New Nissan Cefiro Coming Next Month
Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM) will begin deliveries of the 3rd Generation Nissan Cefiro from mid-January 2002. At a special press preview today in Subang, the company announced the pricing which starts at RM159,544.03 (including insurance/roadtax) for the Cefiro Excimo 2.0G V6 and runs all the way to RM200,187.83 for the metallic finished Cefiro Brougham 3.0G V6. The prices are about 15% higher for the Cefiro Excimo 2.0 V6 and about 20% higher for the Cefiro Brougham 3.0 V6.
Going into its third generation, the Cefiro, sold in 130 countries, celebrates its 10th anniversary. In Malaysia, where it’s been assembled since 1989, over 7,700 units have been sold to date.
For the third generation, increases have been made in the overall body size to give it greater presence. The styling theme is the same as the previous generation, ie prestige and elegance, but significant improvements have been made to the body structure, suspension, interior packaging, powertrain and emissions.
While the side profile has some resemblance to the second generation, the front and rear ends are entirely new in presentation with a distinctive chrome grille at the nose. The lighting units are substantially better, with the Brougham getting xenon lamps (for low beam) that give pure white light and halogen infrared reflection lamps for high beam. Nissan claims that visibility with such lamps is very good even in rainy conditions. The Excimo version gets halogen headlamps which are said to be 50% brighter and have a better spread and reach due to the use of a complex surface reflector.
Dimensionally, the overall length is 70 mm greater at 4920 mm while the wheelbase, now 2750 mm, is 50 mm longer. The overall height has risen to 1435 mm, 20 mm higher than before, and even the bootlid height is 30 mm higher. Overall width is 10 mm more on the Excimo and 20 mm more on the Brougham. The reason for this difference in width between the two versions is due to the side cladding which the Brougham has and the Excimo doesn’t (it only has a moulding strip).
Inside, as would be expected, the cabin area is larger with an increase of 150 mm in overall length although the effective increase as far as occupancy is concerned is 25 mm. More importantly is that knee room is increased by 35 mm. A notable point is the raising of the hip point — a crucial spot in interior design — by 5 mm at the front and 15 mm at the rear. This allows for easier movement in and out as passengers don’t need to bend their body so much. The new structure also allows for a wider opening of the doors — 65 degrees in front and 70 degrees at the rear.
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