New Micra is attractively designed

Nissan launches premium Micra

Micra is now available with premium features, including automatic transmission. There is also an economy model: Micra Active.

Though the name continues  to be the same it is like launch of a new car. Nissan Motor India has just launched a new Micra, so much different from the outgoing Micra that it could easily be called by some other name. Instead of one, Nissan now will have two categories of Micra – one for the entry level, value for money car buyers and the other a premium hatchback loaded with lots of new technology. Let’s first take a look at the premium Micra which Nissan simply calls New Micra.

This car is based on Micra’s fourth generation city car (Micra globally is a 30 year old brand) with major redesigned exteriors, refreshed premium interiors and a list of advanced user friendly features. This new model was recently launched in the UK and in Thailand.

New look

The first thing that strikes you is the complete departure in the exterior design from the old Micra’s bulging eyes look. New Micra makes an aggressive statement with the redesigned front and rear. The overall length of the car has increased by 45mm to 3825mm. The car now gets a sculpted bonnet and front bumper with V-shaped chrome grille. Front fog lamps with a thick chrome finish add to the premium appeal. The rear too gets a redesigned bumper with a bright LED tail lamps as well as high mounted LED stop lamp. The high-end variants also have diamond shape 8-spoke alloy wheels. On the whole, New MIcra looks classy and yet sporty.

 The upgrades continue to the interiors, which gets an all-new centre console with piano black finish and silver accents for a premium feel. The cabin is more spacious cabin with better legroom and headroom to comfortably accommodate five adults. The driver’s seat is a six-way manually adjustable and all seats have premium upholstery. The other features include 2-din music system with USB and AUX capability, steering mounted controls, rear view camera and Bluetooth connectivity.

Engine options with new technology

Under the hood, new Micra comes with two engine variants 1.2 litre petrol and 1.5 litre diesel. The petrol engine has a maximum power of 76 PS @ 6000 rpm and a max torque of 104Nm @ 4000 rpm. Micra now also boasts of a automatic transmission, not a very common offering in compact hatchback. The car comes with a segment leading Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) gearbox for better fuel efficiency and smooth city driving experience, the company claimed.

The key benefits CVT is smooth acceleration and no shift shock unlike conventional automatic transmissions. It also comes with a button (sports mode) that can be pressed for more power and quick acceleration, a very useful option in overtaking speeding vehicles on the highway. The company claims that thanks to CVT technology this automatic variant has a high fuel efficiency of 19.34 kmpl as per ARAI rated, higher than manual and conventional automatic gearbox equipped cars.

The company claimed that under the ideal test conditions the fuel efficiency of the 1.2-litre petrol engine has improved to 18.44kmpl (ARAI certified) due to performance tuning. The fuel efficiency of 1.5 litre diesel variant is 23.08 kmpl (ARAI certified). The diesel engine, it is the same used in phased out Micra, is slightly underpowered at 64 PS of max power @ 4000 rpm but having a good torque of 160 Nm at 2000 rpm. The company has kept the option open for a 90 PS diesel engine in future.

The starting prices (ex-showroom Delhi) of new Micra are as follows: Petrol Rs 4.88 lakh, Petrol with CVT: Rs 6.50 lakh and Diesel: Rs 6.10 lakh.

Micra Active

While the premium Micra will certainly appeal to feature-loving, tech-savvy buyers, for the ‘value for money’ segment Nissan has ‘Micra Active’ in petrol whose price starts at Rs 3.56 lakh (ex-showroom). The company claims it is a hatchback for customers seeking an economical car without compromising on quality, fuel efficiency, styling and spacious interiors. Micra Active too has slightly sporty exterior design and roomy interiors. Micra Active is powered by the 1.2-litre petrol engine developing 68PS power at 5000rpm and 104Nm torque at 4000rpm. The company has reduced the overall weight by 30 kg compared to earlier Micra and the weight reduction contributed for better fuel efficiency of 19.49 kmpl, it was claimed. 

