NEW Nissan Micra: A Renault 5… But Better??
So, I’ve come to Rotterdam Docks. Absolutely massive installation. I’ve come here to see a very small car cuz I think they’re really important. What we need are small, lighter, and cheaper electric cars. And that’s one of them. It’s the Nissan Micro. Isn’t it lovely? So, the original Nissan Micro was launched in 1983. There’s been many, many generations of it. Really popular car. small, compact, small engine, light, cheap to run, all those things. Really good ideas. And so, finally, Nissan have electrified the new model of the of the Nissan Micro. There’s no petrol version. There’s just this electric version. Some similarities. There’s no point denying it with the fabulously popular Renault 5. In fact, everything beneath there is basically exactly the same in both cars, and everything on top is slightly different. Couple of quirky differences I’ll talk about in a minute, but I’m really liking this car. It’s so tight and neat and easy to drive. It’s really good. So, that there is the brand new Nissan Micro. And this is everything electric cars. Our three free YouTube channels on EVs and clean tech are funded by our fun-packed test drivetic events in Farra, London, the Southwest, the North, Melbourne, and Sydney. And next up, everything electric farra. And new for UK viewers. You can now buy a battery EV and much more at everythinglectric.store. Now back to the episode. [Music] So this is going to be a really interesting car. It is Nissan’s re-entry into the super mini segment cuz they did them, we all know about what they’ve done. They did the Nissan Leaf, which was this revolutionary, groundbreaking car. Really one of the first electric cars to come out that you know that was mass-produced that was designed as an electric car. It wasn’t a conversion. All those things. So, they really were ahead of the pack at the time. Uh, and they’ve kind of let that slip a little bit. They’ve done, you know, new newer iterations of the Leaf. And there is now the new Leaf, which is a really exciting car, but they’ve kind of, I think there’s been so many other companies that have emerged and started making electric cars. It’s, you know, it’s difficult not to worry that they’ve kind of slipped back a bit. Well, they really are making a big push this year. So they’re bringing out an electric Qashqai, an electric Juke, and a new electric Leaf all in the next few months. And they’re really going hell for leather. And they’re, as some of you may not know, but the way that Nissan and Renault work, they work very, very closely with each other. So the underpinnings of this car are exactly the same as the Renault 5. And many of the features here, it was very, I’ve been driving Rena 5 recently. Brilliant car. Many of the features in that and the systems and the steering wheel and all the controls identical. They’re not even a little bit different. They’re identical. Uh except for the uh engine brake paddles, which they’ve got paddles on here. Reno 5 hasn’t got paddles. The Nissan’s got paddles. M suck on that Renault 5. Sorry. But then, you know, I love I love paddles. I whenever I’ve got them in a car, I use them quite a lot. But is that really enough to differentiate it from the Renault 5 which is an incredibly popular car and an amazing looking car? This car is is it as good? Is it better? Is it worse? It’s going to be it’s not worse. It’s is it better or the same? That’s that’s how I think those are the differentiations. Um at the moment the driving experience is identical, but the paddles are nice. I like paddles. So I’ll list off some quick stats. Um the car comes in two battery sizes. Uh this one is a 52 kWh. It gives you a realistic range of around 250 maybe 260 miles on one charge very easily. The slightly cheaper model has a 40 kWh battery which gives it’s going to give you around I think 180 to 200 mi range. It does naugh to 60 in about 9 seconds if you’re interested in that sort of thing. So it’s got 110 kWh motor and it’s got 245 Newton me of torque. And I mean, you know, it’s lively. Oh, it’s just told me there’s a lateral object detected, which was a car. Uh oh, strangely enough, it was a Tesla overtaking in a really aggressive manner. How unusual. That’s terrible. Yeah. One of the advantages of when you’re in the the Netherlands driving a a car with British plates on is they kind of know you’re a bit wobbly and you’re not going to be quite sure which route cuz some of the road junctions are confusing. But in this car, I thought, “Oh my god, it’s got Dutch plates. They’re going to think I’m just a terrible person, terrible Dutch person. But in fact, it’s got French plates, so the Dutch will always think that the French are the worst drivers in the universe, so they don’t mind. I was just weaving across the the highway just now cuz I didn’t wasn’t sure which turning it was. [Music] So, the thing I really like about this car is its size. It is a small, properly compact super mini. I love the fact that the wheels are spled right out to the corners. the lights really really different sort of big goggle eyes which is a kind of reference back to the original Nissan Micro of the 1980s. But overall the the look of it when when I first glanced at it from a distance when I first saw it at the hotel I thought that is very very like the Rena 5. So I don’t know how you would choose between the two. I mean they’re they’re both going to be really good cars mechanically. The the range, the reliability, the ease of use that’s going to be that’s identical. There’s no there’s nothing to choose from that. So, it’s then you have to choose in a sense the style uh the style of the car and whether you want to want a sort of funky style like the Rena 5 or a slightly more muted but I think still quite groovy little I like the lights. They’re cheeky. They’re loud and they’re very individual. You’re not going to confuse that with another car. You’re going to know what it is around the back. Very, very different, too. So, I think these lights are very different. I mean, they’re just they’re really weird. I think they’re weird, but I quite like them. And they’re nothing like the Renault 5 at all. Even though the actual trunk bit itself is is identical. 