General Comments:
We needed a car quickly and it had to be affordable, comfortable and reliable. Our Cavalier finally "puked" out at 160,000 miles. It was needing tranny work and we didn't want to invest any more $ in it.
We had seen the 4 door Versas around and like the styling. We have owned Nissans before and been pleased with them (Cube, Sentra). When we went to the Nissan dealer and actually test drove one, I was really surprised at how much you get for the money. I am 6' 1", and my partner is 6' 2" tall, and there is by far enough headroom. Most cars have either not enough legroom for us or just good enough, but the Versa some how squeezed out extra room to where we have MORE than enough legroom. Even in the backseat with both front seats all the way back, we can still sit back there comfortable. The legoom and headroom are well worth mentioning. I've been much bigger cars with less room.
The other "worth mentioning" is the ride. I've come to see that is a special mention with most Versa owners. The ride is ridiculously smooth and cushy. It rolls over the cobblestone and brick streets with hardly a notice or sound. And speaking of sound, the noise deadening in these cars is first rate. 80mph on the thru-way, very quiet.
Gas mileage with the CVT transmission is re-donk-u-lous! We average 36 MPG around town, and over 40 MPG on the open highway! Mitsubishi offers a 3 cylinder, itty-bitty, econo-car, the new Mirage, which barely touches that, and theirs is a 5 speed manual. And forget getting in the Mirage, too small, very "tin-ny feel". Cute but obviously targeted to very young, smaller people with no family.
Now as for performance, well, forget it. I cannot understand why these people write a review about the lack of performance or "sportiness" on cars that should be well known NOT being targeted to those demographics. It is, first and foremost, an affordable, economy car. That being said, "No", it does not have any acceleration. "No", it does not have sport tuned suspension or steering. "No", it does not have hand carved wood from the Black Forest of Bavaria on the dashboard and door panels. And "No" it does not have hand woven silk carpeting from the finest vendor in Morocco. It is an inexpensive mode of transportation that will get you where you want to go, comfortably, and inexpensively and in relatively attractive style. At around $14k, you get a Nissan, not a Ferrari.
Overall, I'm happy with the car. I accept it for what it is. It was in my budget, it's comfortable and good on gas. When I was younger, I owned a Z-28. I bought it for what it was too. I didn't buy a Chevette and then whine that it wasn't a sports car. LOL. I guess some of the readers get what I'm saying. :-P
