Nissan

Pulsar

This five-door hatchback is a great newcomer to the Nissan line-up offering a spacious, modern, clutter-free interior with plenty of kit at your disposal. It’s a proper family car with bags of room in the rear and a boot that will easily accommodate all luggage needs.

The good

Excellent handling and value for money

The bad

Taking on some big guns in the market

Tech Specs

Price from

£15,995

Combined Fuel up to

78.5mpg

0-62 from

7.7 seconds

max speed up to

135mph

co2 from

94g/km

Test Drive

Nissan Pulsar Tekna 1.2 DIG-T (manual)

Nissan has a brand new arrival in its showrooms and it’s likely to really shake up the family hatchback scene.

With the likes of the Hyundai i30 and Ford Focus in its sights, the striking Nissan Pulsar is the Japanese’s company’s first venture into the mid-sized family hatchback market since it axed its Almera model in 2006.

Powered by the same highly-successful engines that are fitted to the Qashqai, the five-door Pulsar looks fabulous from any angle and is very big on practicality and space.

Eye-catching features include a high level rear spoiler, 17-inch diamond cut alloys, body-coloured door mirrors and handles, front fog lights, tinted windows, a carbon effect rear diffuser and plenty of chrome trim.

It also boasts Nissan trademark stand-out features such as the V-motion grille, boomerang headlights and strong curves.

The interior is like the Tardis and incredibly spacious with ample room for five adults to stretch out in style.

This is accomplished thanks to the best-in-class 2,700mm wheelbase.

Another plus factor of note is the high roofline which means lots of headroom in the back of the car.

The generously-sized boot can accommodate 816 litres of luggage which can be increased to a whopping 1,381 litres with the 60:40 split-folding rear seats lowered and the wide-opening rear doors are another notable factor making it all the simpler to get in and out of the vehicle. This also makes life simpler for parents trying to gain access to young children in child seats.

And for techno geeks, there are plenty of creature comforts and features to be discovered within the Pulsar. These include a 5.8-inch colour touchscreen navigation and entertainment system with USB/iPod connectivity, Bluetooth with microphone, a DAB radio, reversing camera, heated seats, dual zone climate control, rain sensing wipers, cruise control with speed limiter, leather upholstery, idle start/stop and plenty more besides.

All dials controls and read-outs are ideally placed for ease of use in what can only be described as a clutter-free, yet feature-rich interior.

The range-topping Tekna test model was fitted with a1.2-litre petrol powertrain delivering 115PS and 165Nm of torque. It was mated to a six-speed manual gearbox that was both smooth and responsive with a constant supply of power on tap when required.

It can sprint from 0-62mph in 10.7 seconds and tops out at 118mph. According to official figures the Pulsar has carbon emissions of 117g/km and can deliver 56.5mpg on a combined run.

Apart from the impressive amount of space within the car, the other truly great thing about the Pulsar is the way it handles. It actually feels quite refined. The steering is light and responsive, the road-holding very secure and the ride most comfortable.

It is also well insulated with very little road or engine noise to speak of even when pushed quite hard.

As one would expect the Pulsar – which has been awarded the maximum five stars in the Euro NCAP safety tests – boasts a comprehensive list of safety specifications.

As well as the usual systems, the Pulsar also featured a colour front, rear and side Around View Monitor system. Tiny cameras are mounted on the grille, door mirrors and tailgate and these all combine to produce an overhead bird’s eye view of the car’s surroundings on the car’s colour touchscreen. This means the driver can see what is going on around the car which is great for parking, but also very useful when reversing out of tight parking bays where children or animals may be crossing unseen.

The Tekna model also featured the likes of blind spot warning, forward emergency braking, moving object detection, lane departure warning, six airbags and plenty more.

All in all, the Nissan Pulsar is a brilliant all-rounder and with a price-tag of £20,345 is outstanding value as well.