2008 Nissan Versa

Exterior

Stubby nose, high interior, stubby trunk. Not sure what car makers are thinking these days. I can see the advantage of function in the design, but it is definitely at the cost of form.

1.5 stars

Interior

The controls were easy to read. The first thing I noticed was that there was no computer readout. I couldn't tell what kind of gas mileage I was getting. If there was a control I didn't find it.

The radio was AM-FM-CD. The controls were easy to see, however, the tuner was two buttons one pushed to change the station, one up, the other down. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer the dial. Worse, the seek function sucked. It seemed to stop at any sign of any signal, and between 1000-1400 seemed to stop at every number, with most being just static. Plus, when I started to get away from a station's tower, the radio would start putting out a high pitched whistle. At first, I thought it was the tires on pavement, but the whistle went away when I turned off the radio. Happened with several radio stations.

The seats were somewhat uncomfortable. It seemed that I was shifting positions frequently to relieve some ache or pain.

The power mirror control was very odd. It was on the dash, but below the steering wheel and to the left. I could not see it well or operate it while driving.

The cruise control was a nice change. The set/coast and resume/accel was on an up/down switch, and seemed very intuitive. It was nice to have controls that consisted of "On/Off", "Cancel" and this one switch.

2 stars

Performance.

Remember back in the '80s when a 4 cylinder car would whine when you accelerated? Well, Nissan has gone retro on that aspect. This car was underpowered, and whined when pushed. In the mountains, we spent much time out of top gear when going up hills, especially on cruise control. Passing was a chore. One time I hit the accelerator, and the engine whined, and for about 4 seconds, I went nowhere. I wasn't gaining on the car in front of me at all. The next attempt, I took this into account and timed it better.

1.5 stars

Handling

The handling was probably the best aspect of this vehicle. Both wet and dry, the car handled solidly and comfortably. Unfortunately I wasn't able to really test how solid in cornering, as the engine wasn't helpful.

3 stars

Miscellaneous

No computer, so no MPG, but it seemed to not do as well as the Focus. Maybe 30-31MPG?
The trunk was spacious. (I finally remembered to bring my golf clubs.)