Nissan will launch the Sunny on the 20th of September, 2011, at the time when the company will have 50 dealerships across the country. The Japanese automaker will initially offer the petrol version of the Sunny and will follow with the diesel version early next year. The petrol Sunny will be powered by a 1498 cc, HR15, DOHC, 16-valve, 4-cylinder engine which produces 99 PS of power at 6000 RPM and 134 Nm of torque at 4000 RPM. Mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox, the Nissan Sunny has a turning radius of 5.3 meters and uses an electric power steering. The suspension which has been tuned for India uses Mcpherson struts at the front and torsion bar at the rear. There will be 3 variants on offer – XE, XL and XV. The XE and XL will get 185/70/14 steel wheels, while the top end VX gets 185/65/15 alloy wheels.
The Nissan Sunny is quite light for a sedan weighing in at 998 kgs, 1022 kgs and 1027 kgs for the XE, XL and XV variants respectively. All variants get ABS and drive side airbag as standard. The fuel tank capacity is 41 liters, while the ARAI certified mileage is 16.95 kmpl. The Sunny has a very comfortable rear seat with excellent knee room. Headroom is not so good due to the slopping roof line. The Sunny features MID, multi-info display, push button start, iKey, steering mounted audio controls, automatic climate control, rear fan vent (not an AC, just a fan), ABS, dual Airbags, alloy wheels and 2-din audio system. The Sunny is based on the Micra’s V-platform but does not look like a Micra with a boot. Nissan plans to price the Sunny between the Etios and the Verna, which is Rs. 7-9 lakhs.