The writer is a freelance auto writer writing test drive reports on cars and SUVs for the last 11 years. He can be reached on dilipmaitra@gmail.com

A sporty car from Ford

EcoSport: an urban SUV with a new-tech engine.

Driving Ford India's new car EcoSport from Goa to Bangalore was a grand experience. 

The ideal road conditions for test driving a car or a SUV is a combination of narrow, winding hilly roads sprinkled with bumps and potholes of different sizes, and wide highways with airport runway like surface. A 600 km drive from Goa to Bangalore via Hubli offers this ideal condition in plenty. When Ford India offered me its new vehicle EcoSport to drive from Goa to Bangalore, I just grabbed the opportunity as I knew it would be a thrilling drive through the hilly terrain and jungles (more so because of the incessant rains and mist) from Goa to Hubli (186 km) and then on the fantastic super-smooth highway from Hubli to Bangalore (415 km).  

As Indian car buyers are getting more enthusiastic on cross-country driving and increasingly taking fancy in vehicles that are a crossover between a car and a sports utility vehicle (SUV), more car companies are launching such cars. Ford's EcoSport (the company calls it a urban utility vehicle) has thus joined a growing list of Renault's Duster, Maruti's Ertiga, GM's Enjoy, Honda's CRV, Toyota's Innova, etc. The EcoSport comes with three engine options: 1.5 litre diesel, 1.5 litre petrol and 1 litre Ecoboost petrol engine. I drove the last one, a technological sensation for a SUV fitted with a small one litre engine.

With EcoSport Ford has brought its globally acclaimed EcoBoost technology to India. This three-cylinder, 1 litre small engine (Ford claims it is so small that it can be stowed in the overhead baggage space in a jet plane) delivers power and performance of a traditional 1.6-litre engine but with an improvement in fuel economy by up to 20 percent. The EcoBoost engine produces 125 PS of power and peak torque of 170 Nm from 1,400 to 4,500 rpm and the company claims superior 18.9 km/L mileage under the ideal road conditions. But I got an average 16km/L mileage from my Goa Bangalore drive which included almost 200 km of hill drive on bad roads where the average dropped significantly.

Engine technology
The beauty of this EcoBoost engine is that it is a one litre engine (same capacity as 1 litre K10 engine in Maruti Alto) that produces power of a 1.6 litre engine. This direct injection EcoBoost engine is fitted with a responsive turbocharger that delivers extra power quickly when the throttle is open from low rpm. Unlike in diesel engines where a turbocharger kicks in at around 1700 rpm, in this EcoBoost engine the turbocharger gets activated at a slightly higher speed and higher rpm. Though the engine’s peak torque is 170 Nm it is available over a wide range of 1,400-4,500 rpm which is more than enough for drivers to pull away and overtake.

In simple language this means that though the engine is small it provides extra power through a turbocharger and to get the best power output and mileage one should accelerate slowly and should not expect a sudden thrust of power like a sports car. Ford’s engineers have also used unique cast iron block that warms up the engine quicker than a conventional aluminium block, cutting the amount of “warm-up” energy required by 50 percent and increasing fuel economy.

Positioning of the car
Priced at Rs 7.90 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) the EcoSport -  EcoBoost will not be cheap. Ford has positioned it as an urban sport utility vehicle that has the seating capacity of a car (2+3), combines the agility, affordability and fuel efficiency of a compact car with the driving versatility of an SUV. The car is aimed at young male professional having an active lifestyle that has him driving in all types of city roads and frequent out-of-town breaks. Ford expects the EcoSport being modern (it is technologically feature rich), premium and sporty, it will certainly appeal to urban buyers with modern lifestyle. The car being compact, it is sub four metre, and with a small turning radius (5.3 metre), is easy to manoeuvre in city. 

While its ruggedness in handling bad roads, wide tyres and electronic power steering with pull drift compensation technology makes it suitable for high-speed highway driving. But from my driving experience on the hill roads I must caution that one should not do sharp cornering at high speed as the suspensions are a bit stiff (for extracting longer life on bad Indian roads) and the car has a tendency to drift sideways, specially on wet surface. Good news is that EcoSport’s high ground clearance of 200 mm also means users  won’t have to go dead slow over high speed bumps and potholes. The company claims the car can wade through 550 mm of water, so drivers can confidently drive through large pools of water, especially during the monsoon season.

