When word reached me that my 88-year old grandmother had suddenly been taken ill and admitted at Pope Benedict XVI hospital in the countryside, I was devastated. Most of my other relatives were heading there on Sunday so I too had to immediately make travel arrangements. I decided to contact my regular car hire dealer who had hired to me the fielder “ya mataa” and the newer 2010 fielder during the festive season. Unsurprisingly none of these were available since it was a weekend and therefore most cars had been booked out and of course the fielder is by far the most popular car in the business. My options were now limited to a 2012 Nissan note, a passo and a demio. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to go with the Nissan note since the passo was flimsy and I’m told the demio has problems with the crossbar easily breaking.
On the exterior, a lot of effort has gone into the design. The contours running along either side of the car and the curvy headlights and taillights give the vehicle a feminine but premium appeal. I particularly liked how the grill fused with the curved headlights thus giving the impression of a premium car that had been immaculately designed down to the smallest detail. The tail lights are also nicely designed compared to its boxy predecessor and there are gentle curves running along the boot too which complements its premium image. I generally loved the exterior since it showed how cars in this price range should be; consumers shouldn’t have to settle for handcarts with engines just because they are on a budget and in that regard, Nissan outdid themselves here.
The interior, however, leaves a lot to be desired. In the words of St.Gregory I, when he met some British slaves for sale at a Roman market in the 590sAD, “Alas! that minds so devoid of inward grace should bear so graceful an outward form.” It was unthinkable that the British who had such fair complexions were uninitiated into the faith and their souls belonged to the darkness. The same can be said of this car, it’s unthinkable that such a dashing exterior could be paired to such a gloomy interior. It makes absolutely no sense and is a scathing indictment to the manufacturer. The only attractive design elements in the interior are the gently curved, chrome door-unlock levers which are a very nice touch while the rest is plastic although this, I must admit, is me being overly pedantic. I would have expected the subtle curves on the exterior to reflect on the interior but the designers at Nissan HQ had other plans. On the dashboard are the regular climate control toggles and a large screen that worked flawlessly with the reverse camera making it easier to back up in tight spots but that was about it. As is the norm with this dealer, the music system didn’t work at all. I plugged in my pen drive and fumbled with the controls but nothing happened. It’s as though the owner is averse to music and once again i had to travel in silence even after painstakingly compiling the best 80s hits and some modern rock and pop music. There’s plenty of headroom in the back seats but the legroom is inadequate which isn’t surprising for a car in it’s class and the boot is also small leaving little room for luggage. The biggest turn-off in the interior however is the huge blind spot on the A-pillar which also exists in the Honda fit. It greatly compromises visibility especially when turning. The car looks premium, feels premium but handles like a wheelbarrow and is as powerful as a tuktuk and I will explain why shortly.
Under the hood is a 1.3L naturally aspirated engine paired to a 4-speed gearbox that is incredibly underwhelming. The engine struggled a lot especially uphill where it managed 80KM/h at 6,000rpm when i floored the pedal and 60km/h at 3,500rpm when I eased off the gas. The gear changing also wasn’t smooth since the car would rev on and on at over 6,000rpm and upshift after what felt like an eternity only to downshift a few seconds later and the revs would spike to 6,000rpm again but I did tag along 3 adult relatives on my way back so that may have contributed to the sluggish uphill performance. The lack of a manual override on the gear selector meant i couldn’t manually select the ideal gear for different scenarios so the gearbox had to randomly sift through gears for ages and almost always settled on the least ideal gear. In the 1,000-3,500rpm range, there was a lot of lag before power kicked in from 3,600RPM onwards. Fuel consumption however is remarkable. I spent Ksh.2500 on fuel for a distance of around 430KM to and fro which translates to around 19km/l and there was still plenty of fuel left when I returned the car.
I set off early Sunday morning and after a while, the check-engine light came on. I didn’t intend to waste valuable time repairing the car after it broke down somewhere so I immediately contacted the owner but he informed me that it was “normal” and I had “nothing to fear” since he had previously hired two fielders out to me and none had broken down. He was right and I needed to get going so I decided to ignore it but I later noticed a problem with the steering wheel. At times the wheels would swing to the right or left without input and I had to quickly counter steer to avoid ramming into traffic on the right or landing in a ditch on the left shoulder. It would also lighten and stiffen in no particular order making it feel like it was disconnected from the wheel. A quick check of the power steering fluid level showed it was normal so i suspected the problem lay somewhere on the steering rack. This also meant that the steering wheel needed constant correction to keep the car moving in a straight line like those old Isuzu TX trucks. It was scary and unnerving since it made me wary of overtaking or speeding.
