Americans like big cars. Even when designing a small car for the American market, it’s important that the small car be as big as possible. Sound like an oxymoron? It should. In a country where big is beautiful, the small practical cars go largely unnoticed, and so it is with the Nissan Versa. If you read TTAC regularly, you might know the Versa outsells everything in its segment, but did you know it just got a mid-cycle refresh? Even in the midst of a downsizing and belt-tightening economy, that news hasn’t made much of a splash. To find out if the cheapest four door car in America is worthy of more attention, we took a week to live with a Versa 1.8.
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Tag: 1.8

People buy cars they don’t need with money they don’t have to impress people they don’t like. That’s why hardly anybody in Europe is buying the Chevrolet Cruze, which has been on sale over here since last summer. It’s an affordable car that you might need but you won’t want, and which won’t impress anybody at all, because it’s just not that desirable. Allow me to explain…


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E46M3_333 - Word.
waltercat - Oh, this brings back memories. First car I ever drove was the family second car, a ’61 Valiant with the 170″ slant six...
Lie2me - Wow! That’s an impressive Valiant
krhodes1 - In the days of the “voluntary import quotas”, Toyotas were both very expensive and very rust prone. And until about this generation of...
Buickman - sorry Doc, you’re wrong. Ford has the same labor costs as do the Germans. it’s nothing but bad management that drove GM into the dirt. you’re in...
krhodes1 - MPH is still used in the UK at least.
krhodes1 - Both the 85mph speedo and 55 highlight requirements ended in ~83. My ’84 VW Jetta GLI had neither. And I pegged its 120mph speedometer on more...
jimbob457 - Odd controversy here about tax refund season. Most products have a seasonal sales pattern. It was once commonly based on harvest season when farmers and ranchers...
Landcrusher - If you do it the way DARPA does, then just have DARPA do it. Its easier and more...
AJ - My father-in-law owns a restored Valiant that he’s used for drag racing. My wife and I drove it away when we were married....