Customer Service Lines Open Mon-Fri 9am-6pm
Closed Saturday & Sunday & Bank Holidays
The brand new Nissan Note, said to rival the Ford Fiesta, has been revealed ahead of it's official debut at the Geneva Motor show next month. The new model is due to go on sale Autumn this year and will be built at the company's Sunderland factory. The huge news however is that it is no longer a supermini MPV said to rival the Honda Jazz, instead it is targeting normal superminis, like the Ford Fiesta.
The new model design was previewed by last year's invitation concept, it is said to be a lot more stylish and softer than the previous Note models. There is a U shaped crease in the doors of the model which is called a squash line and was inspired by a squash ball whizzing around a court, also the headlights are now interlocked with the grille. The information that is displayed onto the dashboard is said to encourage greener driving and the sliding rear seats have been carried over from the previous model, which of course allows owners to alter amouts of legroom or boot space.
There will be three specs available, the Tekna, Visia and Acenta, all with six airbags, cruise control and stop start systems. The Tekna features Nissan's brand new Safety Shield, which combines blind spot and lane departure warning systems. There is also moving object detection, which alerts drivers if an object or a person moves into the cars path whilst it is reversing. Both of the new systems use a wide view camera at the reat of the vehicle, rather than a radar. The camera also incorporates a self cleaning system, a water jet and blow dryer, to ensure that it works throughout all weathers.
The AVM (Around View Monitor) complements the Safety Shield system. This technology is already being used on the bigger Quashqai model from Nissan, it uses 4 cameras to show a birds eye view of the car onto the dashboard screen, this is for easier parking. This is all part of Nissan's sat nav Connect system, this also uses the Send to car software from google, so that journeys that are planned elsewhere are transferred to the car.
The new Note model is up in boot space compared to the current car, going from 280 to 300 litres. It is the same length and width as the current model, however is a little bit lower. The model is based on a bigger version of the V platform which is currently used by the most recent Nissan Micra model, with three engine choices to choose from. A 1.2 litre, 79 Brake horsepower petrol engine, that promises a 60.1mpg econmy and 109g emissions. A supercharged version of that engine, 97 brake horsepower 65.7 mpg and 99g emissions. The only diesel option is a 1.5 litre engine with emissions of 95g of CO2.
The Note model is said to have equal appeal to both males and females, whereas the Micra model is said to be more feminine and the Juke more masculin.