THE NISSAN TIIDA deserves a second look. In Foot Down (January 15, 2005), I said this saloon looked 'dumpy', the poor, little thing.
But the government's purchase of 32 models for the police fleet suggests the ugliest 1.5-litre ride in town can't be that bad. After all, Asia's Finest usually get the right car for the job with our money, and the law's fleet purchases can influence family and company budgets.
So, I don't mind eating my hat if this civvy version proves all right on the road. Nissan dealer Honest Motors has sportingly lent me this top-of-the-line Deluxe. It's 20kg heavier than the police's basic Luxury Tiida, but it's still no oil painting. Indeed, you can see why Nissan Australia signed Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall to sex up the car, cooing that she didn't think it would be 'so big'.
So, I take the Tiida on the Ugly Car Run, to out-of-the-way Redhill. Not that anyone would notice; after the Tiida launched Down Under, the Vogue Australia Forum posted a debate on the label of Cattrall's handbag, not the car.
But the Tiida is a furtively entertaining flit up Queen's Road, and in a surprisingly pleasurable burst past the Cricket Club, I realise this Nissan actually goes like a train, just like its ugly cousin, the Renault 'Shakin' That Ass' Megane II, on whose platform this saloon is built.
Nissan's XTRONIC continuously variable valve-timing control gearbox provides a shockingly smooth drive for $149,800, and while The Australian has a point about its suspension relaying every nook of road surface, you're not going to get a Mercedes-Benz A-Class ride for this money, particularly under Nissan's recent cost-cutting.