Car drive experience. Review on Best Cars in India

With the number of cars on our streets growing constantly, automatic hatchbacks are today very popular, especially in our congested cities. And given the introduction of automatic transmission on even entry-level cars these days, carmakers are rushing to make the clutchless option more viable and less expensive. Nissan's hatchback, the Micra, which was already available with a CVT auto'box in the top petrol trim here, now gets one in the lower XL trim – the X-shift.

And apart from the fourth-gen CVT'box, the Micra X-shift also gets a few minor additions. On the outside, there's a blackened roof and stickers of the same colour along the sides. There's a tiny X-shift sticker as well under the wing mirror on the front passenger side. On the inside, the changes are somewhat more prominent. When you swing open the doors, you see the new illuminated door sills, the new steering wheel(the same unit as in the Sunny sedan), glossy black finish for the audio console, a foldable driver armrest and of course, the automatic gearbox.

While the cosmetic touches don't really do much for the car's appearance, the focus here is on the auto'box. Although, I must confess, the driver armrest could have been a tad lower; it gets a little uncomfortable during those long stints behind the wheel.

When it comes to driving manners, it's unchanged from that of the higher variant with the automatic, the CVT behaving in a predictable manner.

So, the new Nissan Micra X-Shift with the added features and the auto gearbox is available at Rs 6.4 lakh(ex-showroom, Delhi). While the kit may not seem to be a considerable added benefit, the advantage of clutchless driving certainly could be.