Nissan Pulsar
- What is a Pulsar?
- Taking a brake
- Can a sporty hatch perform as a family car?
- Tekna-phobe
- Papers please...
- Start to stop getting the hump...
- 360 cat cam in the Pulsar
- Roof box solves our Nissan's space problems
- Fuel economy update alert
- Getting a handle on things
- Service please...
- The good, the bad and the ugly
What is a Pulsar?
Enter the Pulsar. Nissan's new Almera. And Matt will be running this sporty DIG-T 190 model for the next six months.
Date: 27 April 2016 | Current mileage: 4206 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 42.6mpg
Now I'm sure you all know that Pulsar is short for pulsating radio star. That's a highly magnetised, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. Obviously. But not only that, Nissan makes one that you can buy. However it's slightly different, well completely different actually...
Because this is Nissan's re-adventure into the family hatchback market after leaving years ago with its last contender the Almera. Since then, Nissan has been super successful with the Qashqai and has happily recreated that success with the Juke. So why go back to a family hatchback? Could it be that the crossover market is absolutely saturated?
Well, if you're going up against the likes of Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus and Honda Civic you’d better make a good entrance. Especially as since Nissan left this arena, these cars have become incredibly well refined and competition has never been so tight.
However there's nothing cooler than a good name to start with. Enter the Pulsar - Nissan's new Almera. I’ll be running a white 1.6 DIG-T 190 petrol manual for the next six months or so. This is the sportiest version of the Pulsar although I'll stop short of calling it a hot hatch. It manages 0-62mph in 7.7 seconds yet still returns a claimed 47.9mpg. And the price? A not insignficant £22,345 on the road.
The sportiest Nissan Pulsar you can get...
So this is more hot hatch than family eco runabout. However, first impressions don’t immediately point to its sporty nature. It's actually quite understated with only a few visual clues such as the carbon effect rear diffuser, chrome exhaust and the hardly noticeable high level rear spoiler.
I have to say, it's most definitely not that sporty looking, but it does come with a great set of 18-inch alloy wheels which it really does need. Otherwise I doubt you’d look at this car twice. Just have a look at the competition - such as the Kia Cee'd GT - if you don't believe me.
Looks are probably top of the list when it comes to buying a sporty car. It's the first thing that grabs your attention, which makes the Pulsar all the stranger, especially when you look at other Nissans - most notably the Juke and its bold styling. The Pulsar won't divide opinion in the same way but it also won't turn heads in the way other hatches will.
On the inside, however, it's a different car. The cabin on first glance is very well refined - Nissan has done a great job. Everything is well laid out but what is immediately noticeable is visibility - it's fantastic. The front screen seems huge and the windscreen pillars are positioned well out of line of site compared to other cars. It's very light and airy while the quality of the plastics is top notch, coupled with leather seats. It's here the Nissan can match other sporty hatches. We'll see if can in other areas over the coming months.
Taking a brake
The Pulsar comes with an array of safety systems. But do they actually help you to become a better - and safer - driver?
Date: 11 May 2016 | Current mileage: 5438 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 42.2mpg
So what can Nissan shout about with the Pulsar? Well if you watch the TV adverts it's all about safety and technology. This car is certainly not short of it with things like moving object detection, lane departure warning, blind spot warning, forward emergency braking and brake assist.
It also comes with reversing camera plus side and front cameras which combine into one image to give you a kind of 'birds eye view' of your position from above. This can then show you how well you've parked. Or how badly in my case.
But is any of this any good? Well 'sort of yes' and 'don't know' are the only answers I can give at the moment. That's because some of this tech - such as forward emergency braking - is something hopefully you should never need.
The idea is that the forward facing camera/radar is constantly monitoring the field of vision in front of you. Should the car feel that there's an imminent front impact about to happen it will first warn you and then apply the appropriate amount of braking to avoid any impact at up to 30km/h. I’ve been reliably told that it actually works at up to 50 km/h but I'm not going to test that out...
The Pulsar, not crashing into anything...
The same goes for pedestrians, with moving object detection. The car also monitors lane positionto to warn you if you're creeping out of your lane. All of these driver aids are switchable from the steering wheel but as default they're always on. After all, why would you switch them off?
So far, I’ve not had any moments when the car has had to step in and apply the brakes for me but I do occasionally hear warning beeps. This must be the overzealous panic of moving object detection which to be fair just leaves you wondering why the car beeping as it spots something you haven't.
