We reserved a car online, Margaret and I did, for our honeymoon in Ireland. We knew the roads would be narrow, so we wanted a small car. So we paid in advance for a “Toyota Corolla or similar,” which the Web site called a midsized car. We both had a chuckle over that.
But when we reached the rental agency in Galway, they had no record of our prepayment or our car preference. Unable to reach the travel company through which we booked the car, we were over a barrel. We paid again and took whatever they had available. Would we at least get we’d get something not available in the States? Something quirky and fun, perhaps? Nope. All they had left was a dumpy, dorky Nissan Note. Welcome to Ireland!
Known as the Nissan Versa Note in the States, these compete with cars like the Honda Fit (Jazz) and Ford Fiesta in size and price. And they compete badly, at least in the US. Widely panned by the press and roundly ignored by the buying public, few (Versa) Notes ply American roads compared to Fiestas and especially Fits.
Tired and frustrated, we loaded our luggage into the wayback with little room to spare. And we traveled light, each bringing one carry-on suitcase and a backpack. What a tiny hatch! Grateful none of our luggage needed to ride in the back seat, off we went toward our first night’s lodging.
It has been a long travel day. Actually, it had been a long couple of days. Our first day in Ireland began at 10 am on Friday before Labor Day, as we drove to Chicago for our flight, and didn’t end until Saturday evening on Irish soil.
I caught a couple hours of solid sleep on the plane. Margaret dozed in and out. And then we landed in Dublin at about 8 am Irish time, which is 3 am Indiana time. From there we caught a train to Galway. We hoped to sleep some more on the train, but the upright seats made it impossible. We reached Galway midafternoon, picked up the keys to the Note, and stopped for a meal. By the time we loaded our luggage into the Note, it was late afternoon. We were booked in a B&B in Oughterard, about 30 minutes west of town.
I was already beyond exhausted when we reached Galway, but driving the thirty minutes or so to Oughterard pushed me past my limits. In retrospect, it was a frightfully bad idea on that little sleep to do some mighty stressful driving. It was my first time driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car. And we were following skinty directions on narrow, twisty roads in heavy rain. My internal battery was already dangerously low, and this involved driving drained it past empty. I was starting to lose it toward the end, especially as none of Oughterard’s streets were signed and we couldn’t find the turnoff to the B&B. We drove back and forth through Oughterard, trying every street until we got the right one. When we finally reached our room, I fell onto the bed in the fetal position and passed out.
It was the lowlight of the trip. But fortunately, after a few hours I woke up reasonably refreshed. Margaret had just come back from a walk into town, and said that she heard traditional Irish music coming from one of the pubs, and oh could we please go? So off we went, and we had a wonderful time chatting with the locals, listening to the players, and drinking Guinness. The day was saved!
The next day we made our way slowly north, to near the northern tip of the Republic of Ireland, in County Donegal. Even after a long night’s rest, the driving was tiring. So many things that are automatic for me in Indiana couldn’t be in Ireland because they were backwards to me. But at least the Note wasn’t an uncomfortable place to be as I figured it all out. While I wouldn’t call the seat supportive, it wasn’t fatiguing, and it was easy for me to find a good driving position. And the controls were reasonably logical, fell right to hand, and felt solid enough under use.
We were shocked by the Note’s limo-like rear seat legroom. In the photo, the front seats are adjusted for us, and we’re both tall – I’m 6 feet tall and Margaret is 5’10”. I wish my daily driver, a 2006 Ford Focus, had stretch-out room like this! But as a rental car for two people, we both wished to trade it for more space in the hatch. (It wasn’t until I researched this post that I learned that the Note’s rear seat slides forward for more hatch room.)
A couple weirdnesses: the Note had power front windows, but manual rear windows; and there were no lock buttons on the door interiors. Also, this car lacked air conditioning. I guess that’s fairly normal in temperate Ireland. But I was glad I’m old enough to remember when American cars generally lacked air, because I knew to crack my window a little to aid in defogging the windshield when it rained. File that under “things kids today wouldn’t know to do.”
The Note was adequately powered everywhere we drove it, from city street to motorway – which is startling when you consider that this car boasts a 1.2 L 3-cylinder gasoline engine. Yet at no time, even ascending a mountain, did the engine lug or did we lose speed. There was even enough oomph at speed to pass. And the engine worked quietly and smoothly, transmitting surprisingly little noise and vibration into the cabin. It alo delivered fabulous gas mileage. I didn’t calculate actual mileage on the trip, but Nissan claims that with this engine the Note can get up to 60 miles per gallon! Given how far we drove between fuel stops over the 11 days we drove this car, I believe it.
On anything but dry, straight pavement, the Note felt uncertain on its feet. But my judgment might be off here. The Irish don’t sign their highways as thoroughly as I’m used to in the States, and many times upon suddenly encountering a sharp turn I found myself braking and steering aggressively. But the steering was direct and had some feel, and the brakes stopped authoritatively.
