To buy or not to buy, Dat is d question- X trail GT

[Garrett Inside]

Hello all
I'm considering purchasing a 06 or 07 T30 4WD Xtrail GT with the sr20vet (276bhp) as a daily driver after some flippin bandits stole my flipping vigo some flippin months ago. Flip! sorry, Anywayz...

i really like the gt, and being a gt model it is supposed to be built for higer speeds, greater impacts, stronger axles, stronger parts generally, but i'd like to ask if any gt owners in particular or any nissan gurus, can share their expertise with me, i.e. what problems or issues in particular should i expect, pros and cons, cause i won't be driving it easy. I may decide to modify it a lil at a later date.

i know proper and frequent maintenance is a must especially with hard driving.

Plus if any one knows a dealer with one i'd appreciate it if you post the number 4 me, i'd like it 2 have sunroof, flairkit, fogs on roofrails, hid, automatic, would prefer pearl white though

What transmission does the gt's have? is it CVT as one of the dealers told me? cause if it is then extra attention to maintaining these will be necessary.

Any info to help with my decision will be greatly appreciated.

[Stuckindmud]

Hey,

I previously owned an 04 GT trail and it was a sweet ride.
The tranny was a regular auto, i dont know if the newer models came with CVT`s , but IMO , the regular tranny works best.

As a daily driver it performed quite well , but as with any Turbo vehicle there is a direct line between your right foot and your wallet at the pump. Even something as minor as a dirty airfilter would affect fuel consumption noticably.
And if you were spoilt with a Diesel Hilux... well just be prepared to pay the extra.

Fuel consumption aside , it is a very solid well built ride, thats comfortable and practical. I`d say go for it...

[FugiTECH]

SR20VET POWERRRRR

[Ricky99]

heard that they came in plastic fenders.....but then again i could be wrong.

[Garrett Inside]

^plastic fenders? ok then i'll be sure to check that Ricky99

Stuckinmud,
if you don't mind me asking, y would sell your gt?
unless its the the age factor.

and well as your name suggests did you ever test the 4wd system on really bad soft and muddy terrain?

ah mean with my hilux that lil monster sometimes didn't even bound for the 4wd, once you don't come to a stop and didn't race the revs.

i don't expect the same prowess but would it reasonably enough pull itself out under wet mudy terrain (such as construction sites with about 8 inches mud)

[Stuckindmud]

^^ Yup the i think they all came with plastic fenders..
Good weightsaver, no corrosion issues and if you make a lil scratch it pops right out .. no body work needed

I sold because i do alot of driving and the fuel cost wasnt cutting it.

As for the 4wd capability - is a decent softroader - but the GT is a street machine (beast) . Plenty power esp at the the top end.
It doesnt have a low range trasfercase either, so control if you`re stuck or on hills or slippery conditions aren`t the best.

BTW - the 4wd is all electronic controlled at the rear diff by a switch on the dash. 2wd/auto sends power where needed but primarily to the front, and 4wd locks in both front and rear diffs. Keep in mind that both front and rear diffs are still OPEN diffs so dont get too ambitious in the slippery areas.

[QG]

It's plastic fenders, or fibre glass?

[Ricky99]

yea it looks like i heard rite plastic fenders.

dunno if it could possibly dry rot wit age? wat yall think?


i dont mean to discourage u or anything but i find they are manufacturing cars cheaper and cheaper now.

[Stuckindmud]

plastic for sure
and was very durable.

i think all xtrails come like that

[Garrett Inside]

hey stuckindmud,

i'd really appreciate it if you or anyone else can point me in the right direction of a dealer to bring in this vehicle for me or has one already, cause my existing links takin quite some time to find one.

my first post has the general specs of what i'm lookin for.

oh yeah, i did see the gt's have "cuffable" front fenders like the clio.

thanks alot for any help given.

[QG]

pm DreamCarz on the forum!

[Stuckindmud]

I got mine second hand Foreign Used..

But there were a couple dealers in Barackpore that had a while back...
I`ll try to find out the names, but have a look around , there are lot more of them around that you`ll realize

[Garrett Inside]

Stuckinmud,
you're quite right, there are a few around
but they have no sunroof flair kit or roof projectors
and are not in a good enough condition

i did find one with a kit though, but it was 2004, thats to old

i'm tryin to bring it it through a dealer i bought from before.

[Mosaic]

I have a GT 2 months now. Barackpore dealer out from Tokyo.

