Cute, pert and with its elongated headlights seeming to express glee and surprise, the Micra looks like the kind of car a chap would want to razz around the lounge carpet, crashing into chair legs and little sister's ankles.
Nissan's problem, of course, is that it is not, at first acquaintance, necessarily a car which, 20 years later, a chap would want to pay his hard-earned cash for in order to impress his fellow road-user.
Nissan's own statistics show this to be the case. New Micra owners are 68 per cent female and, on average, in their mid-40s (not too long ago that figure was over 52).
But then, while the Micra was establishing itself as a name more readily associated with cardigans, lavender pillows and Werther's Originals, there was never a car in the range with sporting credentials.
TonkaTrundle forth the 160SR and, though the Micra still looks a bit like a Tonka toy, it goes like stink, which is always likely to engage a chap's interest.
Nissan make no bones about what is the main competition for their pocket rocket - the Mini One.
On the page, it seems like no contest: the Mini goes from 0-60 in 10.9secs, does 41mpg and will hurt your bank balance to the tune of £10,995.
The Micra 160SR is more than a second quicker to 60mph, will return a couple more miles to the gallon and will cost you a thousand pounds less. Of course, the Nissan will also depreciate a lot quicker than the Mini, and then there is the unquantifiable value one attaches to a badge. Think Mini, think Italian Job. Think Micra, think shopping trolley.
If there is a slight image problem to be overcome in terms of marketing a warm hatch version of the Micra, once inside the car, the 160SR makes indisputable sense. There is tidy plastic and carbon fibre-like trim, black leather and flashes of aluminium.
Funky detailing comes in the shape of white dials with lurid red pointers and chunky numbering, plus ceramic-like white heater controls which seem to have been taken from an old gas cooker.
Size
With a 36-inch inside leg, cars of this size frequently do not fit me, but the steering wheel tilt adjustment and seat height adjustment made it easy to find a good upright driving position without knees being squashed. But with the driver's seat back and the sliding rear seats forward to give something approaching a useable boot space, even my 12 year old was complaining about the rear leg room.
The 1.6-litre, 108bhp engine is deceptively powerful.
Winding it up to the upper reaches of the rev range, you get a genuinely sporty, throaty engine note. But there is more than enough urge at the lower end for the 160SR to be a relaxing city car, squirting through the traffic quite happily on the torque which lurks just above 2,000rpm.
Though the clutch is light, the gearbox seemed a little vague at first, but just needed a few days acquaintance.
Steering and handling are where the Micra wins out, even over the Mini. It is almost go kart-like in its directness, requiring constant input, but in an entertaining rather than a skittish way. You really want to throw this car into roundabouts just for the fun of it.
You also really want to take the outside lane at traffic lights, but choose your opponents carefully. After all, who wants to be left standing by a Nissan Micra?