I arrived without a hitch and with plenty of time to spare since the visiting hours lasted from 1.00pm to 2.00pm. It was heartbreaking seeing my grandmother in an almost vegetative state yet she had been just fine during the holidays. She couldn’t even recognize most of us. I almost shed a tear but I convinced myself that all would be well. She did recognize me since I always make an effort to travel upcountry to meet her when I can. She asked whether I had found a wife but I laughed and assured her that we would talk all about it when she got better. It reminded me of queen Plaisance of Cyprus who completely refused to get married and pope clement IV had to issue a papal bull in the year of our lord 1265 compelling her to cease her unchaste ways and get married. I’m not certain that a presidential decree or even another papal bull by the current pope could compel me to settle down now since i’m far too young. We arranged to have a series of check-ups done on her the following day and urged the doctors to spare no cost in treating our beloved grandmother. After the brief visit, i left at around 3.00pm accompanied by 3 relatives. All was fine until I reached a few kilometers past the spot where the Honda Fit had blown a tyre last year and the engine just stalled in the middle of the road. I had barely gone 70km from the hospital. The steering wheel stiffened but luckily did not lock up and the brakes also stiffened significantly but I managed to bring the car safely to a stop at the entrance to a popular restaurant frequented by “wazungu” near Pembroke house school.
I had tagged along 3 relatives who had initially made the journey by matatu and to say i was deeply embarrassed would be an understatement. I could only assure them that everything was under control given my reticent nature. I left the car to sit on the grass and cursed repeatedly. When I was done with my outburst, I allowed the engine to cool for a few more minutes and checked the coolant level, it was fine. I then checked the oil level and that too was fine. I decided to call the owner who requested that i wait as he checked what the issue could be on his end and promised to call me back in the shortest time possible. Since my dad wasn’t too far ahead with his fielder, I called and briefed him on the situation and requested that he get a mechanic and meet me a few meters past Pembroke house. As he did, the owner called me and laughed foolishly as he explained how he had deliberately switched off the car on his smartphone as a “prank” just to see my reaction. I wasn’t at all amused and I pointed out the fact that we were not, by any stretch of the imagination, automatically friends just because I had hired 3 cars from him in a span of two months and therefore he had not yet earned the privilege of playing pranks on me. I also made it clear that he had risked 4 lives since, under different circumstances, I would most certainly have crashed. I ended my rant by saying that he was far too old to be playing games and that i intended to retain our relationship on a purely business-customer basis until further notice. I may have severely bruised his ego or he may not have taken kindly to my outburst so he ended the call without uttering a single word and I found that to be quite childish. When I got behind the wheel and pressed that start engine button, the engine roared to life and I quickly called my dad to inform him of the developments and he shared my opinion that the owner was inexplicably childish. He had already gotten two mechanics who insisted on checking the car nonetheless but I informed him that it wasn’t necessary since the issue had been sorted. From that point on, my dad decided to follow me all the way to Nairobi just to make sure there were no more incidents but we eventually parted ways at Thika road.
In an event of poetic justice, I learned that a client had crashed his demio just moments after leaving his yard. He was distraught when i returned the note and although I didn’t necessarily find joy in the turn of events, it was still a classic case of the chicken coming home to roost. Not even the most snobbish of connoisseurs are immune to the karma wave. He did however apologize for his juvenile behavior and I now felt morally compelled to also issue an apology for my outburst but I couldn’t have been expected to take his actions on a light note (pun not intended) since 4 lives had been put at risk as a result of his ineptitude.
This is a car that straddles between a passo and a Honda Fit. It’s not as spacious and comfortable as the fit and it’s also not as flimsy and powerless as the passo. I can tell that a properly serviced unit would be a decent car but mainly for city travel. Rather than invest in this car however, you might as well reminisce your childhood by investing in an inexpensive bouncy castle and jump up and down on it until bouts of nostalgia begin to kick in. It will be a much better investment which you can even let the neighborhood kids indulge in at a fee or you could invest in the king of hatchbacks; the ubiquitous Honda fit. It’s much more spacious, offers slightly more boot space, has a better looking interior and feels more solid than the note. While the Note feels like it could fall apart at any moment, the Honda fit feels like it could take a significant amount of abuse. It’s only drawback is the exterior which isn’t as immaculately designed as the Nissan note but it looks much more masculine compared to the feminine note. Get the Honda fit and thank me later.
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