We chug past the start/finish line at about 80 mph, a tiny roostertail in our wake. My instructor is probably rolling his eyes. I could finish a cup of tea while I wait, and wait, and wait to turn in for this very late apex, but the reward for patience is a lovely dance over the Micra's pedals, and an authoritative shove of the accelerator to the floor. If there's a better tool to finely polish your on-track techniques at glacial speeds, I haven't found it. What I want is a clear track and no time limit, to experience the racecar-in-extreme-slo-mo situation that is the Micra Cup car endlessly. My instructor is clearly hoping for a lunch break soon. Ink-black clouds are mustering over the ridge. I'm nearing the end of my session, and the rear tires are still ice-cold. Gear changes are enjoyable but leisurely affairs. On the throttle, the Micra makes boy-racer noises but not a lot of forward progress. The brakes are adequate but rarely used the Micra, too light to carry much momentum, bleeds off speed prodigiously as you lift off the throttle. The lack of mass helps with this, and so does a suitable amount of body roll-just enough to feel what the car is doing underneath you, but not enough to scrape the door handles on the pavement. Overcook it into a corner and lift, and the rear starts chattering about wanting to come around ages before any yawing actually happens. The limits, at least in the wet, are very low. No matter the Micra is a blatty, raucous hoot to drive even at half-tilt on a saturated, unfamiliar course, with a heavily accented instructor in the right seat doing his best to direct us through the tinny, too-quiet intercom. On the saturated course, it's hard to get heat in the rear tires of the bantamweight Micra. For small hatch lovers, it's not quite Valhalla, but it's close.
Micra car manual#
We're talking wind-up windows and manual transmissions-plucky commuters built in the European mindset. Canada, Quebec in particular, is mad for simple, honest cars. And a Nissan of the Micra-nee-March persuasion has been absent until recently, when the new Micra went on sale as a MY2015 car. Our friends up North enjoyed the Micra's predecessor, the K10-generation car badged as the March, for six glorious years until it was discontinued in 1991.
Micra car full#
With the Versa, Note, and Sentra around, Nissan is full up on small stuff. The Micra isn't sold here, and likely won't ever be sold here, at least in this generation. It's slow-God, it's slow-but it's slow in the grand tradition of tiny, underpowered cars with no right to be as fun as they are. Where the Note is uninspiring, the Micra is peppy and eager. What is the Micra Cup? Hell, what's the Micra? I've got suboptimal news for you right from the get-go: the Micra is what we should have in the United States instead of the sad-sack Versa Note. Nissan Micra Cup - Official Photo Gallery
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