More annoying but also reassuring is the lane departure warning that beeps to remind me constantly of my inability to indicate before changing lane. It's no bad thing as if you do indicate there's no beep so it reminds you not to be lazy with your indicators.
Again you can switch this off, but it's good to know that this system and all the others are constantly working for you. And it may just improve my driving.
Can a sporty hatch perform as a family car?
Our Pulsar is a kind of hot hatch that meets family runabout. But in reality, the two couldn't be further apart from each other. So does it work.
Date: 25 May 2016 | Current mileage: 6114 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 40.6mpg
I've covered quite a few miles since my last update, mostly motorway, and I have to say that the driving experience in the Pulsar leaves me with mixed feelings. It's definitely a very nice interior with it's simple layout and well placed switches plus the leather seats are extremely comfortable.
The feedback from steering is a joy - it's not too light or heavy and is very direct. The gates for the gears slot in very sweetly and effortlessly with a nice light clutch. And given this is the DIG-T 190 with a maximum 190PS and a 0 to 62 mph time of 7.7 seconds, it feels every bit as nimble and quick as you'd want.
However, because this is a kind of hot hatch meets family runabout, it lies between two territories. Of course the two couldn't be further apart from each other, so when you combine a sports hatch with family transport, there will always be a compromise from each side.
The ride and handling are a perfect example. The Pulsar can be quick and sporty but also very annoying and quite stiff and uncomfortable on a long level motorway. After a while, this soon becomes tiring and you just crave a bit of comfort.
Blind spot warning is a really useful extra
Pull off a slip road and back onto a B road and the Pulsar begins to make more sense again. Driving around country lanes is where the Pulsar wants to be. Having said that, that's the Pulsar in this spec, the DIG-T 190. There are others in the range that are probably more suited to the eco-conscious long range motorway driver such as the 1.5 dCi.
The other thing that adds to the stiffer ride are the 18-inch alloys on the Tekna. The 1.5 dCi Acenta comes with 16-inch alloys. So there is a trade off for looks and handling with comfort. But I have to say that the 18-inch alloys look the part and are almost a necessity, otherwise this Pulsar would just disappear into a background of dullness.
And just a quick note on the Tekna. It's called the Tekna because it is full of tech. Things like blind spot warnings on the inside of the pillars. These have a glowing orange LED that warns you if a car is out of sight of your mirrors. It's really useful in fact and never fails when a car is in the blind spot. But recently I've found that it is seeing things that actually aren't there.
It's become overzealous and glows when things simply couldn't be there. At first I thought I was imagining it, but it's happened at least a dozen times and it's not a fault, just extremely sensitive to its surroundings. For instance it will glow for roadsigns, lampposts and anything mostly on central reservations, the one time nothing can physically be in your blindspot, hopefully!
Tekna-phobe
Our Pulsar is fitted with a host of safety tech. But what happens when that tech decides not to work?
Date: 15 June 2016 | Current mileage: 6931 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 41.2pg
Being a photographer I have to embrace technology and its continual advancement at an ever-increasing pace. Be it digital cameras, new editing software and anything else, the more capabilities that technology brings change and evolve the way I work.
There's also an expectation with new technology that it should always work. And when it doesn't, then there must be something wrong. There's also an expectation of immediacy. If you don't get a reaction immediately there's a tendency to press, click or swipe until you do.
The Pulsar I'm driving is the Tekna. As the same suggest, it's full of technology for the tech-obsessed buyer including plenty of great safety features which aid the driver. There are of course other versions less tech heavy which are cheaper.
But has Nissan made a car where there's more to go wrong? They're not the only company to do so. In fact cars are increasingly becoming more and more tech heavy. Gone are the days of the pure petrol head who’s only concern was horsepower and handling. Now it's more about wi-fi hotspots, Bluetooth connectivity and safety or even worse, autonomy.
Our Nissan has a mini meltdown...
So when the dashboard of the Pulsar flashes up with 'Front impact detection not working' with a warning sign in yellow, you immediately think that the system has failed. That extra kit that you pay a huge premium for is no longer working. And how much will it cost to fix it?
This has now happened twice, only to resolve itself within 20 minutes, then happen again only to fix itself again. My immediate thought is that I should head straight to a Nissan dealer to get this resolved. But after correcting itself I find myself thinking that this is a driving aid that is not a necessity, so is it worth the hassle?
Has Nissan been clever enough to understand the psychology of consumers to place a warning sign in here when the tech doesn't work periodically? Or are they covering themselves legally because some drivers are totally reliant and not paying attention? Or maybe they simply know that the front impact detection doesn't work that well in the rain.
