2010 Other Touring! on 2040-cars

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2015 Nissan Micra Cup First Drive [w/video]

A light mist falls on the Circuit Mont-Tremblant. Looming gray skies threaten that more wetness is in store. I'm already nervous about scooting a tiny Nissan around a challenging course in rural Quebec. This damp chill isn't helping. It's an unlikely day to drive an improbable racecar: the Nissan Micra, one of the smallest and cheapest cars sold in Canada. Luckily, the weather and my trepidation ease up. Laps around this gorgeous road course prove to be a lot of fun. The Micra isn't a bad little car, and racing them, well, that sounds like a riot. Nissan is using the time-tested tool of motorsports to raise the profile of its new subcompact with the Micra Cup, a spec series that launches with a pair of races the weekend of May 22-24. It will be followed by five more weekend doubleheaders through the summer and into the fall, including a support race before Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix in June. The investment for Nissan is low, and the six races will all be run in Quebec, a province with a European level of motorsports fervor. Despite the damp conditions, I'm eager for my turn to wheel the diminutive Micra around the Circuit Mont-Tremblant, a 15-turn, 2.65-mile course nestled in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec. Don't be fooled by the idyllic setting, Mont-Tremblant hosted F1 grands prix in 1968 and 1970, Can-Am and Trans-Am races in the 1960s and 70s, and a Champ Car race as recently as 2007. Racing trim suits the Micra, and the car looks snappy dressed in red, white, and gray livery. I climb into the cabin and strap into the racing harness. It's easy to get comfortable in this basic interior. Nerves steadied, I grip the steering wheel, ease the Micra into first gear, let out the clutch, then shift to second and exit the pit lane. Thankfully I'm not the first guy to get out on the track in this car, so the tires are warm. The rain has stopped, but I'm cautious at first. The track surface is still a little slick, and the front-wheel-drive Micra's rear tires can easily come unbuttoned. As I lap the circuit, my confidence grows. My helpful instructor flashes three and four fingers from the passenger seat to indicate the gear I should be in, and then urges me to floor it in open areas. He's more confident than I am, but as I dart around the track, the adrenaline starts flowing. My peak speed is maybe 93 miles per hour, but that's not the point.

Nissan promising autonomous car production by 2020

Nissan will bring the autonomous car to consumers by the end of this decade. The announcement was made by CEO Carlos Ghosn at the company's US headquarters in Irvine, CA. Nissan has already begun construction of a dedicated proving ground for the self-driving cars in Japan, with completion targeted for the end of 2014.
Teaming with MIT, Stanford, Oxford and others, Nissan has already outfitted Leaf EVs with the Autonomous Drive (Nissan's brand name for the tech), a suite of new technologies developed from the brand's existing Safety Shield technology. The current iteration of Autonomous Drive uses the Around-View Monitoring system and laser scanners to analyze the environment, while artificial intelligence systems have been installed to help navigate and operate in a changing environment.
While it's easy to say that Nissan will bring the technology to market within the next six or seven years, it's more difficult to say at what price Autonomous Drive will be available. Most remarkable about all of this is Nissan's claim that self-driving cars will be both commercially viable and available at "realistic prices for consumers." It's expecting Autonomous Drive to be available across its range within two vehicle generations.

2014 Nissan 370Z Nismo

Michigan is one of those places where we can sub-divide the seasons into good and bad portions, with each producing a noticeable shift. The week prior to my time in the 2014 Nissan 370Z Nismo, it was 65 to 70 degrees and sunny, all week long. Anyone care to guess what the following week was like?
Windy, cold and damp weather typified my week in the Z, with temps hovering around 55 degrees and several days of showers. Yes, I got the first week of the bad part of fall. The Z was hardly happy during its time with me, but we both persevered, and I made a point of sprinting out to the garage anytime the ground seemed remotely dry enough to test this striking two-seater. That enthusiasm waned quickly, though, as the week wore on.
By all accounts, the Z is a car that I should like. It's an uncompromising sports car, but as I discovered during my travels, sometimes a little compromise is welcome, and living with a car like the Z - particularly the angrier, Nismo-tuned model - quickly becomes a case of too much of a good thing.