Nissan Livina

While Nissan has made significant tweaks on the outside to make the Livina a distinguished product over the Mitsubishi Xpander, the same can’t be said about the interior of the three-row MPV. On the inside, the Livina shares the entire layout and list of features with the Xpander, and that too in the same all-black theme with silver accents.

The very basic-looking driver’s cockpit of the Nissan Livina comprises a three-spoke steering wheel with audio and Bluetooth controls and a two-pod instrument console with a TFT MID in between. The upper dashboard of the Livina has a layered theatre-like curved theme, while the centre console looks simple with a rectangular touchscreen infotainment system placed at the top of the centre console.

This infotainment system and the lower centre console have vertically-arranged silver accents on their sides, with rectangular AC vents placed in between them. The decently long list of equipment in the Xpander includes a push start-stop button, manual AC, rear AC vents, driver seat height adjustment, and a 6-speaker audio system.

The Nissan Livina is based on the Mitsubishi Xpander, which is evident from the similar side profiles and almost matching dimensions. However, Nissan has done a commendable job in tweaking the front and rear profiles of the Livina, which manage to give it an identity of its own.

At the front, the Nissan Livina comes with a very stylish-looking fascia, which comprises a sharp form of Nissan’s V-Motion grille having a large trapezoidal design with silver accents on the side and lower parts. The Livina comes with a split design for the headlamps, with slim-looking daytime running LED strips positioned above the upper edges of the grille and separate housings for the all-LED headlamps on the front bumper. The bottom-most corners of the front bumper come integrated with LED fog lamps, while in the middle, it gets a silver scuff plate.

As said above, the side profile of the Nissan Livina looks much like that of the Mitsubishi Xpander, with an angular design for the window panels and rear quarter glass, giving it a floating roof effect. Here also, the Livina tries to make a strong case for itself with a different-looking set of 15-inch machined alloy wheels. The slightly-flared wheel arches and a sharp crease flowing through the door panels towards the edge of the tail lamp add some more character to the side profile.

At the back too, Nissan has made some noteworthy tweaks over the Xpander, with different-looking LED inserts for the wraparound L-shaped tail lamps with gloss-black surrounds. The license plate housing too has a different design, while the rear bumper has a unique split design for the scuff plates.

The Nissan Livina comes with a very basic suspension setup of Macpherson struts with coil springs at the front and a torsion beam at the rear. The overall suspension setup of the Livina has been tuned for delivering a comfortable and plush ride quality, a task in which the Livina succeeds pretty much.

Powering the Nissan Livina is the same 1.5-litre four-cylinder naturally-aspirated petrol engine from the Mitsubishi Xpander, and not the new-gen 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine from the Almera. In the base E variant, this engine comes paired with a 5-speed manual transmission, while in the other variants, it gets a 4-speed automatic transmission. This petrol engine claims 105 PS of maximum power and 141 Nm of maximum torque.

The Nissan Livina comes with a decent amount of safety features, such as dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, reverse parking sensors and camera, ISOFIX mounts for child seats, hill start assist, vehicle dynamic control and traction control.

With its fresh design approach carried out for its front and rear profiles on the outside, the Nissan Livina comes across as a new-age compact MPV. However, the expectations fade a bit after realizing that Nissan has not much worked on the interior and list of features for the Livina, over the Xpander.