I don’t know the average age of a Nissan Note owner, but I suspect most are people of certain years.

What that tends to mean is that seductive, curvy bodywork and loud, excitable, rev-happy engines which can prove so alluring to younger buyers, cut no ice whatsoever with older, wiser heads.

Much more important, I suspect, to experienced drivers are space, comfort, running costs and safety.

And on the safety front alone, the new Nissan Note has raised the game for the small car sector. The Sunderland-built Note packs in a range of technology that up to now has been the sole preserve of much larger and much more expensive cars.

The key to the advances is the so-called ‘safety shield’ that makes its European debut in the Note. It combines a package of technologies — blind spot warning, lane departure warning and moving object detection — to give you eyes in the back and side of your head.

It is surprising how quickly you get used to the help from the electronic helpers, from an orange light that flicks on in the outside mirror as cars pass by, to the dashboard alarm if you drift out of lane to the colour reversing camera which gives both a visual and audible warning of hidden hazards.

All three systems take information from a single wide-view camera mounted on the back of the car, which comes with an inbuilt ‘wash and blow dry’ cleaning system using jets of water and compressed air to keep the lens clear.

Also available is Nissan’s multi-camera helicopter view parking aid that provides a clear display of the area around the car and makes parking manoeuvres easier — further reducing the risk of accidental damage.

We will come back to technology a little later, but it is the car’s practicality that has also been its strong point, with huge amounts of rear legroom and rear doors that open to 90 degrees to make access easy.

There is plenty of storage space in the cabin; the boot can be split into different levels and a sliding rear bench mechanism can give an extra 86 litres of luggage space.

Power on the test car came from the quiet, punchy and extremely economical 90 horsepower, 1.5-litre turbodiesel engine complete with an ‘eco pedal’ guide — a small dial that gives a sliding scale rating based on the position of the throttle pedal.

The display also features an eco drive indicator, a flowing blue strip that sits above the three main dials in the binnacle and a five-dot green LED indicator showing your ‘eco-drive level’.

Drive with maximum efficiency and the whole strip is illuminated; drive harshly and the strip vanishes. Finally, the display creates a score at the end of each drive on a five-star basis, but try as I might I could not manage better than three.

While the new Note scores highly on the eco front, the even better news is that it looks a lot sportier than its predecessor, with a long wheelbase and short overhangs combining to create a more youthful look.

 

Auto facts

Nissan Note Acenta Premium
Price: £17,050
Ins group: 10
Fuel consumption: (Combined): 78.5mpg
Top speed: 111mph
Length: 410cm/161.4in
Width: 169.5cm/66.7in
Luggage capacity: 11.4 cu ft
Fuel tank capacity: 9 gallons/41ltrs
CO2 emissions:   92g/km
Warranty: Three years/60,000 mls