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Driving Report Nissan Pulsar 1.5 dCi Tekna
First of all, the Nissan Pulsar is a car. He does all the things one can expect from a car. It reaches speeds high enough to cover the distances between A and B in a reasonable time window. And he does, with five people on board, and he offers them an acceptable level of comfort and space.
It is also economical to use. And its trunk is a decent size. It is also not too expensive to buy and it fits easily into any average garage.
If you don't expect more from a car than it does exactly what a car was invented for - then you should take a closer look at the pulsar.
Nissan Pulsar: The returnee
The pulsar marks Nissan's return to the “Automobile C-Segment”, as the good class of compact cars is called. The class that over the years has proven to be the segment with the most brutal possible competition in the automotive market. And he will be here with the (fresh) Ford Focus, the (soon to be fresh) Opel Astra and the (forever fresh) VW Golf need to create.
Unmistakably a Nissan. The sloping bonnet, the V-shaped grille, the rise of the sideline to the rear with the boomerang-shaped taillights. The pulsar has become quite unmistakably a Nissan. However, at first glance you find it a little difficult. Undecided which model it is exactly.
If you enter, you will find an interior equipped with high-quality materials. In addition, perfectly assembled. Everything looks very solid. Except for the center console, which seems to hover lightly in front of the center of the dashboard. In the center console is the touch screen, the control center for an almost overwhelming variety of features, including the Nissan safety package called Safety Shield.
Of course with Safety Shield
The Nissan Safety Shield combines a lane departure warning assistant and 360 ° all-round motion detection that warns the driver of pedestrians or animals out of sight. There is also the 360-degree all-round view monitor with parking aid and the NissanConnect system, with which you can connect your smartphone to the whole package. And of course it includes a navigation system. But you have to go for the top-level Tekna equipment if you want to benefit from all of this.
Even if the concave dashboard purely explores the space optically a bit, you feel overwhelmed by the sense of space in the new Nissan Pulsar. Broad shoulders and wide elbows give enough space. And although he is not the largest in his segment with 4.39 meters in length. Located between Ford Focus and Opel Astra, it can still score with an almost incredible space. Especially the rear passengers benefit from the longest wheelbase in this class. The legroom of the new Nissan Pulsar is likely well outdo cars from a class above.
And also the space of the trunk is good. Normally, 385 liters are available. If you flip the rear seats, the volume increases up to 1.395 liters.
Only with turbo
Two turbo engines with 115 PS or 110 PS are available for the start. One is an 1.5 liter diesel engine and the other is the new one 1.2 liter DIG-T turbocharged from the new Qashqai knows. The diesel engine is an old friend of countless Renault / Nissan models, but has been extensively revised for the new Pulsar. Particular attention was paid to the background noise and unwanted vibrations. Thanks to these revisions, the start / stop system built into the series is now more pleasantly integrated and less disturbing.
The chassis of the new Pulsar is comfortable. It gently smoothes frost heaves and expansion joints and dampens out long bumps. On the other hand, the soft chassis setup also brakes too dedicated driving style on dynamic highways. Swinging gently from left to right, you can master fun cornering combinations while, as a driver, you are looking for the fun-dynamic adventure on the country road. So if you are looking for the dynamic highway swing, you will get off with unfulfilled expectations. Comfort is more important than momentum.
But the new Pulsar is neatly economical. Nissan gives 3.6 liter as standard consumption and after the test drives there were 4.9 liters per hundred kilometers (diesel) in their place - but if you take into account the driver's partial digital strategy for this first exit in the Spanish hinterland, that's still an impressive value.
And finally ...
The Pulsar will satisfy a lot of drivers. It does everything you'd expect from a car. It is comfortable, it is quiet and it offers enough space - only the points: “interesting, exciting, exciting” was somehow not considered.
That might change next year when Nissan presents the 190 PS version of the Pulsar and of course, as soon as there is a NISMO version will give. And that will happen.
Until then, the new Pulsar is an alternative for Note pilots who want to upgrade a bit, but the Qashqai already too big and a Toyota Auris just a little too exciting.
Predictable, sensible and appropriate.
However, predictable and appropriate in this segment is not enough. A little more “fun, character and excitement” is necessary in this environment. And so it remains to be feared that the pulsar could also go the way of the Almera.
Text & photos from outside: Phil Huff | Interior photos: Nissan | From the English by Bjoern Habegger