Written by: Martin Ward
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 

Pixo is a made up name which came from the marketing department at Nissan Europe and love the name or hate it, it’s here to stay. It sounds like a cross between a small person with big ears and a packet of sage and onion stuffing, but no doubt the people who came up with it are happy. It is certainly a name you can’t and won’t forget quickly, like so many others.

 

The Pixo will be entering into the most active sector of the market and will compete with cars such as the Ford Ka, Fiat Panda, Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto, Vauxhall Agila, Fiat 500, Peugeot 107, Citroen C1, Toyota Aygo, VW Fox and Suzuki Alto. The Pixo shares the same platform as the Alto and are both built alongside each other in India. However, the Pixo has been ‘Nissan-ised’ with a different front end, rear lights and Nissan interior trim and upholstery. It is 3,565mm in length which is the same as an i10 and is longer than an Aygo which measures at 3,415mm in length. Nissan say the Pixo is ‘a car to nip to the shops in, not for going on motorways’. It is for people who want the best deal and value for money’. This just about sums it up.

 

We drove the perky 1.0 litre 3 cylinder 68ps petrol engine around Oxford and to Blenheim Palace. In the traffic it was perfect as it was nippy and agile, with a very light steering system. On the dual carriageway it easily cruised at 60mph and it felt as if it had a bit more power left if it was needed. We didn’t get the chance to try it on a long motorway journey but I’m convinced it would cope on the flat but may slow down a bit on some of our motorway inclines. The interior quality, fit and finish is certainly not up to most manufacturer’s standards but for the size of car and the cost, it is more than acceptable. It is very easy to understand all the switches and controls; a handbook is not really necessary as there is nothing too complicated. This budget five door, four seat car has been built for a price as the rear windows pop out instead of winding up and down, the air bags are kept to a minimum on the base car and there’s only one engine available; coupled to either a five speed manual gearbox or for £910 you can have an automatic. Also, there are only six colours to choose from. The Pixo is more of a functional car as opposed to being luxurious. The luggage capacity is 129 litres with the seats up and 367 litres with the rear seats folded down. There is enough space for four adults and the rear seats are relatively comfortable.

 

Now for the best part, the price. Prices start from a remarkable £5,995 for the Visia model, the Acenta is £6,740, the Acenta N-Tec with air con is £7,195 and the top of the range Tekna is £7,645. The 1.0 litre engine has a low Co2 output at 103g/km, which means it costs £35 per year to tax. With the low purchase cost, the economical engine that has a combined fuel consumption figure of 64.2mpg and low VED banding, this all adds up to low running costs and exceptional value.

 

Nissan expect to sell around 3,300 this year and 7,000 in its first year in 2010 with 87% going to retail buyers and 13% to fleet. First deliveries are due next month and I’m sure they will all be snapped up fairly quickly.

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