Despite a public hell-bent on buying trucks and crossovers, Nissan is boldly continuing to forge paths and spend money in the sedan and subcompact categories. As Tim noted earlier this week, the company’s optimism in those segments comes at an interesting time.
We can now chalk another one up in the small car department for Nissan, by way of the 2019 Nissan Versa Note. This diminutive little hatch wears clothes that differ greatly from its sedan brother, a trait for which it should be thankful.
The five-door will be offered in a trio of trims – S, SV, and quasi-sporty SR. All models are powered by a 1.6-liter inline-four making 109 horsepower and lashed to a Nissan calling card, the Xtronic CVT. In this iteration of the gearless wonder, the company claims it packs some gee-whiz wizardry in the form of D-Step Logic Control. Not a new dance move to be tried on the floor of the Mad Trapper Lounge in Inuvik, D-Step attempts to give the continuously variable transmission a personality mimicking that of an actual gearbox rather than holding a constantly high-rpm while being flogged up to cruising speed.
Starting at $15,650 before the inevitable $895 destination and handling fee, the base S and its 15-inch steel wheels furnishes its driver with Bluetooth connectivity and a backup monitor but is bereft of gear like power windows and cruise control. The SV adds these features in its $16,550 price.
Those who want the jazzy SR rear spoiler but do not want to fork out the $18,360 for that trim can spec one at the dealer on any Note for $320. The lone option on any model is a Special Edition package on the SV, a bundle which includes 15-inch aluminium alloys, fog lights, push-button start, and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto for a not-unreasonable $735.
Active aero tricks like a grille shutter help the Versa Note to slip just below a 0.3cD. This, and the CVT, allow the Note to nearly hit 40mpg on the EPA highway cycle. With a 10.8 gallon fuel tank, cruising range should outstrip the length of time most people will want to ride in a subcompact hatchback of any sort, not just a Note.
Build and Price tools for the 2019 Versa Note are not live on Nissan’s website as of this writing. The current Versa Sedan is there but that machine bears little resemblance to the Note, for which the Note should thank its maker. Comparing the two, pricing for the 2019 hatch starts $3200 north of the 2019 sedan.
Sales of the Note are not broken out of the overall Versa numbers (one can speculate this is the reason why the hatchback is called the Versa Note in this market but simply the Note elsewhere in the world) but, year-to-date, just over 54,000 of the subcompact units have been shuffled off showroom floors. This is down about 25 percent compared to this time last year, when 71,000 Versas went to new homes. It could be that fleets made up a larger number of those sales in 2017 versus this year’s results. The Note does, however, land in Nissan’s top five models in terms of total sales to this point in 2018, beating the Murano and thirteen other nameplates which it shares lot space.
The 2019 Nissan Versa Note is arriving at dealerships this month.
[Images: Nissan]
I honestly didn’t know that you could still get a new car in the US with manual windows.
when was last time you looked at new economy cars?
All base model full-size pickups from the Big 3 still come with cranks, though adding any option package will automatically bump you up to electric. Ford is the only one who offers crank windows on crew cabs as well.
As much as I like small hatchbacks and hate Toyotas, if given the choice between this $19,000, 100 hp, 40 mpg car and a $19,000, 200 hp, 40 mpg Camry demo, I know which one I’d pick.
I think actual transaction prices on these things are in the low-mid teens. What I didn’t realize was that they dropped the 5spd manual in the Note, too bad.
If your wife leaves you a Post-It on the refrigerator to remind you to make this month’s loan payment on your Nissan compact, she’s hoping you’ll take note of the Note note note.
Oh well done sir!
The Note doesn’t look bad, but without a manual trans, what good is a subcompact hatch? Just a box of sad.
Nissan probably couldn’t get it calibrated to pass emissions with a manual.
They offered a manual up until last year, so they already had it approved for sale. They probably eliminated it because it didn’t sell.
On a broader note (no pun intended), I don’t understand the point of this article. Who cares about pricing on a car that’s been out since 2014? Was there really nothing better to write about?