2012 Nissan Tiida

Nissan Tiida

Nissan’s Tiida was never about flash or finesse, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in Sandton or Sea Point bragging about one. Still, back in the early 2010s, it slotted neatly into the C-segment’s bargain basement, offering a bigger footprint than your average B-segment hatch at a price that didn’t drift into Polo sedan territory. Every listing right now runs the same 1.6-litre petrol, with a rare spread of manual, automatic and semi-auto gearboxes, but let’s not kid ourselves: you buy whatever comes up, because with just three units nationwide (between R69,500 and R94,900), choice isn’t really on the table. Scarcity forces your hand, and you either accept that or look elsewhere. If you’re trawling classifieds for one, you’ll find the Visia Plus 5-door at R69,500, the slightly better-specced Acenta at R84,900, and the Visia Plus with an auto ‘box at R94,900. On paper at least, the Acenta’s factory extras matter if you care about the little things. All are from 2010 to 2012, and with an average of 228,000 km on the odo, you’re shopping in well-worn territory. Still, people loved the Tiida for its honest cabin space—rear seats big enough for actual adults, and a boot that swallowed luggage for a family weekend to Durban if you pack smart. No new stock exists, so this is budget motoring in its purest, most pragmatic form. That’s the point.