A significantly improved Micra

The Nissan Micra has always been a good product.

The Nissan Micra has always been a good product. However,its unconventional and rather feminine looks resulted in the car selling only 40,000 units till now. And this is in a segment that sees sales run into lakhs every year. Also,perhaps the lack of an automatic transmission kept away the fairer sex,the audience this car was seemingly aimed at. Now,Nissan has addressed both these issues with its latest facelift and,this time around,it just might catch the attention of a lot of consumers. The car looks much more aggressive to begin with,and the big grille and sharp headlights make it look really good. The option of an automatic transmission also makes this car more appealing.

Hop in and you will notice that the revisions havent been limited to the exteriors. The new centre console gets a rich piano-black finish,while the door pads and parts of the dashboard get some silver accents. In a bid to improve the car in nearly every aspect,Nissan has re-cushioned the front seats as well to provide better bolstering. All this works to make the cabin feel richer than its predecessor and is a definite upgrade over the previous cars dull interiors. In terms of kit,the new Micra gets an improved audio system that supports USB,Aux-in and Bluetooth telephony as well. We were pleasantly surprised to see the ease with which our phones paired with the cars interface.

At the rear,the Micra offers sufficient legroom even for a six-footer,though the slightly stingy thigh support is a bit disappointing. The steering is light,all the switchgear and controls for the AC and stereo are well within reach and the visibility out is good with a minimal number of blind spots. Overall,the cabin is spacious,offers good visibility and now,has a touch of premium feel to it.

On the move,you realise how user-friendly the car feels to drive,the light steering makes it nice to drive in city traffic. But the Micra CVT never feels particularly powerful,and it isnt. Its 76bhp petrol motor,coupled with the X-tronic CVT transmission,is tuned more to please your wallet than your heart. Pressing the Sport button however guillotines the early upshifts,keeping you a gear or two lower than usual. This helps save precious fractions of seconds while darting into empty gaps,but the difference isnt as much as wed have liked. But in the heart of the temple city Madurai where we were invited to drive the car,the CVT transmission,although not enthusiastic,proved comfortable while driving around in stop-and-go traffic. We would have preferred a sharper part-throttle response but the cars overall user-friendly driving nature makes up for the lack of its eagerness.

On the open roads around Madurai,the slight hesitation in throttle response made overtaking on single-carriage-way roads difficult. Driving on the highway,the suspension feels adequate,soaking up the mild undulations with relative ease. But over the slightly damaged roads of Madurai city the ride quality wasnt the best. Potholes and other sharp edges filter through into the cabin.

Nissan seems quite proud of this constantly variable box,stressing on the point that it is a bit more fuel efficient than even the five-speed manual variant that the company offers. Although we havent yet conducted our standardised fuel economy tests,the Micras on-board fuel computer displayed 13.8kpl over an approximate 70:30 mix of highway and city driving.

As far as first impressions go,the new Micra CVT has made the right ones. It is a car that has been engineered to be easy to drive and live with,and it delivers on those fronts,and it looks better too. A better ride and a bit more power would have been ideal but,as it stands,we think this is a hatchback worth looking at.