2015 Nissan Micra review: Small Car for a Small Price? (The Car Guide)

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Here we have an interesting review. The reviewer drove both both the automatic and manual and really doesn't seem to like the manual. He seems to nag on a lot of things but eventually says that "Nissan has hit the bull's eye with the Micra".

Pros
- nice appearance
- comfortable for a city car


Cons
- manual trans has strange gear ratios
- very loud acceleration
- fully loaded top-end is very pricy
- significant fuel consumption


Full article: 2015 Nissan Micra: Small Car for a Small Price?

Just noticed: this one is from the same people that named the Micra "best city car 2015".

But I noticed a bunch of mistakes in the review:

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"None of the trims come with a tilt steering wheel"

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O really? I think they all do. Maybe he meant to say "telescoping steering wheel"

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Re: engine RPM... "the automatic was fitted with 16-inch tires while the manual had 15-inch tires"

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He implies that the wheel size differences between the SR and S/SV contributes to differences in engine RPM, but the different tire aspect ratios ensure they have virtually the same overall diameter, and thus engine RPM.

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"if you opt for the automatic, you do it to ... make the ride more fun"

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O really? You buy an automatic because it's more fun than a manual? Now he's on crack! He really didn't like the 5-speed: geared too low/too revvy, didn't like the clutch take-up, long shifter throws. The 5-speed Micra I drove in Montreal was totally fine & enjoyable:

"the manual has a pleasant shift action and an easy, light clutch. A nicely calibrated throttle made it easy to drive smoothly in city traffic (throttle tip in & release)."

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Fuel consumption: Disappointing ... but no worse than the other cars in the category.

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Fuel economy nerd that I am, I'm going to call him out on that last line: in this category, the Mitsu Mirage's fuel economy is much better than average (if you can live with a 74 hp triple). The Micra's economy (on paper) is actually at the bottom of the class... fortunately, we already know that the Micra is capable of beating the official ratings with basic eco-driving techniques, especially the manual transmission vs. the automatic.

A little too much scotch while writing, I fear.

Maybe I need some of that scotch and I'll calm down a little bit.

Too early in the day for that though! :D

It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

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Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Just noticed: this one is from the same people that named the Micra "best city car 2015".

But I noticed a bunch of mistakes in the review:



O really? I think they all do. Maybe he meant to say "telescoping steering wheel"


He implies that the wheel size differences between the SR and S/SV contributes to differences in engine RPM, but the different tire aspect ratios ensure they have virtually the same overall diameter, and thus engine RPM.



O really? You buy an automatic because it's more fun than a manual? Now he's on crack! He really didn't like the 5-speed: geared too low/too revvy, didn't like the clutch take-up, long shifter throws. The 5-speed Micra I drove in Montreal was totally fine & enjoyable:

"the manual has a pleasant shift action and an easy, light clutch. A nicely calibrated throttle made it easy to drive smoothly in city traffic (throttle tip in & release)."



Fuel economy nerd that I am, I'm going to call him out on that last line: in this category, the Mitsu Mirage's fuel economy is much better than average (if you can live with a 74 hp triple). The Micra's economy (on paper) is actually at the bottom of the class... fortunately, we already know that the Micra is capable of beating the official ratings with basic eco-driving techniques, especially the manual transmission vs. the automatic.

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I've got to agree with a lot of what he says, but he does make many mistakes.

First, the gear ratios. Frankly I think he's right on this one. The first gear is far too low. Given how light the car is, and it's decent torque rating, there's no need to gear the 1st so low. It forces you to shift almost instantly into second, and at much to low a speed. Fifth is also too low, when crusing at highway speed it hovers around 3250 rpm, and when you give it more throttle it seems to have ample power to give. This tells me that they could have raised the gearing on 5th gear without too much of a loss of pep, that would have lowered the highway fuel economy. If you need passing power, 4th is always there, and it could have been raised a bit so as to give you a passing gear in fourth and a higher cruising gear in 5th, which improves fuel economy, lowers engine wear and lowers engine noise at highway speed.

