Of the record-breaking total of more than 2.5 million new cars which left showrooms to grace UK driveways in 2002, around one in four were diesel powered, a rise of some six per cent over the previous year.

This acceleration shows no signs of slowing down, with diesel demand accounting for some 26 per cent of last month’s new car sales, a figure which is expected to reach 29 per cent for this year, says the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

This is almost double the figure for the past decade which now makes the diesel engine very much a must-have fashion statement under the bonnet.

Despite the Micra’s popularity with the buying public over the past decade, NISSAN has never provided an alternative to petrol power in the range. But, with the introduction of the new version of the legendary supermini, came the promise of diesel power to add to the trio of petrol engine options.

By the autumn, NISSAN intends to have a brace of diesels to augment the new Micra’s power base, and the first of those has now arrived in the shape of a 64bhp 1.5-litre oil-burner.

This dCi is the fourth new diesel engine NISSAN has introduced into its range of vehicles so far this year, and it comes courtesy of the Japanese carmaker’s alliance with Renault, the engine having been first experienced in the Clio range.

Despite giving its identity away on tickover, the engine does feel in tune with the stop-start of the urban trawl, combining well with new Micra’s already proven in-town manoeuvrability.

However, in motorway cruising mode it does need a little persuasion via the smooth-slotting gearchange to stir up the urge, but once having settled to its task it does cruise along quite happily between 60 and 70 mph.

While some buyers may prefer to wait until October when the 1.5-litre, 81bhp inter-cooled version comes on stream, this 64bhp newcomer shows up well in the economy stakes. NISSAN’s official figure for a combination of town and extra-urban driving being 61.4mpg – the very essence of diesel power’s current ascendancy.

The common rail, direct injection 1.5-litre dCi 64bhp diesel engine is now available in three or five door Micras coming in S or SE trim level and on-the-road prices open up at £8,795 for the well packaged three-door Micra S model.

I have just sent back the most powerful in the range – the 160SR, which refers not to the power output – cunning these marketing men – but to the 1.6-litre engine.

However, it is still a great car to drive, with plenty of verve, and the same excellent handling and roadholding as all the other models in the range.

Beats me how a company who can produce such a good supermini twice in a row, can then make such lacklustre cars as the Almera and the last Primera.

The engine has enough grunt for really enjoyable performance, with a willing, easy-revving nature and just enough smooth sound to keep me interested.

I could overtake reasonably easily on two lane roads and enjoyed the car’s perky nature.

It’s comfortable and tackles the twisty bits with superb balance and poise.

Interior

The back seats are a good size but headroom will be restricted for some and so will knee room if the driver is tall.

SR trim brings a six CD changer in the dash, climate control, height adjust seat and column and good looking black-on-white instruments.

FAST FACTS

NISSAN Micra 1.6 Sport SR 3dr

Price: £10,695

Mechanical: 110bhp, 1,598cc, 4cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via a 5spd manual gearbox

Max speed: 114mph

0-62mph: 9.8 secs

Combined mpg: 42.8

Insurance group: 6

CO2 emissions: 158g/km

BiK rating: 18%

Warranty: 3yrs/ 60,000 miles, 3yrs paint, 12yrs anti-rust

Marks: 10/10

Main rival: Toyota Yaris

The one off 1.6-litre Sport model has been customised by former Atomic Kitten star Jenny Frost and can be won in a fund raising competition.

In addition to the standard equipment including electric windows all round, manual air conditioning and a mild body-kit modelled on the Micra 160SR, Jenny has added her own special touches.

The 16-inch graphite alloy wheels have been replaced by 17-inch rims and the usual sports seats have been trimmed with luscious purple leather with gold stitching to complement the unique exterior paint job.

Jenny also indulged her passion for music and film and replaced the standard six speaker CD radio with an entertainment unit by Alpine Electronics, which not only plays CDs, DVDs and MP3s, but also has the added a built in satellite navigation system worth over £5,000. There’s also a picnic hamper and a fridge in the boot as well as an umbrella.

Jenny’s final touch is her signature in gold stitching embroidered into the floor mats.

One lucky shopper will be able to win this unique gold Micra C+C in the competition to raise funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Jenny is taking the Micra on a tour of the country where it will form the centrepiece in a series of fashion shows in major shopping centres.

Shoppers will be able to see shows featuring the latest high street looks and have the opportunity to enter the competition to win the Micra C+C while making a donation to the charity’s campaign.

The tour takes in Cardiff , Manchester, London (Lakeside), Newcastle, Birmingham and Glasgow.

NISSAN has secured a Regional Selective Assistance grant of £3.26 million from the Department of Trade and Industry to build the new car at its North East factory where 4,500 employees currently make the standard Micra, Almera and Primera models.

Called the C+C, the new coupe-cabriolet version of the Micra will be produced in collaboration with the specialist German coach-building firm, Karmann, which has produced many such models for other manufacturers.

NISSAN is investing £95 million in the venture, with production due to start in 2005 at the projected rate of 20,000 a year initially.

Designed at London-based NISSAN Design Europe, with development at the NISSAN Technical Centre Europe in Bedfordshire, the car will be a major image-boosting addition to the company’s line up.

