Review: The audacious new 2019 Nissan Micra Acenta Plus Tech
Review: The audacious new 2019 Nissan Micra Acenta Plus Tech
By Farzana Chaumoo
Nissan South Africa added a fourth variant to its Micra range. Let’s take a look at the Micra Acenta Plus Tech model.
Styling
A car made for those who never miss an update on Instagram. When I stepped outside to take delivery of my Nissan Micra test car, I was more than chuffed to take the keys to this after seeing it. An older Micra could not have had more perfect timing than to pull in to a parking bay next to mine. I took a long hard look at these two cars and how far the design and styling of the Micra have come. Since its extensive update, it’s now a very desirable and sporty looking vehicle, especially this Acenta Plus Tech model I received.
It stood in the parking lot with prominent 17-inch alloy wheels and in the Echo Grey colour. As I got closer, the striking bi-tone black and orange interior immediately stood out. The Acenta Plus comes standard with the Energy Orange pack. The cabin also features a leather steering wheel as well as a leather shift lever and leather hand brake which is very nice, soft, touch considering it’s one of the places where your hands go most often. The D-shape steering wheel is thick and allows for a good grip whereas the gear lever is also chunky and sporty looking.
Additionally, it was also packed with features that include daytime running lights, front power windows, a manual aircon, cruise control, automatic headlights, six airbags and much more.
In case you don’t find the Acenta Plus Tech sporty enough, Nissan offers an extensive list of accessories for you to personalize the car.
The Drive & Performance
This Micra is powered by a 0,9-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine that puts out 66kW and 140 Nm of torque. The engine has been paired to a five-speed manual gearbox.
Ride quality in this model is excellent. Cornering is also effortless, the Acenta Plus Tech handles beautifully through corners and doesn’t feel unsettled at all. This is due to Nissan’s Intelligent Trace Control system which adjusts the brake pressure on individual wheels to help keep you on an optimal line through turns. This has been combined with the Intelligent Ride Control system, which applies subtle braking to prevent unpleasant upper body motion over bumps and enhance the overall comfort of your ride.
Despite the great drive, I found a big discrepancy with the Cruise Control system in what I set the speed to, to the speed it would display the car was doing. From the speed I set, the car would display that it was moving between 3-7 kilometres more than the set speed. I tested this many times and this discrepancy was there every time. “Sorry Officer, I set my car to the speed limit, but it decided it wants to go faster.” Tell me, who’s going to believe that story? But no it really does want to go faster it seems.
Space, Comfort & Convenience
The one gripe I have about the interior of this car is the visor. In combination with the height of the seat and the size of the windows, the visor is just too big and can partly block some of your forward vision. This becomes an even bigger problem for tall drivers as opposed to shorter ones.
The Micra Acenta Plus Tech model features Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility via its 7-inch touchscreen and has a dedicated “Siri” button on the steering wheel. This will come handy when you need to mirror your navigation apps or for music streaming.
Seats are comfortable and are said to be “anti-fatigue seats”. There is sufficient shoulder space, head room and leg room for adults all around the cabin, even tall passengers will feel comfortable enough.
The boot offers a sizeable 300 litres of space which expands to 1004 litres when the seats are folded down. Rear seats do a 60:40 split allowing for the transportation of long items while still having a passenger or two in the rear.
Cup holders are conveniently located in the center console. For storage, a 1.5-litre bottle will fit in the door pockets while the bucket-type cubby accommodates for 10 litres or a 2.0-litre bottle.
Safety
This Micra model excels in the safety department and benefits from a host of smart safety and security systems. These include:
- Rear parking sensors
- Rain-sensing wipers
- Auto-folding side-mirrors
- An electro-chromatic rear-view mirror
- Nissan Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC)
- ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) with EBD (Electronic Brake-force Distribution)
- Seatbelts in the car have the points with ELR + Double Pre Tensioner + Adaptive Load Limiter + Height Adjust
- Six airbags
- Hill start assist
- The Nissan Intelligent Mobility technology package: includes an around view monitor that gives you a virtual 360-degree bird’s-eye view of your car, moving object detection, Blind Spot Warning and Intelligent Forward Emergency Braking
Fuel Consumption
The Nissan Micra Acenta Plus Tech has a claimed fuel consumption of 5.1l/100km on a combined cycle and a fuel tank capacity on 41 litres. Depending on your driving style, the routes you travel and the traffic you encounter, this figure is always more under real-world conditions.
Price
Nissan Micra Acenta Plus Tech – R299,900.00
As with all other Nissan vehicles, the Nissan Micra is covered by Nissan Assured and comes with a 6-year/150,000km Warranty; a 3-year/90,000km Service Plan; and 24/7 Roadside Assistance.
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