Nissan PixoApril 2009

This is Nissan's budget small car the Pixo, which sits below the Micra and the Note in the Japanese firm's growing range of city runabouts. It's a cheap rival for the Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto, but one that arguably comes from a better established brand with a marginally more premium badge.

We should mention straight away, then, that this Nissan is in fact a Suzuki. It's the sister car to the mechanically identical Suzuki Alto and both are built at a factory in India, not Japan. Visually the two cars are different: the Pixo gets its own longer lights, a new front grille, different bonnet and new seat trims - a treatment that makes it look more like its bigger Nissan siblings. But really it's an Alto in disguise.

In theory this is no big deal. Manufacturers who share development and production costs are then able to bring down the showroom price of their cars. Remember that Toyota, Citroen and Peugeot did the same to launch the Aygo, C1 and 107. And this strategy helps the Pixo be one of the cheapest cars on sale in Britain. It starts from an even lower price point than the Suzuki it shares parts with.

In the cabin the set up is simple and functional, but crushingly dull. The driving position is adequate, although the lack of reach adjustment for the steering wheel will present a problem for taller drivers. The quality of the materials is only average and not up there with more premium city cars like the Toyota Aygo or Fiat Panda. But standard equipment does include Isofix mounting points and an MP3 CD player which is impressive for the money, although air conditioning is on the options list.

The petrol engine is a little three cylinder 996cc unit that produces a modest 67bhp, but because the Pixo is nice and light it still manages zero to 62mph in a bearable 14 seconds. Performance is peppy and the little engine is happy to be revved, but on the motorway its lack of mid-range go can be frustrating. The Pixo is surprisingly amusing and safe through corners and the well-mannered chassis means body control isn't bad at all. It's narrow too, so it can dart through gaps in traffic.

Overall this is a competent but rather bland city car from Nissan. Cheap it may be, but if you can stretch your budget by another thousand pounds or so much more s+D171atisfying offerings like the Hyundai i10 could be yours.