It will be built on the same line as the Micra at the Sunderland plant and Karmann will install an on-site sub-assembly facility for the production of the roof system and boot lid.

A team of 250 people will be dedicated to its production at the Sunderland plant, including a number from the existing 4,500 workforce.

Colin Dodge, managing director of NISSAN Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd, said: “I would like to extend my thanks to the Department of Trade and Industry whose continued support for the company and the North-east region has made this project possible. It is now up to our designers, engineers, and production staff in collaboration with our suppliers to successfully bring the product to the market.”

The new car will be a redesigned version of the Micra C+C concept first shown at the Paris Motorshow last year. Like the show car, it will have a retractable hard top and a two plus two seating arrangement.

Such cars are suddenly all the rage, with NISSAN’s partner company, Renault, being the latest to enter the market with a coupe-cabriolet version of the Megane model.

Peugeot has coupe-cabriolet versions of its 206 and 307 models and Volkswagen is about to introduce a similar version of its Golf.

The advantage of the innovative roof arrangement is that the car can literally transform itself from a hard-top coupe to an open-air cabriolet in seconds, at the touch of a button.

More than 13,000 firm orders were received in just its first week, of which 8,000 are from other European markets.

The company says that the sales momentum is expected to grow still further when the newcomer is shipped to central and eastern European markets in March, and the first diesel versions arrive in April.

A 48kW version of the Renault 1.5dCi engine will be followed in September by a more powerful 60kW version of the same unit.

NISSAN’s Sunderland plant has increased capacity by about 12 per cent in order to cope with demand.

After many months of nail-biting negotiations, the company recently reached a pay settlement with its workforce, but unions say they are now working towards greater representation at the Sunderland plant.

The company was awarded a hefty grant to build the new Micra in Britain after threatening to switch production to Renault’s plant near Paris.

British fans will, for example, be able to see the Urge two-seater concept that was first shown at the Detroit Motor Show. This dynamic car is being brought to the UK especially for the event.

The Micra C+C has aroused a lot of interest since its introduction but the show will feature a special one-off version.

This one has been produced in association with Conran and has been re-designed both inside and out. There is an all leather interior as well as liberal use of chrome. And the car comes in the special colour “blushing black”.

The third concept is a special version of NISSAN’s stylish four-by-four Murano. Again this car has been re-styled inside and out, this time by NISSAN’s own technical centre and its design studio. As well as interior changes and alterations to things like the suspension this car comes with a 350bhp engine.

NISSAN says the car has been produced to gauge public reaction, so presumably if it’s favourable we may see this model in the showroom in the near future.

To ensure the fans can also take a close look at something they can buy right now the Japanese car maker will also have a strong line-up of current models on view. And there seems to have been a lot of new models coming from the NISSAN stable recently.

Leading the line-up will be the latest from the company, the Note. This compact family car was built after a lot of research into exactly what potential customers wanted from a car of this size – and what they didn’t like about the existing cars.

The Note is a very distinctive looking car which offers an abundance of space wrapped up in a stylish and unique package.

It’s also a logical car which does exactly what it says on the tin. No need to get the car’s manual out to discover how the seats fold down or how more space can be created beneath the hatchback here.

And with the sliding rear seat pushed right back even the leggiest of rear seat passengers can stretch their limbs out, limousine style.

Externally the new Note has a face similar to that of NISSAN’s up-market Murano while the rear, well that’s eye catching but like nothing else on the road.

On the subject of Murano there will be a conventional model at the show as well as the concept.

NISSAN has a plethora of 4×4 models now and joining the Murano will be the Navara, X-Trail and Pathfinder.

Of course it is, but would it sell?

In reality the answer is ‘No’.

Why?

Because women don’t want to be seen as ‘special projects’.

There are however little tweaks and design features that appeal specifically to us, such as interior textures, colours, seat comfort, storage and ease of access, especially if you have children.

One manufacturer decided it was time to employ the services of a well-known interior designer to address this very issue.

The car maker is NISSAN and the model is the cute little Micra C+C.

Of course it’s been done before with the likes of Wayne Hemingway customising a Daewoo – as it was then, now Chevrolet – Matiz and Paul Smith personalising a Jaguar X-Type.

NISSAN, with an impressive design studio in central London, chose interior designer Sebastian Conran, son of design guru Terence, to add his flare to this popular coupe cabriolet.

The result was seen and much admired at the recent British International Motor Show in London.

“Once you step inside a car, it’s great if it has something that sets it apart from everything else,” says Conran.

To do this, Conran takes inspiration from eclectic sources – Japanese lacquer work, the iPod, nature and the red insoles of his mother’s Charles Jourdan shoes.

“It sits well with the current boho chic trend that’s evident in fashion and furniture. Bold yet feminine, with a touch of vintage,” he adds.

Marisol Manso Cortina is in charge of colour themes at NISSAN Design Europe and he believes this partnership could take the relationship between cars and fashion to a new level in terms of exchanging ideas and creative talent.

For many, cars are an extension of their wardrobe and what they’re seen driving in is as important as the shirt on their backs. It verges on a culture to some.

