2015 Micra SR automatic week long test drive: Darin's notes & impressions

[AlphaMicra]

Perhaps your brakes weren't broken in. It takes some time for the pads to properly seat against the rotors, so even the brakes have a break-in period on a new car. I didn't push the brakes at all ever during their break-in period, so I didn't notice any issues with them.

[MetroMPG]

Maybe that was it. Also, the cars in Montreal were subjected to a "handling course" (looked like autocross) by the journalists - lots of flinging the car around and hard accel/braking. I didn't get to play, but I wonder if that contributed to the issue.

[MetroMPG]

Out of sheer curiosity, I tested the impact on fuel economy of running the A/C at 60, 80 & 100 km/h.

On average, consumption went up 5.8% (= +0.3 L/100 km).

I posted a separate thread with full details: AC vs. MPG: impact of air conditioning on fuel economy tested

[MicraJordan]

Amazing and thorough review/info Darin. Thanks!

[MetroMPG]

My pleasure, MicraJordan!

I actually still have a bit more info to post. Including results of a second fuel economy test: "speed vs. MPG". I will get to that...

And here it is:



Thread: Tested: Speed vs. MPG/fuel economy (2015 Micra SR automatic)

[MetroMPG]

Probably the worst part about my extended Micra test drive experience was getting back into my own car!

There's nothing exactly wrong with it -- a 1998 Pontiac Firefly (twin of the Chevrolet Metro). With only about 35,000 km on the clock, how could there be anything wrong? It's a gently used creampuff driven to church on Sundays and the grocery store once a week, so to speak.

But 17 years separate the two cars, and there's no better way to highlight the advances at the bottom end of the auto market than a back to back drive in two econoboxes separated by decades.

First thing: the Firefly is a heck of a lot less substantial than the Micra, by about 500 pounds / 227 kg. It's a featherweight. You certainly feel it behind the wheel. Heck, you can see it just by looking at them nose-to-nose -- the Firefly looks so slight by comparison.

Then you fire up the Firefly's 1.0L engine, and realize you're commanding HALF the number of horses as the Micra (55 hp vs. 109)... and one fewer cylinder. Then there's NVH: "refined" is not a word reviewers ever used to describe a Firefly/Metro.

To be kind, we won't talk about safety equipment or convenience/entertainment features. (Aside from 2 airbags, the Firefly has nada, zip, zilch in those departments.) Even the steering is manual.

About the only thing that ever pleasantly surprised a Firefly owner was the phenomenal fuel economy. With the manual transmission (which I have), its mileage still dominates nearly all new economy cars, and many hybrids. That's the upside of light weight and a small engine. These little cars also turned out to be surprisingly mechanically reliable; rust took many of them long before their drivetrains wore out.

Yet after driving the Micra, it me took a good day or two to get used to driving the Firefly again... where I no longer thought to myself as I fired it up and eased down the street, "man, this feels so... agricultural!"

[AlphaMicra]

Your picture looks like the Micra is about to eat the Firefly.

[MetroMPG]

This is one of my favourites: summer, sailboats, St. Lawrence River.

A nice photo to look at on a frigid late January day!

Attachment 941

[MetroMPG]

Your picture looks like the Micra is about to eat the Firefly.

I thought the same thing!

I believe that's the influence of European pedestrian safety regulations. Where the Firefly would break legs & then hips (when you hit the engine block just beneath the hood), the Micra has a higher, rounded profile partly due to the mandated 10cm of crush space between the hood and hard stuff underneath.

[lbarouf]

So you don't drive a Micra anymore?