Highway Stability of the Note NISMO

When my husband got home on delivery day, he said, “I was really surprised how stable it was on the highway!”

He got on the highway, switched from D mode to S mode on the merge, and pressed the accelerator, and he couldn’t help but say, “Wow, that’s fast!!” The instant torque is just incredible. The speedometer needle climbs quickly. For a 1250kg car, this torque from such a low rpm is amazing. Of course, once you reach a certain speed, the acceleration smooths out to what you’d expect from 136ps, but it’s still plenty quick.

When I asked, “So, can you drive it on the highway with no worries, like a Golf or a German car?” he replied,

Well, compared to imported cars, it does feel a bit more “speedy,” but I can confidently say the straight-line stability is absolutely fine. I think you could comfortably lead the pack in the overtaking lane on the new Shin-Tomei Expressway. It’s rare for Japanese compact cars to run straight well. Most are tuned for housewives, with soft suspensions and even missing stabilizers that are standard on overseas models, so they’re neutered domestically, lol. But the NISMO badge means it has solid highway stability. The regular Note e-POWER also has relatively good highway stability, so the base is good. The body doesn’t feel super rigid, but compared to the regular model, you can definitely feel it’s more solid. It doesn’t feel flimsy. Overtaking acceleration is also strong. Even in ECO mode, it accelerates well enough to never feel dangerously slow. Compared to my mother’s normal Note, the normal D mode and NISMO’s ECO mode feel about the same. In D or S mode, leaving other cars behind is a piece of cake, lol.

Testing the Note NISMO on Winding Roads

After a few days of getting used to it, my husband went on a short tour. He thought about the best course to test the NISMO S’s performance and decided on the Minami Awa Sunline in Shikoku.

He says the Minami Awa Sunline is “one of my favorite roads in Shikoku.” It’s a bit narrow but has light traffic and offers a variety of corners with the sea alongside.

He tried the B range mode there and said this about it:

B range is originally designed to increase regenerative braking, but in the NISMO S, B range combined with S mode is the ultimate mode. (It’s complicated — there are six mode combinations.) Switching to S mode and putting the drive position in B range keeps the engine running constantly, allowing it to instantly supply large currents to the motor whenever needed.

He continued,

It’s really fast even on uphill mountain roads. The instant torque when you press the accelerator is sharp and the acceleration kicks in immediately — it feels great. Being front-wheel drive, it does feel some traction loss uphill, but the VDC control is excellent, so tire spin is very rare. This is true even when accelerating from 0 km/h. The motor’s rpm control is incredibly smooth and quick. Unlike an engine, which needs time to cut fuel and slow down, the motor instantly controls rpm, making for very natural operation. This smoothness is also obvious when the intelligent cruise control automatically decelerates to match the car ahead. It’s much smoother than an engine car. Also, I think the engine rpm correlates more closely with vehicle speed than in the normal model. So when you push it, it feels less different from an engine car. The engine sound is a bit quieter than my mother’s normal X model, with the high-pitched “brrm” sound toned down to a “vroom” sound. It actually sounds pretty good even when revving. I don’t find it unpleasant at all.

He said the cornering posture is stable and that “it’s among the best in this price range.”

If I were to be picky, I’d want a bit more flatness in mid-to-high speed corners, but it’s unreasonable to expect more from Nissan at this price. Being front-wheel drive with high torque, it tends to understeer if you accelerate too early on corner exit, but once you get used to managing that instant torque, it’s really fun.

I drove a bit on mountain curves myself, and using Porsche-like steering inputs, I often felt, “Hmm, it’s drifting wider than I expected.” It felt a bit tricky to handle — but of course, driving it like a Porsche isn’t the right approach…

My husband said,

This car’s lateral G builds up relatively quickly on corner entry but seems to weaken gradually through the curve. For example, Porsches maintain fairly consistent lateral G from start to finish, like skiing a rail turn. Compared to that, the Note probably gradually develops understeer. But using steering and throttle techniques to fight that and drive fast is fun. That’s part of this car’s appeal.

Regarding the brakes, the front uses ventilated discs and the rear has leading-trailing drums. So absolute braking power isn’t outstanding, and the brake feel is typical, proportional to pedal stroke.

However, e-POWER’s strong weapon is regenerative braking. So the brakes mainly assist the regen system. Once you get used to it, you can decelerate smoothly just by easing off the accelerator, maintaining just the right front-end load entering corners. When you nail a corner sequence without touching the brakes, the acceleration and deceleration form a smooth parabola — it’s an indescribably satisfying feeling.