What’s new?
If you live in a big metro and drive yourself around daily, you will have no doubt found yourself stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic at some stage. With the situation ever worsening, more people are willing to spend extra for the convenience of an automatic gearbox. This trend is slowly but surely filtering down to hatchbacks as well, and that’s because these cars are predominantly owner-driven.
Honda’s Brio has been the favourite in the hatchback segment, and it’s easy to see why. It’s stylish, easy to drive, has a strong, fuel-efficient engine and a practical, well-appointed cabin too.
Nissan’s new Micra auto, however, has the technology, at least on paper, to upstage it. It comes with Nissan’s high-tech X-Tronic Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) under the hood, which promises to deliver the fuel efficiency of a manual gearbox. It now also gets a new, more aggressive nose, an attractive chrome grille, new pulled-back headlamps, and a deeper, more aggressive chin. There are also new alloy wheels, LED tail-lamps, a new rear bumper and a plastic add-on for the tailgate lip. But does the Nissan do enough to upstage the very capable Honda Brio? Continued..
