M35 nissan stagea

hi all. looking at a newish car, and considering getting one of these. what are your general opinions! some online reviews rate them not bad at all. what are the transmissions like! is the V6 a direct injection! any issues with that! thanks alot.
Nick

i have a cedric 3.0lt 2000 had it since september no problems at all even tow my 15ft caravan with ease

Personally I would stay away from any Nissan\Renaultwith a NEO-Di or CVT badge. Not going to say why because the Forum Warriors will shut me down. If you find the 3.5L (not Di) Stagea go for it, even better if you get one with the 6 spd manual box behind it.

The 3.5 are an absolutely brilliant wagon.

There are a heap of old threads about V6 Stageas on here. I was thinking about buying a bigger family car a year ago, and after some reading (mainly here) the 3-litre one was more or less the top of my wish list. The highlights of my research are:

(1)
Lots of people get confused when you ask about these cars, and assume you mean the older shape Stageas with the straight six RB engines.

(2)
The 3.5 has a CVT transmission, I have heard allegations that the transmission fluid for these is gold-plated and you'll need $900 worth of it to change the oil in the gearbox.

(3)
The 3 litre ones have 256hp / 191kw and a 5-speed conventional auto.

(4)
2.5 litre ones have 212hp / 158kW and a 4-speed conventional auto.

(5)
2.5 litre turbo ones and/or 4WD ones I did not really look into.

(6)
All of the V6 engines have petrol direct injection, so the exhaust gas recirculation tends to coke up the inlet manifold and valves if those are never taken apart and cleaned out. All of them have continuously variable valve timing, which can apparently cause a $1000 trip to the garage if it craps out.

(7)
All of them apparently pink momentarily when you step on the gas, as our 95 octane petrol is only really just spicy enough for the tuning of these engines.

(8)
The (integral) stereo head unit and air conditioning control unit share a common power supply which can crap out. if this happens you can get a dashboard conversion kit from Australia for about $400, which enables you to fit any standard aftermarket car stereo. This may or may not be more economical than getting the factory setup fixed.

(9)
A lot of people don't like the tan leather interiors. (Weirdoes like me love tan leather interiors, having been brought up on English classics. )
A lot of people don't like the angular, slab-sided shape. I don't think they are a beautiful car, but at least they are distinctive, and they are long and low the way a car should be!

happy hunting.
I still want one, maybe in another year when I can make a better case with her indoors that we need a new car.

richardmayes I have a facelift 2005 M35 in stock now and the 350RX has the 3.5L 208kW / 280hp engine (same as V35 Skyline and 350Z) with 5 speed tiptronic transmission. Definately not a CVT transmission. Although rare it also has dark grey trim. This is the pick of the range, better than the 3 litre.

^^^ I stand corrected.
Haven't really looked into facelift ones, the few I have seen around were too dear for me!