If you're looking through your choices amongst the scant few micro-compacts on the market this year, you're not going to find many, but one you will find is the all-new Nissan Versa. It's a little car, and when I say that, I'm not kidding. It packs a gaggle of bigger car options, and at the price point, you might just consider the bigger cousins even if you're in the city, or trying to stretch your dollar.
Nissan has faced the same problem as every car maker in recent years, that of striking the balance between in-city and suburban desires, economy versus comfort, and mega-big compared to teeny-tiny. The Nissan Versa is indeed everything it promises, in that at the very least it's a small car, ideal for metropolitan parking and what not, but likewise, it's exactly what it promises at the very most; a very small car at a price comparable to bigger cars.
The get-up-and-go is fair to good, but I'm stuck comparing it to it's nearest sibling, the Nissan Sentra, which is bigger and more comfortable, and still boasts the luxury of the mirror-identical 28/35 EPA MPG. It corners like a dream, handles like a charm and parks like nobody's business, but all of that is secondary if you don't have room enough for the things that matter most. In my case, I have three children, and though my mini-micro Nissan Pathfinder from 1987 still fits car seats in the second row three across (literally, all three of them,) the Nissan Versa was hard-pressed to handle two, even with gap between them for a gallon of milk, and forget about trying to cram a human being in there.
The comforts were fair to good, such as the pseudo-suede accoutrement that lined the cabin. For fake leather, they were great, but I can't even venture the first guess as to how they'll weather over time.
I could go on about the fair-to-midlands for days, but the bottom line is that the car feels like an abject entry into an introductory class that Nissan no longer wishes to subscribe to. Once you factor in the minimum requirements of consumers and legislators, I just don't see there being much money left to haggle over the bottom line, and this car, though nice enough for sure, ends up feeling like a forced attempt at super-economy in a world that just can't afford it.
With a sticker price of around $14,000, you're better off stepping up to the Nissan Sentra, which retails at a mere $1,000 more, but affords a lot more space, equally as much more comfort, and precludes the driver from the perpetual feeling that they are about to be driven over by just about everything else on the road.
Nissan makes a great car, don't get me wrong, but for an extra $20 a month to the payment, you really should think seriously about the Sentra instead, unless your only concern is cramming yourself into that odd, little parking space just in front of the meter. For the biggest, most crowded cities, this is a great car, but this ain't Tokyo, and for the price, you owe it to yourself to step up to a more serious car, especially considering it's going to be damn near the same price, pull the same fuel economy, weather the same lifespan and look arguably half as embarrassing at the valet.
