Sometimes I wish car manufacturers would consider putting more emphasis on the NVH of vehicle and indicate in the brochure and or specification if sound insulation materials have been included in the vehicle. For instance, additional soundproofing for the roof, door panels, engine bay compartment or even the floor of the vehicle, or thicker 'soundproofed' main and side windscreens. A thin layer of foam or soundproofing material at the roof of the car will bring a noticeable difference.

It is surprising that a D-segment vehicle such as the Honda Accord is subjected to cost-cutting exercise where some of these soundproofing materials may be omitted. My impression is only the cheap B-segment vehicles are stripped bare while the C and/or D-segment get to have these soundproofing elements to promote a quieter ride. I'm sure the Nissan Sylphy has good soundproofing everywhere in the car and the roof as it's really quiet. The same can't be said with the cheaper (and smaller) B-segment Almera. Although it's relatively quiet compared to other cars in the same segment, it loses to the Sylphy in NVH. I think the roof of the Almera does not have any sound insulation as there are some people who compared on the noisy roof when it rains.

got. toyota new model even mentioned acoustic windscreen for ckd

spare parts got made in Japan, in Japan JDM model is knew as Inspire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Inspire

not sure about other country accord.
but honda malaysia did cut a lot of corner. thats why from 2015 every month sold 400~1K till 2020 only 100+-.
ofc blame the pricing too.


sylphy and teana actually good, other than dont broke the engine/gearbox or cost a tons.
but nissan malaysia suck and ruin it.


almera? as 1.5 almera owner, it just too 'kosong' spec for its price 80k.
i can say, nissan malaysia going full downhill ever since i own the almera from 2014.

I don't know about the old discontinued Almera, but the current Almera 1.0 turbo is good in both performance and looks interior and exterior and priced from RM85k to 95k is pretty good value compared to the competition. Nissan went downhill after the Sylphy and Teana were discontinued without any replacement, and the new Almera was introduced too late and since there were no C and D segment sedans available most people lost faith.

Yes, the main reason is TCM introduces new model too late.
See China Nissan, they still got new Sylphy, Teana models and their sales still consider not bad.

https://www.nissan.com.cn/products-lineup?category=fuel

Most Nissan car owner turn away after had experience with TCM. Petty much the same from previous gen Almeera, Serena, and long time ago X-trail. The Serena keep on reading many owner had Compressor issue and that's not cheap by TCM after warranty. B4 warranty takes months

Plenty of A/C compressor aftermarket nowadays (China, Japan = new, used, recon, OEM), those complain mostly go back SC and change new original after warranty ends sure complain of expensive.
This same as Subaru & any other cars nowadays new original compressor from official service center where got cheap, FYI some service center offer A/C flushing/service but some no, Some SC might even skip servicing it if the owner did not knew. I previously knew 1 Nissan technician always got kangtao selling A/C gas & compressor PAG oil, why he got so many stuff well you guess did they really service the A/C of their cars?

This post has been edited by littlefire: Mar 5 2026, 10:02 AM

This one is an optional Service by any car manufacturer, especially for 5 years. Mazda, P1, P2, Honda Malaysia, all do not state that AC flushing, AC Service as mandatory. Even the owner dont perform these service for 5 years, the waranty is still intact. That's depends on car owner's knowledge; if they take care, they will do it at SC or outside, SC average rm250-350 per AC flushing via machine, outside many offer at rm99 in KL/ Selangor/ JB, same, using the machine.

And above, only certain brands are synonymous with Compressor breakdown, rarely heard of Mazda, P1, P2, and Honda had an AC problem, at least for first 5 years during warranty.

Is it the air-cond compressor? May I ask how much is the air-cond compressor of the Nissan Serena quoted by the service centre? FWIW coming from a continental car I don't expect the maintenance and parts qouted by the service centre to be costly even though it's new since it's a Japanese car. Surely can't beat the RM10k+ just for a steering rack for the Ford Focus.

I can't speak about long waits for parts to arrive for warranty claims with the current Nissan vehicles since I don't have experience. Perhaps those who have experienced it had a bitter taste. Being an ex-Nissan owner I have come back and not turned away since the good after-sales support and cheap maintenance at the service centre are the main selling points when I owned the Nissan Sylphy back in the day. It's just unfortunate that only the B-segment Almera is being sold while the C and D segment sedans had been chopped off.

Interesting. In the website, it appears that the Teana, Altima and Sylphy are all being sold in China, and they all look good and modern. I'm not sure if the lowest range sedan sold in China is called the Almera, but I noticed the car has a 1.6 litre natural-aspirated engine which is not the same as the 1.0-litre turbo we have in the Asean market.

Coming back to this thread, are there any new owners of the Proton S70 with the 4 cylinder engine which is just launched? Anyone test driven one? How is the throttle response of the car? Is it responsive, meaning the car will move instantly once you step on the pedal, or there is a 0.5s to 1.0s lag just like the old Proton Preve?

I test drove the X50 Facelift last year for the 4-cylinder engine. 181ps 290Nm for X50 is good already, on S70 which technically lighter should be better perhaps. The throttle response of this Geely P1 are same as normal Japanese cars, meaning no lagging moments. The Preve problem for this is due to using Clutch-based CVT gb, while Geely P1 use DCT.

I also test drove extensively when the Preve CFE came out in the early phase, that car lagged to max for the 1st TCU software, the SA told they wanna create the GB move as per Conti (I dont digest this reason). It's like u need to press the pedal 60% then only the car moves. Months later, P1 came out with a TCU software update to reduce the lag.

Anyway, best to test on own for personal preference.

yes the Compressor issue made the Serena owner have to deal with this. Not sure the exact price but from the FB reading, easily rm3k+ for the compressor alone without installation, others like cooling coil, gas topup etc. Most owner spend rm1.6k+ outside for this repair instead.

Thanks, good to hear. My motto is not to test-drive if not ready to purchase, although there is plan to purchase. If the throttle response of the old Geely cars presumably the X50 is the same as Japanese cars, assuming current Nissan Almera and Toyota Corolla sedan, that is good enough. The throttle response of the Almera and Corolla is good but the Preve is poor. I owned the Preve Turbo first batch. Yes, that's correct, the pedal needs to be pressed up to 60% for the car to move forward, whereas with the Almera it's only 10%. Even though one has stepped on the pedal of the Proton Preve up to 60%, you still need to wait for 0.5s to 1.0s for the car to start moving forward. It's not good. It's easy to drive a car if the throttle response is good, meaning a light tap on the pedal the car will accelerate forward.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Mar 5 2026, 11:03 AM

Ok thanks. RM3k+ at service centre and RM1.6k+ outside is still not too bad. I presume the compressor is not a part that is easily damaged or require replacement, and I"m not sure if it's only applicable with the Serena and not other Nissan vehicles such as the Almera.

The maintenance of the Nissan Almera is very cheap. I collected the car on 3rd February 2024 and until today which is already more than 2 years, I paid less than RM1k for the maintenance. The last service costs RM681 only, very cheap, even cheaper than Proton preve Turbo where the major service costs RM1.5k+.