Published:
6 January 2015Nissan has positioned the Pulsar to go head to head with the value players in the C-segment field. Corrected for standard equipment, it typically costs £1500 less than an equivalent Volkswagen Golf, Nissan says, and has the likes of the Seat Leon, Hyundai i30 and Citroën C4 in its crosshairs.
The £20k-plus price of the upper-middle-spec N-Connecta test car we drove originally didn’t scream about value for money, but the car’s kit level was quite good, with 17in alloys, privacy glass, crash mitigation, keyless ignition, a reversing camera and touchscreen sat-nav and multimedia all standard.
Shame you have to splurge on Tekna trim to get Nissan’s Around View cameras, blind spot monitors, lane departure warning and moving object detection systems and that a relatively small number of those sold will therefore benefit from them.
If those safety systems don’t convince you to splash out at the pricey end of the spectrum, the Pulsar’s residual values won’t be likely to. But there’s better news on the emissions and economy front, with the diesel Pulsar qualifying for the lowest rung of company car tax and returning a creditable 57.3mpg on our touring economy test.
Don't overlook the petrol version though, as it's still claimed capable of averaging 56.5mpg and emits 117g/km of CO2, entailing low road and company car tax costs.