Admittedly it was raining quite heavily when this warning sign came up while driving on the M25, but I’ve no guarantee it was the rain. Trouble is, if this is the case, surely it's not great as these are the conditions when I would predict the most obvious time for emergency braking to come in handy.
Papers please...
The Pulsar has keyless start but, as Matt finds out, it can be a temperamental system. He'd be happy with a conventional key.
Date: 29 June 2016 | Current mileage: 7223 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 40.6mpg
First off, I don't want these updates to feel as though I am disappointed with the Pulsar. Far from it. It really does drive nicely, in fact it's extremely nimble and fun to drive, and nice to be in. That's mostly down to its quality interior and the 190PS it produces, which make it so comfortable to be in and fun to zip around corners.
It comes at a cost though and currently the car states I’m getting 40.6mpg, but I have to say that I feel at the moment I'm constantly standing on the forecourt of a petrol station filling up before pretty much every journey.
Im running my own fuel test on this, so after a few more fill ups I will be able to update the real mpg on the Pulsar and get back to you. Nissan quotes 47.9mpg but I really doubt I’m getting anywhere near this.
The other thing to mention is that it will set you back a further £2000 to get the 1.6 over the more than adequate 1.2 engine. But having said that, it's great to drive and there's no such thing as a cheap hot hatch, if that's what the Nissan aims to be.
Matt is enjoying the Nissan's performance, but not the annoying keyless start
Having mentioned the tech that's in the Pulsar Tekna, this car obviously comes without a key and is reliant on detecting the electronic keyless ignition utilising a start button. The problem is that over the last month the Pulsar has failed to detect the key leaving me to repeatedly press the start stop button to no avail.
It's again an example of needless tech that, when it goes wrong, really does leave you with no ability to do anything. Worse is the fact that this isn't the same as losing your car keys. It just wont let you start the car and worse still is the message displayed simply states that the key ID is incorrect. That means that it has detected something, but what it has detected isn't the correct key.
Eventually it realises its error and lets you start the car but on one occasion the only process I could use was to get out and in repeatedly locking and unlocking before it decided that actually I did have the correct key. The key that allows me to happily lock and unlock...
You don't have this problem with a traditional key and here’s another example of placing yet another thing in the car to ultimately go wrong which presumably costs more in the first place. Personally I’d rather have a key, but I suppose Nissan felt that because this is the Tekna, it would be a backward step to just have a key in a car full of tech.
Start to stop getting the hump...
The low front end of our Pulsar is causing some problems when it comes to speed bumps and parking. As Matt finds out.
Date: 13 July 2016 | Current mileage: 7842 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 41.0mpg
Something that's really apparent on our Pulsar is that the front end is very low. Maybe it's just the DIG-T 190 version I’m driving with the 18-inch alloys, but this car does not like speed bumps or sleeping policemen at all. You have to almost come to a halt to avoid the scraping sound of the front dragging across the tarmac.
Parking in my local high street is where it is really apparent. You have to park perpendicular to the road on a slight incline. It's no problem parking, but when you reverse out and aren't going at a snail's pace, you'll hear the distinct sound of the car dragging its front end.
Of course you'd always be reversing slowly out of a space like this, but in the Pulsar you have to do it painfully slowly. And being a busy high street, there are plenty of onlookers whose reaction tends to mirror your own facial expressions as the scraping sound is in full force.
What else is immediately apparent in the Pulsar 190 is the engine note and accelerator pick up. I’ve noticed this right from the outset and put it down to my driving style. If you're stationary at a junction and apply some revs there's a slight delay. It's a little bit like a diesel.
The Pulsar's low front end, seen here in action...
That may sound strange but you need to drive one to understand. It's quite tricky to pull away smoothly in first gear. If you rev the car, there's a very slight delay and what's odd is it hangs before dropping revs again. I thought by now I would have got used to it, but after 5000 miles I’m still finding it slightly annoying as it does cause problems trying to pull away smoothly.
The only way to combat it is to anticipate this and keep the cars revs up very slightly. Which brings me onto the cars start/stop function. It's the opposite of every other bit of tech in the car which seems to be oversensitive.
The start/stop is the opposite. It rarely ever cuts in at roundabouts or junctions at all. Don't get me wrong, I actually like this as there's nothing worse than start/stop cutting in at every given moment.
But it's so infrequent that when it does, you tend to panic and think something's wrong. It's quite strange and a bit of a contradiction putting start/stop in a hot hatch. So perhaps on reflection the balance of this cutting in is just right. Well, for me it is anyway.