But I withhold no wrath for the Note’s shifter. First was easy to find, as was fifth. Everything in between was guesswork. Both Margaret and I kept shifting from first to fourth, or second to fifth, or fourth to first. And finding reverse required far too subtle of a hand. The surest way to find fourth gear, actually, was to try to put the car in reverse. I’ve owned simple cars with decent shifters; I can’t fathom why Nissan decided this vague, rubbery thing was acceptable. At least the clutch was light.
We rented a stickshift, by the way, because it was a lot cheaper than renting an automatic. Most people and Ireland drive stick, so most rental cars are manually shifted. Fortunately both Margaret and I enjoy shifting our own gears.
While I’m complaining, let me declare the headlights to be nearly useless, so short is their throw and so sharp is the dropoff. We really hated driving the thing after dark.
Because city streets and rural roads were usually not marked, paper maps and written directions were useless. So we got out our phones and tried the GPS. Before the trip, I signed up for a free addition to my Sprint mobile plan that gives me unlimited free 2G data outside the US. It worked surprisingly well. I got a signal pretty much everywhere in Ireland, even while standing high on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, and it was good enough for GPS to keep working. A couple times that signal was just general packet radio service (GPRS), but it let GPS keep tracking and telling us where to turn. None of this cost me a cent.
The mobile signal was frequently too weak to find a destination, however. I took to using hotel or cafe Wi-Fi to punch it in and start navigation, and then going out to the car and starting the trip.
On the other hand, Margaret’s phone on a budget carrier had spotty coverage. Google Maps wouldn’t work half the time.
GPS was spot on 95% of the time. Sometimes it told us we’d reached our destination a little too early or a little too late, but we could see the destination so it didn’t matter. Once, however, while trying to find one of Margaret’s distant cousins in a remote part of County Galway, GPS took us five miles beyond and deposited us on this desolate one-lane road. “You have arrived at your destination,” indeed.
We ended up being very happy that we didn’t get the Toyota Corolla we’d reserved. On all but the most major highways, roadways are narrow and offer no shoulder. Frequently, they are bordered by a stone wall or a sharp dropoff. That Corolla is three inches wider than the Note. Those three inches were significant – once, on a 1½-lane road bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean and on the other by a steep hill, we encountered an oncoming RV. We both moved over as far as we dared. The RV crept by, about one inch separating it from my side mirror. In the Corolla, that mirror would have been a goner.
Elsewhere on the trip, Margaret met a group of four American women who had rented a minivan. Both side mirrors dangled forlornly from the front doors. They broke one in a parking lot trying to maneuver out of a tight space, and the other against a roadside stone wall trying to get out of the way of a large oncoming vehicle.
Amusingly, more than once we had to brake for sheep in the roadway. Sheep were everywhere.
But overall we enjoyed driving Ireland’s back roads and minor highways, and even driving through the many small towns we encountered. With focus and patience, it was all doable.
But driving in Galway, one of Ireland’s larger cities, was hard – even several days after our fatigued drive out of town in the Note. We went back one afternoon to explore the shopping district. And it was the hardest driving of the trip, harder than the RV encounter.
In the city center, tightly packed cars moved fast on streets that ran at odd angles to each other. It was disorienting. I knew where we wanted to go, and like a true American I figured we could just drive right up to it. No dice. Not only could we not figure out how to navigate to it, even when we could see it in the distance there wasn’t any place to park within a mile of it. We ended up circling around for quite some time before finding a shopping mall’s garage. We gave up, parked inside, and walked from there.
And then getting out of town involved blind turns across oncoming traffic and a one-lane road that accepted two-way traffic where a big Audi sedan refused to back out of our way. Four-letter words may have passed by my lips in that standoff.
By the time we got out of town I needed a stiff drink and a long nap.
We were staying in a B&B in Barna, a few miles west of town. A bus ran from there into town every 30 minutes. We should have taken it instead.
The Note did the job of getting us everywhere we wanted to go, such as to Drumcliffe to see the grave of William Butler Yeats.
And to the shore at Rosses Point in County Sligo, where we walked the beach and watched the boats.
And to a laundromat. We packed one week’s clothes for a two-week trip, figuring we’d flounce into a laundromat somewhere halfway through. Turns out they’re not really a thing in Ireland. We found one, finally — on a university campus. It was for students. The kids all studiously pretended not to notice the middle-aged American couple who had invaded their space.
And even to this remote, rocky place near where Margaret’s cousin lives.
In the end, the Note was adequate to the task: adequately comfortable, adequately powered, adequately sized. It did the job.
But I still wish we had gotten something quirkier, like a Citroën C4 Cactus or a Dacia Duster or a SEAT Mii. Next time!
