A noteworthy experience on holiday

The Nissan Note, to be honest I didn’t think I would ever be seen dead in such a car. Firstly it looks like the kind of car driven by people I would normally detest and secondly it’s just not “me”. However when you go on holiday and really need something cost effective to get you to your villa (OK I’m pushing it, will apartment do?) from the airport and perhaps a few visits to your little local watering holes, beaches and ruins, do you know what it’s just fine.

The Note is actually a bit of a “Tardis” if you know what I mean and for a tall bloke like me it has masses of legroom, great visibility and although you forsake the boot space for that legroom I cannot believe how comfy the damn thing was.

Day after day my mate and our wives would lie by the pool all morning and then as we became peckish would head out to the hills for a spot of lunch and some wine. Much to my wife’s annoyance it’s always boys in the front girls in the back, I know it’s a little old fashioned but that’s just the way it is, but happily my mate and I found we could talk freely in the front whilst the girls put the world to rights in the back without any of us interfering in the others world.

Now I am not suggesting for one minute that this had anything to do with the Note but by then I had become kind of fond of the little beauty and although it was in a car rental “sort of” orange and was very basic we kind of liked it and the fact that as squirt was so much cheaper over there and we cruised around in no particular hurry it seemed great on consumption.

At this point I guess I should point out that I only actually drove the little Note once, my mate is a bad passenger and as I drive about 50k per year and was on holiday who was I to argue? But I believe as a result I got a little better perspective of what a great little car it was. Fine pulling away, adequate on the straight, easy to park but perhaps most impressively our favourite eating place was way off the beaten tracks where trial bikes would enjoy going yet it seemed to effortlessly climb these dirt tracks with apparent ease and no particular adverse effect.

The biggest compliment I can pay is that I would have no problem driving one here even if it got some funny looks from my friends; this little piece is not intended to come across as a review as such but is perhaps more of a confession. I am a self-confessed car dealer snob, who wouldn’t have been seen dead in this car had I been responsible for the car rental, but from now on I will not judge a book by its cover; I will at least read the first chapter.

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The Note starts from £11,200 for the Visia 1.4 88PS Petrol up to £16,000 for the Tekna 1.6 110PS Auto. The Diesel range starts at £12,200 for the 1.5 dCi 90PS Visia up to £15,200 for the 1.5 dCi 90PS Tekna