When it was first introduced, the Nissan Tiida didn’t really float my boat. But the more I see of it, the more it’s growing on me.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve caught myself admiring a passing car from the rear and thinking, ‘That’s nice,’ only to realise as I get closer that it’s actually the Tiida.

Now seen all over the SA roads

Initially, the car raised little excitement among the motoring press, including me, when it was launched mid-2006 and when I first wrote about it. It was greeted by a fairly guarded and almost non-committal reaction. Well, the sceptics among us have been proved wrong, because there’s a substantial number of them on our roads. 

Price: From R136 900 To R188 300 Article Options Email to Friend Print Article Remove from Favorites Add to Favorites Remove from 'Articles to Read' Add to 'Articles to Read'

The hatchback is my first choice

I’m still not crazy about the sedan, but the hatchback is appealing to me more and more. And then I spent a fortnight with two variations of the car which simply reinforced this.

The first was the torquey 1.8, with a six-speed gearbox and heck-of-a-quick acceleration. On the road, it was great. With one drawback, however. Time and again, I had problems with the manual gearbox, repeatedly slipping it into first when I wanted third and fifth when I wanted third, or vice versa. This becomes a problem if you need an urgent squirt of acceleration or to extricate yourself out of a spot in a hurry, the blinding lights of a fully laden pantechnikon bearing down on you . . .

The 1600 has the smoother gearbox

A week later I was given the smaller engined model: the 1600. What it lacked in horsepower it more than made up for with its far smoother gearbox. There was noticeably less fumbling, and no wrong gears. 

The roomiest car in its class

The best part, though, is the interior space. There’s tons of leg room, and in fact it’s the roomiest car in its class. Both hatch and sedan have tons of boot space, too. Also, the rear seat in the hatch can slide forwards or backwards, so you can adjust it to either your rear passengers’ leg comfort or your luggage load, which is terrific.

Impressively smooth and quiet

Drive wise the Tiida is impressively quiet – the engineers have done serious work on keeping noise levels at an almost non-existent level – and really smooth, despite any road surface, and with excellent roadholding.

Great aircon system

A handy feature is sub-ventilation for the air-conditioning system (both manual and auto). The airflow is directed over the heads of the front occupants, which as the manufacturers point out, is beneficial to anyone with contact lenses, as the air won’t blow straight into their eyes.

The car has the usual gizmos like power-steering, aircon, radio/CD player, and there’s a variety of derivatives with different accoutrements.

What you get for your money

It comes with a three-year/100 000 km warranty and three-year/90 000 km service plan that includes 24-hour roadside assistance. From R136 900 to R188 300.