Totally unplanned, the same week that the Nissan Magnite arrived in our test fleet, we also received its cousin, a Renaulitious Kiger. (So it appeared)
How are they related?
They share the same platform and a 1.0 litre turbo petrol engine churning out 74 kW and 160 Nm of torque. While Renault does offer the Kiger in a cheaper non-turbo varient, Nissan offers the Magnite only with the 1.0L turbo option.
From a distance, the Magnite does look quite futuristic for a car of this price range: R277,900 – R305,500. It is only when you get closer and inside the cabin when you realise, yes, modern technologies allow for close machining margins, but a very cheap old school magnet (or magnite?) latch is used in between the seats’ cubby hole.
Other than that we did find the interior qualities somewhat superior than that of the Renault Kiger.
Cupholder count and infotainment features can be found all over google, if you want to research, but all I can say, if a car these days has Apple Carplay, I don’t bother with any more hidden features.
On the road the Magnite has got a first gear from a Unimog. It’s hard to not spin in first gear as it feels like all the torque is lashed out at once, and then it settles once you short-shift to second gear.
Good luck finding that balance.
The little 3-pot turbo has a grunty sound, due to the weird balance you find in most 3-cylinders.
When it comes to looks, one can already see new owners dressing their Magnites with business logos. I even saw an estate agent advertising new suburbs over his whole car, with barely enough space left for a Nissan logo.
Well, we are also happy with its appearance.
Time will tell if the French or the Japs will win the most sales, but I think I would leave my money with the Japanese.
Prce
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