Thread: Captiva

what car would the wife prefer?

Ian we are looking around but so far we like the Captiva.
David

This is "secondhand" information. My son works for a national company and part of his job is to purchase all the vehicles for the various companies in the group.

He regularly gets vehicles submitted for testing, usually for a week or so.

A little while ago he had a Captiva Diesel for testing and his report, as well as that of one other company person, was not very flattering. They found the engine very rough indeed, even allowing for the fact that it was a diesel, the ride was rough as well and the general handling of the vehicle was, in their words "more like a tractor". The driving position and steering wheel added to this impression. In fact they thought a more appropriate name for the vehicle was "Craptiva"

YMMV

(BTW, after that he had the latest Nissan XTrail Diesel, and they were far more impressed with that on all counts)

Hi David,
Have a look at a Nissan Tiida. Had ours 3+ yrs. now 70,000 K's. up, not even a hick up. It is the Biggest Car inside you will find as well as a Large Boot. Get between 39 to 43 MPG. ( can't hack that other way ). Has a Renault Motor & Gearbox, Cruise Control, Auto. & we bought the Car not the Hatch. Didn't go for all the Extras.
Did find after 10000K that the Service Fees go up as the Car gets more K's on it, so we now just have a very good Mechanic, & we still have 2 yrs. Warranty left.
It is " Great Car ".

We have nothing to do with any Car Co.

Thank guys.
Fred I will keep that in mind I have read about a few problems. We are looking at a few other cars.
Issatree we are looking at getting a bigger car 5 to 7 seater.
David

We've been looking for a while now too and the Captiva was one on the list. For me the interior was quite plastic looking, and particularly didn't like the handbrake handle.

My choice would be an Outlander. Heaps of bells 'n' whistles and from MY09, even the base model got the full stability control system as well as alloy wheels. The current models have the choice of 5 or 7 seat, and now 2WD or 4WD.

If we had a bit longer and were able to spend a little more we would have gone that way, but I've had to clear garage space for SWMBO's new MY10 Lancer. Happy wife!

We are also looking at the Outlander to.
David

Daughter bought a Captiva , with 3 kids and one in a baby capsule needed the extra seats.
Manual said it could run on e10 fuel , after 3 months the fuel pump failed, mechanic at the dealership ( covered under warranty ) told the SIL on the side that they have had a couple of fails and advised only using unleaded not the e10 , no more probs

I've heard bad things about the captiva. The outlander we tested was rubbish, couldn't get out of the dealership quick enough. The xtrail was nice to drive but they blow transmissions. I bought a forester. Apart from teh center console catch only catching intermittently it never misses a beat. I get about 8.7 - 9 around town and mid 7's on the highway but the boss revvs it harder and can get up to 12 around town. Mind she drives really hard and that's in stop start.

If you need 6 seats wold the subaru exiga 6 seater be an option ? Bit dearer but packed with toys, and what you'll save in repairs over 10 years will more than compensate.

I've been talking to subaru owners for 20 years and they have consistently reported nil or next to nil problems over 200000 kms. That's what swayed me ultimately, apart from the seats and ride comfort. Hate the gearbox and the electronic throttle but an auto would ahve fixed that.

Originally Posted by damian

I've heard bad things about the captiva. The outlander we tested was rubbish, couldn't get out of the dealership quick enough. The xtrail was nice to drive but they blow transmissions. I bought a forester. Apart from teh center console catch only catching intermittently it never misses a beat. I get about 8.7 - 9 around town and mid 7's on the highway but the boss revvs it harder and can get up to 12 around town. Mind she drives really hard and that's in stop start.

If you need 6 seats wold the subaru exiga 6 seater be an option ? Bit dearer but packed with toys, and what you'll save in repairs over 10 years will more than compensate.

I've been talking to subaru owners for 20 years and they have consistently reported nil or next to nil problems over 200000 kms. That's what swayed me ultimately, apart from the seats and ride comfort. Hate the gearbox and the electronic throttle but an auto would ahve fixed that.

I've had a diesel Forester for three months now and have 14,000km on it. Coming from a V8 Commodore, my req's were fuel economy, ability to tow a trailer, decent interior space, and a big boot.

Forester meets it all, especially on the fuel. A combination of daily highway and stop/start sees me getting 6.2L/100km (measured at the fuel pump, dash readout is out by .2 or so). My current tank with 80% highway is sitting around 5.8L/100km.

I considered the X-Trail diesel and the Captiva diesel. I can't remember what put me off either - I think the looks was the X-Trail's downfall, but can't remember the Captiva, but it was for the previous model.

Full time AWD is good too.... can definately feel its difference over Razorback Mountain twice a day.

There have been some issues discussed on the 'net about some problems with the diesel DPF filter on these (and lots of other makes of diesels), but I've never come across it. It seems to haunt people who spend lots of their time revving under 1000rpm or so. I'm mostly between 1600-2500 and still get very good fuel economy.

Not sure if tis helps you

Nathan.

Hi Nathan,
You said the Dash Readout is .2 or so out.
Do you mean The Kilometer Readout.
If this is the case, I'd be interested to know, how you came by this, as I would like to work out our Vehicles Readout.

Originally Posted by issatree

Hi Nathan,
You said the Dash Readout is .2 or so out.
Do you mean The Kilometer Readout.
If this is the case, I'd be interested to know, how you came by this, as I would like to work out our Vehicles Readout.

I mean that the dash displays the L/100km average for the tank. When I compare this to the actual amount of fuel put in at the pump to the km's travelled for that tank, the dash display is about .2L/100km out.

I came by this as I was keeping track of fuel consumption on an iPhone app which works everything out - initially just to compare the diesel to a nice V8 (gee I miss that V8!).

Is that what you are asking?

Thanks for that guys I will look at the Forester now. Sound good.
David

Size wise David, its definately no 7 seater if thats what you are after. There's not much noticeable difference in leg room in the back compared to the Commodore, but I can tell the width is narrower with three adults in the back.