Nissan Micra 1.0 71PS 2018 first drive

Not often does a car maker give the lowliest model in a line-up its own international launch, but such an honour was recently bestowed on the Nissan Micra.

The engine in question is a new 70bhp 1.0-litre petrol. It joins the existing 0.9-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engines, both touting 89bhp, but bucks the trend of an entire industry and forgoes turbocharging in order to cut costs.

It is an important development for the Nissan Micra. With the supermini segment so fiercely competitive, every penny counts. By opting for the naturally aspirated engine instead of its turbocharged petrol sibling, you’ll save just under a thousand pounds – a decent portion of the overall price at this level.

Offering a cheaper engine also addresses a fundamental problem Nissan has had with the Micra; until now, the range was undercut by both the Ford Ford Fiesta and – our class leader – Seat Ibiza. Starting at just £11,995, this new model now undercuts those rivals in their most anaemic forms and it’s also the cheapest car to insure in its class, claims Nissan.

We like the fifth-generation Nissan Micra and praised the reinvigorated design, well-rounded driving dynamics and high equipment levels when the car was subjected to a full Autocar road test. The performance of our turbocharged test car was not, alas, its most stellar characteristic – and that remains the case with this new motor.

A solitary litre of displacement is so very little for a naturally aspirated engine and makes for a narrow remit. With neither the propulsive punch required to feel comfortable on motorways – where it quickly throws in the towel in the fight against wind resistance – nor the low-down torque to pull readily off the mark on city streets, the 1.0-litre Micra is at its best when the journey demands only steady, uninterrupted progress and middling speeds.

Find yourself in such circumstances and the engine is nicely refined and also adequately potent once you’ve adapted your style to momentum-conservation mode. The throw of the five-speed manual gearbox is light and well defined, so it’s no chore to keep the engine at or around 3500rpm, where it makes most torque.

Peak power arrives only at 6300rpm, however, and stoking this engine to such heights isn’t a particularly serene or fruitful experience. As such, overtakes must be prepared well in advance, with diligence paid to the topography of the road and, indeed, the amount of road you’ve got to play with.