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Nissan Pixo – Nissans New City Car
Firstly, I have to say, that almost without exception I have been impressed by today’s plethora of City cars or micro cars which almost every manufacturer seems to have as part of their range.
They are all aimed at the same market and indeed the very same customer and because for the main part, they don’t have to put up with the mega high mileage use of bigger cars, they all tend to be pretty reliable.
So how do you choose the right one for you? Well, I guess its going to come down to how much it costs, what badge its got on its nose and maybe how nice looking it is, not forgetting however that image matters even in this sector.
These baby cars start from around £6,500, going right up to £10,000+ so the first thing is budget and Nissan with their new Pixo has taken this on board and have priced their offering at an on the road price of just under £7,000 for the most basic car which is called the “Visia” with the mid range “Acenta” coming it at around £7,750 on the road, the N-Tec breaking the £8,000 barrier at around £8,200 going up to £8,645 for the “Tekna” version. The Acenta, N-Tec and Tekna, are also available with automatic transmission and that’s going to put the price up by another £825 if you fancy it.
So let’s tell you a little bit about the Pixo and as always with our road tests, I drove on myself for a week so that I can tell you what its like to live with, tell you what I liked and indeed what I didn’t like.
Well, the Pixo isnt one of Nissan’s Sunderland offerings, far from it, its built in India, in the same factory that builds the Suzuki Alto and its built there, because effectively, the two cars are exactly the same, except that things like the nose of the car, the bumpers, the seat covering and wheel trims are different, so you can tell them apart.
The Suzuki version is more expensive than the Nissan, as Nissan offer a bargain basement model, where as Suzuki have chosen only to offer a mid range spec upwards, but to be fair to the Suzuki, buying the higher specified version of the Nissan, does pretty much put the two cars side by side price wise, but I like the fact that Nissan are offering a no-frills version, as for many of us, its all that we need.
So what do you get for your cash? Well you get a five-door, four seat City car that’s got plenty of room for four adults to travel reasonably comfortably in, although if you’re 6 foot and over, you might well find your neatly coiffeured hair brushing the Pixo’s head lining. The car has a pretty small boot, so if your hoping to carry anything meaningful, its going to need you to drop the rear seats, converting the Pixo into a two seater and leaving your rear seat passengers standing beside the road. But that’s being hard, as it’s no worse than its competitors, in fact its better than some!
Spec wise, the lead-in Visia gives you front windows you have to turn a winder to open, whilst the back windows open on little catches, so don’t wind fully down. To see what’s going on behind, you have to twiddle a little lever to adjust the door mirrors and do your own locking and un-locking, but that said, its pretty much the way all cars were, a few years back. There is some good stuff though, as safety hasn’t been ignored as the car gets anti-lock brakes, electronic brake distribution and brake assist along with both steering wheel airbag and dashboard airbag and to keep you happy, the car comes with a radio and CD player.
That said, stick your hand in your pocket and pull out another £750 or so for the Acenta model and you get your electric windows along with remote central locking, side airbags, remote boot opening, a CD player that’s MP3 compatible and split rear seats, whilst if you head to the top of the range you get air-con. Electronic stability control and curtain side airbags and to be fair, that’s a lot of kit for a small motor.
Talking “motors” it’s the motor in this car we particularly liked, it’s a revvy little 1.0 litre 3 cylinder unit (much like many city cars get) and it might seem odd, but we loved the sound it makes, which just made driving the car feel so much fun and whilst its only 67bhp, it performed way above our expectations, both around town and on the motorway, whilst the claimed 0-60 time of 14 seconds, seeming quicker than that in the car and the 96mph top speed I believe is very realistic, so this is no slouch. In terms of the environment and what its going to cost you to run, well Nissan say its capable of up to 64mpg and I don’t disbelieve that either, although, I have to say, we didn’t give our test car the easiest of lives and we got over 55mpg, no matter what, so with a more gentle right foot, I am sure 60+ mpg is really achievable, although it’s the way the engine sounds that will probably prevent it, as you feel you want to boot the car all the time as it just sounds so sweet.
On the road, well it’s a little car, but again, it delivers surprises, yes ok, you get some road noise and feel some bumps, but its comfortable and you don’t kind of notice them and on a 100 mile run, we got out of the Pixo not shaken, and not even stirred. Drivers seating position is good, the pedals and steering, (which is adjustable on all models) are all in the right place and all feel neutral and easy to live with, as indeed does the gearbox. There is an automatic version available, but we haven’t tried that, and we wouldn’t want the car as an auto, but if its all you can drive, well I expect it will be OK, but 67bhp and auto box doesn’t sound like a match made in heaven to me.
So how do we sum this car up? Well I guess its all about the spirit of what they are trying to achieve. Its not a sports car or a limousine and its not even a 5 door family hatch back, it’s a cheaply priced run about that’s better than it thinks it is and does more than it knows it can. Yes there is some hard plastic and other bits that come from the budget end of the production line, but that’s what it is, but I really do believe that with this rugged little car, Nissan have captured the spirit of what a city car should be and that’s cheap to buy, cheap to run, great fun to drive and good to live with and from that stance, I have to say yep, it ticks the boxes and that if this is the kind of car you need, you really shouldn’t commit to buying anything else at least until you’ve seen and driven the Nissan Pixo.
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