While most manufacturers are obsessed with giving their cars even the slightest of sporty edges, in order to please the predictable automotive journalist crowd and get good reviews based more on that, Nissan doesn’t seem interested in that approach.
The firm’s vice president, Andy Palmer, recently spoke to AutoExpress and revealed that his company is not intending for the Pulsar to be a sporty-feeling car. Apparently, it’s a transitional kind of model in their range, bridging the gap between the Qashqai and regular hatches – basically, its handling will be somewhat reminiscent of the crossover, from what we understand.
Palmer explained: “It’s very smooth, and doesn’t transmit impulses back into the car,” while at the same time being “very solid, and very neutral. Yesterday I knocked the VDC [stability control] off and starting sliding it through a few roundabouts! It’s very balanced, but we haven’t given it particularly fast steering. The steering is quite light, so it’s good for urban use and normal customers. The NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) is better than our competitors. Wind noise is excellent, and structural noise is very good.”
What differentiates it in character from the Qasqai is it’s got more “design emotion” when looked at from the outside, while being “more techy” inside.
Sales of the Pulsar are set to commence this fall.
By Andrei Nedelea
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