Nissan Pulsar review - Auto Express
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- Is Nissan’s return to the family hatch market a success?
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Meet the Nissan Pulsar, costing from a fiver under sixteen grand and aimed at the Vauxhall Astra, Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf.
Nissan says there are two reasons why it has returned to the hatchback sector. First, no matter how funky the Juke, or verstatile the Qashqai and X-Trail are, there are some buyers who simply don’t want an SUV crossover.
The second reason is more odd - Nissan says the Pulsar will attract people whose children have left home, and want to downsize from a crossover.
Under the skin, the Pulsar uses the 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engines from its crossover cousins, and all the same cabin tech too, including the Nissan Safety Shield with blind-spot and lane-departure warnings, plus a 360-degree parking camera, automatic city braking and moving object detection. While the toys might be bang-up-to-date, and we can’t fault the ergonomics or space, it’s hardly the most exciting car to sit in.
For the Pulsar to raise a driver’s pulse, you’ve got a while to wait. We hear there are Nismo and Nismo RS versions in the pipeline, ready to elbow their way into the Nurburgring hot hatch fight. Come 2015 there’ll also be a 187bhp warm hatch 1.6 to keep things interesting. Until then, this 1.2-litre turbo version is the only petrol Pulsar, though you can also have a 1.5-litre diesel good for 78mpg and 94g/km.
We’re pretty tired of manufacturers telling us their latest offering is going to be both thrilling to drive and supremely comfortable, because nine times out of ten, that’s nonsense. But at Goodwood earlier this year, Nissan’s ex-vice-president, and new Aston Martin CEO, Andy Palmer told us the Pulsar would be much more about smoothness and refinement than fun. And it is.
This turbo motor whines a little but it gets the 0-60mph job done acceptably in 10.7 seconds, and the whole car feels pretty light on its feet, safe and secure. Not that interactive or adjustable, but Mr Palmer also promised noise and refinement levels to beat a VW Golf and Audi A3, and he wasn’t joking. It’s a very quiet car.
So how do you sum up the Pulsar? There’s plenty it does very well: if you want refinement, plenty of tech and huge amounts of rear space, here’s your next hatchback. Overall though, the Pulsar is a tad middle of the road. Hopefully there are more exciting ones on the way to spice up the range. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
![2016 Nissan Pulsar - lovely smooth, quiet family workhorse [Review]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bQWnjKY_PxY/mqdefault.jpg)
![2016 Nissan Pulsar - lovely smooth, quiet family workhorse [Review]](/img/tr.png)
i would buy it... why not? It is not the best looking, but neither is Golf, or Focus, Megane, they all look simillar...
If you want a looker than you go for Mazda 3, Giulietta, and thats about it....
For anything else this car is bang on...
I agree. The majority of competitors surely will not win any beauty contests either, so for what it is, the styling of this car is completely sufficient. A car, which will blend in at the parking lot, is exactly, what most buyers in this segment wants.
better than a boring Golf
Even more boring than Golf.
sic22l Remember the Pulsar GTR? yeah golf cant touch it
In my country nissan dealer gives 2000 euro more for your old car if you buy pulsar. Because very few people buy pulsar without that offer, lol
I have just ordered the car this morning for the end of October. I'll do an owners review over the winter. The salesman did say I was the first to order 1 in the Newcastle area so I'm a little happy knowing I may be 1 of the first to be seen in something new :P *childish dreams*
Big back seat room is for when the kids visit and are approx. 6ft tall as mine are, and most of your journeys are short round town ones or on a motorway occasionally, hence why quite is good too. Boring is also good, no-one wants to steal it and insurance will be cheap. Probably going to be an absolute bargain second hand. People of the target demographic can most likely afford sports car such s an MX-5 as a toy in the garage for driving fun. This is actually a rather well thought out utility vehicle
+Mark Porter It's aimed at those who want the practicality of a car like the Qashqai but have a 'traditional' family hatch like a Focus.
Reminds me a lot of the 2009 Vauxhall Astra.
Well said 👏
Can't wait to see the Pulsar gti r. I remember the old one and it was a beast.
Great cars 1)Pulsars and 2)Corollas. Everybody drives them hard in Australia, from every city to the scorched outback. Treat them with little care and they'll last you for donkeys years.
Fantastic car imo..
Do we get an Ollie with it?
For what it is, it's not a bad car. What impresses me most is the radar that watches for things you might not see.
Hopefully more cars will start adding that as standard equipment soon.
realy nice looking car!
Mükemmel,harika kaliteli bu otomobil TÜRKİYEDE çok satar çok sevilir.Bravo NİSSAN.