Driving in Galway city is very hard without satnav unless you are local.
Cars like the Note are usually sold off from the rental fleet at the end of season, and automatics would be hard to move-on. Larger Audis and BMWs would be available as autos, and the rental companies would keep them for more than one season.
Twisty narrow rural roads in Ireland explain why my car was Semperit car of the year voted by the Irish motoring writers its right at home on those sort of roads, sounds like you had a fine time over there, a C4 might have been more fun kinda depends on how you drive
I really envy you on several levels. My mother was Irish, she was the 2nd generation of her family born in the U.S. And while I’ve traveled to Europe while in the Navy, I never got to Ireland. I’ve also thought a few times of at least test driving a Note.
My parents went to Ireland for a long weekend but unfortunately their flight was as restless as yours was, so their 1st day was a bit of a blur. They also waited too late in life, I think, and my mother didn’t really enjoy the trip. Me? I think I’d like to see the country but not sure I’d actually want to meet any family.
The Note, in it’s first generation was roundly criticized by the British magazine CAR, the second generation? Well, they’ve warmed a little to it.
Here in north Florida, you are MORE likely to see a Note than a Fiesta….maybe even a Fit. My guess is that folks buy the Nissan for “the deals”. One dealer near me has Notes for $99 down and $99 a month….”You own it.” And here in the ‘states, as I can guess you know, finding a Note with a manual transmission is next to impossible.
I can’t imagine spending just a long weekend on any trip that involves a transatlantic flight! It took me two days to fully recover from our long travel day.
Interesting that you see a lot of Notes in Florida. They are super scarce on the ground in Indiana.
For some reason I see way more Versa sedans than Notes but the sedan’s been available for a couple more years. The rental fleets seem to prefer those.
Within 100 miles of Burlington, VT I found two new manual Notes available – one here, one in NH. Can’t really compare to Fit and Fiesta on that because Honda makes you go to individual dealer sites to view inventory (4 manual Fits at the two nearest dealerships alone) and Ford isn’t shipping 2017 Fiestas yet (8 manual hatchbacks within 100 miles, only one isn’t an ST though).
I got stuck with a Versa sedan as a rental for a week this May. Ugh–by far the worst new car I’ve ever driven, and one of the more unpleasant period. The CVT sapped any fragment of joy – or power – from the engine, the stopping distance was surprisingly long, and the rest of the thing was a bland, uninspired, built-to-a-price snoozefest.
Maybe with the manual it would have been better. Or maybe the Note is just better period–it does have some significant differences.
I did a similar driving trip in England to visit relatives. However, I pre-loaded a GPS with a memory chip of the UK. Street addresses like the US don’t work in England!! Therefore, used the Royal Mail postal code for each location which was 99.9% accurate. Eliminated a lot of frustration.??
Also, the roads in England are a little better, but not much more when driving a Peugeot 5008 minivan. In St Ives, a service van stopped on a single lane street to unload barrels of ale. Since I was blocked in by a car behind me, we got a good idea of the volume of ale consumed in a pub the size of your living room.
Another item that I needed to get used to were roundabouts (traffic circles) which are as common in England as stop lights in the US. The person sitting in the front passenger seat (shotgun) was responsible for counting out the number of exits to assure we were heading in the right direction. On more than one occasion we made a complete loop of the roundabout because we missed the intended exit.
Thanks for the insight of your trip. A driving tour of Ireland is on our radar scope for 2017.??
Ireland introduced postal codes only recently:
http://qz.com/272332/ireland-is-just-now-getting-around-to-introducing-postal-codes/
They aren’t actually “postcodes” – the Post Office didn’t want them, and the general public are ambivalent since the first half of the code is very general and the second part purely random.
From what I read, part of the push back from the public is that it will help the government with tax collections????
Naturally, voters want the things taxes pay for, but they don’t want to actually pay the taxes. I hope these aren’t the ones who complain about hypocritical politicians!
A onetime tax auditor told me that Calif. could’ve hired a lot more auditors (until reaching diminishing returns) but there was political back-pressure against this.
To find my wife’s cousin’s house, we had to put in the name of a business across the street. Her address is her name, Lettermore, Co. Galway. Period. Not helpful for GPSing.
Personally, I always prefer to use an address rather than a post code for sat-nav destination. Not perfect, but less imperfect
At least you didn’t try the Ring of Kerry. What a mistake. Navigating narrow roads and steep drop offs like you mentioned, on the wrong side of the road, with lots of tour buses coming the other way. Didn’t get to see much scenery on that trip. My knuckles were white for a week.
I remember being in a B&B where I was talking to a local about driving. I said that I would take road R45 to some destination and he started to laugh. “We never use maps or route numbers to find anything. In fact, we often turn the road arrow signs in the roundabouts when no one is looking.” That made me wonder whenever I entered a roundabout, but fortunately most of the locals left the signs alone. Joy in the pre-GPS days.
