Nissan Micra practicality and boot space

The latest Nissan Micra enjoyed a significant growth spurt over its predecessor and reaps the benefits: the cabin is now jolly roomy - in the front at least, and there is an abundance of large cubbies and storage areas to house all the paraphernalia of life on the road.

You do pay the penalty for that swooping roofline, however – it cramps rear headroom significantly. Children will be fine in the back seats, but adults are not as well accommodated as in many rivals, such as the roomy Skoda Fabia.

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This cramped feel in the back is compounded by the small rear windows – an outcome of having rakish looks that favour a sharply rising window line and low roof.

The Micra’s boot is a convenient 300 litres and will easily swallow the family shop or luggage for a weekend away. There’s a large well underneath the luggage compartment which is big enough to take a full-size or emergency spare wheel, although these are cost options (a can of spray gunk is standard).

Will it fit in my garage?

The Micra has had something of a growth spurt compared with the old curvy car, but it doesn’t look it on first inspection – those sharp looks disguise it well.

Compared with some of its closest rivals, though, the Micra is quite compact. The Fiesta, Corsa and Ibiza are all longer than the Micra. That’s great news for buyers looking for something easy to nip about town in that will squeeze into small parking spaces.

Where you might struggle is with visibility. The Micra may well be a small supermini, but the penalty for striking exterior styling is a restricted view out, especially when you want to look out of the back.

Still, the ability to add parking sensors and 360-degree cameras helps, although the lens quality of the cameras isn’t particularly good. We’d save some money, stick with the sensors, and perhaps practice your parallel parking if you’re worried about dings.

Will my luggage fit?

At 300 litres, the Micra’s boot is about par for the course for a supermini, with a square space offered that’s practical and useful enough for the weekly shop or a weekend away. There’s nothing overly clever about the set-up though, and some may find the loading lip quite high, especially if you’re lifting heavier items up and over it regularly.

Folding the rear seats down is easy, opening up a 1,004-litre total load area, which is less impressive than that of the SEAT Ibiza at 1,165 litres, while the Fiesta manages to trump the Micra with 1,093 litres of space.

Extra storage around the interior isn’t particularly remarkable, though. There are useful door bins and a couple of extra cubbies dotted about, but that’s about it when it comes to practicality. The front centre armrest adds a little comfort, but is a token gesture towards storage, accommodating little more than a deck of cards inside it.

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Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP crash-test result
• Raft of electronic systems to keep you safe
• Six airbags standard across the range

The Nissan Micra Hatchback scored an excellent five stars in the Euro NCAP crash test when sampled in 2017.

Every model has six airbags, Isofix attachments front and rear, electronic stability control, tyre-pressure monitoring system and automatic headlamps.

Nissan really has thrown the kitchen sink at its small car in safety equipment – it packs many features not normally seen in this class. Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection is standard, so the car will apply the anchors autonomously if it detects an impending impact. It was the first supermini in Europe to offer this potentially life-saving feature.

You can find out how we got on with this safety feature in our long-term review

And all UK Micras also include lane-keeping functionality, traffic-sign recognition and the ability to flip your main beam headlamps up and down automatically, to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic. Clever stuff.