Introducing Elsie

 Apparently every Elgrand has to be named, so after a lot of discussion, I am introducing Elsie.

She is a Nissan Elgrand Autech Rider E52 with a 3.5 V6 engine (VQ35DE) finished in Phantom Black Pearl paint.  The alloys are 5x2 spoke silver 18" wheels that are not the standard Rider wheels, they actually look more like the ones on the Highway Star.  She has the optional large rear spoiler, the window wind diffusers, a nice twin pipe chromed exhaust, along with the normal Rider chrome front.  She has uprated shocks that the previous owner fitted (Kyb Riter Sports), twin sunroofs, and a blanking cap where the rear window wiper should be (apparently a common 'cool' mod in Japan).


Inside Elsie she has a full 7 seater black leather interior, with black deep pile carpets that are more comfortable than those in my home.  The audio boasts the optional Bose 5.1 surround sound speaker system (with centre speakers and subwoofer) along with a rear mounted DVD screen.  To finish off she also has electric and heated seats, electric boot, electric doors on both sides and the most pointless Elgrand upgrade I have ever seen … electric folding rear seats.

It looks like the previous owner has fitted coloured LED low lights and front chrome door sills with blue LED writing ("ELGRAND") on them.  For those keen readers the car was sold as a 4B rating in Japan, so both the inside and outside are in amazing condition.  No way that a 10 year old UK car would look this good.

To get Elsie road worthy I had to fit rear fog lights and get her through the UK MOT test.  She passed the test with flying colours and when I asked the technician what my E52 was like mechanically, he said "mate… shes mint!".

There are a few things I am planning to update or fix on the car, and I'll try and put some info together as I tackle them.

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