THE CAR IN FACTS

NDuring that time the supermini has built a reputation for reliabilit y but of those seven million cars, it’s unlikely many were sold on the strength of their sex appeal.

A refresh was sorely needed, esp ecially since the past two generations of Micra have b een well off t he pace compared with segment leaders.

T h e a l l - n e w f i f t h g e n e r a - tion Micra however, is a really great- looking car. Built on a modified version of Nissan’s V- platform, it’s all sharp angles, colour accents and it’s longer, lower and wider than the previous model.

Inside, it’s a striking contrast to the old car’s bland plastic expanse. Our Tekna test model, with optional invigorating red interior, features a maroon leather- wrapped dash, colour c o d e d l e a t h e r d o o r i n s e r t s and heated leather seats. It’s well put together and, while it’s not as high end as an Audi A1, for example, it’s a nice place to be and stands up against the majority of the competition – including the perennial benchmark Ford Fiesta.

Despite sharing much of the architecture that underpinned the old car, on the road, the Micra handles far better than its dull predecessor. The fivespeed manual gearbox in our test model changes smoothly and the 1.5- litre diesel engine ● Price: £ 21,290 ● Engine: 1.5- litre, four- cylinder diesel ● Power: 89bhp ● Torque: 162lb/ ft ● Transmission: Six- speed manual ● Top speed: 130mph ● 0- 62mph: 11.9 seconds ● Economy: 80.7mpg ● CO2 emissions: 92g/ km was smooth, quiet and had a good bit more torque than its 900cc petrol counterpart.

Over the course of the test our demo car averaged an mpg figure in the mid 60s and, on some journeys, into the 70s.

Cabin noise on longer journeys was a little high – mostly from the t yres, rather than the engine – but nothing that c r ankin g up t he vol ume on t h e e x c e l l e n t B o s e s o u n d system, complete with headr e s t - m o u n t e d s p e a k e r s , couldn’t offset.

The headrest speakers were part of a long list of standard equipment on the top spec Tekna trim level which included cutting- edge safet y tech like intelligent braking with pedestrian recognition, lane intervention and i ntelli gent ri de control.

The operating system on Nissan’s seven- inch infotainment system is a simple one, but one that works just fine even if it does l ack some of the detail we’ve c o me t o ex p e c t f r o m such things.

But perhaps that stripp edback i nterface is something t o do wit h Ni s s a n’s drive t o make the Micra one of the safest cars in it’s class. The designers reportedly used high- definition cameras and the latest eye- tracking software during the design of the cabin and configuration of the instruments to give the Micra what Nissan say is the the lowest ‘ eyes off the road’ time in the B- segment.

T h e o n l y o p t i o n a l e q u i p - ment on our car was the inter i or p e r s onal i s a t i on pac k – wh i c h b r o u g h t t h e h e a t e d seats and colour- coded dash – and the vision+ pack safety features, bringing the total cost to £ 21,290.

That’s Ford Fiesta Vignale t e r r i t o r y – a l t h o u g h wh e n the Ford is optioned up with the equivalent kit, the extra three and a half grand makes t h e M i c r a l o o k l i k e a ve r y we l l e q u i p p e d c a r f o r t h e money.