Automotive Guide - Nissan
Knoxville, Tennessee

Versatile Versa fits all categories

The 2007 Nissan Versa has a secret.

It's being marketed as one of a spate of new subcompact economy cars, arriving just as gasoline prices frighten the body politic.

But guess what? In the measurements that count, the Versa is a mid-size car. The government certainly thinks so.

Now, there are ways and there are ways of taking the measure of an automobile. There's the length from bumper to bumper. There's wheelbase _ the distance between the front and rear axles. There's height. There's width. Of course, there's avoirdupois _ the number of pounds when you put the car on a scale.

The United States government, however, classifies cars according to their interior volume. That seems reasonable, because what would be the point of having a car that stretched out to 20 feet and weighed 5,000 pounds, but could only seat two people?

The classifications, as determined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are largely unknown to most people, including professional automobile critics.

So here they are:

• Mini-compact: Less than 85 cubic feet.
• Subcompact: 85 to 99 cubic feet.
• Compact: 100 to 109 cubic feet.
• Mid-size: 110 to 119 cubic feet.
• Large: More than 120 cubic feet.

That's for total interior volume. It gets divided up between the passenger and cargo space. So, for example, the Nissan Altima has 107.8 cubic feet of passenger room and a trunk of 15.6 cubic feet, for a total of 118.4 cubic feet. It's mid-size, though at the top end of the classification.

The 2007 Nissan Sentra has 97.7 cubic feet of passenger space and a 13.1 cubic-foot trunk, for a total of 110.8 cubic feet. Again, it's mid-size, though marginally.

Here comes the so-called subcompact Versa. Its passenger space is 94.4 cubic feet and the cargo area is 16.9 cubic feet, for a total of 111.3 cubic feet.

Whoa. Are you saying that the so-called subcompact Versa actually is a bigger car than the so-called compact Sentra?

Well, yes, in the dimensions that matter.

There are some wags who pooh-pooh the interior volume classifications, arguing that the measurement only counts if you drill a hole in the roof and pour sand into the car.

It is true that some manufacturers, by dint of clever design, do better than others in how they allocate interior space. But there's no other across-the-board standard.

Consumer Reports turns up its consumer-friendly nose at the EPA system. It has invented its own classifications, which may make some sense to its own people but don't match the window stickers on new cars, thus confusing the very consumers that Consumer Reports purports to represent.

Though the Versa doesn't look like a mid-size car, it feels like one when you sit down inside. The wheels are located out at the corners, which enhances interior space. Up front, the seats are big and comfortable _ patterned, the Nissan folks say, after those in the previous-generation Maxima sedan.

When you sit down in back, the knee room is startling. Even six-footers will find that, with a six-foot-tall driver in front, they have nearly half a foot of space between their knees and the front seatbacks. There's also plenty of headroom, even with the motorized sunroof. But the center-rear position is tight and not very comfortable.

Nissan designers have made generous use of soft, forgiving materials in the interior, avoiding the hard plastic surfaces often seen on economy cars. The result is a cozy ambiance.

Power is provided by a 122-horsepower, 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that drives the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox, a four-speed automatic transmission or a continuously-variable automatic transmission (CVT).

The CVT has two distinguishing characteristics: fuel economy that rivals that of a manual gearbox and, because it uses a combination of variable belts and pulleys, no shift points. Driving off from a stop sign, it's a smooth progression of power. The only thing you notice is engine roar as the ratio changes when you floor the accelerator pedal to pass.

On the road, the Versa performs acceptably, with a good compromise between ride and handling. As with most front-drive cars, it under-steers, which means that it feels as if it wants to go straight ahead when you want to turn. In straight-line driving, it lacks some on-center feel, requiring minute corrections to keep it on track.

The Versa S, the base model with a six-speed manual gearbox, starts at $13,055. With the CVT and a few options, the test car topped out at $17,505. That included antilock brakes, satellite radio with an upgraded audio system and a motorized sunroof. Leather upholstery and a navigation system were not available initially.

As a new entry into the entry-level scrum, the Versa will compete against the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Chevrolet Aveo, Mazda 3, Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent and Suzuki Reno. But if the Nissan folks are smart, and they usually are, they will emphasize the Versa's commodious accommodations.

As one official put it, they're sure customers will like "a plus-size vehicle without a plus-size price."

By FRANK A. AUKOFER
Scripps Howard News Service