Time for another of my road tests and critiques of a car on the US market. I had to take a trip out of town for work and my employer only allows me to rent up to an "intermediate" car. What does that mean? Well, it means I was not stuck in a Chevy Spark (AKA Chevy Speck) or anything similar but neither could I have a Cruze, Altima or Fusion. But first, a word on renting cars in Vegas.

I had to wait a good while at the rental place because a new manager was there "sorting the place out". Some strange games were being played, apparently. Looked like cars were being rented in one name but driven by lots of other folks. Probably they were rented as pool cars for the local drug dealers and pimps. Anyway, to reward my patience the nice lady was going to upgrade me for free, but then I saw the car, an Impala LTZ.

"That got OnStar?"

"Yessir!"

"Can't take it. The places I go don't like cars making uncommanded radio transmissions".

Now there is a panic on as they were short of cars and I'm getting short on time. A Nissan Versa was all that was left.

Specs:

4-door sedan
1.6 litre four cylinder 109 bhp@6000 rpm, torque 107 ft/lbs @4400 rpm.
CVT automatic transmission
Weight about 2500 lbs

Performance:

Yeeeeesssss. Not on the options list. If you require the "US big car, waft you up to speed" experience, don't rent one of these. I've got nothing against low powered cars or CVT transmissions, but the combination will have you pulling more revs than many here are used to when accelerating. If you want decent acceleration from a standstill, the revs go straight to the 4400 rpm peak torque and stay there while the tranny works it magic. It's noisy, but it does work. However, the powerplant is not as smooth as a 1.6 should be and sounded outright nasty when I first drove it. I think it has spent too much time around town, because after the blast out on Tuesday, it ran much better. Blew out the carbon and cobwebs, I guess.

Passing maneuvers require planning, pressing the switch on the shifter to engage the "power" program and gritting your teeth for the noise that follows. It does work though, even when at 4000' altitude where non-turbo motors start to wheeze. When cruising at 75 the revs are remarkably low and the car settles down. Grades are dealt with by the transmission seamlessly changing ratios and upping the revs. Some won't like that, but that is how the machine works.

There is another "power" switch, but it is very confusing. First, it is mounted with the heater controls and marked "A/C". Weirdly, it appears to improve the power when the light shows it is off. Different strokes, I guess.

Cruise control worked very well, which was a good thing because NHP were having a blitz on Tuesday.

Handling and ride:

Ride is remarkably good for a small car on 15 inch wheels. It's a little roly-poly but no real complaints.

Handling is another matter. I never went on any really twisty roads, so I cannot comment on its canyon carving ability, but looking at the tall body and skinny tyres, I'd say that poise and grip are not terms that would ever apply. Then there is the steering. This has an electric power steering system that combines being vague and numb to perfection. Apart from weighting up artificially, you have no clue you are turning the front wheels other than the scenery changing. Can you tell I hated it?

Then there is the lack of directional stability. Yes, I checked and the tyre pressures were perfect, a first on a rental I think. First of all, the narrow tyres track the ruts left in the highway by the trucks. Worse, it has little or no resistance to crosswinds. With the slightly roly-poly ride you feel like you are driving a badly loaded tramp steamer in a hurricane. It takes way too much concentration to keep in your lane under certain wind conditions. My travel buddy told the customer it was a bit like riding in a washing machine due to the combination of noise and motion.

Interior and trunk:

For a small car this has a lot of space front to back. Legroom is not an issue in the back, but that is partly because the front seats could do with an extra inch or two of travel. The trunk is huge, but remember the general lack of power, so only pack stuff made from helium. However, there are a couple of specific gripes.

First, the front seats are narrow, probably because it is a narrow car. If you weigh much over 180 lbs or are broad in the back, you are going to hate the seats. I'm a fairly svelte 175 lbs and they only just accommodated me, although I was skeptical at first. Still, I never got back ache.

My biggest gripe was the non-telescoping steering wheel. I have arms that are a little short for my height and inseam, so this is a moan I have about many cars. That said, you can tell that Nissan put the wheel right up against the dash to give a sensation of space and allow the more portly easy access.

The interior is clearly built to a price. Some will hate the hard plastics, particularly on the window sill where many like to park their elbows. I have little sympathy as that's no way to drive and besides that the directional stability is not good enough to let you drive that way.

