Help sought on 1.5 Tekna and dealer advice

[paulowoody]

After much pouring over various car reviews and test drives, I was very taken by the next gen QQ, esp. the 1.5 model which boasts 0-rated road tax and great economy. I have also test driven quite a few cars in the past few weeks and this was by far the best experience all-round, so I agreed a deal with the garage on their demonstrator at the weekend, which is a 1.5 Tekna. As part of the discussion, the dealer assured me that the engine had a cam-chain, rather than a cam-belt - which appealed after I had recounted my recent experience of being recently quoted around £600 for my Mazda6! This was an important factor in my decision, so imagine my surprise when I found out that the 1.5 is the only diesel model that uses a belt... So, my question is, do you think I'm being overly concerned - after all, 5 years down the line I'm probably going to take it to a local non-dealer garage to get it changed anyway, which would be cheaper. Or should I cancel the deal? Or perhaps ask for something else? I'm feeling a bit annoyed with myself for not knowing this earlier, but it's pretty hard to find out online which engine types use a timing belt or a chain. I really don't think he was deliberately trying to mislead me though. I contacted Nissan to double check and they said I would be quite within my rights to cancel, but to be honest - I don't think I want to. Unless I switch to a 1.6 perhaps - but then there will be a massive wait I imagine... Any advice or feedback would be most welcome! Many thanks - and this site is really great btw.Cheers, Paul

[jonceebee]

Hello and welcome, I would not worry too much regarding the belt issue. I have had many cars with belts Passats, Prius etc . and never had any issues. I would always ensure that they are changed at the manufacturers recommendation and the chances of anything going wrong are remote. Find out what the mileage will be for changing, it may be between 80 to 110k miles which on average use is a lot of years and you may be selling on by then. If its a good value buy stick with it, better than paying more and joining the waiting list

[PeterL]

The decision is yours of course and perhaps could be related to whatever annual mileage you expect to do? Having said that you can extend the warranty of the car out to five years, for a small fee.

[gtc]

Hi! Don't know much about belts and chains but just out of interest what were the other cars you test drove? Really for comparison sake!! Thanks.....

[F1 Bob]

I believe the change is due by 70k or 5 years on the 1.5 dCi. If worried I would have it changed at say 60k for safety sake. Otherwise I do not think you should be concerned as a failure is very unlikely and even a chain can break.

[paulowoody]

Thanks very much for all the feedback, everyone - much appreciated! I may take another year on the warranty, but I think after 5-years I will probably look to a cam-belt change with a non-dealer to keep the costs down.@gtc, the other cars I looked at included the Prius Plug-in, the Leaf, a Verso and Kia Carens and Sportage. I also looked at the Ford C-Max and S-Max as well as a mark-1 QQ. I have to admit I was really impressed with the Leaf as an all-electric, if only it had a longer range, as I live in the sticks. The Prius Plug-in has the ability to run electric-only too, but uses a different battery that can only be recharged from a power point, not from the engine, etc. The range was also quoted at 15 miles, but it was unlikely to be any more than 12, whereas the Leaf could get up to 80, or more. I can imagine the QQ would be pretty unbeatable if it had hybrid technology. I don't quite understand why the Prius doesn't have better MPG though.Cheers! )