Nissan Elgrand 2.5 Highway Star (A) Review

It costs $127,000. That's more than what your average Toyota ia, Wish, Nissan Lafesta, Presage or Honda Odyssey costs. So, you might be thinking, what's so special about this car?

If you take a look at the Toyota Alphard and Volkswagen Transporter, you'll realize that these are entirely different classes of vehicles. They're not meant just for families, but for those who want something more (like using them to start families.)

Think of them as what a Mercedes C-Class is to the Honda Civic in terms of luxury. Now replace "luxury" with "space and comfort."

Which brings me to my next point - buying an Elgrand for VIP-ferrying purposes is cheaper and more non-descript than your average stretched Chrysler or Mercedes-Benz limousine. Let's not forget the current omnipresence of two up-and-coming casinos that exist to suck big money from the bank accounts of visiting foreigners and local tycoons alike.

And like we hinted earlier on, if you're into the whole concept of mobile lovemaking on the go, the Elgrand is perfect for your illegal, outdoorsy activities, what with extra options to go like curtains, blacked out tints and all. This Nissan measures nearly 5 metres in length, and has a wheelbase of just under 3 metres. As such, you can expect the interior to be utterly cavernous.

You could even fit an upright piano in there if you remove the rearmost row of seats, and if you recline everything at the back, you'll end up with a flat bed-space where well, let's not go there again.

Cabin seats can be rotated 360-degrees so you can face one another ala limousine style. There's even a compartment for you to store a bottle of aged Bordeaux from wherever it is you took off or arrived from.

Nissan has an Elgrand for government officials and visiting guests from lets say, the IMF or the WTO. The "mobile business edition" comes with high-speed internet and mobile connectivity, wireless, a computing station, even bigger touch-screen LCD monitors, digital audio/visual broadcast-television capabilities, video-conferencing and believe it or not, a projector.

If that's not enough, Tan Chong Motors harbours the existence of a VIP Edition. Now that brings you a different sort of interior comprising of a 15-inch overhead LCD screen, a better sound system, massage chairs and even other customizable features like a larger LCD, sound-proofing and curtains - all for the man who wants to "enhance the entertainment capacity of his vehicle" for his "guests" (We kid you not -that's what Nissan tells us!). Oh dear. Sorry
Enough about that

With so much of the above going on, you're bound to father a family of five or so, thereby ignoring the possibility of the Elgrand's "dynamically van-like" handling capabilities. Yes it drives like one, but only because it comes with wheels that are a little too small for driving confidence. By that we mean tyre-screeching corners which make you feel as if it were going to topple over.

But there's no need for that in such a vehicle. The 2.5-litre V6 that's mated to a 5-speed automatic gearbox outputs 186 bhp at 6,000 rpm that's surprisingly peppy and competent below 80 km/h, and it fetches an approximate 0-100 km/h time of about 12 seconds.

If you're driving it, you'll discover that the six-pot isn't exactly very quiet when revved beyond 4,500 rpm, something you'll be doing often if you want to make with the rush-hour traffic. Those large wing-mirrors encourage a fair amount of noise-generating turbulence around the A-frame. But we like how ignorance is bliss, and ignorant towards the hubbub up-front are the back-riding passengers.

After all, it does weigh just over 2,000 kg. While the enthusiast in us longs for the 350Z-derived 3.5-litre V6, we were pretty happy cruising the highways at the speed limit in this particular vehicle.

It's comfortable, soaks up the mumps and bumps pretty well, and does not exhibit any sort of van-like oscillations over big humps. The driving position is rather car-like, which we adore. You don't sit as high as you might envision when looking at the Elgrand from the outside, but you're nicely cocooned in a sea of mature-looking wood on the dash and centre console.

The only other downside, as might be expected in such a big vehicle, would be rear visibility, despite the existence of a reverse camera.

When you're done ferrying your VIPs around town, you can toggle the sliding doors that open and close with a well-engineered thud. This soft-close feel finds itself in all doors and the tailgate. It also has two sunroofs, armrests, a keyless fob that extends to the ignition, separate rear air-conditioning that actually works, and millions of storage compartments.

Why would you buy one?

Can anyone say "niche?" Like all good things in life, we don't expect a well-appointed, well-equipped car like the Elgrand to sell in numbers. MPVs have the final word in terms of typical space-price-economy ratio. But consider that the Toyota ia retails for just under $120,000. That's only 7 grand shy of the Elgrand. Either way, the Nissan justifies its existence by being worth the difference in price, if not more.