Second, the clutch, it's far too vague, there's very little feel on the clutch point. For a car this small and simple the inputs should have much more feedback. My jeep gives much better feedback on the clutch points, and this makes start and stop traffic and hill starts much easier (which is not good, since the Micra doesn't have a hill start assist, thus it needs a good clutch feel to balance the car when taking off from a stop).

Third, the shifter, also too vague, it doesn't have a nice "catch" feeling that most other manuals have. My Jeep gives a reassuring click and feel when it's put into gear, similar to the feel of a bolt action rifle. The Micra doesn't really register any feedback when you successfully change gears.

That said, he's wrong on the tilt steering (perhaps he meant telescoping?), and he's not making any sense on the fuel economy (he said it's inline with other cars in the category but still to high and should be 6.0L). If it's inline with other cars (and it sort of isn't, since it's worse than similar cars) then it should be right on the mark. Saying it "should be 6.0L/100km" is nonsensical, since you could just as easily say it "should be 1L/100km" or "should run for no gas at all".

He also is needlessly fussy on "the heater knob being too hard to turn" and "no hatch handle giving me dirty fingers". Honestly, it's a $10,000 car. I'd make fun of a Bentley owner if they complained the knobs are too hard to turn, so when a driver of the lowest priced car around has to dig as far as that for complaints, then it can't be that bad.

Things I think he missed, well the S model doesn't have a driver's arm-rest which other models do. Was there truly a huge and justifiable cost savings to make it's omission necessary on the base model? And my S model at least doesn't have a mirror for the passenger's sun-visor. There should always be one for the passenger, it keeps the wife from borrowing the rear-view mirror.

Other than that, the Micra does exactly everything it should well, and does exactly nothing else. This is what every car manufacturer should aspire to.

^
Might the gearing on the manual be a result of using the Versa's transmission? With a heavier car, they probably wanted the Versa to have more power on the first and final gears. If they sell enough Micra's, maybe they can be convince to retool a copy of the transmission with gearing more appropriate to the Micra for next year's model, especially since they seem to be selling more manuals then they expected.

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Originally Posted by Ustauk

^
Might the gearing on the manual be a result of using the Versa's transmission? With a heavier car, they probably wanted the Versa to have more power on the first and final gears. If they sell enough Micra's, maybe they can be convince to retool a copy of the transmission with gearing more appropriate to the Micra for next year's model, especially since they seem to be selling more manuals then they expected.

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That's exactly what I thought. Given this is a Canada only car right now they'll likely not make any engineering changes. I would have thought though that this would have been optimized since the manual is so popular in Europe. Is the same engine not available in the Euro Micra?

That said, took the car for a drive today without the wife, who typically acts as a rev limiter. It's very peppy and fun to drive.

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Originally Posted by Evilbred

Things I think he missed, well the S model doesn't have a driver's arm-rest which other models do. Was there truly a huge and justifiable cost savings to make it's omission necessary on the base model? And my S model at least doesn't have a mirror for the passenger's sun-visor.

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Re: the arm rest... even if you did get one, it's still all wrong! One of my pet peeves of the SR I borrowed was the door arm rest and the seat arm rest are at different heights! Dumb. Not comfortable on long trips, unless your arm bones are differently sized too.

It may also be marketing as much as cost-saving. They have to "hold back" on equipment to entice people up to the next trim level, even if they only cost pennies (passenger mirror).

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Originally Posted by Evilbred

I would have thought though that this would have been optimized since the manual is so popular in Europe. Is the same engine not available in the Euro Micra?

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Nope. No 1.6 in Europe now. Choice of 3-cylinders: 1.2L naturally aspirated or 1.2L supercharged.

And despite that, I bet their transmissions are geared taller than ours anyway.

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That said, took the car for a drive today without the wife, who typically acts as a rev limiter.

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:D Funny.