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The Nissan Micra is now electric, with characterful styling, a fun driving experience, and it’s good value, helped by its eligibility for the full £3,750 Electric Car Grant.
The Nissan Micra has been through a number of iterations over the years, some well received, others less so, but the overall consensus is that the new Micra is the best looking version yet. It’s also only available with an electric powertrain.
Under the skin, the Nissan Micra shares its platform with the Renault 5. The exterior body shape is also similar, but whereas the Renault 5’s entire design is a modern interpretation of the original iconic R5, including its front and rear appearance, the Micra aims for differentiation by adopting styling elements such as circular lights.
There are also lots of similarities in the interior, including details such as the textured headlining. But whereas the Renault 5 has creative design touches in the cabin, the Micra’s cabin is more plain and predominantly dark.
The Micra is a 3,974mm-long B-segment supermini, so it’s perhaps no surprise that rear legroom is tight. The boot is an average size, at 326 litres (or up to 1,106 litres with the rear seats down), and there’s some space under the boot floor to store the charging cable. It would be ideal if the Micra had a sliding rear seat, giving you the option to choose between prioritising increased rear legroom or boot space. If you like storing drinks bottles in the driver’s door pocket, this isn’t going to happen in the Micra, because the door pocket is very small and shallow.
The Micra is front-wheel drive and is available in two battery sizes, 40kWh and 52kWh.
The Nissan Micra is less than 4 metres long and has a kerb weight of around 1.5 tonnes, so it’s agile. Along with the multi-link suspension, this means that it’s fun to drive, especially through bends, and the low centre of gravity due to the battery being in the floor helps to ensure decent body control. The Micra has good primary ride quality but it’s firmer than some rivals.
A 0-62 mph acceleration time of 8.0 seconds isn’t hot hatch territory but the Micra feels responsive, especially in Sport mode (other modes are Comfort and Eco, with a ‘Perso’ option to personalise the drive mode settings). If you select Sport mode, it stays in Sport mode the next time you start the car, which is one of many thoughtful car control features.
The Micra is front-wheel drive so althpugh ot’s generally well controlled, some wheelspin and torque steer is always possible, especially on wet roads. The steering is well weighted, in keeping with the sporty handling. Although it’s primarily intended to be a car for urban driving, the Micra can cope with motorways, however there’s some road noise at speed.
Like the Renault 5, the Micra has lots of good points, but one strange features is the gear selector. Firstly, the ‘gear lever’ is positioned very high up on the right-hand side of the steering column, above the wiper stalk and the media control stalk. That means it’s easy to knock the wiper stalk by mistake when changing gear. Secondly, the gear lever offers you the options of R, N and D – but no Park, which is conventionally a button on the end of the stalk. But there’s no button. Instead you have to activate the electronic handbrake, which is a switch positioned low down on the centre console. We’re presuming that there was an issue with the gear lever being so long and at such an angle that it was a challenge to successfully press a button at the end of it. As it is, the gear selector/electronic handbrake arrangement isn’t particularly user-friendly.
But the good news is that there are lots of user-friendly car controls in the cabin. Chief amongst these is the physical button on the steering wheel that you can press to select your preferred drive mode, rather than having to go searching on the touchscreen, although it is possible to select drive modes through the screen also.
It’s the same story for the climate controls – there are physical climate controls under the touchscreen, making it easy to change settings such as cabin temperature or fan speed. There are also steering wheel-mounted paddles for changing the level of brake regen, which is the best way to do this.
And there’s more: there’s a ‘My Safety Perso’ button on the right-hand side of the dashboard that can be configured to switch off all the main driver assistance systems in one go. This is so much better than having to scroll through a long list of systems on the touchscreen to switch off annoying lane departure warning beeps etc, for example as in many Chinese EVs. However even if you don’t do this, the interference from ADAS systems isn’t as intrusive as in many other cars.
And there are physical controls to adjust the door mirrors, which is a much better/safer way solution than having to do this in a touchscreen menu (again, as per many Chinese EVs).
The 10.1-inch touchscreen features shortcuts down the right-hand side and some climate information along the bottom even when Apple CarPlay is in use, and the driver’s display shows satnav mapping, all of which is helpful.
The Nissan Micra 52kWh, as tested, has a WLTP combined electric driving range of 257 miles. After a week on test the real-world range averaged 215 miles. Consumption (WLTP) is 3.9 miles/kWh. It has a maximum DC rapid charging rate of 100 kW, delivering a 15% to 80% charge in 30 minutes, and 11kW AC charging.
The Micra is also available with a 40kWh battery with a range of up to 196 miles and 80kW DC charging.
A heat pump and V2L (Vehicle-to-Load) technology is standard on both battery options.
The Nissan Micra 52kWh Advance is priced at £23,245 after the UK Electric Car Grant of £3,750. Our test car had the option of Rebel Red paint (£760) taking the total price to £24,005.
The Nissan Micra is available in three trim levels: Engage (£21,495 after the government’s lower-level £1,500 Electric Car Grant is applied), Advance, and Evolve (£26,115 after the higher-level grant). Engage and Advanced trims are available with the 40kWh battery; Advanced and Evolve trims are available with the 52kWh battery. Colour options are Pure White, Elegant Silver, Mystery Black, Noble Marine, Authentic Blue and Rebel Red.
The Nissan Micra is based on the same platform as the Renault 5 and so shares many of its good points. These include an agile, fun driving experience, sensible cockpit controls and a competitive price, helped by eligibility for the highest-level Electric Car Grant for models with the larger battery. There aren’t many downsides, but rear legroom is tight, and the gear selector could be more user-friendly. Many people will be left with the decision about whether to choose the Nissan Micra or Renault 5. Although both are very similar, a key difference is design; the new Renault 5 is a modern interpretation of the original Renault 5, and it has a stand-out presence on the road. In comparison the Micra looks great, but it will be seen as a re-styled version of the Renault 5. The Renault 5’s interior also has more creative design touches than the Micra. Prices are very similar, but leasing deals typically make the Renault 5 slightly cheaper, which is likely to tip the scales in favour of the Renault for many people. However the Nissan Micra remains a very good car and is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 9 out of 10.
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Paul Clarke, GreenCarGuide Editor
