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Old 05-07-2014, 05:26 PM   #1 (permalink)
MetroMPG
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,513

Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro
Team Metro
Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US)

MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata
90 day: 52.71 mpg (US)

Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec
90 day: 70.75 mpg (US)

Appliance car - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 60.16 mpg (US)
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Playing car reviewer for a day, 2015 Nissan Micra: ecodriving results; Q&A.



The "starting at $9998" 2015 Micra has just become available in Canada, and the media introduction event is happening next week in Montreal.

I got an invitation from Nissan for a one-on-one overview of the car with their chief marketing guy, plus test drives (manual & automatic).

U.S. version? They keep saying "no", but...

The company on both sides of the border has repeatedly said it has no plans to offer the Micra on the warmer side of the 49th. (Which does not explain why a partly-camoflauged Micra has been spotted twice this year -- once with instrumentation attached to its wheel hubs -- testing in California.)

My wild guess is they're testing the 1.2L, 3-cylinder drivetrain (supercharged) for U.S. certification. But what do I know?

MPG ratings / Ecodriving abilities

EcoModders might be disappointed by the car's official fuel economy ratings: 27/36/31 mpg US for the 5MT, or 8.6/6.6/7.7 L/100 km. But what about the real world numbers?

Keep in mind Nissan is not marketing this car as an efficiency machine - despite its small size, its mission not best fuel economy. They're marketing it as a fun, affordable car.

That's because it's got the same 1.6 L, 109 hp drivetrain as the Versa Note/sedan (except the automatic is a 4AT instead of CVT), which means esentially the same fuel consumption as those larger cars. In the "city car" class, that means it's above average for power to weight, but below average for MPG. (Possibly only the Mini is thirstier in the small car class).

Despite its ratings, I suspect the real world numbers will be better. I'll be practising basic ecodriving during my test drives to see what kind of numbers it can deliver.

Ecodriving UPDATE: decent ecodriving results in post #17, further down this thread, or read my full writeup on Micra-Forum, here:

Anything else you want to know?

Post below and I'll put it on my list to find out.

I don't pretend (or aspire) to be a car reviewer, but I'm looking forward to this!

Update: Micra for a week

July 2014: Nissan has loaned me a top spec Micra for a week. See thread: Micra notes, impressions, fuel economy info & photos.

Update #2: driving the "$9998" base trim Micra

June 2015: I also got a chance to try the $10k car. See: http://micra-forum.com/showthread.ph...rin-s-thoughts

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Project MPGiata! Mods for getting 50+ MPG from a 1990 Miata
Honda mods: Ecomodding my $800 Honda Fit 5-speed beater
Mitsu mods: 70 MPG in my ecomodded, dirt cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage.
Ecodriving test: Manual vs. automatic transmission MPG showdown



EcoModder
has launched a forum for the efficient new Mitsubishi Mirage
www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners
www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget
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