Ireland is still a wonderful country to visit and the people are a joy. Just make sure you’re up on the weather report and like corn on your pizza.
Your experience driving to the Ring of Kerry sounds very much like my experience driving to Slieve League, which is where I encountered that RV on the 1.5-lane road.
Here in central Indiana, we went roundabout crazy about 10 years ago. So I’m quite experienced with them. I like them a lot, actually. The only hard thing about them for me in Ireland was having to look right rather than left as I entered them.
Since I have lived on the Ring of Kerry far longer than I lived in London, I don’t have a problem with the roads, apart from the pot-holes. For scary, I would nominate the mountain roads in the north-west of Mallorca.
Done Mallorca – easy if you’re patient. Try the Amalfi peninsula, in Italy. They don’t do patience.
Kerry gets foggy. Happened to me . Didnt see a dam thing.. Clear the next day but had to drive on.
Eire has Us type road signs and are now in Metric as they have taken the EU on in a big way. Over the border its the same as the rest of the UK. Both have brightly coloured house with we dont have in the UK. Shame…
I’ve done a couple of trips to Ireland and have ridden bicycles both times. It’s pretty easy to remember to keep left riding a bike, but I’ve never had the nerve to actually get in the driver’s seat of an RHD car and drive on the left. One of the issues with Ireland is that the trains tracks mostly spoke out from Dublin and there’s not much north south crisscrossing of tracks like in the UK to go everywhere you want to go. I’ve ridden buses in Ireland, which while not nearly as scary as American interstate buses have the reputation for being, are still buses.
You are right that a narrow vehicle like the Note is the way to go on the narrow roads. Even in American cities, I love my Fit for the same reason. By the way, the seats in the Fit aren’t much better than what you describe in the Note, but the handling is probably way more fun.
Lastly, it takes me about 2 days to recover from spending 24 hours in planes, trains, and automobiles, combined with the 6 hour time difference.
Interesting review — both the car and the scenery.
I’m curious, in your observations, whether Nissan Notes seem to be more common in Ireland (relative to their competition) than Versas are in the US. I wonder if the qualities that you pointed out made it a better short-term choice than a Corolla translate into better marketability for actual purchasers? Or, do Notes seem to be relegated to rental-fleets there?
One side effect of this trip is that now you’ll always have a positive association when you see a Versa. Our honeymoon rental was a white Monte Carlo (which I was pleased to get), and we always comment about them when we see them nowadays.
I saw a bunch of Notes on the road in Ireland, but hard telling what proportion of them were rentals!
I absolutely wonder whether a Note with the engine/transmission I got over there would be a useful commuter car here.
Thanks for a terrific writeup on the Nissan Note hatch!
After a total loss wreck I was in that was not my fault,
I drove a nice blue one of these as a rental during the
search for my replacement vehicle. Once I adjusted
the cold tire pressure down from whatever stratospheric
PSI it was set at from the rental dealer to the
recommended PSI, I found the handling to be quite
predictable, with reasonably weighted steering and
road feedback. Nissan seems to have gotten EPS
right with this second generation Versa hatchback.
I had zero issue getting up to speed and merging – and
PASSING – on Connecticut highways with it.
The Note actually handled, to me, BETTER than both
a 2014 Nissan Altima and the 2013 Hyundai Sonata
I ultimately replaced my wrecked vehicle with! The only
things I would have added were an actual center console-
armrest, and a sunroof – alas not available in these tiny
sedans and hatchbacks.
I had the opposite problem with the tires: they were underinflated when I picked up the car. One tire was noticeably low, so I stopped at a gas station to inflate them. I was shocked to find that the tire labels said something north of 50 PSI. The handling improved noticeably.
Where did you get 50psi???
The B-pillar door sticker on the Versa/Note
said 33psi for the stock rims on my rental.
Yea, you don’t want to fill tires to the maximum allowed as shown on the sidewall; makes for a pretty harsh ride and uneven tire wear. But yes, I’m sure the handling was a lot crisper. 🙂
Ok, now I feel silly. I always thought the rating on the tire was what you were supposed to fill the tire up to. I mean, I’m not running around at max pressure on my daily driver; I am using what the manual said. But I thought the manual and the tire itself were in cahoots.
It’s a common mistake. 🙂
The only pressure number on a tire sidewall is the pressure at which it can legally carry its maximum weight, in other words, the maximum potential strength/pressure of the tire, which cannot be exceeded. But that’s typically far higher than the recommended pressure, which since 2003 (in the US anyway) has been required to be prominently posted on a label adhered to the B pillar on the driver’s side.
It will list the recommended pressure for normal driving, and a higher pressure for heavy loads or continuous high speed driving, usually 4 psi higher. Running a higher pressure than that will create uneven tire wear (in the middle of the tread) as well as a harsh ride.
