2015 Nissan Micra S Review - animated Lilliputian - Setting a Monroney sticker with an MSRP four figures would only arouse if you spen...
Setting a Monroney sticker with an MSRP four figures would only arouse if you spend a cutoff weekend Sam club coupons while sipping Faygo is a "fun night in."
With a base price of $ 9,998 in the North, the Nissan Micra is the definition of Quebec special -level a car entered the lower trim and options absolutely zero. Wind-up windows. manual locks. A real metal key to the honest goodness. All you need is a tape deck and a bench to take you back to a time when a parachute pants were cool and Wesley Snipes was paying taxes.
Yet this diminutive, red hatchback is much more than its price and lack of options suggest. As my predecessor compared the Micra at the Civic EK, I'll take a step further: The Nissan Micra is a four-door Mazda Miata
tester
2015 Nissan Micra S [Canada]
engine: 1.6-liter DOHC I-4, CVVT (109 horsepower @ 00 rpm, 107 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm)
Transmission: 5-speed manual
fuel economy (Note, MPG) 27 city / 36 highway / 31 combined
fuel economy (observed MPG) 32 mpg, 50/50 city and highway 50/50 eco-driver and small cars, highway lunatic
options what you see is what you get, people
As. Tested: $ 11,565 (leaf), approx. $ 8.950 USD.
"Miata with four doors? Have you completely lost the plot" Maybe, but ...
All important ingredients of the Miata are woven into the DNA Micra as: light weight, just enough power to turn the small forward rubber donuts and. suspension - Well, let's just call it special this time because it needs an explanation of its own
the bottom line: the Micra has provided the most interesting and fun driving experience that I 'I had at least 12 months, and that includes all the 400+ horsepower cars that have graced my driveway during the same period.
Exterior
Before we get into why the Micra is a four-door Miata, we should talk about her look for a while, because this really is the one area where Nissan subcompact could use a little effort next time.
as much as some authors believe that we should not genderize design of the car - especially when the critics said metal sheet - the reality is the pen manufacturers vehicles to appeal to certain demographics: young women , older men and any combination thereof. Some types will be attracted particular design elements more than others.
When I attended the launch of the Micra Last year, Nissan officials were surprisingly honest about the car being style to capture mainly the attention and interest of female buyers - and it shows. The Micra is the car of a woman if you want to bury your head in the sand about it or not.
However, the cheap-gay behavior and Micra is not so dissentious than male buyers should consider this marvel of economic automobile manufacturing. In a color other than Red Alert in our tester, the Micra is a little more acceptable.
With that out of the way, the V-Motion grid is a bit of a blow architecture, as an addition to a family home went wrong. Fortunately, this forced design line only affects the Micra in the Canadian market. In other areas - where the runabout named March - a single chrome bar floats in the crevice of the grid. The headlights are the same worldwide, to find their place far hood much like the Chevrolet Spark and even the Nissan Juke, although their investment much less pronounced visually on the Micra.
A side view of the car brings back memories of the old Beetle and perfectly arched roofline with executives semicircular windows of the Micra. Unpainted door handles and door mirrors are noticeable, but not in the same way that black plastic bumpers caught your attention the Chevrolet Cavaliers base model. Although this Micra is the bottom rung of the hierarchy finishing his wheel covers still manage to look at the upper end of the alloys optional on the Mirage.
There are more painted black plastic on the back, but fortunately it is limited to a door handle for the rear hatch. The rear lights and bumpers seem to have received more attention than stylistic one might expect of a car costs much less than its competitors. To top it off, the rear window also provides ample vision of the interior of the car - and you'll need it, because there is no rear camera on the Japanese go-kart. But you get a rear spoiler, so at least there's that.
Interior
Complaining of interior materials of the Micra is like going on a tirade at H & M about the quality of their $ 4.99 fashion-of-the-week, button-up shirts. A car that is near-as-makes-no-difference $ 10,000 will be incredibly cheap. You do not buy this type of car for its array of soft touch and rubberized edge temperature control buttons. You buy it because it is usable and useful. The plastic buttons are almost translucent in their cheap but they work and that's all they are supposed to do. You should feel lucky Micra even a tachometer in this trim
The only complaint I have -. A trivial personal preference more than anything else - has to do with the gas gauge. You get a digital gas gauge in the Micra - and I hate. Please, Nissan, just give me a nice little dial so I can estimate more accurately the amount of fuel in the tank.
