As much as I love having a giant vehicle around me in this city of crazy drivers, the price of gas and the price of cars does not make that very realistic for me. Therefore it is great to find smaller cars that still fit a family and their life that are easier on the wallet and FUN too.
Welcome to the 2014 Nissan Versa Note.
Our review model was in a lovely blue bottle colour. The interior feels very wide open for the size of the vehicle. There is plenty of headroom and after a bit of adjustment (no auto adjust on ours) with the seat, I managed to find the perfect position that didn’t have my big legs banging into the steering column. The windows are all big and there is very little when it comes to blind spots.
What makes this car family friendly, apart from fitting all three kids and a car seat, it is also a nice hatchback with lots of room for groceries, school bags and a step stool that we picked up on a shopping trip. The back also has the convenient sixty/forty split for extra space, not to mention storage underneath.
I don’t think the Versa liked my lead foot. I always felt that it was trying to catch up to me when it came to the automatic gear shift. However that is what happens when you go from 6 cylinders to the 4 that the Versa Note has. That said, it is very zippy and extremely easy to drive on the free way and in the city. I felt I could nip in and out of the traffic without pissing anyone off too much. This responsiveness is partly due to their ‘Vehicle Dynamic Control’ and ‘Traction Control Systems.’ The safety does not end there. Not only is there the driver and front passenger airbags with weight sensors, but also roof mounted side curtain impact bags too.
Along with the distinctive lack of blind spots, the standard model has really nice back up camera and sensors. You can upgrade to more of the products under the umbrella of their Nissan Safety Shield, which includes 360 cameras and much more.
This is a very economical vehicle that doesn’t necessarily feel like it. Add the $19,000 price tag to a 6.1 litre per 100 km of gas for city driving can certainly help your wallet. It might not have an amazingly glamorous interior, but it has what you need in all the right places and can get you where you want to be in a fun an zippy manner.
[…] if you are putting in baby seats. The cargo is not huge either. Not compared to the Versa Note. However it is ample for a good grocery run and the fact that the rear seats do the helpful 60/40 […]