THE ranks of the small car continue to swell with one of the latest members to enter the sector recently arriving from Nissan. Sensible and with lots of practicality on board, just like its predecessors, the latest Micra comes with the fine level of reliability established over the past couple of decades. Well put together, the Micra Tekna 1.2-litre DIG-S five-door hatchback delivers a quite accommodating interior providing some pretty decent head and legroom for rear seat occupants plus plenty of useful stowage space including a thoughtfully set up double glovebox. However, the luggage bay did have its limitations with an overall capacity of only 265 litres available with all seats taken although, with rear seats folded, it does increase its carrying capabilities to around 605 litres. Mounted on range topping 15-inch alloys this fourth generation of the Micra comes with the likes of sat nav, a Bluetooth connection and an iPod socket as standard, as opposed to around the £900 charged by some rivals for the facility. Seating is comfortably accommodating and, from a pretty decent driving position with user friendly controls, there is an attractively styled dashboard with an easily used climate control unit operated via a circular control set-up, while well thought through ambient lighting delivers an orange glow to door pockets and the centre console during night driving. Retro inspired circular air vents also add to the cabin’s bright and airy appeal along with large windows and a standard glass sunroof while the high standard of kit level includes the likes of air con, front electric windows, electric door mirrors and anti dazzle rear view mirror, all of which would put some more expensive executive models in the shade. There's also entertainment aplenty on board the Micra Tekna with a six-speaker loudspeaker system through which to enjoy your music. To help nervy parkers there's a device to measure parking slots and rear parking sensors along with some good ABS braking plus an electronic stability programme. Set on a new lightweight platform which is wider and longer than its predecessor this latest Micra is powered by a quite clever DIG-S petrol engine. Paired with a five-speed smooth switching continuously variable transmission (CVT) the Tekna delivers strong performance from the three-cylinder DIG-S engine which, incidentally, translates as Direct Injection Gasoline – Supercharged. There was some noise intrusion as the three-cylinder engine went about its early revving but the thrum soon settled down at motorway speeds. However, the Tekna did its best work over the urban trawl proving a responsive and quite easy car to drive. Thanks to a suspension set-up which helps to smooth out most B road shell holes the Micra handles in pretty decent fashion but while the steering does behave responsively, thanks to some quite decent weighting, body roll does make its presence felt. One of the Micra’s trump cards comes with its use of the very latest in low emission technology, the DIG-S coming with Nissan’s swift acting smooth stop/start System. This clever piece of kit contributes to the Nissan Micra DIG-S overall combined mpg of 56.5 while the range topping Tekna does also qualify for zero road tax in the first year of ownership and £30 per annum thereafter. FAST FACTS Micra Tekna 1.2 DIG-S Price: £14,650 Mechanical: 97bhp, 1,198cc, 3cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via 5-speed automatic gearbox Max speed: 111mph 0-62mph: 11.9 Combined mpg: 56.5 Insurance group: 5 CO2 emissions: 115g/km BiK rating: 11% Warranty: 3yrs/ 60,000 miles | 
News | Road tests | Buying advice | Special reports | Used cars | New cars | Manufacturers | Views | Dealers