360 cat cam in the Pulsar
The Pulsar has lots of cameras on board to make parking and tight manouevres easier. So do they actually help?
Date: 27 July 2016 | Current mileage: 8528 miles | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 40.1mpg
We've established that the Pulsar DIG-T 190 is full of tech and one of the things I haven't mentioned are the cameras on this car. Which is strange as a I'm a photographer obsessed with photography. The problem is, there doesn't really seem to be a reason for them and so I've so far failed to understand their point.
To a certain extent, I still don't understand the point. The car has four cameras, one on the underside of each door mirror and one on the front and back. I understand the rear camera, it's a simple reversing camera but also shows trajectories according to the turning aspect of the front wheels, handy for tight parking spots.
You can also toggle the views, so the wing mirror cameras show a side view of the car and obviously the front camera shows the view ahead of the car. What’s quite clever here is that there's also a split screen view which combines all four cameras into one aerial view from above the car with a generated image of the car in the middle.
This is Nissan's 360 view. It's like a bird's eye view from above you, looking down on the car and more importantly, your surroundings. It really is very clever but of course it is a simulation rather than the real thing.
Matt is able to see just how close to this grass verge he is...
Coupled with parking sensors, the 360 view should even make those people who really don't like parking a bit more confident. However it does concern me that some may spend more time looking at the screen rather than the job at hand.
The Pulsar doesn't have the automated reverse parking system that some of its competitors have like the Focus and Golf. In fairness, I have tried those and never used them again preferring to do the job myself. So in a way I prefer an aid rather than the car taking matters into its own hands. So this camera system gets the thumbs up from me.
My only criticism would have to be that in this day and age the cameras in the Pulsar seem to be quite poor quality. Nowadays we’re used to retina displays and even 4k but I don't think these are even HD which in a way already makes them look dated.
The front camera cuts back out after approximately 10 miles an hour to stop you looking at it while driving. But its really useful when parking up close to a wall and on a couple of occasions when pulling onto the driveway its even saved our cat Ginger’s life…
Roof box solves our Nissan's space problems
Need extra room in your hatch? We did and the solution was a posh roof box for our sporty Nissan.
Date: 10 August 2016 | Current mileage: 9105 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 39.5mpg
It may seem I'm complained about a lot of the technology on our Pulsar but I do have yet one more anomaly - the lane departure warning system. Because this has now decided to tell me I’m departing lanes when I’m not.
It’s only happened a couple of times and it's when I’ve driven through the same underpass. As I'm driving out the other side, it warns me with an audible beep that I'm straying out of my lane. Even though I'm dead centre of my lane. I think it must be some errant road markings or maybe the system is over sensitive. Or maybe I'm actually veering out of my lane...
As a family hatchback, the Nissan needs to be pretty competitive, partricularly when it comes to space. In fact the room in the back of this car is Tardis-like. There's ample legroom and I can very comfortably sit behind myself with room to move.
It is quite deceiving as from the outside the Pulsar looks quite small yet there's plenty of head room in the back. Four adults would be very comfortable and the kids have never complained at lack of room, only my driving and what's on the radio.
Nissan's big boot can fit in three suitcases. Matching ones too...
Our Pulsar comes with leather seats and the rear armrest folds down to house to good sized bottles, so it's ideal for the kids and doubles up as great way of separating them when they squabble...
This goes for the front also. It's really quite a nice place to be and as mentioned before, there's good visibility and the door line is quite low adding to the airy feel. It's not the feel you get from many other hatches, especially sportier ones which usually come with bolstered seats and black headlining.
The boot is pretty good too. I can easily get three suitcases in thanks to the 350 litres of carrying space. To put that into perspective the Pulsar boot is slightly bigger than the Ford Focus at 316 litres and slightly less than the Volkswagen Golf at 380 litres but almost identical to the Vauxhall Astra which has 351 litres.
However, should you need more space you could always get yourself a roof box like the Thule Ocean 200 I've had fitted. It adds an extra 450 litres on top of your 350 litres and in gloss black it really looks quite the part. A roof box on a sporty hatch? Yep. In fact it's the perfect set up with the comfort of the Pulsar with extra space. It's a shame the economy isn't as impressive but you cant have everything.
Fuel economy update alert
The Pulsar isn't matching the claimed Nissan figures for fuel economy but it's still proving reasonably frugal as Matt finds out...
