What is your favourite feature of the car?
Miss Teo: The GPS nagivation (NAVTEQ MAPS) and the reverse camera. Also I never thought the parking brake (which is operated by foot rather than a hand lever) can be so convenient. I use the space where the handbrake normally is in other cars to put my handbag and other personal stuff (MHB – with the spate of recent crimes with motorcyclists breaking car windows to steal handbags we encourage all drivers to put your handbags below the car seat or if it’s small enough in a covered compartment out of sight of thieves and robbers).

MHB: How do you maintain your Sylphy?

Miss Teo: I make sure that I send it in for servicing following the schedule.

MHB: Where do you normally drive the Sylphy during weekends/holidays?

Miss Teo: We’re planning a trip to JB soon!

MHB: How different is your driving experience with the Sylphy compared to other cars?

Miss Teo: I used to own a MyVi which was so different from my Sylphy. The engine was loud, the boot was small, and while driving on the highway the wind and engine was so loud that I couldn’t even hear the music properly! Not to mention that the car was not that stable at high speeds. My Sylphy is worlds apart with a spacious interior and very low noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).

MHB: What do you think about Nissan cars?

Miss Teo: Well before I used to think that it was an uncle car but my perception has definitely changed from the moment I stepped into the showroom! The salesperson was definitely friendlier than other car manufacturers while the Sylphy has a sportier and younger feel to it with the black leather and the curvy back lights.

And this is Miss Nor Hamidah Bte Abdullah Sani who has a kid which is a couple of months old

MHB: What is your first impression when you saw the Sylphy?

Miss Nor Hamidah: My husband and I thought it was the perfect car for our lifestyle. We liked the interior, good acceleration, plus it’s very comfortable, and spacious enough to easily fit a baby seat.

MHB: What is your favourite feature of the car?

Miss Nor Hamidah: There are lots of compartments, while the trunk is big and deep! Very important for a couple with a small child.

MHB: How do you maintain your Sylphy?

Miss Nor Hamidah: We make sure that we send it for regular servicing and we also wash it often to preserve the nice coat of paint.

MHB: Can you share your experience driving a Sylphy?

Miss Nor Hamidah: We find it pretty good. My husband drives it quite often while I tend to the baby who definitely appreciates the quiet and smooth cruising.

MHB: Where do you normally drive the Sylphy during weekends/holidays?

Miss Nor Hamidah: We like to go on road trips. So far we’ve been to Perak and Melaka in the Sylphy. We’re planning to go up to Penang soon.

MHB: How different is your driving experience with the Sylphy compared to other cars?

Miss Nor Hamidah: My previous car was a Toyota Vios which I felt was less spacious, and had less features as compared to my Sylphy.

MHB: What do you think about Nissan cars?

Miss Nor Hamidah: Nissan cars have a premium and executive feel about them!

MHB: How do you find the NAVTEQ MAPS?

Miss Nor Hamidah: I find it pretty accurate and dependable.

After my hair treatment session using Shiseido Professional hair products, my stylist Chloe gave a new hairstyle which the girls commented made me look younger hehe!

After our hair makeover!

A group pic with our stylists from Groom EXP salon and the folks from Nissan (Edaran Tan Chong Motors)

After our hair makeover we headed over to Kampachi for lunch

The delicious sashimi starter

A soft shell crab starter

And my beef bento set! And yes in case you were wondering I finished it up!

Happy faces all around!

Group pic before we said goodbye

It was Bell’s turn to try the Sylphy and she happily drove back to the Nissan showroom

We took the SMART Tunnel as we wanted to test the bi-xenon projector headlamps which are equipped with an Active Front-lighting System (AFS) – the only car in its class in Malaysia to offer this safety feature. What is that you ask? Well turn the steering left and the spotlight on the left (or right spotlight when you turn right) illuminates the road to the left giving you better vision when you make a turn along dark roads. This lighting system comes with manual aiming control, and provides powerful long-range illumination and optimum visibility in all weather conditions and has an auto-light system mode which automatically turns on the headlights when you’re in a dark area (eg. basement/ night)

Ok I admit in all the excitement I totally forgot to take a shot of the rear of the car so I had to borrow this one. Check out the new rear bumper and tail lamps.

After we got back to the Nissan showroom Bell had to rush off for her music class however Valerie and I had some time to kill so we took a little cruise to Solaris Dutamas for (believe it or not) more bubble tea with me at the wheel this time.

Engine

The engine was pretty responsive with the all-aluminium MR20DE 2.0-litre 4-cylinder DOHC 16-valve engine equipped with Drive-by-Wire technology for enhanced responsiveness while delivering 133ps of power and 191Nm of torque. It’s also equipped with Electronic Concentrated Control System (ECCS), electronic fuel injection system and continuously variable valve timing control (CVTC), Nissan claims that the engine will deliver superb fuel economy.

Interior

The air-conditioning system now comes with a digital temperature display and has an automatic setting to maintain a consistent desired temperature throughout the cabin while the Masumi seat fabric and the sofa-like rear seat concept provides a high level of comfort.

Safety

The 2012 Nissan Sylphy comes equipped with dual front SRS airbags, front seatbelt pre-tensioners, front seat Active Head Restraints and Zone Body construction with front and rear crushable zones giving it a 6-star JNCAP rating.

Other Features

16-inch 7-spoke alloy wheels, intelligent key (i-Key) keyless entry and engine-start system, and leather steering wheel with audio controls (so your hands don’t need to leave the steering wheel).

Colours

Choose from Bronze Gold, Tungsten Silver, Sapphire Black, Twilight Grey and Brilliant White

Price

The 2012 Nissan SYLPHY is available with an on-the-road price of RM114,880.00 for the 2.0XL and RM124,880.00 for the 2.0XV. The prices are inclusive of insurance, road tax, registration fee and ownership claim fee in Peninsular Malaysia. There’s also a promotion where buyers will get an aerokit free of charge with each new SYLPHY.

ETCM is currently offering a 3-year or 100,000 km warranty (whichever comes first) and interest hire purchase rates starting from 2.50% per annum (subject to terms and conditions).

My take on the SYLPHY:

In my afternoon of cruising around in the Nissan SYLPHY I generally feel that is comparable to other Japanese make cars in it’s class but the main difference being – price (it’s around RM7,000.00 less than it’s competitors) and it’s loaded with lots of features (I particularly like the reverse camera) making it a very strong option for those who are looking for a C segment Japanese sedan. Kudos to ETCM for making the SYLPHY a bit more affordable to Malaysians.

For more info you can call Nissan’s Customer Service Hotline at 1800-88-8368 (toll-free) or visit www.nissan.com.my. You can also test drive the Sylphy (and other Nissan models) at authorized Nissan showrooms nationwide.