Review: Nissan Sunny AT

We have been hoping and praying that Nissan comes out with the Sunny in an automatic avatar. The Sunny is actually a brilliant car. It's spacious from the inside and though Nissan could have done something more to the exterior, in overall it is a sorted car. But it did miss a little something and that something is an autobox.

The Sunny gets the same CVT X-Tronic system as the Renault Scala and claims that though it is a CVT it returns a fuel efficiency figure of 17.67km/l. CVTs fall prey to the rubber-band effect but Nissan engineers say that it is not the case with the X-TRONIC and that they have managed to get things right.

You start driving the car and realise that the claims that the engineers make is bang on. The gear shifts are good and effortless and you cannot even hear a sound from the gearbox as it upshifts or downshifts. The gearbox is amazingly accurate, however if you want to overtake a car, that's when you wish you had the power at your will to push you ahead.

It is a car though meant for the city because it is in no rush to go anywhere. It's the best solution if you always wanted a chauffeur driven car. The exteriors and the interiors of the car remain untouched and so does the engine.

The Sunny CVT gets the same 100bhp churning 1.5-litre petrol engine as in the Scala. The manual variant of the Sunny however has the same engine but gets a configuration of 97bhp.

Nissan has priced the Sunny automatic at Rs 8.9 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) and that is a cut below its rivals namely the Renault Scala, Ford Fiesta and the Honda City. The highlight of this car remains the sheer space it has to offer and now with the automatic transmission, the deal just got better.