Best Pulsar's ever were built from 1987 to 1995. The N13 & N14's. Back in those days they actual sold them to retail customers, not just rental fleets like they do now.
this is a very good car.dont understand that this guy is going on about the looks.do toyotas look better or audi a3s or the 1 series bmws.the nissan looks ok to me and i have just driven one and it is very,very good.yes there will be buyers for faster models,me included,love nismos but we must never forget the reliability of the nissan brand.thats a big player today.overall a very nice car.the 1.2 turbo i drove was not bad at all.this is a very good car.not everybody wants a super car.
Such a poor video review, both on editorial and technical areas. I expected more from Auto Express.
I’d love to see a Nismo version
I wanna secure dependable car...with much room..so I DO!!
So it's a new Nissan Note?
This is just a new Almera isn't it? In fact the Almeras of old were branded as Pulsar in the Eastern markets anyway.
It is Nissans contender in the compact segment, as it is called in most of the world or Golf class, as it is sometimes called in Europe. As yes previous Nissans in this segment have been named Almera, at least in some markets.
I remember the Pulsar GTI-R, what a shame this is :/
i don't see this standing up to its rivals
I'd love to get one for my wife
3 doors, more exciting design. I really want to like this but.
The car is good looking but it's wheels are a clear rip off from the A class which is clever in a way
BRING IT TO USA
Very well made car apparently. Dated though? Compared to what? The Focus? That looks dated to me. What exactly do reviewers want from a cars design? What makes a car look dated and look NOT dated? Is it the bonnet shape? Wheels? What??? Most car buyers and most reviewers are not qualified in vehicle design techniques, so it is up to the buyer to decide if they simply like the shape or they don't. I dont need an armchair expert to tell me that. Ive never really looked at Nissan since I passed my test in a Micra 30 years ago, and I hate the qashqai for many reasons, and apart from reliability issues its pretentious, mainly driven by women who cant afford a land rover yet think somehow they look special in it. Most people do not need an SUV. We have created this ridiculous notion that a big high up car is somehow fashionable, but thats the problem. Its a fashion trend, nothing more, most are front wheel drive only which makes them even more ridiculous and pointless. Grip in the winter is no better than a family hatchback, yet buyers think they are getting 4x4 capability LOL. The Subaru Impreza hatchback (focus sized but better looking) would run rings round most of these daft SUVs, with buyers coming out with all sorts of bogus reasons to justify why they need one haha makes me laugh. Anyway, this Pulsar seems a clever move by Nissan. Good engines, very refined, worth a look at. If you need to sit high up in a car to see the road properly then perhaps you need to take a few driving lessons to brush up on your skills.
yes.I LIKE IT
Put gtr engine in it, call it something stupidly outrageous, and we could live with that.
Aussies have got Turbo Pulsars lol
Good car, wrong name. They should of kept the pulsar name to a sporty 3 door hatchback.
For the people it targets it’s good enough.
All this nonsense about driving excitement and fun completely misunderstands the purpose of this car and is just your usual typical journalistic nonsense.
Quiet, easy to drive, comfortable, reliable and spacious with all the extras is what those that buy it want.
People in the market for an Adrenaline fix buy the GTR
Shots fired at Apple. :p
They shuld have buld a Leaf with engine . And that's it .
2700mm.-
Whoever decided to put a 42 liter tank with 8 liter reserve in this car deserves to be fired. After 400 km your gauge shows a low fuel warning. A much smaller i-20 has 50 liter tank.
He's cute and seems like a nice person... :)
Good reability ? Yes .. looks good ? Hell no ..this thing would look nice back in 1995
Really? Which other cars in the segment looks better? VW Golf? No - very boring and conservative. Ford Focus? No - very bland. Toyota Auris? No. Just no ok? Honda Civic? Its surely more striking, but the latest model look exactly like the last one, and rear visibility is appallingly bad.
Peugeot 308? Maybe, but the 308 is not nearly as pretty as the 208, so not really. Kia Ceed or Hyundai i30? Maybe, but again not really because neither is as pretty as the Kia Rio. Opel Astra? Yeah ok maybe, but that car has other flaws and is soon to be replaced, so that is not really relevant.
Get the point? Large hatchbacks rarely win beauty contests, but its not really important, because thats not, what they are for. And the Pulsar is certainly no worse looking than the average car in the segment.
hey I was born in 1995 what you trying to say
Actually, reliability of modern Nissans soaked with Renault's technology is just average while servicing and spare parts are crazy expensive.
fundiver198 Actually, basically all mentioned cars look better than Pulsar. That's how bad it is.
sic22l Yep, Nissan is in essence a Renault subsidiary. Nissan basically went bankrupt back in 1998-1999. Renault stepped in, bought half the company. They may call it the "Renault-Nissan Alliance" but it is an alliance where Renault holds complete control.
