Nissan Elgrand E52 Lowdown

One of the first questions asked by any prospective Elgrand owner is what fuel economy is like, and there is quite a lot of discussion about the E51's economy, but very little about the E52.  I have kept a log of my fuel and mileage which might be helpful to you as an idea of what you are likely to get.  Be warned though, it might not be pleasant reading! In the last 6 months I have covered nearly 5000 KMs (my car is still recording in KMs) and the records I have are as follows: Litres KMs KM/L MPG 64 325 5.08 14.34 28 289 10.32 29.16 29 171 5.90 16.66 60 517 8.62 24.34 56 435 7.77 21.94 81 703 8.68 24.52 33 309 9.36 26.45 61 498 8.16

The current Elgrand E52 model has unfortunately not been as successful in Japan as Nissan had hoped.  Nissan management did not focus on the Japanese domestic market as much as they once had and the view in Japan is that the Alphard/Vellfire from Toyota is the winner of the luxury large minivan battle.  During the last 10 years the E52 hasn't been improved much from its original debut with only minor tweaks, and the Japanese market is looking for more when they choose a new vehicle. New management at Nissan means a new strategy and they are looking to replace the current E52 with a new (E53?) model and take back some of the ground lost to Toyota.  The concept pictures of the E53 circulating at the moment show an evolution to the E52 model with similar lines and curves, definitely akin to the MPV look and not back to the E51 'van' style.  Interior space is said to be improved and the 3rd row of seats given much more space and comfort. Engines are rumoured to be the same 2.5

If you need to replace the gear shift selector / knob then heres how you can do it. (Useful if you need to replace the aircon or media control units.) IMPORTANT NOTE: You need to part on flat ground before starting this work.  The parking brake is not sufficient to hold the car if you are on a hill 1. Push down the Shift Lock button on the silver gear surround.  Use a plastic tool or something soft to avoid damaging the silver panel.  2. While holding the Shift Lock move the gear shift selector to Neutral position 3. Lever down and unclip the silver base of the gear shift handle 4. Remove the pin from the gear shift handle 5. Now just pull the handle off the stick.   6. I would recommend not moving the gear selector stick while you work on it.  

One of the easiest jobs to tackle on the E52 is to change the aircon filter inside the car.  As my own E52 had been a smokers car (hard to tell when you purchase from abroad) I wanted to get as much of the smell gone as possible.  The filter I used is a Blueprint ADN12519, just head over to eBay and you should be able to pick one up for under £10. To fit the filter you need to remove the plastic panel in the passenger footwell, which you just pull off.  Then you should see a thin plastic cover that you unclip and remove.  The filter has be squashed together a bit to get it out and the new one carefully pushed in place.  If you need a little help the following video should help.

 Check out the original TV adverts from Japan for the Elgrand.  The video has adverts covering the E50, E51 and then finally the best model of all, the E52.

This is the first of a few posts that I will try and highlight the differences between the E51 and E52 Elgrand models.  As an owner of an E52 and a keen participant in the Elgrand facebook groups and forums, I have come across alot of posts that make comments about the E52 being 'just an estate car' or 'a Vauxhall Zafira on steroids' or that its 'lost the spirit of what an Elgrand is'.  Its very hard to find much information about the E52 so its also very difficult to show if these comments are accurate or not. I have managed to get my hands on information from Japan that highlights some of the differences.  For this post I will focus on the changes to the size of the Elgrand. Introduced in 2010, the E52 Elgrand made a significant departure from the previous model, opting for a front wheel drive setup instead of the E51's rear wheel drive.  This was a very clever change from Nissan as it allowed them to change the dimensions of the car for better performance

I recently called up my local Nissan dealer in the UK to enquire about a spare part for my Elgrand.  The person I spoke with was helpful and found the part number on his system and I was keen to order the part.  He explained that the part would take possibly 10 weeks to arrive and even that wasn't guaranteed, it could take even longer.  Not sure about you, but that sounds way too long to wait especially for a small part. After searching for alternatives, I found an amazing parts supplier who will supply Nissan parts direct from Japan to your door.  JP-Carparts provide schematics of different parts of the car (drivetrain, electricals, etc) and each part on the schematic is then listed in a table below it that shows the part number, which model/year it fits and the price. I have already purchased a few items from them and they arrived via DHL 5-10 days after I purchased them.  The website is a bit old fashioned, you have to submit an enquiry for the part you are looking for, they wil