Its a Nov 2k5. GT with Safari lights IMPUL Hi power Control ECU and IMPUL coilovers on 18 Inch rims 50 series Toyo rubber. Even got a full 18" spare. 2.5" S/S catback system, 3.5" Chrome tip.

Standard tranny.....no 2WD option. Auto and 4WD lock.

OK....the good the bad the ugly and the makeover.

Good:
Pretty, fast, Nissan. Turbo lag is non existent, well nearly.

Bad:
Got a major fuel appetite ....16L per 100K or 15mpg...easy drivin.
Intercooler heatsoaks in traffic, or any time u slow down. Its 1.5" over the head. Gonna fix that soon.
A/C kinda struggles a bit....but thats a general Exy issue.

Ugly....
Ain't nuthin ugly, unless u think chrome bullbars with gold rims is ugly.

Makeover:
Ok boyz n girls...this can get heavy...so suck it in!

First there's the carputer.....I built and installed an Intel ATOM 1.5Ghz, 2GB RAM, 120 GB HDD, 8" 4:3 aspect ratio, 1024 by 768 Touchscreen with Centrafuse Automotive software along with regular Windows 7 goodies overlayed on a Win XP sp3 OS. This runs a Zoom swivel Camera for rear view, along with Vehicle Diagnostics, Music videos, NAV capable, Audio interface, radio interface etc. etc.

Here's a piclink of the desktop in the dash.

http://img85.yfrog.com/i/completedinstall.jpg/

The Nissan Consult II diagnostics(...I am soon to be a distributor. for the Caribbean) allowed me to analyse the vehicle sensor logs....and it turns out that the IMPUL HI POWER ECU is a chipped stock ECU which goes WOT open loop as soon it can at 1700 RPM or so. I guess they think that is a good thing.....along with No fuel/rpm cut and mebbe variable VVL setpoints.

Well...unless u drive offpeak at hi speeds 1700 RPM WOT open LOOP means excessive fuel burnt as a daily driver.
So what to do? New ECU?

Heck no......ah be trini. Here's what I did....

I built an ECU interceptor ...yes I did..took 1 week afterwork to design and build using 6 opamps. And she works great.

I now have closed loop control at RPM's I want and I can govern the fuel use based on reconditioning the MAF voltage on the fly via a dashboard control. Naturally the interceptor is smart...it won't allow lean boost... just lean cruise up to my set point of 3700 RPM. At over 3700 the ECU can do its thing cuz we be launchin'.

I am presently working on a smart digital boost/O2 gauge. This Autometer lookalike will not only read boost and O2 rich/lean it will alarm in Lean boost and it will give a 12V trigger to trip a relay upon a lean/boost condition for those who need to trigger an additional injector or a fuel cut or a remap of the MAF or MAP voltage to compensate rich.

If you folks like the concept I should be able to deliver this dashboard device at around 500 to 600 TTD. If u saw the pic of my touchscreen install.....you realise that I make stuff that works and looks good. That dash was cut open and retouched to accommodate the 4:3 aspect large screen. The screen was separated from its housing and mounted to fit flush like a stock dash add in. A lot of hot knife and dremel work.

After this smartboost gauge and intercooler mod....I am lookin' at an in car refrigerator, hopefully by December that should be in place.

Just fyi... I am a controls/design/manufacturing engineer with mechatronics experience.

[Mosaic]

Garrett Inside, Bess motors had one with flair kit last month. The barackpore GT's all sold out after I got mine...lol ..8 months on the lot and then bang! 4 exy's sold in 2 weeks as PCN came along.

[Stuckindmud]

^^ Dude you could have posted before i sold mine all that electronic gizmos ..

what is your gas milage after all that?

mine had all the goodies - the sunroof on the trail was the best !!

[Mosaic]

U sold ur chick magnet eh?

Mileage.....is being tabulated. Interceptor runnin' just 1 week now and I'm still doing tweakin' to see how lean I can go.. When I'm done leanin' soon I will fill up and start doing different types of drives and tabulate the improvements. But judging from the duty cycles of the O2...things are lookin good. Today I shifted the O2 lean /rich trigger from .45 down to .25 and the exy didn't even twitch. Sr20VET got some wide a/f tolerances it seems. Tomorrow I am changing the MAF correction speeds from .5 sec down to .25 sec. I am aiming for a maximum rich spike at .6V and 0.05V max lean. Average being .3V or so...or a 16 to 17:1 a/f ratio. I observe cruise timing averaging 25 to 30 Deg BTDC spiking momentarily to 40 Degrees on throttle down.

