Nissan has settled on a distinctly Beetle-style curved silhouette which gives the Micra real road presence but has had a markedly negative effect on interior space.
Front and rear legroom is a match for that in cars such as the Polo and Fiesta, and sitting under the roof’s highest point, the tallest of front seat occupants won’t want for headroom, but in the rear it’s a different story. Any passengers of above-average height could find their heads brushing the rooflining unless they adopt a slightly slouched seating position.
That curved rear also takes its toll on the Micra’s boot which offers less space than most rivals. Slide the rear bench fully forward by tugging on the handle at the bottom of the backrest and the Micra’s small boot becomes far more useful, but doing so reduces legroom for rear seat passengers effectively to zero.
Today’s supermini buyers expect to be offered the same level of luxury as owners of bigger cars and nowhere is this more evident than in the appearance on higher-spec Micras of Nissan’s Intelligent Key, a Mercedes-style key-card system that allows you to operate the door locks and ignition without fiddling for a proper key. Every Micra, including the base-spec E model, comes with power steering, a CD player, electric windows and central locking.