2024 Nissan Almera 1.0 VL Turbo – The Frugal Daily Driver

When automakers give a car a facelift, it typically means that they first slightly change the vehicle’s appearance, and second, they add new technology to the car that might give it an edge over its competition. Doing a facelift may also change the car’s specs, slightly retaining key features that previous customers have come to know and love.

This is precisely what Nissan Philippines did with the 2023 Nissan Almera by giving it a fresh new face and adding Nissan Connect to the top-spec variant. The Japanese automaker lent us an Almera 1.0 VL Turbo unit for a week with a cellphone with the NissanConnect Services app already pre-installed.

Design Impressions

As this is the facelifted model, Nissan has completely reworked the front of the sedan. Instead of its more angular look in its previous iteration, the updated version has a more sculpted front end. Its grille design has been widened substantially, with chrome accents dominating most of the bumper. The remaining parts that aren’t covered by the grille remain angular to fit the overall design of the sedan. However, despite its new looks, it retains the same headlight design with LED lighting elements and daytime running lights.

The Almera also gets a new Moon Pearl Gray color for the VL variant. It’s an excellent addition to the sedan. However, we did interview other fellow car enthusiasts about the color to mixed reactions. Some agreed with us and thought it was a great addition to the Almera, while others thought it looked like the car was sent off the assembly line in primer, which can be true if you look at the sedan from afar. But, if you look at the vehicle closer, you will see the ceramic particles in the paint.

Practicality

The Nissan Almera remains as practical as ever, with a trunk with 474 liters of space. While the opening isn’t wide enough to accommodate a balikbayan box, it can accommodate about a month’s worth of groceries with no problem.

Storage options are also decent inside the Nissan sedan, with the center console having enough room to store a power bank and a smartphone. The glove box is also decent, even with the registration and manual in place, as we could place our camera in it without any problems.

Comfort and Convenience 

Aside from its many storage options, the Nissan Almera is a comfortable car to drive daily. The suspension has been tuned to soak up most of the Philippine road imperfections, with very little of it making its way into the cabin. Road noise is also kept to a minimum, with only a bit of wind noise entering the cabin at around 80 km/h and above. 

The leather seats with blue contrast accents are also very comfortable and supportive but lack a bit in the way of thigh support. Regardless, these seats won’t tire you out on long road trips and will help hold you in place if you want to do some spirited driving. In addition, the seats at the back of the Almera also fold down, giving you more trunk space if needed. If you are feeling adventurous and flexible enough, you can also quickly get things from the trunk area from the back seat. 

The sedan also has an 8-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It has straightforward controls and is easy to set up. The screen real estate is big enough that you can easily see directions at a glance or quickly change to the next song on the screen. Lest we forget, the Almera also has a wireless charger and a 6-speaker sound system. Tuning the sound system is limited, but it’s good enough for daily use. It also has single-zone automatic climate controls, which can quickly get the cabin to a cooler temperature without needing a rear blower. 

Driving Experience 

As this is a facelift for the Nissan Almera, its driving experience hasn’t changed much from the previous version. It still has a comfortable ride that can easily absorb road imperfections and a motor with a lot of low to mid-range torque. The CVT is still smooth but sometimes can be slow on the draw when you want more power despite being in Sport mode. It also has no way to downshift, as no paddle shifters can help you manually keep it within the car’s relatively thin power band.

Regardless, the Almera still has a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine under the hood, producing 100 horsepower and 152 Nm of torque. The sedan has a 3-cylinder motor, so you can feel it judder while idling in traffic or parked. However, when you get moving, everything smoothens out. The turbo kicks in reasonably early, giving you the grunt you need to accelerate the sedan, but once you reach the top of the rev range, the torque drops.

Despite its low to mid-range powerband, the CVT helps keep everything in check while giving you excellent fuel economy figures. In the city, we managed between 7 and 12 km/l; on the highway, we managed around 16 to 22 km/l. If you want to hypermile the car, you can quickly get to about 24km/l if you drive conservatively. 

Safety

The Nissan Almera is still as well equipped as ever as it accesses the Nissan Intelligent Mobility suite of features. The sedan gets a blind spot warning system, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, and high beam assist. The safety features don’t stop there, as it also gets an intelligent around-view monitor, intelligent emergency braking, intelligent forward collision warning, and hill start assist. 

These are more than welcomed features as they make the car easier to drive on long trips and easier to park. The around-view monitor was also handy in navigating tight streets to avoid curb rash and maximize the little space available. Aside from this, the Almera has six airbags, ABS with EBD, vehicle dynamic control, and ISOFIX anchor points for child seats.

One of the highlights of the facelifted Almera is the inclusion of the NissanConnect Services. It gives the vehicle owner features such as automatic collision notification, an SOS button, my car finder, a theft alert, a vehicle health report, and a remote start-stop function. It also lets you lock and unlock the sedan from your phone and set up geofencing for when you lend your car to a family member or a friend. The feature will notify you if they exceed any speed limits or a specified curfew. 

Conclusion

Priced at Php 1,149,000, the Nissan Almera is an ideal commuter car for those who want a torquey city car. The turbo helps the sedan quickly accelerate in low-speed instances, while the CVT helps keep the vehicle within a frugal yet efficient power band. The new face also gives the Almera a more premium look, and the NissanConnect Services is an ideal tool for parents or owners to help keep track of their cars. It’s a great addition to the sedan that may take time to mainstream as not everyone will be willing to utilize it. However, once the feature gains more traction, it will become standard in other cars. 

_{Words and photos by Joey Deriquito.}