Experience the cool Nissan Micra!

Though the all-new fourth generation Nissan Micra was unveiled at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show and was launched in India recently, it was not available for a test drive in Mumbai initially.

People who were willing to take the risk of booking the car for Rs 50,000 -- without any test drive or even knowing the exact amount that they may have to shell out to buy the sleek car -- can now heave a sigh of relief because the Micra is ready for test drives at Mumbai's Ichiban Nissan showroom.

The new Micra looks stunning compared to the earlier versions.

The front and the rear views are appealing and the colours offered by Nissan are also very captivating.

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The exterior

The exterior of the Micra is well done and this gives a gender free look to the car.

The sides are well designed and the doors have a cylindrical feel from outside which gives the car a tough look.

It was pleasant surprise to see that the rear of the car does not mention the variant of the car.

The cabin is designed taking the aerodynamics of the car into consideration.

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The roof is slightly raised at the rear which acts as an integrated spoiler in the car so that turbulence does not pull you back when you increase the speed.

This can be felt almost immediately when you cross 30 kmph in this car.

Nissan has taken much care in designing the body of the car. The space lines in the body are uniform and the gaps are kept minimum.

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The interior

The design of the car -- be it the interior or the exterior is curvy. The seat fabric is comfortable but the shape of the headrest is not what one would ideally have hoped for.

Pockets at the back of the front seats are also missing. Even the rear door panels do not have magazine racks. Only the front door panels have the magazine racks and the water bottle holders. The glove compartment is located way below on the passenger side which is a rather uncomfortable.

The locking mechanism on the glove box door is a half twist mechanism which is a real trouble when the driver tries to close it by pushing it down. The driver seat height adjusment is missing in all variants.

The steering wheel with the embedded Nissan logo and the gear shift looks tacky. The only thing that the Micra interior can boasts of is space. You can feel it as soon as you enter the vehicle.

The front and the rear seats have enough legroom for a comfortable journey.

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The drive

Mirca is an extremely silent car and even when you start if you can't really tell if the engine is running and you can feel your feet hesitantly touching the accelerator paddle to find out.

The car purrs ahead without any stress and does not show any kind of engine stress in the Mumbai bumper-to-bumper traffic. A 50-minute between Andheri and Borivili during peak traffic was  hardly tiring in this car.

This is one distinguishing feature which makes Micra stand out in the recent launches.

Mirca has one of the smoothest and most refined engines in this segment.

Though the designers at Nissan failed to create utility gadgets and spaces in the interiors the engineers have worked hard on making a very non-complicated and quality car.

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The car gave us an average of 12 kmpl in the heavy Mumbai traffic. So you can expect not less then 15kmpl in a mix of highway and city drive.

The agility with which the car responds to the steering is commendable. Same goes for the turning radius of the car.

The suspensions seem to be a little hard: the innumerable Mumbai potholes and the light weight of the Micra did add to the problem, making the car bob on potholed roads.

What surely does seem to be a point of concern is that when the car is filled with five medium-sized adults, the chassis seems to touch speedbeaker bumps. But then, when manoeuvered across along the speedbreakers it did manage to get through without a scrape.

The Micra is available in 4 variants: The Nissan Micra XE, XE Plus, XL and the XV.

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Although the base XE has nothing really to boast about, the XL is a good option if one does not want to go in for the frills all of the top end XV.

XV has a button start and an  intelligent key system with which one can enter the car by just touching the request switch on the door handle. XV also comes with climate-controlled air-conditioning system and beige interiors.

Safety seems to be the main concern of Nissan and all Micra models are equipped with a driver's side SRS airbag.

The Nissan Micra XE is available for Rs 465,173, XE Plus - Rs 495,991, XL - Rs 546,785 and XV - Rs 614,471  (all prices for individuals, on road, in Mumbai).

Conclusion

The Micra does give you a comfortable and peppy drive, but its light weight fails to provide a safe feel.

In terms of power and driving pleasure there are other cars which can beat Micra. But in terms of space, looks and safety features Micra is truly a winner.