Gadgetory

minivan driver is a label few of us aspire to but Nissan has combined real styling with car light comfort to at least make you suffer the indignity smugly let's drive to 2011 Nissan Quest SL and check the tab the last quest looked like it was on a quest for some kind of identity and the quests before that were twinned with the Mercury Villager well Nissan killed the entire product line after the 2009 s and just took a breather now the quest is back with this 2011 a completely new look you're not likely to mistake for anything and a hunger to no longer play second fiddle to Siena and Odyssey look around the quest has a reputation of having the best quality materials of any of its competitors it's the newest model on the market and I'd have to say it does do a very good job of getting nice materials but even though we're near the top of the line on this guy you can't get navigation I didn't say we don't have navigation I said you can't even get it in this car which is kind of strange for a vehicle this high in the lineup of the quest minivan oh by the way the screens decent-size nice and generous and it's quite reachable but it's not a touchscreen you got to use this Nissan controller kind of a simplified version of what you'll find in an Infiniti for example we've got six speakers around the cabin just kind of a base audio system is what you get on one of these s l's sources our am/fm optical drive yes but it's been sent to Siberia aka the bottom of the console down here I do have a very handy look right here household outlet hundred and fifteen volt kneel right there there's an inverter built in the vehicle right next to that is my USB jack which of course can be USB thumb drives or in my case I've got my iPod Touch hooked up one of the key things on iPod connectivity is how quickly can it load and scroll things this one does pretty good I've seen faster but this is fast enough to be okay one thing I don't like look at the resolution I've gotten a $200 phone compared to the crap on a $35,000 car and it's 2011 I'll own this car for 7.6 years if I'm average what do you think that display is going to look like compared to everything else I own in that time I noticed like lost over satellite radio when I was listing all of our audio sources because the only way to get that is in kind of a chunky package you've got to get the Bose audio system which roles in the Bose amplification 13 speakers and then you get XM Radio I don't think it's available Alucard now back here in the second row it's good times for the juice box set here's my drop down 11 inch widescreen LCD that's one of the better-looking ones I've seen in a vehicle of this type and while it does drop down from the ceiling it doesn't block the drivers visibility from the rear-view mirror just a slight amount they did a good job of the altitudes here notice it can echo the same content on the front screen the seven inch or these two can split off you can watch the DVD in the front for example and watch something on the aux Jack's to write down their audio and video on the rear so good flexibility keep everybody happy here's our second row let me show you how much I can fold these nice comfy captain's seats down by the way these are standard in the second row and that's it they don't come out unless you're handy with tools third row is right there as you can see it's better suited for kids I wouldn't put adults in there unless you hate them now our vehicles optioned up with not just one but two panoramic glass moonroof they're pretty good size they're not gutter to gutter like you'll see on some vehicles today but you do have one the kind of services both second and third row here and of course this one covers the front row now back here these little switches on the side panels these are a little power assist to lower the third row that's kind of nice it'll save your back there's my flat load floor I'm talking about it's not real low but then again neither is the back of the vehicles that kind of makes sense under here that was interesting I'd call this a Smuggler's box except you can put the smuggler in there not just the whiskey he's carrying now Nissan's known for their v6 is we've got one in here real familiar stuff three and a half litres sitting sidesaddle driving the front wheels only 260 horsepower 240 foot-pounds of torque gets this forty five hundred pound box up to sixty in a respectable nine seconds while delivering 1924 mpg one transmission choice only it's going to be a CVT and as we'll see on the road Nissan does those really well now underway the quest has a very car-like feel it's very comfortable ride nicely tuned and a lot of vehicles like this tend to be harsh when they're unladen and then they kind of settle out when they're loaded that designers had to pick a certain load level this one at least unlaid rides very nicely Nissan does CVT is continuously variable transmissions exceptionally well especially when made into relatively big motors like in this one you get what feels like real shift points not lots of loopy spooly slipperiness I hate that in some CB tastes easy handling here on a tight turn in the city and now we're off the freeway on to some choppy city streets as they always seem to be in San Francisco and again the ride is isolating out all the craft pretty nicely so all in all it's a nice minivan with a real car like nature to it okay let's price this big boy this 2012 quest SL again one notch from the top is about 35 delivered fairly nicely equipped but there are some tech choices you got to consider first is that rear seat DVD system which is pretty good that's $2,100 but here's what's interesting about it you better start with that for the following reason because the panoramic roof option requires DVD it's 1350 more and the Bose option which gives you XM and better sound requires both the DVD system and the panoramic roof I've never quite seen a stacking of packages like that