Nissan could've done so much better. The classic Pulsar is a legend but this... looks like a car from 2008 and it's not exciting or sporty at all.
The answer to your question is a resounding no hahaha
That car looks Hugh or that guy is really small
This is gonna fail just because it's average in everything. The looks, the price, the quality of ride or materials... It's best side is the leg room in the back, and that's pretty much it.
I may be wrong, but, that's my opinion.
i must agree but if they go with aggressive pricing they could sway some of people that are thinking of buying i30 to their camp
The vast majority of compact cars are average in everything, so its really hard to see, why the chances of this car would be any worse than that of all the others.
Because other cars have a history or a pedigree that provides them a steady base of buyers.
dcukic I just checked the pricing here in Sweden and Nissan Nordic (as always) thinks themselves higher because they're "Japanese" (someone should really tell them they're French). The new Pulsar starts at 169 900 SEK, the i30 starts at 139 900 SEK. So exactly 30 000 SEK difference, or $4100 in american green.
It's telling that the official sales target for the Pulsar in Europe (yes, the whole continent) is only 64 000 cars per year.
All the explanations Nissan provided are ridiculous. It simply comes down to the fact that they already build the Versa, which is the North American name for the car, and want to broaden its sales markets. Simple as that.
And obviously nothing at all wrong with that right? Nobody demand, that VW should explain, why they build the Golf, Ford the Focus or Peugeot the 308. Right? The compact segment is the largest in the world, so the surpricing part of the story is, that Nissan has NOT had a car in this segment in Europe for the last decade or so.
Please don't ever put a gti-r badge in that piece of shit. It's so ugly. Ugh
How is this called a Pulsar?? NX2000??? nope
Mate, all you can review is potatoes.
Hi why would anyone hire you oscar
It looks like a BMW
Sorry NISSAN the car it is not what i have expected,You have to try more to convince your old friends.And please use an engine made in Japan! Were is the pride of Japanese mechanics ?..to use an old French diesel engine in your only middle class model from Renault..? it is a same for Japan!!
Why has Nissan released a car that's dull as dish water and looks this dated already? A return to there old boring designs of yesteryear.
This is not what the Nissan pulsar stood for. ugh!
Golf ripoff from the front.
Hell no, looks nothing alike.
1. Golf
2.
3.
.
.
bad review. too long intro and little about driving
After driving the Quaskai, 350Z, Pathfinder and the new Micra, I can honestly say they are the worst Japan automaker, I work at a big car rental and the Nissan cars have constant problems, check engine lights and stuff like that, plus the interior quality and use of thin hard plastic makes it one of the worst interior makes I have seen, Why would someone buy a Nissan rather than Honda, Mazda, Toyota,KIA or Huyndai ?
don't be so butthurt Nissan fanboy, this is a stupid name for a car and I can't be bothered to see how it's written
Oskar Thor i'm deeply saddened by the fact that you work at a big car rental company, yet you can't be bothered to see how you spell Qashqai :(
Excuse me I used to work at Nissan I find that offensive most of their cars are well thought like the Nissan gtr 370z and the nismo series and you call them a disgrace.
Haven't driven any Nissan for a long time so I don't know but their cars seem to be very popular, specially Qashqai which is a big seller. That contradicts your statement about Nissan cars.
i have 3 nissan and none of then had gave me problems what so ever...
lame
boring design
Interior is ugly!
What a boring looking car
Reviewer please speak not so fast and with better english accent so we all understand what you are saying.
Please don't ever put a gti-r badge in that piece of shit. It's so ugly. Ugh
Ugly? Really? Which other cars in the segment looks better? VW Golf? No - very boring and conservative. Ford Focus? No - very bland. Toyota Auris? No. Just no ok? Honda Civic? Its surely more striking, but the latest model look exactly like the last one, and rear visibility is appallingly bad.
Peugeot 308? Maybe, but the 308 is not nearly as pretty as the 208, so not really. Kia Ceed or Hyundai i30? Maybe, but again not really because neither is as pretty as the Kia Rio. Opel Astra? Yeah ok maybe, but that car has other flaws and is soon to be replaced, so that is not really relevant.
Get the point? Large hatchbacks rarely win beauty contests, but its not really important, because thats not, what they are for. And the Pulsar is certainly no worse looking than the average car in the segment.
fundiver198 but its still ugly, golf boring and conservative but not ugly. Golf gti/gtd and R look sweet.
fundiver198 you're focusing on the ugly party of my statement. The pulsar of old had a pulse.. Especially the gti-r, this one is cleverly clever brand manipulation.