Visiting Venus Line in Nagano before heading home

We stayed overnight in Suwa city and aimed for Venus Line early the next morning. Since we came this far, it would be a shame not to drive the Venus Line. We took Prefectural Route 40 straight to Kirigamine.

Ahead, an elderly man in an old Skyline was climbing at a good pace. The engine sound was incredibly cool. Such a great sound. We tried to keep up but he was quite fast.

More than that, his driving was excellent.

The car and driver suited each other perfectly, and I thought I’d like to age like that.

We stopped at Karasuyama Kogen and Fujimidai, then headed toward Utsukushigahara. The scenery, air, and roads were still fantastic. The acceleration out of corners kept up with a liter-class motorcycle ahead. Electric motor drive is exhilarating.

We didn’t go all the way to Utsukushigahara but turned off toward Matsumoto via Prefectural Route 67 and Route 142. Route 142 is wide and one of my favorite roads. I thought, “I’d love to drive this in a GT3,” as we got on the highway at Okaya IC.

The Note e-power NISMO S is fast even on the highway

The Chuo Expressway toward Nagoya has many downhill high-speed corners, which are quite dangerous and prone to accidents. I personally think it’s the second hardest section after the Omega curve on the Meihan National Road, and only a serious car can handle it comfortably.

Driving a car with soft suspension or body flex here is just terrifying.

On the way back, I tried to avoid using Intelligent Cruise Control as much as possible and just drove normally with traffic flow. Even when pushing a bit, the NISMO Note remained very stable. Lane changes at high speed and sharp downhill curves were handled with plenty of composure.

For a car in this price range, this level of performance is more than enough.

There’s almost no body or suspension softness or instability that makes you feel like you might fly off the road. While the tires don’t quite stick to the road like racing tires, cornering posture is stable and the body clearly controls the car’s movements.

There’s no uncertainty about which way the tires are pointing, so you can drive with peace of mind.

On the other hand, fuel economy drops sharply at speeds typical of the overtaking lane on rural highways. The onboard computer shows around 12 km/L. It’s said that e-power cars have weak highway fuel economy, and maintaining overtaking lane speeds on Japanese highways seems to cause a big drop.

At normal cruising speeds, even this NISMO S gets 18–19 km/L, sometimes about 20 km/L, so the standard Note probably does even better.

The Note e-power NISMO S handles long-distance touring with no problem

The total distance over three days was about 1385 km. We enjoyed city driving, winding roads, and highways from Osaka to Tokyo, Yamanashi, Nagano, and back to Osaka, and felt very little fatigue. (Though it might be a bit tiring for passengers in the front seat.)

Sometimes I rent similar compact Japanese cars, and if I had to drive this distance in one, I’d definitely hate it. I’d get tired quickly.

But the NISMO Note makes even this grand touring enjoyable without getting bored. That’s thanks to the solid, rigid chassis and the thrilling acceleration and deceleration of the e-power system. Also, the thick NISMO-exclusive seats probably help a lot.

Many readers of this blog are owners or fans of imported cars, but I honestly recommend the Note e-power NISMO S as a daily driver option. Many imported and supercar owners also use compact cars like the Abarth 595 for daily driving, so the NISMO Note could be a worthy choice to consider.

By the way, the overall fuel economy, without paying attention to fuel-saving and just driving with traffic flow and as desired, was 15.86 km/L by the full-tank method. For this performance, I’d personally give it 120 points.

Total distance: 1385.4 km
Fuel used: 87.32 L
Overall fuel economy: 15.86 km/L