Nissan Note 1.6 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Nissan NOTE 1.6 range
Prices: £11,095-£13,995 - on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 5-6
Emissions: 149-159g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 10.7s / Max Speed 114mph
Fuel Consumption: (urban) 33.2mpg / (extra urban) 51.4mpg / (combined) 42.8mpg
Safety: Twin airbags, ABS with EBD
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 3990/1530/1690mm

NISSAN’S PERFECT PITCH?

Our Rating: 7.7 / 10

Nissan’s British-built NOTE offers something a little different to the hatchback norm. Andy Enright reports on the 1.6-litre model

Nissan’s NOTE sits somewhere between a supermini and an MPV but its blend of qualities should prove highly desirable to small car buyers. Good to drive and pleasantly styled, it’s extremely spacious and very practical for family duties. With Nissan’s first class reliability record thrown in, this is a car noticeably lacking in major faults.

Don’t you just love management jargon? In a previous life, I used to work for a guy who was forever ‘touching base’, ‘running things up flagpoles’, ‘pinging the cost accountants’ and recognising that the ‘squeaky wheels got the grease’. Although they’d never admit to it themselves, Nissan would probably like us to adopt one of Dave’s other hackneyed terms. When it comes to evaluating a car like the Nissan NOTE, it pays to ‘think outside the box’. Nissan has spruced-up its charge and in its latest form, it looks better than ever.

For eons, the small car market was divided into superminis and family hatches. Think cars of the size of the Ford Fiesta and Escort respectively. As superminis got bigger and more sophisticated, citycars started slotting in beneath them to fill the vacuum but this level of niche marketing was still insufficient to fill the demands of a rapidly fragmenting car market. Somewhat surprisingly, the answers came from cars like the Renault Espace. Customers enamoured by the practicality and utility of these models demanded those features in ever smaller packages. Eventually, the supermini MPV was born and following on from early exponents like the Toyota Yaris Verso and the Vauxhall Meriva, we now have the Nissan NOTE.

Three engine choices are being offered with Nissan’s NOTE. The two petrol units comprise an 87bhp 1.4-litre as well as the 108bhp 1.6-litre powerplant we look at here. The big seller is likely to remain the diesel engine, a 1.5-litre dCi common rail unit with 85bhp on tap. As a general rule, drag racing isn’t a particular forte of the supermini-based MPV but if you fancy giving some spotty oik a run for his money away from the lights in your NOTE the 1.6-litre car will get to 60mph in 10.7s. None of the engines are what you would call quick but they’re all more than adequate for everyday driving, with this 1.6 pulling reasonably strongly through the gears.

The NOTE always feels highly nimble on the road with body-roll well controlled, a firm ride and steering that’s light but accurate. It’s perfect for nipping through the city streets and it inspires confidence thanks to good all-round visibility and a tight turning circle. If you really value a comfortable ride, one of the NOTE’s rivals may be a better option but if you like your small car with a taught, sporty feel, this could be it.

The latest Note has been on the receiving end of the usual facelift tweaks including a reshaped bumper and bonnet, revised headlights the essential grille tinkering which has seen the adoption of a shinny black finish. At the back, the tail lights are darker and models with parking sensors get them incorporated more neatly into the bumper. It’s nothing too dramatic and the winning Note formula is intact. The designers managed to avoid the formulaic box-on-wheels shape that afflicts the Nissan NOTE’s small MPV contemporaries. It appears lower and longer with minimal rear overhang and quite a pronounced nose protruding at the front. The Note is squared-off at the rear with the natural roofline taking an unusual last-minute jerk upwards to maximise cargo capacity in the back. The boxy dimensions pay dividends inside.

The interior feels very spacious and that’s in no small part down to the fact that the wheelbase of 2.60m is longer than that of cars like the Mk5 Volkswagen Golf. This available space can be optimised between luggage and rear passengers with the aid of a sliding rear bench seat as well as the usual folding arrangement. The NOTE’s most interesting feature, however, is the split level luggage bay. Most would never know that beneath a flat loading deck there’s a 250mm deep second layer that can keep valuables out of the way of prying eyes. On the latest cars the deck can be positioned in a vertical position to help prevent items sliding around. Cup holders, bag holding hooks and umbrella stowing points also hint at the NOTE’s