Hopefu(e)l Alternative

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.

The Nissan Micra diesel is powered by the same 1.5-litre engine as the Mahindra-Renault Logan’s. It is an eight-valve 1.5-litre dCi engine (code name K9K) and is Renault’s top selling engine with almost 900,000 units manufactured in Spain and Turkey 2008. The French manufacturer claims that the engine has a simple design, low friction and a superior cost-to-performance ratio. This engine produces a maximum power of 63bhp and a torque of 160Nm@2000rpm. 

As the K9K’s USP lies in delivering excellent mileage, one can’t expect it be the same on performance. But that is hardly a dampener for it’s highway capabilities. The diesel engine is fairly responsive considering the power it produces and overtaking isn’t too much of a problem as long as you keep the car in the power band. The power delivery is linear and very petrol-like. Unlike most modern diesel engines, the K9K doesn’t display any turbo lag even at a lower rpm. The dCi engine is refined and quiet at lower revs. But when the tachometer’s needle crosses 3000rpm, the motor does sound harsh. 

In our performance run, the Micra XV premium diesel reached 0-100kph in 15.5 seconds and completed the quarter mile in 19.7 seconds. This isn’t bad at all, as the Micra Petrol galloped to 100kph in 15 seconds and did the quarter mile in 19.6 seconds.The gear ratios on the Micra diesel are matched to suit city and highway driving. With no turbo lag, the engine pulls cleanly even when lugged into a higher cog. The gear shifts are slick and throws positive. In our in-gear tests, the Micra clocked the 30-50kph mark in 3.9 seconds in the third gear and 7.2 seconds in the fourth, while the 50-70kph run in the fifth gear took 9.4 seconds. 

Let’s talk about the selling point of this car – the fuel efficiency. The Nissan Micra diesel returned a good 23.11kpl on the highway and 17.25kpl on a mix of highway and city driving. The worst figure that we got was of 12.47kpl during our performance test. It weighs about 1008kgs which is about 80kgs more than the petrol variant. The long suspension travel on the Micra makes the ride smooth and composed at most of the speeds.  The XV Premium variant of the Micra gets meaty tyres with a profile of 175/60/R15 compared to the 14-inch ones that are available on the petrol and the XV variant of the diesel.  The XV Premium even gets alloy wheels which go missing on the top-of-the-line petrol variant. Our press demonstrator came shod with Bridgestone B250 tyres, instead of the MRF ZVTV tyres that came on our Nissan Petrol press demonstrator. These tyres grip well, but there is a tyre roar on concrete roads. 

The diesel variant of the Micra will be launched on December 10, 2010. Our estimate is that the price of the Micra XV Diesel and the Micra XV Premium diesel will be at par with the petrol variant of the car. The Indian consumers may appreciate the package the Micra Diesel offers but Nissan will have to tread extremely carefully with the pricing to ensure substantial sales. A smart buyer is frugal when he/she has to part with cash. Thus, Nissan should take a leaf out of Ford’s (read Figo) book and price it competitively as that what will determine whether Nissan's cash registers will be set ringing in India, and help Nissan reach the goal of successfully selling their wide range of cars through their growing dealer network. 

With respect to sales records in the Indian market, Nissan has a long way to go before it reaches the pedestal usually shared by Tata, Maruti, Hyundai and now Ford. So Nissan has dished out a contemporary quality product – the Nissan Micra diesel to suit the Indian buyers’ temperament. In competition stand the Indica Vista Quadrajet (Aura+) which is high on utility, the Fiat Punto offering a match for style, the Ford Figo which is quite a package and old favourites Hyundai i20Crdi and Maruti Swift and Ritz Vdi. There are also the Germans with the Polo and the just-out new Fabia in the running. However, Nissan does have a strong brand value to its credit, is well styled and caters to a niche. The Nissan Micra Diesel sports several segment firsts like the intelligent Key and Push Engine Starter and electric mirrors. It packs in a good powertrain that is equally proficient on the highway and in the city.  So our verdict… If these are the features that make you tick and you do live in a city, a car this small can make life relatively easier for you. And if Nissan Micra is to be the apple of your eye, we suggest you pick the Micra Diesel from the basket. We just hope that Nissan spring us a surprise with the pricing, since this is a car that does deserves to do a lot more numbers than it currently does. Let's stay hopefu(e)l!