Giving a car a name such as NOTE is always going to give the headline writers ample scope to take liberties with its noteworthy name.The car is British designed, engineered and manufactured by Nissan in the UK and their Marketers call it a 'segment buster'. They say it has no direct rival because it is breaks down the conventional barriers between the five-door hatchback and medium sized car segments.In this day and age with hard pressed manufacturers trying to be innovative with their products, between segment cars are really not new.The five-door Note claim Nissan is a family hatchback with all the associated driving benefits of such a vehicle combined with the interior space and specification of a larger C-segment car.In truth it is a crossover, a hatchback cum compact lower roof MPV. It fits into the Nissan range above their Micra models and I suppose its main contender is the Renault Modus and its lower in overall height than the Vauxhall Meriva, which is a true compact MPV. The Note has a longer wheelbase than VW's Golf but is in fact slightly shorter overall.I hope by now you get the picture on what a Note is and in short it is a small car trying to provide extra interior legroom, which it does pretty well. The trouble with most compact cars is that they are too small to be of real use and the emergence of larger hatchbacks such as the new Fiat Grande Punto and the Peugeot 207 is the industry's response to customer requirements.The Note has a sliding rear bench seat which can be moved by up to 160mm, over six inches, to either increase boot area load space or rear leg room as required. The load area is quite clever as it has a false floor on most versions creating upper and lower load areas. The floor between the two sections is reversible, conventional carpet on one side and an easy to clean waterproof surface on the other. The load area capacity has a minimum 280 litres of space which can be increased up to 1,332 litres with the rear seats folded. The front passenger seat can also be reclined flat so long loads of up to 2.4 metres can be carried.Other storage areas and folding trays on some models are positioned throughout the vehicle and a 9-litre glovebox, which can be heated or cooled on SE and SVE versions, is another noteworthy bright idea. Power sockets for children's electronic games or charging the mobile phones and so on are also positioned at various points in the car. It really is quite a clever package and worthy of note.Prices range from £9,995 up to £12,995 and the line-up includes the choice of 1.4 and 1.6-litre petrol engines and a 1.5 dCi diesel unit. All models have a five-speed manual transmission although S, SE and SVE 1.6-litre petrol models are also available with a four-speed automatic gearbox.I tried potentially the best selling model, the 1.4-litre SE which comes with a price tag of £10,995 plus £350 of metallic paint, so the real price is £11,345. Because the UK motor industry is hard pressed at the moment with more cars than buyers in most sectors, I think you will be able to get a reasonable discount on that price despite the fact that initial demand for the Note launch in March this year was very good.So this particular Note model has as standard, 15-inch alloy road wheels, single CD player and radio with six speakers, a family pack consisting of storage nets, foldaway tables, front and rear centre armrests. Also included is manual air conditioning, the flexi-board boot storage system, driver, passenger, side and curtain airbags, active front head restraints, anti-lock braking and an electronic stability programme to optimise handling characteristics.The 1.4-litre, 88PS petrol engine is a sweet unit, responsive and willing. It is no ball of fire for sure but once you are through the acceleration zone the car cruises quite happily even fully loaded at maximum motorway cruising speeds. The overall fuel consumption during my week long test period was 46.7mpg, almost two miles per gallon better than the official figures so that is noteworthy as well.The handling was generally very good because the suspension is quite stiff and keeps the car under control. Because it is relatively narrow there was some side wind buffeting on exposed roads but generally that is not an issue. Around town the car was light and nimble, easy to drive and park. The stiff suspension does not iron-out the worst of the bumps so the ride can be unsettled on poorer surfaces.Overall the Nissan Note is a good family package. It is well equipped, has good passenger and load carrying flexibility, drives pretty well, seems well made, reasonably priced and its front end styling is young and fresh looking. It's worth making a note of if you are in the market for such a vehicle.MILESTONES. Nissan Note 1.4 SE 5-Door. Price: £11,345 as tested. Engine: 1.4-litre, four-cylinder petrol, 88PS, 128Nm of torque. Performance: Top speed 103mph, 0-62mph, 13.1 seconds, 44.8mpg, (46.7mpg actual), CO2: 150 g/km. Insurance group: 4E.For: Versatile spacious interior, good specification, generally good to drive, does the job. Against: Firm ride over bumpy surfaces, higher specification models are pricey, prone to side wind buffeting on exposed roads.
