Hello from Indiana

[beasleymachine]

Hello all!  Been meaning to write my first post on here but I've been pretty busy.

 

Bought our 2017 NVP 3500 SL about a month ago, and we love it.  We're a family of 6, soon to be 7 (in about 3 weeks!), and we'd been planning this purchase for awhile.  We moved from a 2011 Grand Caravan, which just wasn't going to be able to hold 5 kids and their carseats (and their stuff).  Our oldest is 6, so he's still in a high-back booster.

 

None of the "normal" 8 passenger vehicles on the market just don't have any more space.  Pilot, Traverse, Sienna, even the Suburban just doesn't give enough interior space....I'm sure many of you already know that and that's why you're here.  We did look at the Transit, but honestly never even test drove one.  The Nissan just looks so much better, it's actually pretty imposing and "bad" looking in the black color we got it in.  And we want to someday get a travel trailer, and the Nissan had the much better towing capacity.

 

There were a few cons we were afraid of going in.  That it would drive like a barge, that we couldn't park it, and that the gas mileage would bankrupt us.  I can tell you that it actually drives a lot "smaller" than I expected, no different than any full size truck.....which when I thought of it like that was a "duh" moment, because it's based on a full-size truck.  I will say the side mirrors are outstanding, and really make it easy to see everywhere around you while in traffic and on the highway.  Also lets you see the lane lines and/or edge of the road which helps a lot.

 

As far as gas mileage, I see some of you have been asking about how the 2017 with the new 5.6 and the 7 speed have done.  Well, we are averaging 12.6, with each individual tank of: 13.8, 12.6, 11.4, 11.6, 14.1, 12.9.  Have put on about 1400 miles so far.  We definitely tend to more city driving, and this is used on the daily school run, so there is quite a bit of time spend idling in the school line, and going through town.  The 14.1 tank was achieved with a bit of highway driving thrown in.  I think with 100% highway driving, it would get somewhere around 16.  We'll find out in a couple of months, we have a road trip planned.

 

Decided to go for the 2017 because of the new tech powertrain.....as a guy it was hard for me to pass up the 60 extra horsepower, even if we don't really "need" it.  There was a new 2016 SL on the lot in black, for about 3k less.....go ahead and call me stupid for passing it up, but we just wanted the "new" new car.  For those of you that ask, I got about 500 bucks off of sticker, but I'm not a hard negotiator.  If you can't tell, I don't worry too much about a few bucks here or there, and I DESPISE buying cars from dealers, I just want to get it done and get out.  I would do cartwheels if I could order online and never go to a dealer.

 

There was one "bad" thing of interest I should tell the group.  We were driving around on a Sunday afternoon, the day after we bought it, just clicked over 100 miles on the odo.  Check engine light comes on.  I did the obligatory gas cap check (gas cap cable sucks, by the way), didn't do anything.  I have an OBD scanner, but because it was a new car I didn't bother and took it in Monday morning.  The dealer tripped over themselves apologizing, and checked it out right away.  Turned out that one of the oxygen sensors was not plugged in all the way from the factory, which obviously threw a code quite quickly.  Got fixed, haven't had any problems since.  Kind of annoying, but hey these things happen.  I feel comfortable with this thing having the long warranty.

 

The other bad stuff:  all 324 seating configurations, but none of them allow the 4 across in the 3rd row.  This would be a dream configuration (seen others on here say the same thing).  If anybody has done a successful mod I'd love to see it.  Also, they don't provide enough seat rail covers from the factory.  We currently have the 4th row out, with the 2nd and 3rd rows in the "extra legroom" configuration.  We're short 4 of the shorter covers.  No mirrors on the visors....what is this, 1962?  I know it's a "commercial" vehicle, but dang it Nissan, it can't be hard to put mirrors in there.  Bought two clip on mirrors from Walmart for 3 bucks each that work fine....but it looks tacked on.  My wife thought it was so dumb that it didn't come with mirrors.  Also, the hard plastic on the center console sucks, we want to buy a pad for that.....again I know it's a commercial vehicle, but even those guys would want a comfortable place to put their arms.

 

Other than that, we love it!  We love the leather interior, and being able to get all the features that you get in a big full size van like this.  And the space!  So refreshing to be able to get between each row, and we can put all of our stuff in the back.  First time we've ever had a touchscreen or a backup camera, and honestly we're amazed at how big the screen is and how clear the picture is.  If you've had bigger I guess this one is disappointing, but it's great for us.  And it's so smooth and easy to drive.  Thought it would drive a lot worse and rougher than it does.

 

 

 

[radin2son]

Welcome. What a great report and evaluation.

[KDS]

Welcome!  I lived in Indiana for 5 years. Great report on the van.  I totally agree about a 4 seat 3rd row and not having enough rail covers.  We have our seats in the same configuration you do.

[Jeremie Conley]

Welcome! After 1 year and 10,000 miles we still love our 2016 NVP. We use it to the fullest extent including towing 6000+lbs travel trailer. We've had a few very minor issues fixed under warranty including a temperature sensor not plugged in at the factory which caused the heater to come on above 62 degrees thermostat setting. Easy to drive and we feel very safe in it. Gas mileage is horrible but oh well.

Edited May 1, 2017 by Jeremie Conley

[JCattSS]

Hello fellow hoosier! 

[ASD Dad]

Welcome!  We've had ours for 2 years now and I have 40,000 miles on it.  Lots of trips camping towing the trailer in my sig line below.  Tows really well overall.  Could always use more power but it is adequate!  

 

MPG is a bummer, I average the same with the old tech, a Bully Dog tuner and a simple airbox mod with better filter.  I was actually getting 13-14 regularly until I added the all terrain tires and roof rack.  Both dropped me 1 mpg on average.  There are others on here with stock vans getting 14-15 average.  I still believe with this size van it is all in your right foot for mpg!  

 

I agree with all the cons you pointed out, I hated the center console plastic for months but I am just used to it now.  You can tell that even the SL was originally a commercial van other than some tech and leather not much changed!  

[radin2son]

We aren't unhappy with mpg. There is little we can do about it anyway. Consider how we use them and what the alternatives were/are.

[beasleymachine]

We're not unhappy about the MPG either, we knew it going in.  Not a big difference between 12 and 14 anyway.....may as well enjoy the horsepower.

[andy_george]

Great write up! Welcome!

[handsomeNV]

Congradulation on your brand new NV!

Thank you for your review.

[chphilo]

Welcome and congrats from Western PA (former Hoosier). Our van is black also and most often people ask, "What is that thing?". Some people think it's a government SUV. 

[beasleymachine]

Just wanted to give everybody an update on the mpg of the new 2017 V8.  Took our 2017 NVP on its first road trip, about 600 miles each way.  On the way there, I didn't get a good "all highway" tank.  Had about 50 miles of non-highway driving on each end, but was able to get 16.6 and 16.7 mpg on the two tanks the way there.  On the way back though, I was able to get a full highway tank, filled up at the truck stop, got on the highway, drove 300 miles and filled up again.  On that one I got 19.5 mpg!  75-80 mph the whole way.  So, I think the new 7-speed might be assisting with that over the older 5-speed.  Not sure I've seen many people get close to 20 mpg.

[laharview]

Welcome.  Nice write up!