Nissan hits high Note with nice Versa
The Nissan Versa Note’s name brings Nissan’s entry-level offering into line with its siblings around the world, and you can bet the Versa portion will be dropped at some point to bring it into full alignment — Nissan is now rationalizing its worldwide naming strategy, especially on its Infiniti side.
In redesigning its entrylevel ride, Nissan wanted to instil more style, smarten up the level of content/technology and improve fuel economy. The Note hits home on each.
The look sees a much sharper rake to the windshield and nice character lines through the side profile. It is also better aerodynamically than the outgoing car — there’s a new front chin spoiler and sundry other add-ons aimed at smoothing the passage of air beneath the car.
Even the rear light lenses were aerodynamically tweaked to reduce drag. In the end, the Note earns a 0.308 coefficient of drag.
This and the insulation/ isolation measures found throughout the rest of the car bring a commendably quiet ride.
As with the sedan, the Versa Note is available in three trim levels — S, SV and SL. The base S, which is priced at $13,348, is fairly basic transportation. It has non-power windows and locks, no air conditioning and it lacks Bluetooth, which really is a no-no given the hands-free legislation across the country.
The most popular model is going to be the SV. It earns the missing power items, Bluetooth and nicer cloth upholstery. As a package it is attractively priced at $14,998.
The range-topping SL ($16,998) features a smart key with push-button start, backup camera, heated seats, an upgraded audio system with a 4.3-inch screen and larger tires — much of the SL’s content is included in the SV’s optional convenience package.
The SL’s key option is the Tech package, which adds a navigation system with a larger 5.3-inch screen, hands-free text assistant, Bluetooth audio streaming and Nissan’s Around View Monitor. The latter gives the driver a 360-degree look around the Note through four super-wide-angle cameras.
The navigation system is also interesting because it allows up to five Google destinations downloaded to a laptop to be sent to the car, which eliminates the need to punch the information into the system. It’s pretty heady stuff for an entry-level car.
At 4,157 millimetres long, the Note is slightly shorter than the previous car, however, it is 1,695 mm wide, 1,537 mm tall and rides on a long 2,600-mm wheelbase.
This means it is dimensionally closer to the Ford Focus than the Ford Fiesta. In other words, it is larger than the segment norm, which means there is plenty of room up front. The rear seat space is also surprising; even with the front seats fully rearward, there was still decent legroom. Width-wise, accommodating three adults is a bit of a stretch, but it works on a short trip.
New is something called Divide-N-Hide. It is a clever addition that allows the driver to adjust the height of the trunk’s load floor depending upon the need.
The raised position delivers a mini-trunk within the trunk, where small items and valuables can be stowed out of sight. In the lowered position, it increases the trunk’s vertical height. With the seats upright, the Note boasts a roomy (and best in class) 21.4 cubic feet of cargo space (up 2.6 cu. ft. from the outgoing car). Strangely, Nissan does not list a seat-down capacity, but visually it appears to more than double, which would put it around 45 to 47 cu. ft. When the seats are folded flat, Divide-N-Hide also delivers a flat load floor when it is in the raised position.
The Note features a 1.6-litre engine that produces 109 horsepower and 107 poundfeet of torque. The numbers, as they appear on paper, look less than inspiring. However, given the Note’s 1,100-kilogram curb weight (down 137 kg from the outgoing car), it does a surprisingly good job of motivating the hatchback, especially when teamed with the fivespeed manual gearbox. With the first four gears keying on performance, the Note gets off the line nicely and builds to highway speed without missing a beat. The clutch is light and bites in the right spot and the shifter’s gate is refined and well defined, which means running up through the box quickly is a balk-free affair.
A hand-held stopwatch pegged the Note’s run from rest to 100 km/h time at 10.6 seconds, while the 80-to-120 km/h passing move took seven seconds. Nobody is going to be bowled over by the performance, but it is up to snuff for an entry-level car.
Nissan’s second-generation Xtronic CVT (continuously variable transmission) is an available option ($1,300) on the all three Note models. It delivers a claimed highway economy of 4.8 litres per 100 kilometres and a city/highway average of 5.5 L/100 km, which is better than its competitors.
When it comes to the ride and handling, the Note SL tested proved to be surprisingly light on its P195/55R16 tires — the suspension tuning has a very evident European quality to the way it controls things. There is little body roll, the steering is light and precise, and understeer only surfaces when liberties are taken.
In this regard, the Note has a surprisingly sporty flavour; I did not expect it to hunker down as nicely as it did during the test.
I was not a fan of the outgoing Versa; the Versa Note takes some big steps in the right direction. It retains its functionality while delivering style and a comfortably roomy interior to go along with its new-found flexibility.
More importantly, it enjoys a considerable price advantage when compared to most in the segment.