<b>Car Review</b>: 2015 Nissan Versa Note SR | Driving |
| <b>Car Review</b>: 2015 Nissan Versa Note SR | Driving Posted: 07 Oct 2014 02:21 PM PDT Overview Subcompact is great for city driving and offers great value  The Nissan Versa Note SR is a sporty little runabout perfect for the urban commute or exploring the countryside. The cost of fuel shows no sign of lowering, so many consumers are looking to get behind the wheel of smaller and more fuel-efficient automobiles to help relieve some of the financial burden. Unfortunately, as you slide down the automotive food chain you usually find the need to forgo many of the features you enjoyed in your larger vehicle as the diminutive size of the typical subcompact or city car makes it difficult to accommodate many extras. Nissan has always recognized the importance of small cars in the Canadian marketplace, and the company has had tremendous success with their Versa lineup of subcompact sedans and five-door hatchbacks. When it came time for the Versa to get a redesign in 2013, the company decided to market the hatchback with its own unique identity, and the Versa Note was born. Also read: Here are the 11 most affordable cars sold in Canada There are three models of the stylish hatchback available, but the Versa Note SR is the sportiest of the bunch. The SR has been packaged to appeal to young, urban residents looking for a small car with a little more flash and curb appeal. Members of this target audience can be rather finicky, so the marketing and product planning teams at Nissan had their work cut out for them. The Versa Note has been designed with the wheels stretched out to the corners to both maximize interior volume and provide functional stability. The tall roofline and aerodynamic wedge shape make the car appear much larger inside and out, but it is the car's city-friendly dimensions that make it such a perfect fit for crowded urban environments.  The bold colour on our tester was called Red Brick, and it was a $135 option due to the fact that it is a metallic pearl paint. Unfortunately, most small cars feature slab-sided bodywork bereft of any real styling flair or sense of style. The Versa Note SR on the other hand, sports a body that has obviously been designed to cheat the wind and appeal to the eye. The lines are enhanced by a unique SR grille, side skirts and a rear spoiler. The look is both sporty and graceful, and the shapes of every vent, lamp unit and trim piece used on the car work well together. The spacious interior will accommodate five people in a pinch, but four adults will find no trouble getting comfortable in the tidy cabin as head, leg and shoulder room is abundant in all seating positions. The design is very modern and far more upmarket than that in most of its contemporaries.  All the important controls and switchgear are within easy reach of the driver, and the thick-rimmed 3-spoke steering wheel features a host of secondary controls. The gauge cluster, switch gear and controls are all placed within reach of even the smallest hands, and visibility is excellent in all regards. Seating is supportive and not too firm, and the upholstery appears to be very durable. High contrast orange stitching and a bold stripe help give the SR's seats a custom look that is very attractive. The Versa Note SR will accommodate 532.4 litres of cargo with the seats in place, and an impressive 1,084 litres when the rear seats are folded down. This is enough to accommodate large hockey bags or a small pack of dogs. The Versa Note SR features the same 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine under the hood as the other Versa models, but with 109 horsepower and 107 foot-pounds of torque it had more than enough scoot to keep me entertained.  Stylish 16-inch Sport painted alloy wheels are fitted with performance all-season tires. Unlike lesser models of this car, the Note SR is not available with a manual transmission. However, the driving experience revealed that this car has a relatively wide power band, and the Xtronic Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) helps guarantee that the driver will always have power readily on hand. I explored some back country roads as well as some rural highways in this car and never felt that the engine was overwhelmed. I was also really surprised to find that engine noise didn't seem to interrupt the serenity of the cabin, even during periods of hard acceleration. Nissan's engineers have done an excellent job of insulating the passenger cabin from outside noise. Handling is nimble and precise, as the Note SR's speed sensitive electric power steering helps give the driver the ability to point and squirt the car through traffic with ease. A tight turning circle and the fact that this car is small enough to park just about anywhere will help it gain a solid fan base with urban dwellers and commuters. The suspension adapted well to road irregularities and with the help of front and rear stabilizer bars, traction was maintained and the car responded very well. If you spend a large amount of your day on the road, then the last place you would want to be is behind the wheel of a stripped-down subcompact, so Nissan's product planners have made sure that the Versa Note SR is spacious enough to provide comfort, and equipped with enough features to keep you and your passengers entertained.  The compact gauge cluster relays lots of valuable information to the driver and proved easy to see day or night. The list of standard features on the SR is surprisingly long and includes many items that you usually have to spend big bucks for including a rear-view monitor, air conditioning, heated side mirrors with integrated turn signals, leather-wrapped steering wheel, and the innovative NissanConnect infotainment system. Safety enhancements include advanced ABS brakes with Electronic Brake Force Distribution and Brake Assist, Traction Control and Vehicle Stability Control. A full complement of advanced airbags is on-board to protect your human cargo. If you are in the market for a compact car with a little more style and a high level of creature comforts, you would be making a big mistake if you fail to take a close look at the Nissan Versa Note SR, as this car represents one of the best values in the marketplace. The Specs  |
