Written by: Jan Tuček

The new Nissan Micra, which has been on sale on the Czech market since March, is marked by its rounded lines and smiling front end.

JUST 3.7 METERS LONG but 1.54 meters tall, this car offers a surprisingly spacious, well-lighted interior, and the customer can choose between three-door and five-door models. The Micra is modern in concept, with a transverse-mounted engine up front and front-wheel drive, and its chassis platform is the combined work of Nissan and Renault. All models come standard with ABS anti-block equipment and power brakes with EBD electronic braking distribution, and have adaptable, power-assisted handling features.

Drive-trains begin with a four-cylinder 1.0-liter, 65 hp (48 kW) gasoline engine, which is installed only in the basic Visia model, which can also be driven by a larger, 1.2-l, 80 hp (59 kW) gasoline engine, and only the five-door version comes with the economical 1.5-l, 65 hp (48 kW) Common Rail turbodiesel, which powers the Micra up to 155 km/h while burning on average just 4.6 liters of diesel fuel per 100 km. The more richly equipped Tekna models come only in the five-door version with 1.2-l and 1.4-l, 80 and 88 hp (59 kW and 65 kW) gasoline engines. All models come with five-speed manual transmissions, and for a CZK 40,000 surcharge the Visia 1.2 and Tekna 1.4 models can include four-speed automatic transmissions. The Visia 1.0 model sells for CZK 282,000, the five-door Visia 1.2 costs CZK 324,000 (or CZK 369,000 with a 1.5 dCi turbodiesel engine). The luxury five-door Tekna 1.2 and 1.4 models cost CZK 394,000 and CZK 409,000 respectively.