Since a given tire size will/can find itself on a wide range of vehicles, there’s no way the tire itself can recommend the ideal pressure in any given application.
From personal experience I know a lot of
quick-lubes and even dealer service center
and garages whose techs should have their
ASE badges stripped: Lately I’ve gotten my
car back from anything from an oil change
to tire rotation to major fluid changes, and the
thing rides like a BASKETBALL because they
set the pressure by what they read on the
TIRE.
Thanks Paul for staying above the fray and
showing where correct recommended cold
tire psi is listed. On many newsgroups
“Tire Vs Door Placard” is more contentious
than “Trump Vs Clinton”! It’s really simple:
Firestone didn’t build the car – Toyota, Nissan,
and Chevy did! LOL
Driving around in a Blue Note, I presume you were listening to some good jazz on the stereo? 🙂
J P: LOL! Yeah, also the stereo is decent in these cars.
Sounds like a truly fantastic trip. The Note appears like it was a very good fit for the driving environment.
On our honeymoon we received a Chrysler Sebring convertible (after paying for a Grand Am as Alamo was out of cars that day) and had to put luggage in the backseat. You will always look at these with a degree of fondness.
We also had to do the luggage-in-backseat maneuver on our honeymoon. However the Camaro convertible was quite an intentional choice for us, as we would be driving through the Florida Keys and figured top-down was the way to go. Definitely the right choice!
It’s just a guess, but I think one reason why the Note is better “received” in the U.K. is due to the large presence Nissan has in the country. I could be wrong, but I think Nissan has more production in the U.K. than Honda or Toyota, and they recently announced a planned expansion….thanks to government incentives.
The vehicle we call Rogue, has made huge inroads in Britain and is often considered as a benchmark in it’s market segment, though NOT necessarily the best vehicle. The CR-V and Escape give it a good competition.
Yup. Nissan has an outsized market share in the UK; it has the 4th largest market share there, and does particulalry well with the low end like this car, as they’re produced locally.
Nissan produce more cars in the UK than anyone else, though the Note is pretty low profile. Qashqai and Juke (ugh!) are the big sellers
Nissan is as much a European company as it is Japanese. Renault is at least part, and maybe majority, owner. In San Diego I see Mexican plated cars that look like Nissan’s, but have Renault badges.
Having rented a 3-cyl Chevy [Daewoo] Spark, I can appreciate the virtue of small size in countries like Ireland, though in my case it was in LA County where one could almost lose it in parking lots because of its length. It was better to drive than I expected.
But one does have to pull the front seats forward & sacrifice legroom to accommodate adults in back without torture, & cargo volume is limited with all seats up.
Nice story, these travelogues/rental car reviews are always fun to read. Great scenery and the red car pops out nicely. Hopefully you took some pics without the car in it for the album!
It sounds like in the end you generally liked the car. I always figure it can’t be THAT bad, the reviewers have to have a whipping boy and us CC’ers are a generally low bar, i.e. almost any new car is going to drive pretty well or do some things better compared to the mostly well-broken-in daily rides. I’ll bet it makes more sense now why “they, over there” drive smaller cars in general and engines are smaller etc…The small engines do work fine, especially in towns and on the roads you travelled. Even if you were on a motorway, you’d have no problem getting up to 75mph and well beyond (eventually) with what you had.
That 60 mpg rating is very iffy for two reasons. The Euro mpg ratings are much more optimistic than the US EPA ratings, and then this one is almost surely in Imperial gallons. Real world mileage was probably closer to 40 mpg or so.
Been wanting to get to Ireland for a long time. This only whets the appetite further. Nice write-up!
On this we agree 100%. Best I can get on my Mazda 3 driving like a fuddy daddy is not as good as what the manufacturer claims and is more in line with what’s quoted for the US model.
Agree; our late-model cars’ EPA figures are very realistic compared to the nonsense of the ’70s & ’80s. I’m surprised Europe hasn’t followed suit.
Great article Jim, always go for the woman who can drive a standard transmission 🙂
I always wonder how much gas we could save by driving small modest vehicles instead of having hybrid SUVs to save the world. When Mrs DougD and I rented a Fiat Uno in England we found that it basically didn’t use any gas! The night before we had to return it the whole country was watching a football match against Germany except for us. We were zooming around the Lake District, over mountain passes just for the heck of it, to burn up the gas we’d already paid for.
The answer is obvious. But you’d have to force people to buy them, right? Good luck with that. And seriously, nobody’s buying hybrid SUVs for the reason stated. Sure, a hybrid SUV uses less gas than a regular one, but….
Sounds like your Fiat Uno was defying the laws the physics! 🙂
BTW, Europeans are snapping up CUVs like mad, almost as fast as Americans. The average size is a bit smaller, but nevertheless.
