autoevolution
 

Nissan Reveals Micra Nismo and Nismo S

You might notice a distinct lack of interest throughout this article, and that's because the new Micra Nismo is not as interesting as we'd thought it would be.
Nissan Micra Nismo 12 photos
Photo: Nissan
Nissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra NismoNissan Micra Nismo
The press release announcing the arrival of the supposedly hot models was kind of tricky to find because it's been tied in with the "Fairlady Z Nismo", which is Japanese for 370Z. According to the release, the new Micra Nismo will come with a 1.2-liter gasoline engine mated to an XTRONIC CVT, while the Nismo S makes use of "tuned" 1.5-liter fitted with a five-speed manual.

"Great! Bet those are new engines and they have turbos" is what we said. But no, the basic Micra Nismo has a whopping 79 PS and 106 Nm of torque, while the "more powerful" Nismo S has 116 PS and 156 Nm (115 lb-ft) of torque.

From what we gather, this press release was drafted for the Japanese market, which means there's still a good chance European buyers will be offered the 120 hp 1.2 DIG-S supercharged engine. In Japan, the Nismo with the 1.2 costs JPY1,540,350 (€12,050), while the more powerful version costs JPY1,770,300 (EUR13,850).

That's rather acceptable, considering you get a full body kit, 16-inch ally wheels with Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 205/45 R16 tires, sports exhaust a cool cabin with bucket seats and alcantara steering wheel and a lot of other little touches.

But why you get a speedo that goes all the way to 220 km/h is beyond us! The 1.2 model with CVT is by no means sporty, getting from 0 to 100 km/h in about 15 seconds and topping out at 160 km/h.

The only thing we can compare this car to is the Polo R-Line which admittedly is quite expensive to buy, but maybe looks a little classier than the exaggerated Micra Nismo with no go-power.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories