Overturning Expectations
by David Finlay (24 Feb 06)

One of the key points of the job of testing cars is that you have to start off with an open mind. However much you are looking forward - or not looking forward - to the next arrival, you shouldn't pay any attention to that early opinion in case it's contradicted by your actual experience. Despite all that, I was prepared to bet the house that I would loathe and detest the Micra C+C; and it's just as well that I didn't, because to my complete astonishment I found myself becoming quite fond of the thing.

I think I'd been turned off most of all by the looks (yes, I know, call me prejudiced). When manufacturers decide to create small coupé-cabriolets they have two choices: either go down the Peugeot route of incorporating the shape of the base car in the new design, as with the 206 CC, or follow the Vauxhall example of using the same platform but creating an entirely new body round it, as with the Tigra.

As those examples show, you can end up with a reasonably elegant car either way. Nissan, however, has retained the Micra hatchback's looks and produced a weirdo. During this test I overtook a 206 CC on the motorway, and I couldn't bring myself to imagine its owner wishing he had bought the Micra instead.

From some angles the C+C looks to me like a deformed pickup. The rear has been extended compared with the hatchback, the bonnet line is very high, and both those features are caused by the need to contain the roof when it's folded down (a smooth operation, incidentally, achieved by the simple means of pressing a button and holding at for 22 seconds).

The pickup analogy, not intended at first as a compliment, actually becomes more sensible here, because even with the roof down the luggage volume is 255 litres; with the roof up it expands to a very impressive 457 litres. The C+C's advantage as a load-carrier may be unexpected, but it's real.

Interior space for the front passengers is more or less standard Micra, except that the heavily tilted windscreen demands a roofline nearly four inches lower than standard. The screen surround also extends very far back, to the extent that I occasionally bumped against it, and I have a nasty feeling that in a head-on shunt I would crack my forehead open before the airbags had a chance to protect me. This is only likely to affect drivers more than six feet tall, though.

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