“Crossover-crazy market.” It’s a term that’s been thrown around the local automotive industry for some time now. Yes, to some extent, that’s true. Look at the City—the subcompact sedan used to top sales charts for Honda, but it’s now conceded its spot to the BR-V. While that one’s an MPV, it’s still a budget-friendly people hauler that offers similar utility as a typical five-seater crossover.
But over at Toyota, the Vios—the City’s biggest rival—still continues to sell well for the brand. It still managed to outshine the hot-selling Raize last year, and by a big margin at that. Clearly, there’s still a huge market for these smaller cars among Filipino buyers.
In a few years’ time, however, things could go further south for this segment. The death of sedans might come sooner rather than later. See, in just the past year alone, bang-for-the-buck crossovers have continued to arrive in droves courtesy of new Chinese players. The room for these sedans gets smaller by the minute.
It’s at a time like this when a car like the new Nissan Almera could be crucial.
First drive: Nissan Almera 2024
Back in late 2021, Nissan Philippines (NPI) launched the all-new Almera in our market, and it looked more than ready to give the likes of Toyota and Honda a run for their money. It had the style, performance, and tech that made it look like it could challenge the Vios and the City.
Fast forward to today, NPI has now introduced the refreshed version—less than two years since the last generation’s arrival. You could argue that it’s a bit too early for that, especially since interest in the outgoing version is only just beginning to simmer, but I’d beg to differ. If anything, this is perfect timing for both Nissan and the subcompact-sedan segment.
This version of the Almera looks undoubtedly new. See, Nissan’s quite fond of these extensive facelifts. Where another brand would simply tweak the front fascia by a bit and call it a refresh, Nissan would replace the grille and front bumper altogether. That’s the story for this one.
Nissan opted to give the Almera the new V-Motion grille design, and in my opinion, it suits the sedan nicely. Styling will always boil down to personal preference, though, as I’ve heard other people snark at this car’s face.
But once you step inside the cabin, that new-look appeal starts to fade a bit. Sure, the interior sports a new two-tone finish, but its overall layout remains the same. The only thing you might easily notice here apart from the colorway is the addition of a wireless charging pad on the center console. The old head unit now has Android Auto, too, but since I’m an Apple user, I couldn’t have really cared less.
If you were able to drive the pre-facelift Almera, it’ll start to feel even more familiar as soon as you start driving this one. Nissan didn’t really change anything under the hood—there’s still a 1.0-liter turbo-three gasoline engine with 99hp and 152Nm on tap powering this sedan. Not a segment-dominating setup, but mind you, it’s nothing to scoff at either.
Throttle response can be a bit jerky on stop-and-go traffic, as that turbocharged 3cyl and CVT combo isn’t exactly the smoothest. But once you’re on the highway, it’ll impress. Despite the relatively smaller engine displacement, the Almera doesn’t feel like it’s being overly stressed when you’re cruising for extended periods along the expressway. Of course, if you do need some extra oomph when overtaking, you will still feel the engine grunting when you floor the pedal. Frankly, I think it’s best you just manage your expectations when it comes to this powertrain.
Nevertheless, fuel economy here is still exceptionally decent. With a heavy foot on the gas, I was still easily able to get 17km/L from the gauge. While this consisted mostly of highway driving en route to La Union, it also included several minutes of idling amassed over a few stops midway.
It’s a huge bonus that the Almera has Nissan Intelligent Mobility features as well. The fact that it has tech like forward-collision warning with autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert, and a 360-degree-view camera has always made it a top-of-mind choice in the segment for me. For this refresh, Nissan actually even added to the Almera’s suite and included lane-departure warning and a tire-pressure monitoring system to the package.
But never mind all these. Just set all of these aside for a minute and focus on what I think will really keep the Almera a strong proposition in this troubled segment: the NissanConnect Services.
This is arguably the biggest addition to this new Almera. The new connected car services allow owners to link their smartphones to their cars via the dedicated NissanConnect app. The app then consists of various features that seek to improve safety and security, convenience, and ease of ownership for users.
It has various safety features including automatic collision notification that automatically triggers a call from the vehicle to Nissan’s Emergency Support Center when the airbags are deployed. Another is the SOS emergency call button that can be found atop the cabin. This connects the driver to an emergency response team who then locates the driver to provide the necessary assistance.
NissanConnect also has features that can be especially useful when other people regularly drive your car. Want to keep your kids from driving out too far? Set a zone alert. Want to keep your car—and the entire household—at home during the wee hours of the night? Set a curfew. Want to make sure your driver sticks to the speed limit when you’re not around? You can set a speed alert for that, too. Once any of these limits are breached, you’ll receive a phone notification via the app.
The NissanConnect app has a bunch more features such as theft alert and various remote controls that we can dive into, but we’d take up too much of everyone’s time if we did. However, that quick run-through should be enough to give a glimpse of just how helpful this feature can be.
Of course, we will have to test this out under real-world conditions to find out just how useful it can be for car owners, but after a quick go at it, I think it’s a nifty addition.
The NissanConnect services appear to be the icing on top of the Almera. The old one was already a well-rounded package with its style, performance, and safety features, and this latest update just takes the sedan to another level. Sure, it might cost you an added premium for the top-spec trim (P1.149 million) to get these features, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find another car in this segment that offers these amenities.
Actually, the way I see it, the introduction of NissanConnect in the Almera will not only help usher in the new tech for NPI, but it could also help the subcompact-car segment survive. These days, when more and more buyers are starting to pick crossovers and MPVs over sedans, the Almera has a strong new selling point that makes it an even worthier competitor to the value-for-money crossovers that continue to flock in.
This drives my previous point home even further—the Almera’s arrival couldn’t have come at a better time. With its solid new tech, it could very well be one of the few models that could help sustain interest in its segment, and in sedans in general, for the years to come.
