Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £8,995 to £10,845
Compact but roomy, smooth engines, tidy handling, lively diesel.
Ride can get fidgety, cabin trim devoid of padding, meagre boot, indicator bleeper might drive you mad.
This is a proper supermini-sized supermini, and good value for what you get.
This is a small car but a tall one, with a higher seating position than the Swift and an excellent view of the road ahead. The chopped-off tail makes it very easy to park, too. A big round speedometer sits dead ahead of the driver, with an LCD bar-graph fuel gauge within it and warning lights around the circumference. High-spec Splashes have a little rev counter in a pod on top of the dashboard, and all have a two-tone indicator bleep which sounds like an electronic cuckoo. You might think it adds character, or it might drive you mad.
The gear lever is mounted high up and the driving seat is, like the steering wheel, adjustable for height. It controls an electric power steering system with about the right amount of weight but no true feel of the road, which manifests itself when you start driving the Splash with vigour. Its suspension is quite firm, in an effort to keep it agile despite the height, so it feels accurate enough in corners. You steer, it goes where steered until you ask so much of the front wheels that they drift gently wide. It's safe and friendly but hardly inspiring. For most buyers it will be absolutely fine.
The diesel version has a heavier nose and revised suspension to suit. The result is a more jittery ride but more natural-feeling steering, with extra weighting at speed and some genuine feel to tell you how much grip is left at the front wheels. It feels more like a proper car for proper drivers. All Splashes have decent brakes with a firm feel and a progressive, if light, action.
The diesel, not surprisingly, is the liveliest with its 140lb-ft of torque peaking at just 1,750rpm (compared with 84 for the 1.2 and just 66 for the 1.0). It reaches 62mph in 13.9 seconds but feels quicker than this because the engine is good and gusty across a wide speed range once the turbocharger is boosting, so you can overtake with confidence. It's one of the smoother and quieter installations of this unit, too. Top speed is 103mph.
You wouldn't want to attempt a marginal overtake with the 1.0. Its three cylinders make a happy, low-pitched hum and it's very smooth, but even though 62mph takes 14.2 seconds - scarcely longer than the diesel's time - the performance is much less accessible because of the lack of torque. It's all-out at 99mph.
The 1.2 also needs to be worked hard to make real progress, but in gentler driving it feels willing from low engine speeds and is, again, smooth and quiet. It's the quickest to 62mph, requiring 12.3 seconds, and fastest flat-out at 109mph. The Splash's low aerodynamic drag helps here.
The diesel has a stiffer, lumpier shift than the petrols. A four-speed automatic is optional for the 1.2.
