| Sub-£6000 Nissan Pixo | ||
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(Wed 08 Apr 09) Nissan's new small car, known as the Pixo, will be launched in the UK on June 1. With its 67bhp one-litre petrol engine it's mechanically identical to the Suzuki Alto, and in fact both cars are being built at a Suzuki factory in India, but unlike the Alto (or any of its major A-segment rivals) the Pixo is being offered at an entry price of below £6000.
£5995 buys you the Visia, and the fact that Nissan makes a point of listing a rear wiper as one of its features tells you all you need to know about its lack of equipment. Some buyers may like it for this very reason, of course, but for those who prefer a few more goodies there's the £6745 Acenta, which gets side airbags in addition to the Visia's front ones, remote central locking, electric front windows, colour-coded mirrors and doorhandles and a 50/50-split folding rear seat. At the top of the range comes the Tekna, which costs £7645 and gets air-conditioning, a pollen filter, ESP and curtain airbags. All models have an official fuel economy rating of 64.2mpg and CO2 emissions of 103g/km, which puts them in the £35 per year VED bracket. As such, they qualify for the new Pure Drive badge, which is being introduced to highlight low-CO2 models in the Nissan line-up. For less economy but greater convenience there's a four-speed automatic transmission which can be specified for the Acenta and Tekna models, and costs an extra £910. |
