Nissan Micra – people power

NISSAN turned to the people who know best, the drivers of their cars, ahead of updating the latest version of evergreen supermini the Micra.

And while every Micra model has enjoyed an upgrade of some sort, it’s the more premium variants that have come off best – particularly where technology and style are concerned.

The Japanese brand sees the 2021 refresh as the next step in the evolution of a car that made its debut in Europe some 39 years ago.

Keeping things simple has always been part of the plan and in the Micra’s case there are just the four trim grades of Visia, Acenta, N-Sport and Tekna.

While there’s also a new IG-T 92 petrol engine, meaning it’s turbocharged, our tested model featured the existing and more punchy IG-T 100 unit, so named because it develops 100PS of wallop.

Compact, well balanced and spirited, the 100 is a car that can satisfy more enthusiastic drivers and at the same time provide a smart, sharp-looking runaround for a city and suburban environment.

In our case the Micra returned average fuel consumption of 46.2 miles per gallon over 275 miles of mixed motoring, just short of the official 50.5mpg figure.

And that was for a model with a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) auto gearbox – not something I would generally want in a small car but which actually works extremely well in the Micra, even if you do lose a little economy.

Every Micra model comes with essential safety tech like Hill Start Assist, Intelligent Ride Control and something called Intelligent Trace Control for better handling in difficult conditions.

That said, there’s more advanced stuff in the Safety pack, high beam assist, traffic sign recognition and forward emergency braking being just three of them.

If you opt for either of the top two trim levels – N-Sport and our tested Tekna grade – LED headlamps are served as standard along with an Around View Monitor camera system and eye-catching 17-inch diamond cut alloy wheels.

The Japanese brand’s vision for a more exciting and connected future through technological innovation, called Nissan Intelligent Mobility, comes particularly to the fore in Tekna models.

So the Around View Monitor, which helps negotiate difficulty parking scenarios, also gets a moving object detection set-up, and there’s also blind spot warning.

The latter is exclusive to Tekna, but given its importance as a safety feature it should be standard on all shapes and sizes of car.

If you like your tunes you’ll love the BOSE sound experience with speakers built into the driver’s headrest in addition to the NissanConnect infotainment system with Tom Tom navigation, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Otherwise the Micra’s cabin makes its mark courtesy of two-tone black and ivory highlights for the seats, dash trim, door panels and either side of the gearshift, not forgetting the flat-bottomed steering wheel.

Interior space is adequate too, unless the front seats are fully slid back, and concealed rear door handles add to a smooth, clean profile.

What is a reasonably sized boot expands to above 1,000 litres when the 60-40 split/fold rear seats are down.