More engine options
The Ford EcoSport is also be available with a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine (price starts at Rs 5.69 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi), which delivers peak power of 112 PS at 6,300 rpm and peak torque of 140 Nm at 4,400 rpm. This petrol engine features the twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT) technology, which allows extremely precise, variable control of “valve overlap” – the window of time in which both the intake and exhaust vanes in an engine are open at the same time. By adjusting overlap continuously, the engine can operate at optimum settings for peak fuel economy or power output as conditions demand. Ford claims this engine offers 15.8 km mileage under ideal test conditions.

Another benefit of this technology is a broadened torque curve. The Ti-VCT strategy allows the intake valve to be advanced, so instant power is delivered when the customer demands it at low speeds. At high speeds, the intake cam is retarded and higher airflows are available. For the driver, this means improved low-speed torque and increased fuel economy.

For Indian customers who prefer diesel cars as the fuel is much cheaper than petrol, Ford has brought the 1.5-litre TDCi intercooled and turbocharged diesel engine in EcoSport (price starts at Rs: 6.69 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi). With power rated at 91 PS at 3,750 rpm, the engine also delivers a high 204 Nm of torque from 2,000 rpm to 2,750 rpm. The result is strong acceleration from standstill together with the flexibility that can reduce the need for gearshifts. But the turbo charger being fixed-geometry, it flattens out at higher rpm. The engine uses Bosch’s high pressure fuel-injection system (common rail direct injection) to give the car a superior performance, higher fuel economy, lower emissions and low noise and vibration. The company claimed a fuel economy of 22.7km for this option. There is an automatic transmission option also available in petrol.

Feature rich
The EcoBoost model of EcoSport is also loaded with many intelligent driver-assist features. The blue LED display tells you the average mileage on a real time basis to help improve driving habits. It also gives information on average speed of driving over a journey, average mileage and distance to empty (indicating the distance one can cover before filling up).  

It also has voice-activated in-car connectivity system co-developed with Microsoft, enabling drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel while choosing their favourite music and making phone calls using voice commands. The cabin also has 20 practical storage spaces, including a glove box that can keep up to six beverage cans cool. Its boot space is 346 litre, enough for a small family outing and the rear seats can be reclined in select models for greater comfort or easily folded down for additional cargo space. When the rear seats are folded the boot space increases to 705 litres. The rear seats can be split 60:40 to transport long objects. The car has Smart Keyless Entry, customers no longer need their key to start the engine.

Safety and driver assistance
The car also has been designed to provide high levels of protection and driver support through a range of advanced features. About half of the urban SUV’s body structure is made up of high-strength steel and ultra-high-strength steel. The SUV’s array of airbags provides additional safety. It also comes with an array of driver-assist systems. Hill Launch Assist helps drivers make a perfect hill start whether it’s uphill or downhill, by holding the SUV for up to three seconds. This prevents the vehicle from rolling backwards or forwards while moving off from the slope. The car also has anti-lock braking system and Electronic Stability Program (ESP) available in the higher-priced models.

Technical specifications of EcoSport

Length (mm)	3999
Width (mm)	1765
Height (mm)	1708
Wheel base (mm)	2520
Ground clearance (mm)	200
Turning radius (m)	5.3
Fuel Tank (L)	52
Engine: (1.5 L/ Diesel)	Power: 91PS, Torque: 204Nm
Engine(1.0 L/ Petrol-EcoBoost)	Power: 125PS, Toeque: 170Nm
Engine: (1.5 L/Petrol)	Power: 112PS, Torque 140NM

 

The writer is a business journalist and a freelance writer writing test drive reports on cars / SUVs for the last 10 years. Can be contacted on dilipmaitra@gmail.com. (Any unauthorised copy and reproduction of images are prohibited. Please write for permission.)