Date: 24 August 2016 | Current mileage: 9206 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 40.2mpg
Economy in the Pulsar is something I’ve gingerly touched on in previous updates before moving onto another subject as quickly as possible. The reason? It's not actually falling short of the claimed figure which I expected.
It does however have a small fuel tank which means I'm spending a lot of time filling the thing up with fuel. So it may seem thirsty, but is in fact not that bad.
Ii may be billed by some as a 'hot hatch' and there is no such thing as an economical hot hatch. The Pulsar is more lukewarm than hot and this puts it alongside more economical hatchbacks - stuff like the Leon FR TDI.
The claimed combined economy for the Pulsar DIG-T 190 is 47.9mpg. My real world figures show 40.2mpg. This actually surprised me. I thought it would be way off. Of course the manufacturers claimed figure is pretty much unobtainable in everyday situations, but I'm not that short at all.
Thule aerodynamic roof bars are designed to reduce drag
Of course there are family cars that can double this figure and I know that nowadays 40mpg is nothing to sing about. But for a car with 190PS that's not a bad figure. So the Nissan does redeem itself to a certain extent.
Personally, if I were in the market to buy a family car, I would go for something more economical. While a the Nissan is good fun and quite quick, it comes at a price. For me, fuel economy is more important.
One thing that does of course affect the economy is weight. That and aerodynamics. So I've managed to try and ruin both by fitting a Thule roofbox. Ours is the Ocean 200 which adds an extra 450 litres of space.
I used the Thule wing bars to attach the roofbox. These are at least designed to be aerodynamic to reduce drag and noise. True, they're a little pricier than normal bars but I'm hoping it's worth it. The Thule roofbox is itself very aerodynamic and I’ve been driving for the last 2000 miles or so with this on - albeit with not much weight in. And surprisingly it hasn't affected the overall fuel economy.
Having said that, I would say that 90 per cent of the miles covered have been motorway miles. For me that's the nature of usage, but for others a Pulsar may be driven mainly in town which would see a much lower economy figure.
Getting a handle on things
Matt is trying to work out whether our Pulsar is a sporty hatch or merely a family car with some posh wheels on...
Date: 7 September 2016 | Current mileage: 9516 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 40.1mpg
When talking about the Pulsar 190 DIG-T, I try and avoid using the phrase 'hot hatch'. This is no rival to the likes of the Focus ST or Astra VXR. But it is as sporty as the Pulsar gets. Which isn't bad considering this is designed as a practical family car more than anything else.
But why have a sporty version at all? I guess it goes back to the days of the Almera. The Almera was once sold in a series of adverts as the car the Sweeney would drift round the streets of London shouting "shut it!" while two Bodie and Doyle lookalikes would drive through streets flicking up litter "to make the car look good". The Almera may not have been that good but the adverts were.
The Almera was a car sold with attitude and possibly the adverts were the best part of it. Now Nissan has gone back to the drawing board with the Pulsar and marketed the Tekna trim as a sophisticated piece of kit full of modern technology in a refined package. Not a whiff of car chasing, burger munching, or cops shouting "shut it!"
And that's where I have a problem with the Pulsar - its identity. I don't have a problem with the car though, that couldn't be further from the truth it and here's why. It's a soft kind of sporty hatch. Yes, it's quick with 0- 62mph time at 7.7 seconds plus the suspension is pretty stiff for a family car. But not one of the kids has mentioned it feeling uncomfortable and the seats most definitely aid this as the ride is far from soft and smooth.
You can put the car into corners nice and quick with less roll than you would get on a standard Golf on 16- inch wheels. The stiffer suspension and 18-inch alloys give more contact with the tarmac, making it a surprisingly good car when it comes to corners.
Accelerating through the gears is very nice, the lever slots into the gate solidly and the engine note isn't too distracting. In fact at cruising speed on the motorway, it's actually very quiet. A bit too quiet for a sporty hatch. So,who is this car aimed at?
Probably me to be honest. Someone middle-aged with children who likes cars but also requires space for kit and room for kids at weekends. Plus it's enjoyable to drive. Any chance to nip to the shops or out for the day and immediately I’ll try to justify driving the Pulsar over our family Renault Scenic.
It's very good at what it does. It's a sporty yet refined and comfortable with enough room for a family car. It just ticks all the boxes. And that's its problem. It may tick all the boxes really well but not one box stands out from the competition...
Service please...
It's time for our Pulsar to have its first service as it approaches 10,000 miles already. So how does Nissan do on the customer service front?
