2016 Nissan Serena 2016

Revisions brought on by the facelift are almost entirely limited to the Serena’s exterior. At the front, there are new LED headlights, split by a chrome accent that drops to frame the revised slatted chrome grille. The look is fairly reminiscent to that of the also recently-facelifted Elgrand, although it definitely is less brash and in-your-face without the latter’s full-length grille. The front bumper has also been reprofiled with new fog light surrounds.

Along the sides, the lower rocker panels now feature a kinked character line, while the rear has been graced with new S-shaped internal graphics for the LED tail lights. The 16-inch wheels have a new diamond-cut multi-spoke design. Overall, the improvements bring a more premium aura, but there’s no escaping the fact that the Serena is still pretty much a box-on-wheels.

One major improvement is found underneath the car, under where the front passenger sits. There, you will find something the pre-facelifted model never had – a spare wheel. Nissan says that it added a fifth tyre in response to customer feedback, and it would certainly bring far higher levels of reassurance and peace of mind to owners compared to the tyre repair kit of old.

Nowhere is the impressive dimensions and boxy looks more evident than in the cabin, where the Serena offers acres of head- and legroom – even the third row, usually as spacious as a pet cage on smaller MPVs like these, is plenty serviceable on most journeys. The boot is also a fair bit more capacious than you’ll find on the European cars with all the seats up.

Nissan advertises that the Serena’s seats can be configured in 14 different ways, including being able to recline the backrests of either the first two or last two rows of seats flat. You can also fold the third-row seats and tip them up against the van’s bodysides to create a tall, flat load bay with a low sill.

The sliding central second-row seat is particularly ingenious – folding it flat turns it into an armrest with a lidded cubby hole and a cupholder that can also be slid forward to be used by the driver and front passenger. Doing the latter will also enable the left second-row seat to be slid inboard, greatly easing entry and egress for those in the third row. That seat can then be slid forwards, allowing, for example, a child to be closer to their parents in front.

Coupled to that, there are a myriad of cubby holes (including two glove boxes) and cupholders scattered around the cabin, as well as two flip-up picnic tables behind the front seats. Brightening up the slightly dour interior design is a natty, almost sci-fi digital instrument cluster, which sits above the steering wheel (à la Peugeot 208) and features an Eco-drive Navigator that guides drivers to achieve better fuel economy.

nterior fit and finish is best described as robust – there are hard plastics pretty much everywhere you look, but everything feels solidly screwed together and will no doubt withstand the test of time and everything children will be able to throw at it.

here’s twin power-sliding doors, i-key keyless entry and push-button start, cruise control and leather-wrapped steering wheel. About the only thing that had been changed was the digital rear climate control unit on the outgoing car, which has been replaced by a more basic slider-type item, but retains automatic blower control.

If you like the sound of all of these items, you would be better served by opting for the Premium Highway Star trim instead, it's advertised as an eight-seater.

Under the bonnet resides the same MR20DD 2.0 litre direct-injected twin-CVTC four-cylinder mill as before, mated to an Xtronic CVT equipped with Adaptive Shift Control (ASC), which detects corners or hills through the vehicle’s lateral acceleration sensor, matching the ratios to suit different driving conditions. Maximum power is rated at 147 PS at 5,600 rpm, while torque output is a decent 210 Nm at 4,400 rpm.