Big city, small car, tiny horn — Nissan Micra takes Manhattan
It costs so little, but with a real feeling of substance, it’s far from the cheapest car
Car horns don’t get used very much in Canada, their toots and honks too often seen as an affront to our collective politeness. In New York City, however, the horn is as crucial as strong brakes, a tool for the offensive and defensive gestures required to drive and survive here. It’s a signal sung more than the songs from spring birds.
To move about in Manhattan, where traffic flows best when shifting like schools of fish, a seriously stout horn is essential, nothing like the pathetic Roadrunner-like “meep-meep” in the 2017 Nissan Micra, which Nissan Canada brought here to demonstrate how its smallest (and cheapest) car can manoeuvre among the confines and construction cones of the Big Apple.
Indeed, in exactly two hours of driving that covered a mere 14 kilometres thanks to insane traffic, the Micra’s horn got more wear and tear than its tires.
Problem is, the Micra’s horn, like the car itself, is far too polite. Its Canadian-ness is revealed with every meep, just as the Micra’s very presence in America on this day says to our strongest trading partner, our NAFTA BFF, that we have something our southern friends don’t, and it’s not just superior health care.
The Micra, which is not sold in the U.S. (nor are there any plans to bring it stateside anytime soon), is as Canadian as any car can be — cheerful, chipper, kind and considerate, able to flit about in the big city just fine, thank you.
Such adaptation is clearly demonstrated within the first hour of driving in this most magnificent of cities, when a big SUV charges into our lane without looking or noticing us in its blind spot. With immediate response and chirping ABS brakes, the Micra avoids being knocked out by the sudden left hook from the right lane. The Micra’s dignity, and fenders, remain intact, its stopping ability leaving a good first impression.
Now in its fourth generation, the Micra has always been welcomed by us hosers and it remains a key car for Nissan Canada, joining the Versa Note in a two-pronged small-car strategy.
Launched in 2014 as a 2015 model, the Micra took 12.5 per cent of the entry-level segment last year.
More than 31,300 have been sold since its debut, the majority in Quebec, but many in Ontario and B.C.’s Lower Mainland, and many to women (65 per cent). But the Micra has earned stripes in the racing community as well, offering an affordable, entry-level race car for the Micra Cup Series (six races this year). It costs about $20,000 to get started and gives talented drivers some real exposure to full-on racing at real racetracks in Ontario and Quebec.
The base car, of course, is no race car.
Its 109-horsepower four-cylinder will giddy-up and go with some flogging, but for $9,988 to start, no one should expect anything other than simple transportation. While that price looks tempting, the average selling price of a Micra is closer to $15,000, Nissan says. The most expensive model, the SR with automatic transmission, costs $17,188, slightly less than a four-year lease on a Volkswagen GTI.
The other plus is, at that price, owners need not worry about all the inevitable scrapes and bruises that come with keeping a car on city streets, the dents and bumper scratches becoming a painless part of its patina.
Replacing the five-speed manual with the four-speed automatic (with overdrive) adds $1,000. If it were our choice, we’d save some money, opt for the tiller and pull a little more joy squeezing out the Micra’s 107 pound-feet of torque. The clutch on the manual doesn’t offer a lot of feel, and take-up is late, making smooth shifts something that takes practice, but the gearbox is way more rewarding than the automatic and it makes the Micra feel faster, especially when pushed to redline.
At that level, there’s noticeable noise from the engine, joining some road noise entering the cabin, but it would be offensive to call the Micra a tin can, since there’s a genuine feeling of substance to this car.
It might be one of the least expensive on the market, but it’s far from the cheapest.
If it were sold in stores, Costco could slap a Kirkland label on it and everyone would go home happy.
The seats aren’t perfect but they ’re comfortable enough. Variable, speed-sensitive steering isn’t exact, but it gets the job done and it’s easy to parallel park. The turning circle is a tight 4.65 metres ( bested only by the Mitsubishi Mirage) and there’s ample headroom for tall drivers. Instrumentation looks a class above.
It’s an all-around decent city car. That much was clear while ducking and weaving among the big SUVs and full-size sedans of Manhattan, the Micra sardine swimming with the fast-moving mackerel. That no one really noticed us or took a bite from our fins shows how modestly Canadian the Micra really is, but it also reveals how adept this car can be when forced into a tangled mess of traffic, wimpy horn and all.