Gas mileage:

If you give this car a good thrashing climbing up Nevada (2500' to 6200'+) in all kinds of cross and headwinds, mileage suffers. My outbound leg of 220 highway miles followed by some 100 miles local driving around netted only 32.6 mpg. Even worse, it only has a small tank and we found on the last day that the little gas station near where we were staying had closed down. A very gentle cruise to the next gas station saw me put 10.265 gallons in a 10.8 gallon tank. Gas mileage seemed better on the way home. More downhill, a bit less wind and the grunge had been blown out earlier in the week. The onboard monitor showed 36-37 mpg and was believable.

Other points:

The headlights were strange. They had a great low beam pattern with an excellent even spread. The high beams were rubbish with too narrow a pattern and big pools of bright light close to the car blocking your further vision. "Royally screwed" was a phrase my buddy thought appropriate.

The heater was a little wimpy on cold mornings and you had to use the fan at a high setting to get decent flow to you feet.

So, there you go. Anybody still awake?

yes, I got it, they are junk. but then, I knew that beforehand.

I have had everything from 5.7 Camaro to big 4x4 trucks and small Japanese cars. I'll stick with the Japanese cars. Driving my no thrills 2010 Corolla with a 1.8 automatic I pass most people on the highway without a problem. It's reliable and has great resale value even when beat to death. My last Toyota coup made it 250k miles and only needed a water pump and timing belt every 100k miles. That was it. I've outgrown the show off horse power and needing the biggest car. Today I want to go A to B as cheap as possible

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Fun and informative review; thanks.

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How God has blessed us!

I rented a Versa for a week when my Titan Crewcab pickup was being repaired. Those CVT transmissions have a weird feel but they probably outperform a regular tranny and get better mileage so they might be all we see in cars in another decade. I do agree that the steering wheel seems way too far forward but I'm 5'-9" so 6'-2" and over might like it. The Versa is about half the cost of a new full size pickup like I am used to driving, so several things are going to seem cheezier but I sure liked spending 25 bucks on a fill-up instead of 75 or 80.

My sister has a Nissan Rogue with the SVT trans. Definitely something to get used to. I kept feeling like I was stuck in first because there was no definitive change

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Funny story had to drive one as my Silverado was getting a windshield repaired here in buffalo ny. Lots of snow but got stuck backing out of my freshly shoveled driveway. Wheels were spinning but I was going nowhere. Hmmmmm. I got out looked behind the car nothing but pavement. Walked around front and all the snow and rock salt crude that gums up the wheels wells had fallen. A big chunk of it was behind the drivers wheel. Those little tires couldn't go over it!!!!
Kicked it out of the way and off to work. My son calls those big brown chunks snow buggers.
My rental Versa was stopped dead by a snow bugger!
Real glad I got my 4x4 pick up back as that chews thru anything!

never been the 4x4 type, but have never gotten over the horsepower craze. at this point in life I hope I don't. I don't fit in tiny cars anyway.

Scratch that one off the list! I find the list of cars that interest me keeps getting shorter...

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Common sense isn't so common.

I actually liked the little Versa for a cheap car but I wouldn't really want one. My biggest problem with the little econocars is the tiny wheels on them just look wimpy to me. If they put bigger, macho looking wheels on them I think they would appeal to men a lot more. It was kinda funny, I got a flat tire on the expressway and called the rental agency and they said they could have a service truck there within an hour. I said forget it I'll change it myself, so I get the jack out, and it was so tiny it seemed like I could put in my pocket and forget it was there! Then I get out the space saver spare that is about the size of a large Frizbee, and I can hold it with one hand. I had the flat changed in a couple of minutes and I didn't even get my hands dirty. That's not the case with a full size truck spare tire!

Several years ago in Orlando for the SWCA meeting, we rented one to drive out to the Kennedy Space Center. I certainly would not wanted to have driven it any further. I thought it very underpowered. I also thought the AC was underpowered.

One time I went up to the Dog Charlie. The GSA approved rental company at Reagan only had one car. They had Camaros. In all colors . Their parking lot looked like a really rich kid high school.
So we get one and head across the river to Maryland. Forgot to tell you that they just had an ice storm and the world was covered with ice. Camaro on ice? Just like pig on ice. After driving mostly sideways for several days we got it back without any dents. Another time I had a runt Ford out in LA that almost got us run over on the freeways. Could have used the Camero!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Good review re: Versa. Had a rental last year; terrible vehicle.

But, more importantly, I am very interested in why you could not drive an OnStar equipped vehicle. I regularly drove near very sensitive government sites with OnStar equipped vehicles. Never an issue...no signage prohibiting..and no 'user cautions' noted.

Did a google search following the OP; nothing found there, either.

More info, please. I like to learn new things!

Be safe.