326 liters with the seats up. Much bigger with the seats down. I mean, considering how small the car is. Loads of room in there. That’s really great. That’s different to the Renault cuz that says Nissan. I mean, it is difficult. It is really difficult because it is exactly the same. I don’t know how. I’ve never really had to deal with this before because I feel obliged to Nissan cuz I think Nissan are amazing company. I feel obliged to say no, no, this is totally different to the Renault. It’s not at all like it. It is exactly the same except for one or two micro quirks. So, I think it’s fair to say that the interior of the Nissan Micro is a little more muted than the ginttastic interior of the Renault 5. And I I actually quite like it. This is going to be so much down to taste, to individual taste. Do you prefer a more muted, more simple design and and and uh materials, or do you want it all jazzy and groovy and and and and Renault like? I mean, this is actually quite nice. The seats really comfortable. A really interesting mixture of materials. I’m I mean, I’m assuming it’s not it’s going to be pleather. It’s going to be vegan leather and some some interesting cloth there. The the dash is simple. It’s not intrusive, you know. I quite like it. the actual layout of the of the screens and the steering wheel and all the buttons for the heating and cooling that is identical to the the Renault 5. I really do like the two screens. I’ve I’ve discovered from driving them that you do actually use both. I’m using this one right in front of me. This is speed and it’s also directions uh with the satnav. So that this works really well, but that but I’m kind of used to that. I’ve seen that already. But the the rest of it is is is is well ah there’s one thing that is a bit different and that’s this the phone charger that just works really well. I don’t know why but I’m finding this much easier now the the phone is charging. I’ve been wiggling it about on the Renault 5 one. It probably is me but I think the phone charger in the Nissan Micro is better than the phone charger in the Renault 5. The one last thing I want to say about the back. I haven’t got in the back of the Renault 5 we’ve got back in the UK. I haven’t got in the back here cuz it’s going to be really painful and difficult. It’s a little bit small. There’s no question about that. Two kids in the back, fine. But two adults in the back, pretty tight. You’d have to push these seats quite a long way forward to be comfortable in the back. [Music] So, it’s got really easy to set up uh Apple CarPlay and uh Android Auto Wireless. Works really well. used it in the Renault in the Renault 5. Used it in here. It’s peachy. That works really well. It’s got really good um uh adaptive cruise control. It’s got good lane keeping assistant that doesn’t annoy you. It just gently moves you to the center of the lane if you start to do a bit of wandering. Not that I ever would. Um and and it’s so that all that stuff is so beautifully easy to set up and to use. I mean, I can it’s on cruise control now. It’s just one touch of a button and it and it will stay at this speed. If you got one of these cars, you would learn how to use all of those pieces of equipment really early on, which I think is a big plus because I’ve been in cars where it has all that stuff and it’s really complicated. You’ve got to really spend half an hour looking at up things to see how it all bloody works. I’d say bloody. Other things that are really important, I think, and and differentiate these cars from earlier electric models, it’s got a heat pump. So much more efficient heating and cooling system. That makes a big difference. You turn on the heating in this car, you don’t see a sudden reduction in in range like you do with the original Nissan Leaf from 2011. Boy, does it make a big difference. So, those things have really improved in that 15-ear period. Uh uh it’s got vehicle to load, which now many electric vehicles have. That means you can you can run small electrical items from the battery. There’s sockets in the car that you can plug in. Just like you’d plug in a kettle in your kitchen, you can plug one in the car. But it also is it is capable of vehicleto grid um you know a higher energy delivery to grid or vehicle to home and I think that’s they they have announced that it’s it’s capable of that but they haven’t announced the details yet. [Music] I think to sum up this is a fantastically wellproven really good really well-made small electric car with a brilliant range. The prices it starts at about 22,000 before the UK government grant which is is eligible for 1,500 quid off to about 28,000 for the absolute topsp spec one with all the bells and trimmings. But basically what comes as standard is really really impressive. So it then depends on whether you think you can live with a 40 kWh battery or a 52 kWh battery. You’ve got plenty of range with both of them. So I’m really impressed with the car. We know its sister car very well. It it really depends then what you like about the looks of each different car. So that that’s as simple as that. What is uh I think brilliant though with Nissan is that they’ve made another step for finally I feel you know into the small into the super mini market and this is a great example of that. I’m really looking forward to seeing the new Nissan Leaf which comes out uh later this year. I’ll be driving it in an episode coming shortly on the show. Uh, and also, which I’ve only just found out last night, the new Nissan Leaf will be at the uh, Everything Electric live show at Farmra on the 11th and 12th of October, which is fantastic because uh, you know, that’s the one of the first times anyone in the UK is going to be seeing it in the metal as it were. Please do come along to the live show if you can by any chance. We’ve got the big Zap Peep challenge uh, tests going on, which will be insane, absolutely bonkers. Uh the tickets are still available. Not many. They’re actually going really fast. And tell your mates about this show. Please do subscribe if you haven’t already. And as always, if you have been, thank you for watching. Now visit electric vehicles.expert where you can follow everything electric and keep current with clean technica, the driven electric, and many more.
Robert heads to the Rotterdam docks to check out the all new electric Nissan Micra. It’s small, light, compact and affordable — everything you’d expect from a Micra, only this time it’s electric.
It shares a lot with the upcoming Renault 5 and the similarities are uncanny. So is it just the same car with a different badge or does the Micra bring something new to the table?
00:00 Generations of Nissan Micra
01:45 Nissan Leaf
02:00 Nissan EV Slate
03:30 Range
04:45 Design
06:40 Interior Design
08:40 Tech
09:35 Battery & V2G
10:30 Cost
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