Honestly, I don’t really fancy about having a normal family sedan to be given a taste of ‘sportiness’ flavour without substantial change on the engine and suspension. And that’s exactly what Toyota doing on Vios ‘tuned’ TRD and the one I’ve just driven yesterday is Nissan Sylphy ‘tuned’ by Impul.
For extra RM11k premium over standard version, you’ll get Impul bodykit, 17” Impul Aura SX-10 Black & Polish finish wheels, wrapped with Dunlop Formula D-01 205/45R17 tyres, Black II muffler with polished finishing and spring & dampers combo which lowers the car by 25mm. As a package, it looks as though it tried too hard to be young and energetic from what already 50 years old man. Just like Jalaluddin Hassan tried to be 30s, just so wrong.
On the inside, seats have been wrapped in black leather to match Impul black mats and you don’t need rocket science formula to say that black and cream won’t blend well and oh the steering wheel looks as through coming from a truck – the Navara? And that’s not all, if the car is meant to be sporty, why on earth Nissan or Tan Chong Motors in this matter retains cherry wood trims instead of replacing it with polished metals? I doubt it’ll cost much extra.
One thing the car good at is the definitely the cabin size. Although both Sylphy shares the same wheelbase length as Honda Civic at 2700mm, I felt legroom in the Slyphy is much better. Few cm shy than PV6 Executive in my honest opinion. And the boot is very very spacious too. Clarkson can be dumped in there no problem once Satria Neo & Myvi diehard fans get their hands on him and I guess you know why…
If you’re enthusiastic driver, you won’t like to drive this. Although it has loads of power on low end but as you floored further, midrange onwards have been err suffocated. Gear ratio is like having 1st, 2nd then 6th and 7th. At 100kmh, the engine revs just a bit shy below 2,000rpm making highway cruising a pleasing experience and easy on the wallet. But once you rev the engine past 3k onwards, expect the fuel consumption to increase very substantially.
Steering feels like you’re maneuvering a boat, light enough for babies to turn it around. This is very handy when it comes to parking the lateral giraffe but then its turning radius is quite well WIDE. Ride remains compliant even on 17” rims and lowered suspension, but damping is rather soft hence leans more on corners. Typical uncle setup.
This is by far to say that Sylphy as a family sedan a bad apple from Nissan but I think Impul ‘tuned’ one is. The additional premium you’re going to pay, in my view isn’t worth the extra and Civic prospective customers will still be eyeing Civic. Standard Sylphy is the better deal and good thing about Nissans is that just like Toyota, they hardly go wrong and maintenance going to be very straight forward and affordable. I for one like the simplicity and easy of mind of Nissan Sentra as a family car.
If you’re looking at sporty family car, Peugeot 308 Turbo is the one to go and its price is just about RM115k (now comes with paranomic glass) which is better spec-ed, more plush and definitely more usable power except just a ‘bit’ crampy on the legroom. And it turns out that I was wrong about RM11k extra for this Impul ‘tuned’ because there’s a more expensive option which costing RM15k extra making it RM127,900. And guess how much rip off they’re doing.
For extra RM11k premium over standard version, you’ll get Impul bodykit, 17” Impul Aura SX-10 Black & Polish finish wheels, wrapped with Dunlop Formula D-01 205/45R17 tyres, Black II muffler with polished finishing and spring & dampers combo which lowers the car by 25mm. As a package, it looks as though it tried too hard to be young and energetic from what already 50 years old man. Just like Jalaluddin Hassan tried to be 30s, just so wrong.
On the inside, seats have been wrapped in black leather to match Impul black mats and you don’t need rocket science formula to say that black and cream won’t blend well and oh the steering wheel looks as through coming from a truck – the Navara? And that’s not all, if the car is meant to be sporty, why on earth Nissan or Tan Chong Motors in this matter retains cherry wood trims instead of replacing it with polished metals? I doubt it’ll cost much extra.
One thing the car good at is the definitely the cabin size. Although both Sylphy shares the same wheelbase length as Honda Civic at 2700mm, I felt legroom in the Slyphy is much better. Few cm shy than PV6 Executive in my honest opinion. And the boot is very very spacious too. Clarkson can be dumped in there no problem once Satria Neo & Myvi diehard fans get their hands on him and I guess you know why…
If you’re enthusiastic driver, you won’t like to drive this. Although it has loads of power on low end but as you floored further, midrange onwards have been err suffocated. Gear ratio is like having 1st, 2nd then 6th and 7th. At 100kmh, the engine revs just a bit shy below 2,000rpm making highway cruising a pleasing experience and easy on the wallet. But once you rev the engine past 3k onwards, expect the fuel consumption to increase very substantially.
Steering feels like you’re maneuvering a boat, light enough for babies to turn it around. This is very handy when it comes to parking the lateral giraffe but then its turning radius is quite well WIDE. Ride remains compliant even on 17” rims and lowered suspension, but damping is rather soft hence leans more on corners. Typical uncle setup.
This is by far to say that Sylphy as a family sedan a bad apple from Nissan but I think Impul ‘tuned’ one is. The additional premium you’re going to pay, in my view isn’t worth the extra and Civic prospective customers will still be eyeing Civic. Standard Sylphy is the better deal and good thing about Nissans is that just like Toyota, they hardly go wrong and maintenance going to be very straight forward and affordable. I for one like the simplicity and easy of mind of Nissan Sentra as a family car.
If you’re looking at sporty family car, Peugeot 308 Turbo is the one to go and its price is just about RM115k (now comes with paranomic glass) which is better spec-ed, more plush and definitely more usable power except just a ‘bit’ crampy on the legroom. And it turns out that I was wrong about RM11k extra for this Impul ‘tuned’ because there’s a more expensive option which costing RM15k extra making it RM127,900. And guess how much rip off they’re doing.
Images from Nissan
jalaludin hasan trying to be 30s ahahahahaha. thats a good one.
ReplyDeletebut yeah...there's something not right abt this IMPUL-ised Sylphy. Looks more like VIP to me.
I think original one is way better hehehe
ReplyDeletewhich produces more power for the slyphy sr20de or mr20de?
ReplyDeletewould it be possiable to install the sr20det in the slyphy???
is it possiable to install the 4wd sr20 from the pulser on the 4wd slyphy???
ReplyDeleteHi Shane,
ReplyDeleteSorry for late reply as I just notice this. Honestly, I don't know much about Nissan engines except for RB and SR series but from what I can see, Sylphy ain't the best platform for mods and doubt 4WD prop shaft of any Nissan can fit unlike A31 Cefiro. It's just a common sense family car.