I'm driving a 2015 Nissan Micra for a week... observations & fuel economy results

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Phil, I actually asked about this, and the answer is "not officially".

Yet it certainly has enough power to do light duty towing, in my non-expert opinion.

Unfortunately, because there's no American version of the car (yet?), there's probably not enough demand to justify aftermarket development of receivers. So Canadians may be hard pressed to set their Micras up for towing duty.

Thanks Darin,
since so many vehicles are financed,I didn't know if a warranty could be rendered null and void if a dealer discovered an owner operating the car outside its published 'envelope',say,during routine scheduled maintenance visit.

[MetroMPG]

I won't lie: the 4-speed automatic is still driving me nuts.

Ironically, two of the Micra's closest competitors (Chevy Spark and Mitsubishi Mirage) use more efficient CVT's sourced from Nissan/JATCO. GM just switched from a 4AT to the CVT for the current model year and saw a big bump in fuel economy as a result.

Nissan says they're using the 4-speed to keep costs down. Unfortunately that means automatic buyers save a few bucks up front, but pay more in the long run through higher fuel consumption.

It's pleasant enough to drive -- shifts are imperceptible under light to moderate throttle. And car reviewers like stepped transmissions more than CVT's.

Fuel economy features

At least the torque converter locks up in 3rd and 4th gears.

And it's got pretty aggressive DFCO. Release the throttle in 3rd or 4th and it instantly cuts fuel. It will even downshift from 4th to 3rd during fuel cut deceleration. That's a neat trick - can't do that in a manual without burning a bit of fuel while you change gears.

This style of DFCO will probably benefit "average" drivers who tend to do very little coasting. Binary driving: either accelerating/cruising or braking.

But I have sometimes found myself going to N to get much longer coasts, even though the engine is idling. If I had the car for a longer time, I'd do some comparisons to confirm that's a good strategy.

Also, it can get very slightly herky-jerky when you're cruising at very light throttle, as it will trip into DFCO, then back out again if you're near that threshold.

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Currently sitting at 5.2 L/100 km (45 mpg US) indicated after ~400 km. Subject to calibration. The proportion of sub/ex/urban driving is rising. Again, this is with basic ecodriving. Nothing my mother wouldn't do.

[jcp123]

I'd like to know why we don't get this car. Looks waaaay better than the Versa Hatch. Yeah yeah, I get the "Americans prefer sedans" thing, though that's not true all over.

How is the ride/how are the seats? Interior usability? Build quality? Value for the $? Very curious. It's a really nicely styled little car.

[MetroMPG]

Well, you're not alone. Autoweek ran a poll on its website, and ...

A substantial majority of our readers, 77 percent, voted that they would be interested in buying the $9,100 Micra if it was sold in America

From: Poll: Would you buy a Hyundai i20? | Autoweek

[MetroMPG]

I returned the Micra having covered 940 km (584 mi.) and burned 50.8 L, which works out to...

• 5.4 L/100 km = 43.6 mpg (US) = 52.3 mpg (Imp.) Fill-up method: slow 3-clicks.

Remember, this is the automatic, rated at ...

• City: 8.8 L/100 km city / 26.7 MPG (US)
• Highway: 6.6 / 36
• Combined: 7.8 / 30.2

44% over the combined rating isn't bad.


Driving style...

This was using conservative eco-driving, not hard core hypermiling, mostly because I wanted to demonstrate what a "regular" driver could reasonably expect to get by changing a few habits. Most regular drivers already see driving just at the speed limit as "extreme"!

Speed: The majority of my driving was fuel-friendly cruising on secondary highways at or very close to the speed limit (~80 km/h = ~50 mph), plus about 120 km of freeway (@ ~100 km/h / ~62 mph). Urban/suburban/ex-urban driving probably made up about 200 km.

Very few short trips: by "short" I mean less than a couple of km.

Little A/C use: it wasn't very hot this week, so I only turned the air conditioning on to try it out for a few minutes -- most of the time I had windows down in town and the right two cracked open a little bit when on the highway.

Eco-driving: things like...

• never idling for more than a few seconds,
• moderate acceleration, aiming to get the torque converter to lock early in 3rd & 4th gears,
• minimizing brake use (letting off the gas early to coast as much as practical toward slowdowns/stops/turns, depending on traffic),
• reading conditions ahead to keep from wasting momentum by rushing into avoidable slowdowns, eg. choosing the lane with the best "flow", timing traffic lights, etc.,
• sticking to the speed limit (or very close to it),
• turning off the engine at long stops (when safe)

Owners' fuel economy reports

• 5.3 LHK / 44 mpg (US) ... 5-spd ... 7 fill-ups ... "not trying"
• 5.5 LHK / 43 mpg (US) ... 5-spd ... "I am a turtle"
• 6.0 LHK / 39 mpg (US) ... 5-spd ... "liberal acceleration, mixed driving"
• 6.4 LHK / 38 mpg (US) ... 5-spd ... "rush hour Toronto commuting"
• 6.5 LHK / 36 mpg (US) ... 5-spd ... 13 fill-ups ... "right foot can be a little heavy"
• see: thread with more details

Factory trip computer:


4.8 = 49 mpg US. That was my first ~120 km in the Micra ... mostly secondary highway cruising at the 80 km/h / ~50 mph limit.

All Micras come equipped with a factory trip computer that includes a resettable fuel economy display (average) and instant display as well.

Calibrated against my 940 km and 2 fill-ups of mixed driving, the gauge in the car was optimistic by ~4.5%. Not too horrible.

I think it's awesome that entry level cars like the Micra and Mitsu Mirage have factory gauges, even on the base model. It used to be that only fancy (gas guzzing) cars had gauges and the economy cars got zilch. Irony!


Overall:

Nice little car to drive, and fuel economy isn't bad for an old school 4-speed automatic.

The Micra's tighter handling/steering make it FAR more enjoyable to drive than the Mirage. Though personally I prefer a 3-banger -- more character & better efficiency.

I wish Nissan offered the more efficient 1.2L 3-cylinder (n.a. or supercharged) that is available elsewhere. Also, CVT instead of 4AT, or at least the option of 5MT, 4AT or CVT as is done with the Versa sedan in the U.S.

Also, it could benefit from a weight-loss program: 2363 lbs for this loaded 4AT compared to just 1973 lbs for the base manual Mirage I drove last month. 400 pounds difference! The Mirage also has a lower Cd (0.28 vs. 0.32), though Nissan could close that gap easily if they wanted to.

Naturally, I'd pick the manual Micra over the AT. It's worth 10-20% better fuel economy than the automatic (despite their nearly identical ratings). And that's 10-20% better with basic eco-driving techniques; if you throw the whole bag of hypermiling tricks at it, there's much more where that came from!

And the car has some ecomodding potential as well. Very few factory aero mods on this one.

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Update: I also got to spend time with a base "$9998" Micra.

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[gone-ot]

When there aren't many "...low hanging fruit..." under the tree, it's time to consider a different tree.