Date: 28 September 2016 | Current mileage: 9976 | Claimed economy: 47.8mpg | Actual economy: 40mpg
So enough of Bodie and Doyle and back to the boring stuff of running costs. I’m nearly at the 10,000 mile mark in our Pulsar and so far other than the front radar not fully working all the time and that extremely annoying key fob that allows me to get into - but not start - the car, there have been no real problems.
So, it's time to get the car serviced. That moment when you feel you have to needlessly spend more money on the car to fix stuff that apparently needs fixing. But, as we know prevention is better than cure. So a full service will hopefully keep your costs down. Not to mention piece of mind that your car has just been given a once over from your local garage.
So for the Pulsar, its first service was booked into Norton Way Nissan, in Letchworth. I have to say, the service was pretty exceptional. From booking on the phone I was almost pushed into having a courtesy car which I didn't need.
The time I booked was the time the car would be serviced rather than other manufacturers who book you in only to find your car is placed in a queue or backlog and your car takes twice as long to service. Not here. Upon booking I was given a a finish time which was also spot on. At every step of the way, everything that would happen was explained including what level the car service would be, the costs and what was being replaced.
Impressive Nissan service included a full clean
I decided to just walk into town and grab a coffee while the Pulsar was being looked after. Half an hour into the two hour service I received an email with a video attachment. Clicking on the link on my phone I was able to watch the engineer underneath the Pulsar, showing me everything that he needed me to see and showing everything he had done so far.
That is pretty impressive customer service. Upon collecting the car, I was offered to break the cost over a period of months and go into a payment plan for future use which would cover a whole range of things. But there was no pushy sale, I was just given the information and off I went.
So what about that annoying front radar? Well it was inspected and given an update while the faulty key fob just needed a new battery. The service cost just £163.56 and it covered a whole lot more than those two things .
Not bad. In fact, far better than not bad. It was a truly faultless service and the car came back fully valeted outside and in. The only thing I didn't try was their coffee, but it was probably pretty darn good...
The good, the bad and the ugly
After six months we've come to the end of our time with the slightly-sporty Pulsar. So what's the final verdict?
Date: 13 October 2016 | Current mileage: 11664 | Claimed economy: 47.9mpg | Actual economy: 40.6mpg
So we've finally come to the end of our six months with the Nissan Pulsar and it's now my chance to summarise in a few words my final thoughts on the Tekna. To be fair to it, this is not really a hot hatch - and in fairness it's not really marketed as such. It's just that it's the quickest in Pulsar the range with 190PS and a 0-62mph time of 7.7 secs. It’s quick enough but not hot.
Styling wise, it's the pick of the bunch of trim levels albeit not really too far above the standard specification. It's big selling point is the technology fitted with safety features like front radar, lane assist and blindspot indicator. The emergency breaking is a feature you’ll hopefully never have to use, pretty much the same as airbags, so should it really be an option or standard fit?
So should you buy one? Well that depends on what you want from a car. The Pulsar is a jack of all trades and yet a master of none. That's no bad thing, it's just there isn't one thing on this car that stands out. Apart from perhaps the rear legroom, which is remarkably generous for a car this size.
I think that the the Tekna trim really isn't a selling point because it's based on safety and really in this day and age, achieving a high Euro NCAP score should be the aim for all models. Yet the best safety kit only comes on this top trim level.
The Pulsar has an impressive amount of rear legroom
The Pulsar car faces competition from the likes of the Toyota Auris, Peugeot 308 and Ford Focus. Against those it's hard to make a case for the Nissan. It's not that the Pulsar isn't a great car - it is - it's just that I know there’s something ever so slightly better out there.
But its main strength is price. The Pulsar is £6k cheaper than the Qashqai Tekna and that's why it has won awards for being the best cheap family hatch. If you want a good quality family hatchback without breaking the bank - this could be a very good choice given the value for money it offers. That said, at £22,000, our Pulsar is hardly what you'd call cheap.
The problem is, there's nothing really original in the Tekna, equipment-wise. It feels as though it is keeping up but not leading the way when it comes to advanced in-car tech. Rather than leading the way here, Nissan seems to be playing the waiting game.
Personally, I’d probably go for a lower spec than the Tekna and plump for the 1.5 dCi. Boring? Yes, but it's very economical with a claimed 78.5mpg and has more than enough poke for everyday driving. It's also a better motorway car. Thiw is the new rock and roll of family hatchbacks. It's an honest small car that's well built and cheap to run. If I were Nissan, that' an idea I'd take as my own and run with...