| 2014 Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDI SE first drive <b>Review</b> | Autocar Posted: 14 Oct 2014 10:10 AM PDT What is it?This is the third generation of Skoda's Fabia supermini, arriving 15 years and 3.5 million sales after the first-generation version of the model. Although Europe's supermini segment – the second biggest market after the Golf class – continues to grow, it remains highly competitive. Low monthly purchase costs and running costs are all vitally important factors. The Fabia also arrives to face direct competition not only from its VW Polo sister car, but also from a cleverly revamped Vauxhall Corsa. The new Fabia is a hybrid creation, mixing an updated version if the previous Fabia's PQ26 platform and 'elements' of the new MQB architecture, which is used for the new Golf family. The base structure gets a redesigned engine bay and front subframe, and updated front and rear axles and suspension – which also give the car a wider track. The result is a car that is 8mm than its predecessor, at just under 4m long, but a significant 90mm wider and 31mm lower. The wheelbase is also a marginal 5mm longer. Overall, the Mk3 Fabia is an average 65kg lighter than second-generation car. Elbow room for the front passengers is up by a useful 21mm (though up by just 2mm in the rear) and the boot space is up to 330 litres, which Skoda claims to be 'significantly more' than competing models. With the rear seats down, there's a handy 1150 litres of load space. The biggest technical upgrade for the Fabia 3 is the adoption of VW's latest generation of engines and transmissions, all of which were designed for use in more upmarket models based on the MQB platform. There are four petrol engines starting with a 59bhp 1.0-litre to a 108bhp 1.2-litre TSI and a three-cylinder 1.4 diesel in 89bhp or 108bhp forms. If you want an automatic Fabia, which uses the seven-speed DSG 'box, your choice is either the 89bhp diesel or the 98bhp 1.2 petrol turbo. The 89bhp 1.4-litre TDI tested here offers a good compromise between real-world pace and being the most frugal unit offered in the Fabia. The CO2 rating of 88g/km and official EU combined economy figure of 83.1mpg are the kind of numbers that will appeal to cost-conscious new car buyers. You can buy this engine is the base Fabia 'S' mode, which is well equipped (its gets a DAB radio, Bluetooth, electrically adjustable and heated wing mirrors, remote locking, stop-start and electric front windows) but it lacks air-con. Spend another £1300 on the SE model and you'll get plenty of other kit, as well as air-con, including a smart leather three-spoke wheel, 15in alloys, a trip computer, 'mirror link' (which allows you smart phone screen to be duplicated on the radio's colour screen), upgraded 'surround sound' audio and 'front assist' auto braking. The upshot is a well-specced car, but a showroom price of £15,390. What is it like?This Fabia does not behave like a basic supermini. Driving the car around Lisbon in Portugal on roads that varied between immaculate EU motorways and broken rural lanes, the Fabia demonstrated a remarkable ability to swallow and smother raucous surfaces before they troubled the occupants. Whether it was sharp-edged traffic calming ridges or long-wave dips on the backroads, the Fabia's chassis managed to handle the two extremes exceptionally well, thanks to extremely well judged damping and spring rates. Tyre noise was also impressively well controlled. Better still the excellent body control is matched by fluid steering response making it possible to get this Fabia into a very satisfying quick-flowing rhythm on mountainous Portuguese roads. That it delivered such genuine ability and driving satisfaction was a most unexpected side to this urban car, but shows a significant return to form by Skoda's chassis team, after the brittle and unforgiving performance of the Rapid and Octavia at their respective launches. The Fabia was also impressive on the motorway, thanks to the low wind noise and generally refined gait. The diesel engine is not unpleasant to the ear under hard acceleration, with the distinctive thrum of a three-pot seemingly overriding the traditional diesel clatter. Mind you, this engine proved exceptionally 'tight' even with a few thousand miles under the camshaft and was very easy to stall, though a more closely-spaced six-speed manual 'box (with less of a jump between first and second) might have helped. As you might expect from a VW product, the shift and clutch action is smooth and the pedal weights well judged. This particular version of the new Fabia is intriguing. Brisk enough and refined with a very well judged chassis that offers both ease and ability if you turn the wick up. It is usefully practical car, though Skoda's much-touted 'simply clever' features are minor additions. The downside is that the Fabia is clearly no budget bargain and the styling – especially inside – arguably lacks the style and verve of, say, the new Vauxhall Corsa. Should I buy one?The new Skoda Fabia is undeniably impressively fluid, comfortable and refined, with excellent potential economy and decent pace. It is also well-specced in SE form, but no bargain. Significant upsides include the ride and ride refinement, which is impressive for a supermini; the three-cylinder diesel engine is also punchy and civilised and the car is unexpectedly enjoyable to drive on back roads. On the downside, the Fabia lacks the outright design flair of rivals, especially inside, and it is not significantly cheaper than Polo sister car – though it has some advantage in the kit list. If air-con is a requirement, the £13,390 1.2 TSI SE model might be the best value Fabia, even if it can't match the real-world performance of this 1.4 TDI model. Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDI 90PS SE Price £15,390; 0-62mph 11.1sec; Top speed 113mph; Economy: 83.1 (combined); CO2 88g/km; Kerb weight 1156kg; Engine 4cyls, 1422cc, turbocharged, diesel; Power 89bhp between 3000-3200rpm; Torque 169lbft between 1750-2500rpm; Gearbox Five-speed manual |
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