[Garrett Inside]

err........mosaic......i jus wah a torbo van with a lil hard pong,
lol, you had me reading that essay real slow man.

but ok i have to admit your work in the pic looked good and your van had a modified ecu so hence the extra bad fuel economy, i know about forced induction vehicles being gas guzzlers, as i am not totally new to turbo cars. i don't expect a stock gt to be all that powerful with only 276bhp (probably more like 250bhp with our grade premium) but it should be at least a lil peppy with reasonable fuel economy. This van is supposed to be my regular daily driver and i promised my self not to start modifying cause we all know where that road leads to, power is addictive and expensive. Plus if any one is serious about power, premium won't cut it and Q16 is to expensive for a daily driver.

but i'll let you experiment a lil and smoothen out the kinks if any in your system, then in a few months time i'll pm you if you are going to be a distributer.

I know i don't have to tell you this but becareful about going too lean or you'll have fried sr in the morning.

All in all good luck with your endeavor, you seem really ambitious and determined.

oh yeah i saw bessmotor one but it did not have a sunroof, too old and the interior wasn't to my standard. but thanks

btw, i'm arranging to bring one in through a dealer i've dealt with before.

[Stuckindmud]

^^ goodluck dude,

Keep us posted onhow this goes.

[Mosaic]

Hope u get a nice 1.

No worries abt being 2 lean...with a NB o2 u can only get control by cycling rich /lean based on a duty cycle. No chance of being stuck at lean over an extended period (a few min) and Melting things with hi EGT. The nice thing abt the GT is the near instant turbo spool up...she spools up from like 2000 rpm. So as u sink on the pedal boost goes active and the mod goes back to the ECU stock fuel maps and fuel cools the chambers.

I've built car electronics commericially since 1990.. Usually on a custom order basis. But its time to go public, as they say. Launch an IPO, lol.

[nareshseep]

Mosaic we have to talk,I like what you did with the carputer, looking to do the same, by chance do you have a build log?.

[samdam]

Some one I know has one for a good price http://www.trinicarsforsale.com/databas ... p?G577-611

[Mosaic]

Mosaic we have to talk,I like what you did with the carputer, looking to do the same, by chance do you have a build log?.

Well , I did it a month ago...so I can tell ya anything ya need to know. The trickiest part was gettin' the 8" 4:3 aspect touchscreen in place. Normally a double DIN screen is 7" 16:9 widescreen, which ain't so good for music videos and such.. I can run up to 1280 by 960 resolution by upping the font sizes.

[Razkal]

^the carputer is way sick man

thinking about which vehicle i can add one to...

[Garrett Inside]

hi all,sorry for the delay,but i FINALLY got my gt about 1 month now, its a 06 black, with kit, hids and roof lights, but i had to settle for no sunroof.
The good- very good looks, very versatile, ok-decent acceleration
The bad - feels extremely heavy when initially accelerating, or cornering, and low arse booost(like 7-8pounds), sort of heavyish fuel consumption (but mih foot lil heavy)

Why is it so low? i would like about 12 psi for a daily driver, can i just use a boost controller and assume that the computer will compensate the rest, or am i ambicious.

bear in mind that the van works well, and d acceleration is normal for gt's. i just have 27psi on my pump map for my other car so i just want a lil more out of it,not expecting a 13 sec van or anything

please give me some advise on how to safely get a lil bit more power out of it

[wagonrunner]

The Nissan Consult II diagnostics(...I am soon to be a distributor. for the Caribbean)

whooogoooood. thank goodnes i watched the date on this yes.

[turbosingh]

Hey,

I previously owned an 04 GT trail and it was a sweet ride.
The tranny was a regular auto, i dont know if the newer models came with CVT`s , but IMO , the regular tranny works best.

As a daily driver it performed quite well , but as with any Turbo vehicle there is a direct line between your right foot and your wallet at the pump. Even something as minor as a dirty airfilter would affect fuel consumption noticably.
And if you were spoilt with a Diesel Hilux... well just be prepared to pay the extra.

Fuel consumption aside , it is a very solid well built ride, thats comfortable and practical. I`d say go for it...

An seriously tell me which turbocharged vehicle that will not burn gas!

[DSM_05]

^^A 660cc turbo Jimny. Little gas consumption.

Or you could get a Ranger/Navara. Those don't burn gas - period!

[Garrett Inside]

^^A 660cc turbo Jimny. Little gas consumption.

Or you could get a Ranger/Navara. Those don't burn gas - period!

lol 0.66 litre engine, hows the 0-60mph time on that?
wait... can it reach 60mph?

[DSM_05]

^^In a Suzuki Cappucino - yep: