Go back to Page 2: Ben’s experience behind the wheel
Day 2 – Editor Lionel Kong focuses on jotting down his behind-the-wheel experience 

The Nissan Note, in its original petrol powered form, wasn’t high on the lists of aspirational cars for families because it really wasn’t designed to be one. It’s a small, basic car that got the job done reliably but with little in the way of extras to keep costs low. It was also small, and notably underpowered.

Yet here we are with the third-generation Nissan Note, which is only available here with an e-Power drivetrain. My first impressions of the car were muted, as it’s pretty basic inside. Yet it’s definitely not a badly-made car as the panel gaps are even and everything lines up properly. 

Would you use this as a family commuter car? The drivetrain has plenty of promise. Electric charging stations are few and far between now, so the promise of a “self-charging” car, which is what many salespeople are marketing hybrids to potential customers as these days, shows plenty of promise. CarBuyer itself predicts 2021 is the Year of the Hybrid after all.

As any hybrid car owner will already know, the feeling of going so far between refueling stops never gets old. While Ben put in some enthusiastic driving, I put in plenty of highway mileage in a day as I darted between errands. That improved the fuel economy to 4.9L/100km, with about 120km of distance covered.

It’s actually a decently dynamic car through the corners, but the dashboard gives a big piece of real estate over to the mobile phone and entertainment interface, leaving the hybrid drive data to the smaller instrument cluster. It’s impossible to see all the important fuel economy statistics at the same time as you’ll need to scroll through the screens. 

There’s Sport, Normal and Eco driving modes, but Eco and Normal modes felt identical in power delivery. The benefit of jabbing the button to Eco is that the Note’s one-pedal drive mode becomes active, and releasing the accelerator all the way delivers significant engine braking and causes the rear brake lights to turn on. Backing the pedal off up to a certain point also delivers more regeneration to the batteries while the car engages a proportional “engine brake”. 

I found that it’s easier to drive it in Eco mode once you got the hang of it, whether on the highway or in city traffic. The added benefit is that you use the brakes less, which means significantly less wear and tear. This one-pedal mode is something that Nissan first debuted on the Leaf EV.

Still, it feels like a very basic family car for the rest of the vehicle’s occupants. Everyone gets a great view because of the large, upright windows, but despite the high-tech electric wizardry going on under the hood the car feels simple when compared to the current competition it is going up against. The six airbags and suite of active safety features including lane keeping assist really help sell the idea of it as a safe car, though.

Page 4: Noted ecomaniac Ju-Len puts the Note through its paces and his spreadsheet

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