Fast Facts: New Nissan Almera Turbo Launched in Malaysia

With the fanfare that’s going on with the Proton X50 and Honda City, it’s quite easy to miss the quiet, but equally cool kid in the class, the Nissan Almera Turbo. With prices finally announced, let’s take a look at what this super handsome B-segment sedan has to offer. 

What’s Outside?

When it comes to looks, the Nissan Almera Turbo could quite possibly knock out all of its competitors. From the V-motion front end to the floating roof at the rear, this Nissan is, to the eyes of this writer, the best-looking car in its segment. 

Standard across the range are automatic headlights (halogen for VL and VLP, LEDs for VLT), LED combination tail lights with LED fog lights. WIth regards to wheel size, the VL comes with 15-inch wheels, while the VLP and VLT wear 16-inch 2-toned machined alloys.

The top-of-the-pack VLT version will be adorned with a neat looking trunk lid spoiler in gloss black, and the headlights are now fully illuminated by LED, including the daytime-running lights for extra garang-ness. 

The all-new Nissan Almera Turbo is available in 6 exterior colours:

• Radiant Red

• Monarch Orange (taken from the Nissan GT-R!) 

• Dark Metal Grey

• Brilliant White

• Diamond Black

• Tungsten Silver. 

What’s Inside?

The interior of the 4th generation Almera has also been thoroughly spruced up. The 2-tone dashboard of the VLP and VLT’s is wrapped with soft touch material, carbon fibre pattern textures, chrome and piano black finishing. 

The 2 higher variants also come with a 7-inch semi-digital instrument cluster, 8-inch touchscreen infotainment display with Apple CarPlay connectivity, auto climate control, as well as full leather upholstery. The base VL variant comes with fabric seats, analogue instrument cluster, bluetooth headunit, and urethane steering wheel. 

All 3 versions come pretty decently decked-out in: 

• “Zero Gravity-inspired” seats

• Flat-bottomed steering wheel

• keyless entry and push-start ignition

• Tilt and telescopic steering wheel adjustment

• Centre console with armrest

• Three USB ports

• 60:40 Split fold-down rear seats with armrest and cup holders

How Fast?

They key USP for the Nissan Almera Turbo is of course its turbocharged power plant. The HR10DET 1.0-liter turbocharged mill is used across all three variants. ETCM is keen to point out that it features the mirror-bore technology from the fire-breathing Nissan GT-R - it’s essentially a coating within the cylinder heads to reduce friction for better energy efficiency. 

• Engine: 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol

• Transmission: Xtronic CVT gearbox with D-Step logic

• Drivetrain: Front engine, front wheel driven

• Max horsepower: 100 hp @ 5,000 rpm

• Max torque: 152 Nm @ 2,400 – 4,000 rpm

• Fuel consumption: 5.4 l/100 km

How Safe?

As the best equipped version in the region, the all-new Nissan Almera has the following safety equipment across all 3 variants:

• Autonomous emergency braking 

• 6 airbags (2 in the VL version) 

• Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) 

• Traction Control System (TCS) 

• ABS

• Electronic Brake-Force Distribution

• Brake Assist 

• Hill-start Assist

Only the range-topping VLT comes with the following safety equipment:

• 360-degree around view monitor with moving object detection

• blind spot warning

• rear cross traffic alert

• cruise control

How Much?

The all-new Nissan Almera Turbo VL, VLP and VLT are priced at RM79,906, RM85,715 and RM91,130 respectively. Prices are without insurance and inclusive of sales tax exemption which is effective until the end of 2020. Buyers will also get a 5-year unlimited mileage vehicle warranty, with 5 free alternative maintenance packages within 5 years, parts and labour included. 

ETCM is also making it easier for buyers to own the car by offering a Flexi Financing Promotion. Based on a 90% loan on a nine-year loan tenure, buyers may pay RM688, RM738 and RM788 for the VL, VLP and VLT respectively. If you want to spice up your ride even before it leaves the showroom, you may also opt for the accessories package that could be financed with the car.