Nissan says driving is going out of fashion with teens .....

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Nissan Mixim

Nissan says driving is going out of fashion with teens and wants to woo them with a car inspired by video games

Car companies are used to tempting buyers with new, radically improved models that are claimed to be just around the corner. In reality these new cars feature only incremental improvements. By its nature, car design moves forward in a series of small steps.

That’s why the car under review today is different. It is not a small step but a quantum leap in the evolution of the motor car. It has been built by Nissan, it is called the Mixim and, according to the company, it is a glimpse of the future of motoring.

The Mixim caused a stir when it was unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in September, but it is only a concept. So don’t expect to see one on the garage forecourt any time soon. However, it is a measure of the importance that Nissan places on it that while most concepts disappear more quickly than they appear, this one has been made available for an exclusive test drive.

It looks like a machine extra from one of the Terminator films: angled matt-grey bodywork and scissor doors that, when opening, look like a stag beetle preparing for flight.

It is powered by what Nissan believes to be the fuel of the future: electricity. Under the bonnet the Mixim uses some of the most advanced lithium-ion battery technology, which is very compact and takes 20-40min to charge.

There are two (50kW) electric motors to drive the front and rear axles, making the Mixim a four-wheel-drive car with a theoretical top speed of 180 km/h and a potential maximum range of 250 km. Not so much G-Wiz as Billy Whizz.

The interior has been designed to appeal to the drivers of tomorrow, and Nissan emphasises the Xbox-generation “virtual” nature of its controls – the driver sits in the middle, with two passenger seats set back on either side of him. The steering wheel is meant to evoke a games console and all that the LCD instrument display lacks is a “high score” bar. Instead of wing mirrors, the Mixim has cameras that display pictures on the outer edge of the LCD panel.

“Teenagers have fallen out of love with the car,” Nissan reckons. “They see it as an oily, noisy throwback to the last century. Rather than drive across town to meet friends, they live in a virtual world where the internet has become their vehicle of choice. Mixim will ‘refresh’ their options.”

That sounds very Facebooky, but I’d suggest that Nissan’s think-tankers should try to remember what it was like being 17. I see no evidence that borrowing dad’s car on a Friday night has gone out of fashion. And you can’t snog on the back seat of the internet.

However, the overall look of this little car works brilliantly and is about as far away as you can get from the milk-float appearance of the G-Wiz and other city electric cars already on sale.

Masato Inoue, chief designer on the Mixim project, describes the car as “99% evil, 1% cute”, and says: “This mini-monster theme was developed from a spectrum of Japanese computer game animations.”

Size-wise, the Mixim is slightly shorter than a Micra, but wider and much lower. You open the electric scissor doors by means of a button set by the door pillar. Inside, the seats can be swivelled round to make it as easy as possible to get in and out.

Climb in, punch a button and the seats rotate back into their correct positions. Prod another button by the windscreen and the doors close. The view forward from the central seat is superb. The adjective “panoramic” doesn’t do it justice. Nissan says the idea was to mimic the wraparound effect of a crash helmet visor.

With the brake released, the car rolls off with just the faintest hi-tech whirring, but some shortcomings become rapidly apparent. For a start, the steering wheel is supposed to require just half a turn to travel from lock to lock, but in reality the Mixim uses a standard Nissan steering rack, so getting the thing to go in a circle without twisting your arms into a pretzel shape is nigh-on impossible.

The LCD panel in front of you, which has a virtual representation of the front wheels and is linked to real-time movement of the steering wheel so as to give the sense that you’re driving a single-seat F1 racing car, is plain off-putting. Not only that, but it quickly becomes obvious that rainwater and the future don’t mix: some moisture found its way into the electronics and the LCD screen stopped working because of it.

As for performance, my foot was welded to the firewall and I was three-quarters of the way down the road when an elderly chap drew up alongside, peering in at us from his bicycle. I hadn’t seen him coming because without the rear-view cameras, rearward visibility is Lamborghini Diabloish, which means I might as well have been without sight.

The old boy was plainly wondering why I wasn’t going considerably faster in my car. Unfortunately, six or seven miles per hour was as fast as I could make it go, but then that’s the way it tends to be with concept cars.

So I tried my hand as a passenger instead, hoping that might be more exciting. I must admit the three-seat layout works well, and as there was a triangular skylight, the passenger position didn’t feel nearly as claustrophobic as I’d imagined it would. Even the reclined seating position was comfortable, and as the Mixim uses a modified version of Nissan’s B-platform – as shared by the Micra and Note models – it rides quite well.

Nissan’s claim about virtual-world teenagers needing to be reconnected with cars is surely bogus, but I do like the more serious aspects of the Mixim. As battery technology progresses, the cells are getting smaller and more powerful, providing better range and even faster recharging.

I don’t doubt we’ll all be driving electric cars within time. It’s just that we’ll be doing so in cars that we can feel good – as well as a bit smug – about driving. Whether the Mixim will be one of them remains to be seen.

Vital statistics

Model Nissan Mixim concept

Motor type Two electric motors, one for each axle

Power/Torque 50kW front and rear – total 100 kW

Transmission Automatic direct drive

Travelling range 250 km

Top speed 180 km/h (theoretically)

Price n/a

Verdict Shows electric cars needn’t be dull and worthy

Rating for effort *****

Date of release Unknown

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http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/new_car_reviews/article3016038.ece