Driven: Nissan Micra (K14)

Nissan Micra digital screens

Car Design News commissioned a car review focusing on the human-machine interface in the latest Nissan Micra.

The fifth-generation car is a big leap up in both size and quality from the car it replaces, and it shares a lot of interior components with larger cars like the Nissan Qashqai. To research the article I borrowed a Micra from Nissan for a week and went over its controls and contact points with a critical eye.

Inconsistencies in approach aren’t hard to find. They reveal that the Micra has not been subject to the kind of obsessive attention to detail that some other brands, such as Volkswagen, have made a core brand value.

That said, the Micra remains an appealing new car with some delightful touches. I particularly liked the start-up sequence of the instrument panel, which I made into an animated GIF for the CDN article.

Key quote
It would not be surprising to learn that the two screens were developed by entirely separate teams, perhaps at different suppliers, probably on different continents