Conran’s aim was to design a non-male, non gender-based car that’s a joy to drive. In his own words: “We wanted to design an interior that reflects the zeitgeist; a design that captures the mood of the moment.

“We would like to turn attitudes to car interiors on their head, to come from a different perspective from the conventional testosterone-driven designs.”

Conran goes on to point out how much time and effort we spend decorating the interior of our houses and how that theme should be able to continue in a car. Being surrounded by nice things shouldn’t have to stop at home.

Inspiration for the project came from nature, from walking in woods and looking at reflections and shadows rather than the objects themselves.

So what has Conran done to set the car apart?

He explains: “We’ve gone with colourful, leafy patterns on the leather seats upholstered in a red shadowy leaf print.

“The glove box and underseat storage are lined in the same secret red which from the outside you don’t see. The inspiration for this came from a pair of Charles Jourdan shoes my mother used to have, which were fairly simple on the outside but had a bright red leather lining.”

Where chrome would normally have been used, he went for titanium black. The exterior body colour, Blushing Black, was inspired by Japanese traditional lacquer-ware. A rich, deep black accented with red reflections reveals an almost hidden pattern in the paint that isn’t visible when you look directly at it. This was then mixed with bold red.

The collaboration works well. I wonder, if we turned the tables, what car designers would do to home interiors?

But although prices are going up – the cheapest model costs £245 more than before – so are equipment levels, and every version of the new, bubble-shaped Micra will come complete with an array of standard items including driver and passenger airbags, electric power steering, CD player, powered windows, remote central locking and anti-lock brakes.

The one litre E three door starter model will cost £7,495 and prices increase in logical increments as you move up trim levels or engine size. Moving up to a 1.2S model will cost another £500 while a better equipped SE is £1,000 more and top of the range SX or SVE models will add a further £1,000. Five door versions cost £500 more.

There’s now a choice of four engines, with the 1.4 litre unit costing an extra £300. If diesel’s your choice, the 1.5 litre dCi engine will set you back an additional £800. Automatic transmission is a £900 option on 1.2 and 1.4 litre petrol engined models.

All of which takes the cost of the ultimate Micra, the 1.4SVE auto, to £11,695, which is £270 cheaper than the outgoing range-topper.

Like all models in the new Micra range it is more comprehensively equipped than before with features like NISSAN’s new Intelligent Key system – available on the £8,995 1.2SE three door and above – which automatically unlocks the doors and starts the engine provided you have the electronic key-card in your pcoket or handbag.

The new Micra is to be built at NISSAN’s state-of-the-art car plant at Sunderland in North-east England and the company is so confident that there will be no major problems once production starts at the end of this month, it has brought the showroom launch date forward by a week to Thursday, January 15.

But you’ll have to be quick to get hold of one, for the new Micra 160SR, which is on sale from this week, will only be available in limited numbers, with just 1,600 earmarked for sale during the rest of this year.

At £9,995, the sporty Micra undercuts the MINI ONE, Ford Fiesta Zetec-S and the CitroÌÇn C2 VTR.

The 108bhp, 1.6-litre engine pushes the 160SR from rest to 62mph time in 9.8 seconds while at the same time being capable of 42.8mpg on the combined cycle.

In addition to the new 1.6-litre engine, the Micra 160SR gets stiffer and lower suspension, dynamic ESP, a deep front spoiler with integrated projector fog lamps, body coloured roof and side spoilers, dark tinted headlamps and graphite finished 16″ alloys.

Side curtain airbags are another addition over the standard Micra while inside, there are aluminium pedals, white dials, Intelligent key, six speaker CD system, automatic wipers and lighting plus air-conditioning – all as standard.

Nissan’s last generation Micra, which was made between 1998 and 2002, is the least troubleseome, according to Warranty Direct’s Reliability Index.

The index calculates the cost of repair against the number of garage visits to provide a reflection of the true price of keeping cars on the road.

The total data base is from 45,000 Warranty Direct policies taken out on second hand cars which are no longer covered by manufacturers’ warranties – in most cases this means that they are at least three years’ old.

The Sunderland-built Micra achieves the top reliability rating, with an average bill of about £89. According to Warranty Direct brake problems account for almost three quarters of the mechanical failures.

The best selling Ford Fiesta comes next with a one in four chance of visiting the garage. The largest bill paid out on a Fiesta by Warranty Direct last year was £1,556 but on average repairs cost £163 to put right.

Driving school favourite, the Vauxhall’s Corsa, from year 2000-on, is third even though it does have above average repair bills at an average of £220 a time.

Warranty Direct says that its data shows that when superminis do go wrong, they are most likely to suffer axle and suspension related failures. It is the biggest issue for 5 out of the ten cars analysed. Other common complaints were electrical faults, transmission failure and concerns with the braking system.

MOST RELIABLE USED SUPERMINIS:

1 Nissan Micra

2 Ford Fiesta

3 Vauxhall Corsa

4 Fiat Punto

5 Volkswagen Polo

6 Citroen Saxo

7 Peugeot 206

8 Skoda Fabia

9 Rover 25

10 Renault Clio.

*Source: Warranty Direct