Dear Swinee,
In case you forgot, the Teana is a replacement for the Cefiro, and naturally a Cefiro only comes with a V6 engine or an inline 6 even for the A31 series, yes they do comes in inline 4 units as well, but thats the SR20DE unit and not the RB20DE and as things slowly progress, the A32 comes with the VQ20DE and the VQ30DE and so does the A33 with complete new revised VQ series engine, where as a Camry, is just a carry over job very much like previous models. So it is very much the 2.5V6 which would be the best seller for TCM, most Cefiro owners I know can't accept the MR20DE in the Teana
And having driven the A33 and having a Camry 2.0E at home, I can say both are just the same pail.. Why? All of the basic gadgetry, features are almost the same. I don't seriously see any so called advance technology... But I do remember my A33 having Xenon
And then the FL 2.4V came with Xenon
And then front 2 powered seats, and Nissan own pariah Optitron meter
But of course, I am not being fair to compare a 3l and a 2l...
But the 2.4l... Ah... My 6 years old A33 powered seats works fine, but the ACV30 power seats failed after 6 months... Aiya!
With the ACV40, the difference is noticably greater as the Teana were introduced late into the market, but again, the difference is pretty much minimal from the ACV30 except for the Xenon, Optitron meters, which I believe is very much old tech by Toyota having been flown down the chute from Lexus. So, really its not really something shout about.
Nissan owns JATCO so naturally they would supply the transmission to Nissan... CVT has been all over the place, but Toyota is still giving out ECT 4AT... Wahlao... Really new tech le. Plus CVT provides you with seamless power delivery and the smoothness is even better than the smoothest and refined 4AT, another plus point, the CVT actually optimizes power delivery so you would gain to save from the fuel savings.
So at the end of the day, each brands have their strengths and weaknesses... And to quote luvcar's comments, I really agree with him. In my 50k Myvi, I get BT connection as standard, but with the 150k Camry, I still have to pay 4k for an optional head unit, of course you can argue that it comes with GPS, thrust booster, afterburners, yet still have to pay when other brands are offering them as standard in lower rung cars. So much for new technology.
yeah true, of cos i do know bout the VQ series, i still can rmbr the old time advertisement bout the jet plane using the VQ engine when they first introduce for the Cefiro
yup, the a33 cefiro is kinda a trademark for the nissan, just like any old timer XV10 camry reliable workhorse, too bad that nowadays, eveery manufacuring is cutting cost, u could hardly find sth which have the build quality and craftmenship like those car..
yes, every brand have thier own pro n cons, but if to say that Toyota offering a lower tech for Asean country, I would say that the same thing for Nissan, for the enitre range model aside from the 2.5 Teana being the best in class, others like the new xtrail is a sore product being compared to the old Xtrail, it lose the 4WD capability, and powerplant term is also disaapointing again with the MR20DE.
the slyphy if compared to the curent altis/civic also is pale shadow, and with XCVT+MR20DE, yet still cant acheive a decent FC for its segment, not to mention a drum brake for a C-seg car when almost most B-seg now comes with all round disc, altot u could say that the stopping power n less maintenance is there..but yet still a signed of cost cutting.
the teana 2.0 luxury too, i dun think any previos cefiro owner would buy a teana w/o a V6, it seems that it losing it appeals by just offering a simplicity in luxury car w/o much gadgets to play around..
so Nissan by no means is better than Toyota by alot, in terms of technology and spec offered, aside from the 2.5 teana, where other range u could see that just plain dull especially on the safety features like ESP compared to the other makes