You are right about CUV’s.
It’s easy as heck to find a Nissan Qashqai around here. They are around in boatloads! The Jukes also sell very well.
Pulsar hatchbacks, on the other hand, it’s rather hard to even see one.
I’ve seen some Renault Dusters (AKA Dacia Duster, Nissan Turano) in Tucson. Mexican buyers can choose between conventional American monsters (and many do) or compacts like these.
I rented a Versa Note earlier this year for about a week after a car accident. Its 1.6 I4 and CVT+2 automatic combination made my miss my comparatively peppy Elantra 1.8/6M combo. The gas mileage was good, seats and stereo were OK, visibility was good. I certainly think that someone could do worse than to have a Versa Note, but it wouldn’t satisfy the same priorities as some of its competitors as both the Fit and Fiesta have a sporty image that the Note couldn’t satisfy at all. That said, the Versa Note would carry 4 adults in comfort, and there is something to be said for that capability in a small footprint.
Very interesting to read. Ireland is on my short list of “must see” places. It looks like a good day for my leftover shepard’s pie for lunch. 🙂
Here in the US, the Versa seemed to become the bargain-basement small car while others like the Fit and the Fiesta seemed to sell more to either more enthusiastic or higher income demographics. The CVT would turn me off, but the manual would help. It is a shame that the shifter was so difficult – do you suppose it might have worked better had you been working it with your normal shifting hand? I find that right-handed me does few things as well with the left.
I thought shifting with my left hand contributed to this at first, but after seven or eight days driving that thing I threw out that theory and just chalked it up to a balky shifter.
Shifting with the wrong hand soon becomes natural enough, IF the gearbox is co-operative.
I’ve had LHD Qashqai and Juke as hire cars, and the shfit on both was heavy with 1 and 3 very close. IT was almost as if Nissan were trying to impact a bit of SUV ruggedness into the car artificially.
I am surprised Honda hasn’t filed suit regarding theft of its intellectual property. In profile, this thing is identical to the Fit/Jazz.
Based on web searches:
– Irish Nissan Note holds 41 liters of fuel
– Required fuel rating is RON 95 (European cars use a premium grade of gasoline)
– Fuel costs an average of $1.42 per liter in Ireland (presuming VAT is included)
– Translates to approximately $5.40 a gallon
– Full tank of gas is “approximately” $60
I can see why 3 cylinder engines and stick shifts are so popular in Europe
RON 95, called Euro 95, isn’t a premium grade of gasoline. It’s the most common, regular gasoline. Max. 5% bio-ethanol.
RON 97 (Shell V-power), RON 98 (BP Ultimate) and RON 102 (ARAL Ultimate 102) are examples of premium gasolines. And no bio-ethanol, that’s why I put it in my ’69 Plymouth.
Compared to US standards, RON 95 is between US middle grade and US premium gasoline depending on brand. US regular is around 91-92 RON.
In the past, there were some proposals to raise US standards for gasoline to Euro levels. It was believed this would improve drivability and reduce emissions. Nothing came of this once fuel injection became common and emissions controls (air flow, temperature, timing, spark, throttle position, etc) moved to sophisticated digital systems. Issues like hesitation, stalling, surge, engine knock, and others faded into the background. Americans were in love with their cars again and no need to fiddle with US gasoline grades.
The common cetane number of American diesel (40-45) is likewise lower than that in Europe (51). This may partly explain American aversion to diesel vehicles designed to European standards. Note that pickups & SUVs popular here offer truck-like diesels which are probably more tolerant of the “cheap stuff.” And their drivers seem to enjoy the noise, too.☺
That last shot looks like something straight out of the Bond movie Skyfall! Well done sir.
Everything about Ireland looke cinematic!
We spent a little time in the part of Northern Ireland where Game of Thrones is shot, btw.
As a huge fan of the Game of Thrones franchise, I’m extremely envious.
Very nice review of the Note, Jim, and of Ireland, too.
I had a Fiat 500 for a rental in August, from Paris to go see Vimy Ridge. While no powerhouse, it was more than adequate for French secondary roads. It did 6.5L/100 km the day, too, not bad.
I have shared your travel exhaustion more than a few times, since I travel extensively for business and pleasure. I always try to at least doze on the plane. Then, once I arrive, I grab an Uber and go straight to a 5 Star hotel. I work out in the gym, drink like ten litres of water, eat healthy meal and sleep. I find doing this greatly improves the next day.
I have also learned the difference in price between a ratbag hotel and a really nice place isn’t all that much.
Nissan has already announced that the European Note will cease production with the introduction of the new Micra in early 2017. The new Micra has grown in size considerably, and Nissan thinks between it, and the Juke, there is no longer room for a third B-segment product. This also means we may receive the Micra in the Versa series’ place:
Great travelogue! Being that I don’t have relatives to chase after in Europe, I have to admit that the apparent stress of driving there might cause me to seek a tour and leaving the driving to someone else.
