Those are mighty highfalutin words. To oversimplify, we’d suggest this looks like a nice, comfortable car for old folks.
Which is not to say the Intima is not a handsome design. It just seems like we’ve seen this theme before, especially from some of Nissan’s rivals.
The Intima does look like a stylistic step beyond the big Teana sedan that’s sold in Japan and China (but not the U.S.). There’s a V6 clean diesel under the hood and such advanced safety technologies as distance control assist and an “around view” monitor.
But it seems that Nissan really focused on making the coziest cabin imaginable. “Refined elegance” was the development theme.
Highlights include four-zone intelligent climate control with infrared sensors, indirect lighting, a panoramic glass roof, a cool storage compartment in the rear center console, a swiveling front passenger seat and a “floating” instrument panel.
Among our favorite features are oversize door assist grips with a blue-green acrylic material that gives off a soft light, plus a pollen filter that uses polyphenol made from natural grape seed.
Last time I saw a car door opened at that angle it had been bent that way by a taxi, but here the Nissan Intima’s doors are opened to such extreme degrees “to aid access and egress.” The guy behind the concept was keen to impress that the outwardly rotating seats are not purely for use by the elderly and infirm, but are to help the rest of us in and out too. Quite how many able-bodied folk have the patience to wait 15 to 20 seconds to be dropped at the curb is open to debate however.
More likely to see production in the foreseeable future is the Intima’s clean diesel V6, outlandish lights, and perhaps even the expansive windshield cum sunroof. More pics lurk beyond the link.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I like the interior but I don’t like the exterior it looks really wacky.