16 Jun 06
The Micra C+C has taken a bit of a beating recently - namely on some tin-pot television programme involving three men with dodgy hair, where it was subjected to being classed as 'seriously uncool'.
Now, I may not be a cool cat like Tom Ford (the ex-Gucci fashion designer, not the woolly-haired monster you'll see on some other tin-pot car programme), but I think the Micra is a one cool car. It's certainly a better-looking thing than most of its rivals, plus it's also a pretty rare sight on the road, which gives extra coolness.
In fact, apart from two C+Cs that I've spotted in London, the only other place I've seen them is in Devon, which for some inexplicable reason, seems to have a raft of them tootling around the countryside.
During the 270-mile and eight-hour (don't ask) drive down to the West Country, the Micra felt pretty much at home on the motorway. At a 70-80mph cruise it managed a respectable 45mpg - only when you breach 80mph does the economy suffer, dropping into the mid-30s.
A weekend's camping put the Micra's limited load-lugging abilities to the test. With the roof up, the boot is remarkably big and easy to fill full of stuff. Although the rear seats - or leather-trimmed luggage shelves as they've become known - had to be used to take the tents, sleeping bags and pillows, it was surprising just how much the C+C can swallow. Our last long-termer, the Peugeot 107, would have baulked at carrying so much stuff with its paltry 139-litre capacity boot (the C+C has 457 litres of space).
With most of the luggage deposited in a valley somewhere in deepest darkest Devon it was time to put those rear seats to use with people for the first time. This is something that I don't plan on repeating anytime soon, and I doubt those who were in the car at the same time would be too keen either.