I had no idea that sticks were still that dominant in a given locale. Are they that dominant in other parts of Europe?
I had some impression that the death of the stick in the US has been driven in part by the idea that modern automatics can generally achieve better fuel economy than humans rowing gears. If that is the case, what drives the popularity of sticks in fuel cost conscious Europe?
Great question. When I spent time in Germany 30 years ago the strong sentiment was, “I want to actually drive my car, thank you, and an automatic transmission takes that away from me.” I wonder if that still plays.
30 years ago another strong sentiment was “an automatic is for the elderly and the disabled”.
More and more automatics and semi-automatics in the past years, but the manual transmission is still going strong. The 6-speed manual has become commonplace.
Great article Jim. I’ve noted the Note, but I like the pictures of the scenery much better !
That and it’s just mostly a cultural thing. Automatics started in the US, and were well suited for big American cars. Until the recent efficient multi-speed automatics came along, they did reduce performance and economy, so that was a turn off. And they cost more.
Europeans have just not grown up in a culture of automatics, although the percentage now has grown (20+%)
Here’s some good answers to the question: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-the-majority-of-cars-in-Europe-have-manual-transmissions
Before modern fancy automatics, sticks were vital to make the most of small engine power curves, esp. the sub-2L ones common in Europe because of tax issues. Now the gap is closing as Paul says. But a good reason to avoid sticks is airbags; my wife is so short she would have to sit within lethal range of the steering wheel bag. And not many companies, to my knowledge, offer adjustable clutch pedals.
Putting my wife at risk isn’t worth the fun of a stick-shift.
Ref: http://www.safercar.gov/staticfiles/safercar/pdf/811264.pdf
Another reason for choosing a stick (at least for me) is being able to rely on 60 less microprocessors, servos and other, similar “helpers” waiting to go wrong. I drive through the Vienna rush hour traffic jam fairly often and do not find changing gears particularly bothersome. And when talking about an older vehicle with power-robbing slushboxes it’s a no brainer – even for a US-made vehicle. But I can see why many prefer using automatic boxes – no question about the modern ones being very efficient (as long as they work).
Modern automatics are carefully calibrated to do well in EPA tests. Sticks are forced to be driven in a less efficient profile for the test, hence the apparent difference. “Your mileage may vary.”
Also, most US market sticks are not sold on economy cars like the Note, but on sporty performance cars, BMW, Mustang, Corvette, GTI, etc. Even my Fit has more aggressive gearing than its automatic stablemate. When a stick is available, the cost is typically about $1000 less than an automatic.
I have rented a Versa Note twice. Once when Southwest had a computer crash and we couldn’t fly back to SW Florida. We flew to Ft Lauderdale and drove across the swamp. I reserved the cheapest car available. The lot person said pick an one in this line, and there was a Note. I’m old, 6 ft 2 and my height is all in my spine. Note that I fit well in a Note but not in a Fit.
I had to fly to Northeast Ohio in February for a funeral. Not many cars in the rental lot but They did have a Note. 2 degrees and 8 inches of snow. The Note did very well with a very good heater/defroster. The CVT transmission was not noticeable in snowy conditions.
Here in SW Fl there are many Notes. Most renters are only driving from the airport to beach rentals. There is a couriers service that uses them and zip ties the wheel covers on. No worries on my rentals, we had upmarket alloy wheels.
As usual Jim, your pictures are amazing! You’re definitely one of the best photographers here at CC. Very nice write-up, too.
+1
I have a 2015 Note SV as a daily driver here and have put 23000 on it so far. Decent handling, especially on curves where I can usually take it at 15 mph more than the suggested speed and feel perfectly safe. When I read about the sliding rear seat, I searched and searched thru my owner’s manual. Nissan doesn’t offer that here because of the child seat LATCH mandates I suspect. But it does fold down. My Note does have a driver’s armrest that folds down too. I drooled when reading about 60 mpg, the old 4wd Subaru Justy 3 cyl I had struggled to reach the mpg I get routinely now with my Note (my lifetime average is 38 with both Portland stop and go and I-5 cruising). I suspect that a 3cyl would have difficulties with my CVT, which I think needs more torque than it would have But still, that 60 mpg is tempting and would be fine with most of my driving regimen. It would be worth driving a 5 speed in Portland to get that kind of return.