Other than that, the seats are incredibly simple with the rest of the interior and not something you would want to sit for long walks on the road, but this car is not built for getaways long road anyway.
Infotainment
I used to have a manual, Vulcan-powered Ford Ranger with a manual transmission. As the Micra, it has no air conditioning and just a simple radio, provided your anthem for the road. When I bought my Ranger, the total came out to around $ 14,000 in used condition. It also featured two speakers - one in each door. The Micra two the number of speakers and is cheaper in the new state. Folks, by all accounts, a good deal!
In all seriousness, the Micra comes with a CD player and auxiliary input as standard. If you are wanting to adjustment in certain daily sports talk radio on the AM dial, you can do it too.
You are not locked in the '0s radio, however, but you'll need to spring for the Krom or Micras SR-cropped for the USB input, Bluetooth and audio standard display and these models are much more expensive than our base model tester.
as you can imagine, with the simple audio quality four -Speaker stereo is on par with listening to a street catfight on a string can call - slender, full of highs and all voices sound like they are performed by Richard Simmons with a throat infection
Training
in short hood of the Nissan Micra is the same 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine found in the Versa hatchback and Versa Note producing 109 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 107 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm. These figures may seem downright bad compared to other deals a little more; in Note Versa equipped with the CVT, the engine is slow, noisy and almost as boring as social justice Warrior Comedy Hour. When sent by the manual transmission standard five-speed, the small pot of four sings along, as tailgates eager to there 15 or 20 years. The 1.6 rev love, but it still has a grunty notes that permeates the cabin. Meanwhile, it is probably the most responsive engine in the class subcompact with a manual I've driven in recent memory. Even if you opt for the automatic transmission, you will always be greeted by four instead of actual speeds virtually everywhere Nissan CVT.
However, the Micra is incredibly effective. Fifth gear in the manual transmission is too short for the use of the road and bumps up the fuel consumption slightly. Again, this car is built to be a city cheap grocery-getter, not a cross-country cruiser.
The manual gearbox itself is a little loose, but it is quite forgiving, making changes missed a rare occurrance. I could also say that the clutch must provide some more comments, but I'm really fussy about the drive. The manual of the Fiesta is better.
player
Even with all the above text touting cheap car virtues of Micra, driving on a windy road is what makes it a real winner. The five-door Datsun absolutely love around - but not in the way you expect
The Mazda MX-5 Miata is highly regarded as the most car-driver fun per dollar .. This is not to because that the Miata is implementing a large number of horses or corners completely flat or record laps around the Nurburgring. Instead, it is because the Miata communicates with the driver and does not desensitize the driving experience. If the body rolls a little, you will feel it. During braking, the brake pedal of the Miata driver communicate to the exact point before kicking in ABS.
The Micra is the same.
No, it will not attack the corner as fast as a Miata, but feels just as fast. If the brain is tricked into thinking that he will soon - even if the car is only slightly over the speed limit - it is not all that matters? You should not be driving a hero. You only need to feel the sensation of being a flying hero.
As we all know this feeling is very difficult to quantify, let alone market for the buying public, this is the biggest tour of the Micra party. It is the slow car you want to drive fast - or at least think you are driving fast. And it is no coincidence that led the Micra as it does, especially in Canada
Compared to units overseas, the Micra in Canada stabilizer bars -. Front and rear - and the direction given specifically for the North American roads. This makes the Micra chuckable more, more communicative, and - accordingly -. Many helluva more fun
Unfortunately, those of you in the US will not be able to enjoy the magic of this micro machine - at least not yet. There is one year, there were rumors swirling about the future availability of Micra in the US They have simmered before realized.
It is unfortunate, really, because when the answer is no Miata, it could surely Micra.
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