Nissan Micra review

Despite its ‘Japanese = reliable’ reputation, most Nissans are UK- and Continental-built, and actually in most reliability surveys it’s distinctly mid-table. The new Micra is made at a Renault plant in France. The factory also makes the latest Renault Clio. Top Gear ran a current-gen Micra for six months and 7,000 miles back in 2017 and didn’t have a single reliability or build quality niggle to report. That’s impressive stuff. The warranty is 3 years/60,000 miles, with recovery, hotel and a rental car thrown in.

Active safety and driver assistance is strong, with available pedestrian-detection auto-brake, blind-spot warning, surround-view cameras, radar cruise, active lane-keeping and LED headlamps.

The basic Visia starts at £12,400 but doesn’t get air conditioning or alloy wheels, so at minimum you’ll want to spend £14,550 on an Acenta (which also adds cruise control and a 7in touch screen with Apple CarPlay). Top spec Tekna cars come in at almost £18k, which is a lot, but get that fancy Bose ‘Personal Audio’ stereo, parking sensors and keyless entry as standard.

The new 1.0-litre engine is good for between 103-105g/km and though new WLTP fuel economy figures haven’t been revealed yet, expect claims of over 50mpg and real-world scores in the mid 40s.

In fact, whichever engine you go for, the Micra is an economical little thing. The one we ran averaged mid-forties mpg in that time, which isn’t bad given it spent a lot of time on the motorway and B-roads – hardly its comfort zone.

Our choice would be an N Sport, to make the most of the Micra’s handling and sporty-ish looks.