Photo Gallery:
2015 Nissan Micra
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
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What we have this week is most certainly not a sports car, sports sedan or luxury offering. It has no manual transmission (although it does come standard with one) and it isn’t pushing 250+ horsepower through the rear wheels. No, this week we have what most would call reliable inexpensive transportation to get us from A to B as cheaply as possible. The all-new 2015 Nissan Micra is vying for your hard-earned dollars with just those promises, and with a starting price tag of just $9,998 it certainly looks the part.
Of course I’m not driving the elusive $10,000 car this week – my tester is an SR version of the Micra which has a base starting price of $15,748 and added to it is an automatic transmission for $1,000 — to be fair most buyers are going to option the automatic anyways, but what we have here is nearly $20,000 once you factor in freight and taxes.
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When I first saw the price of this car, before even seeing the car or driving it, I thought I would be lambasting this little runabout. At nearly $20,000 it better be a good car, since I expected this car to be a $10,000 car the all-in sticker was a little bit of a shock. But after just a few short minutes in the car I already warmed up to it and despite the high price tag for a small car it checks a lot of boxes.
The SR version of this car comes with Bluetooth, steering wheel audio controls, cruise control, air conditioning, driver’s armrest, USB connectivity, back-up camera, fog lights, 16-inch aluminum alloy wheels, power windows and mirrors, keyless entry and more. It actually comes with more things than I’d ever expect from a car in this category — the SV model includes most of the goodies one would want in a small car, but SR just adds a little bling — the price difference is $2,000, which is a lot in this snack bracket so I expect the SV to be the big seller.
It’s obvious Nissan packages the Micra to hit that $9,998 mark but unfortunately I don’t think there will be many $9,998 cars seen on the roads. The packaging is a little sneaky if you ask me, in SV and SR trim the automatic transmission is a $1,000 add-on, but on the S trim it is $3,300 packaged with cruise control and air conditioning as well. There is something to be said for marketing, that’s for sure. So how good is this car at $18,000 and change? That’s what I’ll try to determine this week.
Pricing: 2015 Nissan Micra SR
Base price (SR): $15,748
Options: Automatic Transmission — $1000
A/C tax: $100
Destination: $1.400
Price as tested: $18,248
Competitors:
Chevrolet Spark
Fiat 500
Ford Fiesta
Honda Fit
Mazda2
Mitsubishi Mirage
Scion iQ
Scion xD
Smart ForTwo
Toyota Yaris
