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I am thinking of buying a Nissan 8 seater NC8 from Voyager in Crewe. At the moment I own a Citroen Dispatch Hackney from Voyager Its a 55 plate that I had from new , and its been a superb vehicle. I do a lot of airport runs and executive work of my own and so far it has done me well.

The Nissan has 8 seats which is unique so far in a full hackney spec vehicle. I work in Chester, and up to now the maximum seating in a Hackney is 7. The design of the seats that Voyager now do is superb for comfort and versatility, they are way above any seating I've seen so far in any other full hackney spec vehicle that isn't a London taxi.

 

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience of running the Nissan/Renault/Vauxhall vehicles and what their impressions are of the quality and reliability. The quality of the Voyager coachbuilding is by far the best I've seen so far.

Vinny who owns Voyager is still very much hands on in the building of the vehicles and is still as committed and enthusiastic as he was when I first met him at least ten years ago.

Hi, I bought a Nissan 8 seat taxi from Voyager.

WORST VEHICLE I HAVE EVER HAD.

I had problems from the very start and Voyager did not want to know, I have still not be paid for rectification work they agreed to pay for, 3 years later.  The vehicle is bad and the supplier worse.

It was delivered with no spare wheel, the seat tracking was out of line with the seats, the radio ariel was not put in, the interier lights did not work, the door hands were badley fitted and passengers could not open doors from the inside, the rear sliding doors did not fit, the door seals came off, the exhaust bracket had been removed.  All of this on delivery of a brand new vehicle.

The spare had not been fitted because the bolts that held the seat tracking protruded into the spare wheel space and the wheel would not fit. The exhaust rubber brackets had been undone to stop the exhaust hitting the same bolts. 

The whole build quality was very poor and the fitters obviously had no reguard for safety or MOT standards etc.

I had to put right these problems at my own expense, Voyager sent the spare wheel and ageed to pay for the recitifcations but I have never received payment.

Once on the road the problems got worse.  The sliding doors have fallen off, YES FALLEN OFF on a least 4 occaisions.  They simlpy jump the tack, the first this happened a youg lady opened the door and as it reached the fully open position it fell out onto her.  She was not overly aggressive or use excess force.  The lower bracket is very flimsey and is the only thing that keeps the door in the tracks.  The local Nissan dealer has been very helpful and has made adjustments.  They say the doors are poorley fitted (they were not a factory fit) and the badley fitting facia panels and seals add to the problem.  The doors ( offside once the rest neartside) have jumped the track 4 times, they suggested welding the lower bracket and fitting a rubber buffer.  I am waiting fora reply from Nissan UK as to thier suggestions and wether the warranty will cover the cost.   The doors and tracks have been damaged but luckily no-one have been injured.

I would not recommend anyone to use the Nissan as a taxi or buy anthing from Voyager.  Prior to purchasing the vehicle I went t the factory and met the owner and we talked through the design and use to fit my requirements, he was very helpful and because of this I had a a high expectation of quality and service from Voyager, I was very disapointed, when the problems started he was "unavailable, on holiday, etc etc".  

Good luck with your search for a suitable vehicle, you will need it.

I am amazed that you have had so many problems with your Nissan, it sounds like you have had a bad experience. I get the feeling the earlier Nissans were not very well built, as I've heard from several people who have driven Nissans, and the Vauxhall equivalent as a van. They all seem to be of the same opinion that they tended to break down a lot and the engines and gearboxes weren't that good, especially vauxhall.I think possibly the latest model is a better built vehicle when it left the Nissan factory than earlier ones.
I really can't fault the conversion from Voyager on both the Nissan and my previous Citroen that I had from them. I've not heard of doors falling off ! That is worrying indeed. They have been very good to me both times I've bought vehicles from them. The only thing that does worry me is the thirst for diesel. I'm averaging 28.9 MPG no matter how I drive it. I've been to the airport around 30 times in the last 3 weeks and its costing me a fortune in fuel. I did 1400 miles last week and put £240 of diesel in the tank. The same miles in the citroen cost me no more than £180. I don't use the aircon much as its not really been hot enough to need it , but it doesn't seem to affect the fuel consumption much. It just guzzles it anyway regardless. Its done nearly 5000 miles in less than 4 weeks so is well run in, but the fuel thirst is still heavy. Other than that I really can't fault it . The customers think its great and the extra space makes a huge difference on airport runs.

I'm not sure how old your Nissan is, but I wasn't aware that Voyager had been building the Nissan for more than about 6 months.

I'd certainly have another one.

Mark

I am interested in buying one of the new Nissan NX 8 hackneys and wondered how much it cost and what is the delivery time like from Voyager in Crewe.

6 months old, 20k miles and a few of the problems we've had:-

discovering that the spare wheel was missing after getting a puncture
the intercom system totally packed up after 2 months
the rear door seals fall off after every 2 / 3 door closures
the fuel gauge doesn't work
the centre console lights work if and when they can be bothered
the body mount ariel is not actually connected to the other end of the lead
the back doors keep falling off!!! Every Friday and Saturday night at least once each side.
the wheel chair access is not really adequate to actually get a wheel chair safely into the vehicle without the risk of injury to yourself or scalping the passenger (blood is soo hard to get out of the head lining!)
The rear interior lights keep coming on whilst driving
They have a nasty habit of the oil light coming on; service lights become disco lights; pull over turn everything off, wait 5 mins start up again and they are all out ..... just what you want to be told by Nissan assist a month after you take delivery of a £28k vehicle.
There is little leg room for the driver
The front centre passenger seat is only really any good for a midget - an adult in this seat means that it is almost impossible to change gear with physically assaulting your passenger.

Other than that - what can I say .... erm oh yeah that would be it, why did I get rid of the Ford?

Oh and for yet another problem the brake master cylinder has just gone at under 30k miles and the doors have fallen off again.

I paid £26,500 for my taxi from Voyager in May. It has front fogs, alloy rims, aircon and reversing sensors.

Depending what spec you want they usually have vehicles in stock.

So far I've had the Nissan just over 3 monthsand done over 15,000 miles. I've not had any major problems with it up to now. The rear side door seals don't stay on very well I have noticed. The intercom needs sorting, it makes a ticking noise in the back and distorts badly when talking to people in the back. The rear doors aren't a problem except they are quite heavy and need to be closed firmly. I always try to make the effort to open and close the doors each time anyone gets in or out of the taxi, this makes sure the doors are closed properly and not abused.
All the people who have been in the taxi are delighted with it and it definitely gets me more work. I do more airport runs than any other black cab in Chester because of the versatility of the vehicle layout.
I've not done many wheelchair jobs but have found the seats need to right back to get the securing straps fully tensioned for the wheelchairs.
The fuel consumption is still poor, average each week is 30mpg at best. The local nissan dealers aren't interested in doing anything about it either. I'm looking into getting it re-mapped on a rolling road to improve economy and torque.
Generally I'm delighted with the vehicle, and find it very good to drive. I'd certainly buy another one.

Hope you got a good one mark87, mine is still off the road as whilst having a new master cyinder fitted and new door seals as they get worse; the back door fell off taking out the runners and half the paint on the rear quarter panel.

Vehicle was recovered to local Nissan dealer but had to go into Renault to have brakes done and Vauxhall to have doors sorted.

Not sure if anyone has heard the news of Voyagers sales manager passing away recently. Apparently he went home from work and hadn't been seen for a couple of days. I was told he had a massive heart attack in his sleep and passed away peacefully. He was only 51!