The economy is tanking, your car is following suit, and taking the risk on a used car is a little too unsettling. You prefer the warm comfort of a factory-backed three-year, 36,000-mile warranty but don’t have a whole lot of coin to spend. Nissan has a solution: the Versa 1.6, the cheapest brand-spankin’-new sedan in America. Not Even a Radio
The 1.6 is essentially a Versa with a smaller engine and almost no creature comforts. It comes in two very basic versions, the 1.6 Base and 1.6. Both are powered by a 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder with 107 hp at 6000 rpm and 111 lb-ft of torque at 4600 rpm, down 15 hp and 17 lb-ft from the 1.8 liter used in other Versas. Mated only to a five-speed manual gearbox, the 1.6 Base comes standard with six airbags, front-seat active head restraints, and a tire-pressure monitoring system for a base price of $10,685. The only options available on the Base are your choice of four exterior colors, anti-lock brakes for $250, and floor and trunk mats for $155. That’s it.
Spend an extra $1000 and upgrade from the Base car to the 1.6 trim, and you’ll get standard air conditioning and the choice of keeping the manual transmission or adding a four-speed automatic at no charge. We tested a fully loaded (!) Versa 1.6 manual with ABS and floor mats, which came to a grand total of $12,090. Music? Forget about it, since there’s no radio. The 1.6 only comes pre-wired with four speakers to accept a dealer-installed or aftermarket head unit, an addition we highly recommend—you can only talk to yourself for so long before you go nuts.
The Little Engine That Could
With all 107 hp only available near redline, you might think that it would take the better part of a week to reach 60 mph. Ringing in at 9.1 seconds from 0 to 60 mph and 17 seconds in the quarter-mile at 81 mph, the 1.6 is only a tenth slower in both sprints than the last Versa 1.8 we tested. The 1.6 makes up for the lost power by shedding the excess weight of such luxuries as power windows. The shifter is well positioned but does have the typical Nissan clunkiness, and the clutch take-up is still a bit numb. However, the clutch actually feels a bit better than that in our previous 2007 Altima long-termer.
While the EPA estimates 26 mpg in the city and 34 mpg on the highway for the manual 1.6 (the automatic is rated only 1 mpg less on the highway), wintry weather wheelspin combined with some aggressive acceleration netted us only 24 mpg overall. The Versa 1.6 comfortably coasted over our torn-up Michigan roads better than some cars twice its price, and body roll was kept to a minimum. The steering isn’t particularly talkative, although it comes alive a bit once you’re off-center.
A Non-Optional Option
We highly recommend that anyone purchasing the Versa 1.6 spring for the ABS package, as it’s a nominal fee for one of the best safety technologies since the invention of the seatbelt. (We wish the Versa was also available with stability control, but it’s not, at any price.) Even with a very soft brake pedal and fitted with doughnut-sized 185/65R-14 Bridgestone B381 tires (the rims are just five inches wide), the Versa 1.6 halted from 70 mph in an impressive 172 ft. That is an astonishing 23-foot improvement over the Versa 1.8 we tested, which also had ABS.
Neutral Interior
From the captain’s chair, it appears that hard plastics dominate the stark interior, but compared with, say, the Dodge Caliber, the Versa feels more like a Mercedes-Benz than the bargain appliance it is. The headliner is still made of typical mouse fur material, but the seats have La-Z-Boy–like comfort and a nice high position, allowing great visibility all around. The steering wheel is a bit of a reach and could benefit from a telescoping option, but we aren’t complaining at this price. In the back, rear-seat legroom is vast for full-size adults, while also offering a good 13.8 cu ft of trunk space—slightly more than Nissan’s one-size-up Sentra sedan.
Nissan has put together a nice little package with the Versa 1.6. Compared with the $12,090 sticker of our tester, the Toyota Yaris sedan starts about $1600 higher and the Hyundai Accent sedan an extra $1525. (The Accent three-door starts at $10,665, $20 less than the Versa 1.6 Base.) Our favorite small car, the 10Best-winning Honda Fit is more fun to drive and offers more utility with its hatch configuration, but it starts more than $3300 above a “loaded” Versa 1.6. With such good road manners and loads of utility at $12K with all the options, it’s hard to find a better choice in the extreme entry-level segment.
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
PRICE AS TESTED: $12,090 (base price: $11,685)
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block and head, port fuel injection
Displacement: 98 cu in, 1598 cc
Power (SAE net): 107 bhp @ 6000 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 111 lb-ft @ 4600 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 5-speed manual
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 102.4 in Length: 176.0 in Width: 66.7 in Height: 60.4 in
Curb weight: 2552 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 9.1 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 30.5 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 9.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 17.0 sec @ 81 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 172 ft
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway driving: 26/34 mpg
C/D observed: 24 mpg
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