New 2013 Nissan Note gets more appealing

The new Nissan Note has turned in to a Ford Fiesta basher as Nissan turn the Note from a boring little MPV in to a convincing small hatch.

We did think the Invitation would be watered down to produce a slightly titivated new Note for production, but much of the style has found its way through in to the new Note – which we first saw in the JDM Nissan Note last summer – and the Note now looks set to take on proper compact hatches like the Ford Fiesta.

The nose of the new Note is now more convincing – with new headlights and grill – and the doors get a great big feature crease that looks like a giant smoothing iron has stamped its mark, although Nissan say it’s a ‘Squash Line’  whose ‘angles were inspired by the flight of a fast moving squash ball travelling around a court’.

The new Note is strong on technology, with systems like Blind Spot Monitoring, Lane Departure Warning and Moving Object Detection all offered under the ‘Safety Shield’ banner, and an ‘Around View’ parking aid that shows a birds-eye view of the Note on screen.

New Nissan Note Photos >>

The 2013 Nissan Note (although it will probably be a 2014 Note by the time it arrives in the Autumn) comes with a choice of three engines: a pair of 1.2 litre 3-cylinder petrols, one normally aspirated with 79bhp and 60.1mpg and the supercharged DIG-S with 97bhp, and 65.7mpg, and a single 1.5 dC i diesel with 89bhp and 78.5mpg.

Nissan say the new Note for the UK and Europe has been extensively tweaked to suit our roads and driving wants, with a unique setup for steering, suspension and chassis, with cornering stability and dynamics much improved, and the DIG-S models getting further tweaks for a more involving drive.

Paul Willcox, Nissan’s European Marketing man, said:

The new Note isn’t just a direct replacement for current Note, it’s a completely different car with a completely different place in the market. Sitting at the very heart of the B-segment, the new Note takes on high volume competitors with great design and premium technology in an accessible package.

We’re really excited to be expanding our small car range with such an attractive and advanced new hatchback.

He could be right. The new Note does look a lot more convincing than the old Note and could well enjoy the sort of success the Juke and Qashqai have had.

The new Nissan Note is being built in Sunderland, will debut at the Geneva Motor Show in a couple of weeks and go on sale at the end of the summer. No doubt Nissan will have come up with a price for the new Note by then.

By Cars UK