One, belonging to any nationality, usually has an opinion on population in India. One may also debate/discuss/argue/confer endlessly over this topic. After all it is a country which absolutely loves its 1 billion and growing people. And let’s just say you are part of the great metropolitan region of this country. Land is sold by the square centimeter and the roads are in a constant battle for space with either the real estate guys or the hawkers and if all else fail – pedestrians.
Then, you have to make a choice. One which will determine the way you live your days in the city. If you’re stuck in traffic, what car would you like to be in? An extensive luxurious sedan which waits and waits for the traffic to move inch by inch. Or in a comfortable little hatchback that goes way ahead through the nooks and crannies in traffic.
If you’ve picked the latter, lets us introduce you to *drum rolls* the new and polished Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd’s Micra Diesel – the Micra’s diesel sibling. It will be launched on December 10 in India. The Diesel variant will be available in two trims – the Micra XV Diesel and the Micra XV Premium Diesel and it will be offered in six colours – Sunlight Orange, Blade Silver, Storm White, Pacific Blue, Onyx Black and Brick Red. We drove the Nissan Micra XV Premium Diesel before the launch and here is what we found…
For starters, let us tell you that the pictures just don’t do justice to the car. The Nissan Micra has cleaner curves and lines and oozes a lot more attitude on road than it the does on the posters and hoardings. With an overall length of 3780mm and overall width of 1665mm the car easily tackles traffic, small roads, gullies and anything city driving may spring on you. The small turning radius of 4.65 metres only adds to the drivability. On the highway its light, in control and very drivable. The visibility is commendable too. It’s compact, even plush in a way and unless you’re more than 6 feet tall, a very relaxed car to be in.
The Nissan Premium XV comes stock with alloy wheels, other than that the exterior and styling is identical to the petrol variant , of the car. So it retains the twin boomerangs on the roof which strengthen the roof and help drop weight of the car, the fuel tank is optimized as are the suspension bits. The light chassis helps roll out a better mileage. It also sports automatic electric door mirrors which fold in and fold out when you turn the ignition on and lock the car from the outside.
This new entrant is not called the Micra XV ‘Premium’ for nothing. There’s the intelligent Key and Push engine Starter around which the Micra ad campaign is based. The quality of plastic and upholstery used is very high, leading to an aesthetically pleasing overall fit and finish on the car. There is a circular theme, the ‘twin-bubble design’ according to Nissan, which is incorporated into the dashboard and the central console. Along with good design, the console also has a distinctive finish to it. The music system has a standard CD/MP3 player, a tuner and Aux input. The owner’s manual does point to USB port but our XV Premium didn’t have one. As with the petrol variant, the sun visors still haven’t incorporated a basic vanity mirror. The dashboard misses a second glove box, which the premium petrol variant had. The driver’s seat skips height adjustment (available on the Nissan Micra petrol). The rears seat is foldable but lacks a 60:40 split and complete fold, so carrying bigger objects may not be possible. But overall the interiors are quite airy and feel top-notch without being too grey or overly beige.
Moreover, the car does well with respect to the safety of the passengers. It scored a creditable four stars in Euro NCAP crash tests. It is equipped with an airbag for the safety of the driver’s; however we were surprised to find no passenger airbag on the Micra XV Premium Diesel. For the safety of rear seat passengers, there is a three point seat belt and a lap-belt for the middle seat. There is also no ABS available on the top end diesel model, even as an option.
No comments:
Post a Comment