I was expecting to see a lot of hate, as is the wont of the Internet, I’m pleased to see folks being civil. The Note is a decent car, better than my 2010 Hyundai Accent SE
My wife and I rented a Note in 2015 the last time we vacationed in Hawaii. I had my preconceived notions about the car (and flashing back to the 1980 Datsun 210 4-dor automatic I drove while taking Driver’s Ed in high school in 1980–the most gutless car I had ever driven). I was expecting a penalty box that soon had a future consisting of pizza boxes. Instead, I discovered a roomy, well-screwed-together car. I had no issues driving it with the CVT (unlike the vast majority of the general public, I am aware the CVT is a different animal and does not work like your typical slushbox). Sure-it could use a few extra horsepower (but I’d even say that about a Hellcat Challenger). The Note kept up with traffic decently. Handling? Fairly nimble..just needs a more performance-oriented set of tires to replace the low rolling resistance donuts issued as stock equipment. I was impressed with the room inside. I’m 6′ tall and have short legs for my height so headroom is a major consideration for me. The Note didn’t disappoint-I wasn’t stuffed into the headliner. I really like how Nissan made it incredibly roomy inside compared to its modest exterior dimensions. Pop the back seat down and you can cram a lot of stuff inside. The Note got excellent mileage while in our use. These aren’t bad little cars.
Count me as a CVT fan. Growing up snowmobiling perhaps has something to do with that. Though I’m still leery of their longevity, I love the way they feel, especially compared to today’s 6-9 speed transmissions that seem to always be shifting.
Most times “bad” cars really aren’t so bad if you judge them on their own merits rather than critiquing every little detail in comparison to something else. The automotive press is pretty notorious these days about making mountains out of molehills while ignoring things that make cars annoying to live with every day, like intrusive consoles and deadpedals along with poor visibility. On the flip side they are overly concerned about a half-second on the 0-60 sprint and how nice something feels that you never touch.
That’s why that while I still enjoy reading about cars, when it comes time to buy one I trust my own judgement.
We have 2 Versa Notes as company cars at the newspaper I work for. They are known in the shop as “clown cars…”
Actually not too bad to drive once I can squeeze my 6′ 7″ frame into them and recline the seat back a bit to accommodate my head. I sort of like it.
The CVT transmission? I’m used to it, my daily driver being a 2006 Prius. It feels good to drive.
First car I’ve ever driven with built in Bluetooth for your phone. I like that feature. Immensely. I’m torn as to which one to take now, as one of them has Bluetooth and the other has cruise control.
One note that I saw earlier – I must agree with the lack of a center console being a very bad move. It’s not too well designed at that point in the car.
Richard Wayman wrote: “One note that I saw earlier – I must agree with the lack of a center console being a very bad move. It’s not too well designed at that point in the car.”
Thanks, that was me! Yeah, I carry between
5-10 of these really strange shiny little objects
in plastic cases in vehicles I drive. They are
showing up in Goodwills and other used outlets
in numbers too big to ignore. They actually
sound really good, particularly original issues.
I think they’re called “CD”s?
😉
Center console affords sufficient discipline
for the little suckers!
Jim…your photos are TERRIFIC. Wow, what a beautiful land. I hope we can look forward to more photos – Ireland has always been on my bucket list. 🙂
I drive for a living in touristy areas, and if anyone reading this is planning to come to Ireland or Scotland and rent a car, I beseech you – GO ON A TOUR BUS!
My nerves are shot as it is. 😉
Interesting write up on what sounds like a great trip, to a great country, and some wonderful photo too.Thanks Jim.
The provision (in UK specs) of electric front windows but not rear in not that unusual, and after all they get a lot less use.
The door lock is often now a button on the dash (or on the driver’s door occasionally) for all 4 doors rather than plunger on each door. Complete omission is a surprise though.
The lack of air con is a surprise as well, given the potentially warm and humid conditions in Ireland, and the reduced appeal of the car for onward sale after the hire co’s lease/ownership.
In terms of size, a Corolla (or Auris in Europe) could well be considered a mid size car, rather than a compact now. Its larger than it was, and competes with the Golf, Astra and Focus .No one calls those small, there’s (really) only one larger VW, GM or Ford saloon and 2 smaller ones.
Roger, do cars in the UK get a “segmentation” or are they called small, compact, mid-size etc. ?
Example:
A-segment: VW Up!, Ford Ka, Toyota Aygo.
B-segment: VW Polo, Ford Fiesta, Toyota Yaris.
C-segment: VW Golf, Ford Focus, Toyota Auris.
D-segment: VW Passat, Ford Mondeo, Toyota Avensis.
E-segment: Audi A6, -no FoMoCo model-, Lexus GS.
F-segment: Audi A8, -no FoMoCo model-, Lexus LS.
What I like most is that you can compare apples to apples.
Hi Johannes,
we’d normally use terms such as “city car”, “supermini (Fiesta)”, “family car (Focus)”, “large family car” (Mondeo, Insignia), “executive car” (5 series, E class, XF), “compact executive” (3 series, C class, XE), “Luxury saloon ” (S class XJ).
Using segments is fine, if people know the code.