Nissan Micra C+C Review
Published: 29th April 2006
Nissan Micra C+C
The Micra C+C comes in three trim levels: Urbis, Sport and the top-of-the-range, Essenza, which was the car tested. The Essenza bears a price tag of £15,250 which buys part-leather seating (heated at the front) and Alcantara door panels as well as ESP, automatic air-conditioning and the Intelligent Key system. The latter means that you keep the key in your pocket or bag and just press a button on the door handle to unlock either one or both of the doors. Once inside, it’s just a matter of putting your foot on the brake to release the steering lock and ignition knob. Again, there is a back-up key within the fob, should all else fail. A word of warning; having started the car, it is possible to drive off without the key, as the collection driver proved. He hadn’t noticed the red ‘key outside’ warning light but luckily I managed to contact him before he had switched the engine off.
There are two engine options; the 1.4 as in the hatchback model and a new 1.6-litre unit that first appeared in the Micra 160SR. Both are petrol engines and both are mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The 1.4 is used in the Urbis and the 1.6 for the Sport and Essenza models.
The 1.6 power unit produces 110PS (about 108bhp) at 6,000rpm and 153Nm of torque at 4,400rpm. It takes 10 seconds to reach 60 mph (10.6 seconds 0-62 mph) from standstill and the top speed is 119mph. Not only is this engine quite spirited and willing but the fuel consumption figures of 32.5, 50.4 and 42.2 mpg for the urban, extra-urban and combined cycle, respectively, are very reasonable.
According to Karmann, if you cut the roof off a car, the result is an 80 per cent loss in structural rigidity, which is clearly going to affect handling as well as safety. The answer is to strengthen the basic platform, A-pillars and side sills by adding more under-floor cross-members. To make the Micra C+C even stronger and stiffer, they added another cross-member hidden behind the instrument panel and a cross-shaped brace at the back of the car, which also serves to improve the handling characteristics.
