Nissan Mixim

The Mixim is an interesting voyage into the future. It looks fantastic – light years away from Nissan’s current line-up. The electric powertrain has been well conceived and packaged, although the 156-mile range is testament to its experimental nature. But it’s the cabin where the Mixim is really radical. And while its layout offers few advantages over a supermini of today, such as the Note, it is an incredible place to be.

Car companies like Nissan don’t just employ people to design replacements for their current models. The firm has whole departments producing cars it thinks our kids will fancy driving, too. So, if you want to know what the 2020 equivalent of the Nissan Note will be like, look no further than the new Mixim.

This is a car that blends the future with the present to create a cutting-edge representation of the kind of supermini we can all look forward to hitting the road in. And when Auto Express was invited to do exactly that, we didn’t need asking twice.

The futuristic bodywork suggests the Mixim is a bespoke product, but
it is actually built on Nissan’s B platform. As a result, it shares many of its components – such as the suspension – with the Note and Micra.

That’s where the similarities end, though, as the Mixim is shorter, lower and wider than the Micra. Those un-usual dimensions, combined with avant-garde styling – such as the butterfly doors and aerodynamic wheel trims – make a stunning visual statement, even if in profile the rear does make the car look a bit like a Renault Mégane which has been squashed.

It’s the technology beneath the car’s bodywork, however, that really sets this Nissan apart. The Mixim has two electric motors, one for the front and another for the rear.

The Japanese firm has modified each motor’s design to have twin out-put shafts which can operate independently of each other. So, as with other combustion engine-powered four-wheel-drive cars, when one wheel is spinning needlessly, power to it can be automatically cut without affecting the other wheels.

When combined, the two motors kick out an impressive 100kW – that’s equivalent to 134bhp from a petrol engine. However, basic numbers simply don’t do this car justice. There’s plenty of urge when you press the throttle. And because electric engines deliver all their torque at the same time, the newcomer’s acceleration from standstill is pretty strong, with an estimated 0-60mph sprint time of just under 10.5 seconds.

Helping the performance figures is the fact that the Mixim tips the scales at a featherweight 950kg, which not only improves straight-line speed, but braking ability, too. Of course, because this car is electric, there’s no sound apart from a milk float-like whirr. But that’s in perfect keeping with the amazing interior.

The four seats are arranged in a dia-mond shape, with the driver at the leading edge, passengers either side and room for a fourth person in the back, although this seat’s mechanism wasn’t working when we tested the car.

The driver’s chair swivels to make getting in and out easier, and sitting behind the cut-away, Formula One-style steering wheel, you feel more like you’re in a plane than a car.

The dashboard stretches out in front of you, and there are controls either side resembling the afterburners on a jet. One operates the in-car entertainment and ventilation, while the other is for the sat-nav.

The seating layout has been designed to create a more sociable environment than in current cars. Whether it’s been successful is arguable. As the driver, you get great visibility out of the helmet visor-style windscreen, but you do feel a little isolated up front, rather like a chauffeur to the two ‘outside’ passengers.

These, meanwhile, have the best of both worlds, as they have an unencumbered view out of the windscreen and across to each other. Let’s hope when 2020 rolls round, the small MPV will include the driver a bit more.

Rival: Mitsubishi i
Like the idea of the electric powerplant in the Mixim, but can’t wait until 2020? Check out the i. For less than £10,000, its electric engine will offer a 93-mile range, and a top speed of 90mph.