-All-new Pulsar five-door hatchback distils Nissan's innovation and dynamism into an exciting new package
-Acclaimed technologies including Around View Monitor and sector-first safety and comfort systems
-Powerful yet frugal all-turbocharged engine range
-Bold extension of Nissan's acclaimed design direction
-Designed and engineered for Europe, built at Nissan's Barcelona plant
-On sale from Autumn 2014

Nissan's passion for innovation and technology has seen it transform the family car landscape over the course of the last seven years. Now, using the same design approach and original thinking that produced the Qashqai, X-Trail and Note, Nissan is expanding its product portfolio once more with an exciting all-new family hatchback challenger - the Pulsar.

Combining bold design, technical innovations and interior space, the new Pulsar brings a new dimension to the C-segment, offering all the familiar Nissan qualities in a stylish new package.

The Pulsar's introduction highlights Nissan's ambition and to deliver intelligent design and technical innovations to a wider audience.

Advanced technologies
As Nissan drivers have come to expect, the new Pulsar is packed with a range of accessible and useful technologies designed to make drivers feel more confident and comfortable. Nissan's reputation for introducing new-to-sector technologies has been strengthened with a wide number of features usually reserved for premium or luxury models.

Nissan's advanced Safety Shield - a suite of systems and technologies that combine to offer a fully comprehensive ‘safety net' for drivers - is also fully integrated into the Pulsar's design.

This advanced network of usable yet highly advanced technologies help drivers to fully enjoy the potential of the new Pulsar with complete confidence. Among the systems offered in the new Pulsar are Forward Emergency Braking, Moving Object Detection, Lane Departure Warning and Blind Spot Warning.

Nissan's ongoing drive to deliver sector-first technologies mean that the Pulsar is the only car in its sector to offer Moving Object Detection, Lane Departure Warning and Blind Spot Warning as standard on at least one model in the range.

The Pulsar also features Nissan's second-generation NissanConnect system - that comes with a range of innovative features including full smartphone integration, Google® Send-to-Car and access to a wide variety of useful and informative apps.

Another advanced technology integrated into the Pulsar's design are LED headlamps. First introduced to the Nissan range on the Qashqai and X-Trail, the Pulsar's distinctive LED front lights produce a crisp, white light and have the added advantage of using 50 per cent less power than conventional bulbs.

Efficient and powerful drivetrains
In keeping with Nissan's approach to innovation and reduced costs for owners, the Pulsar's engine all-turbocharged engine range delivers the perfect combination of performance and efficiency. The 1.2-litre DIG-T petrol unit punches above its weight with an output of 115PS, while the 1.5-litre dCi generates 110PS and 260Nm of torque. An even more powerful 190PS 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine will join the range early in 2015.

Continuing Nissan's successful downsizing philosophy, the new Pulsar's engines are high on performance and low on emissions, with CO2 outputs below 95g/km*. The Pulsar is also offered with Nissan's advanced XTronic automatic transmission. Engineered to deliver the best of both worlds for drivers it features ultra-smooth power delivery at low engine speeds and positive, direct shifts under heavier loads.

Setting new standards for cabin space
Thanks to the longest wheelbase in the class (2,700mm) and clever packaging, the Pulsar offers considerably more rear legroom and shoulder room than its sector rivals. Indeed, with 692mm of rear kneeroom, the Pulsar is more spacious than many D-segment offerings.
Yet despite this it retains a compact footprint (length 4,385mm), making it easy to park in tight urban environments.

Energetic, athletic styling
Instantly recognisable thanks to its trademark Nissan V-motion grille and boomerang-shaped lighting signature with bold and energetic curves on the body side, the Pulsar was designed and engineered for Europe and will be built at Nissan's Barcelona production facility.

Embedded with the same design DNA that gives the Qashqai and X-Trail such powerful road presence, the Pulsar combines strong lines with immaculate detailing to create an elegant, athletic form. Like its crossover stablemates, the Pulsar is characterised by bold wheel volumes, a tapered waistline and a flowing profile.

The confident, premium approach continues inside, where high quality materials and clear design are perfectly integrated with Pulsar's unusually high equipment levels.

We've got some thing to raise your heart rate! The new Nissan Pulsar. If it's high quality and high innovation you want as standard, that you've come to expect with our other models, then look no further!

Ever felt squashed in the back of a car? Need that extra bit of room on long journeys? The new Nissan Pulsar is bigger than you think!

Stylish, technologically advanced and spacious...surely this is everything you want from a family car?

If it's advanced technology such as the Moving object detection, or sector first safety and comfort systems that you want, don't worry, you can have it all with the new Nissan Pulsar!

An iconic name for fans of tinny 90s hot hatches is back on the road

A new Nissan hatch, eh? What does it replace?

Nothing. It's a new model. Or, if you have a long memory, you could say it's a successor to the Almera.

That'll be the Almera that they killed when they launched the Qashqai?

Indeed. It was a regular-format C-sector hatchback, a vanilla competitor to the Ford Focus. They killed it because they said you needed to be a big name to have the brand and marketing shove to get anywhere in that market. Nissan, they admitted, wasn't that big a name, and so Nissan went for the alternative market. Hence the Qashqai (which back then really was quite alternative even if it seems normal now, simply because it was so influential).

But now they've reversed their strategy?

Exactly. The Pulsar is, er, a vanilla competitor to the Focus.

Why?

Well, there are obviously some people who just won't have a crossover. All those Focus, Astra or Hyundai i30 buyers for a start. But since the Qashqai and Juke saved Nissan's financial bacon, the company now the money to invest in covering more of the market. It wants some of that Focus action.

So - any chance of success with this one?

Well Nissan fights shy when you say the Pulsar is a Focus rival. A Focus is, even they admit, more dynamic. The Pulsar is supposed to be better value.

And is it?

Prices look low, but then again these are cars without much power. There's a 1.5-litre diesel with 110bhp, and a 1.2-litre turbo petrol with 115bhp. The petrol is a quiet and sweet engine, but the gearing is long for economy, so it feels like a constant struggle. The little engine is game in town, but runs out of puff at main road speeds. With the petrol engine, the Pulsar is Ł15,995.

That hardly sounds like bargain basement.

Indeed not. An Ecoboost Focus Edge lists at only Ł800 more. The gap to a 308 with its new turbo engine is even more slight.

And is it as good?

Frankly, a Top Gear reader will have a Focus or 308 or Leon any day of the week. They're more fun. The Pulsar isn't an inept handler, it's just set up for reassurance rather than fun, which is aiming at someone else that probably isn't you

Any more drawbacks?

Yup, the cabin feels cheap - notably cheaper than a Qashqai's. But then it is a notably cheaper car than the all-conquering crossover. Unfortunately, as I've said, just not cheaper than some very good five-door hatches.

But Nissan aren't fools. Explain why they're doing it.

It's quiet and comfortable and stable: very easy and predictable and relaxing to drive. The ride is smooth. It's a quiet car too. And most of all, it has absolutely loads of rear legroom. Bigger even than an Octavia. It's the size of something like a Mondeo back there. Good news for tall people with friends/children to transport.

Also, many of the models get elements of Nissan's safety and comms suite: radar-triggered city braking in most (good for insurance premiums), a connected sat nav system in many, and a bird's eye view monitor and blind-spot warning in the top model. The blind-spot system cleverly uses the same little camera in the rear. Same for a lane-departure warning, which uses the front camera. Though it emits such a timid little beep I can't see it jolting you into action if you're dozing off. Although, at more than Ł20k, the range-topper is a bit of an irrelevance.

Pity. Would have been good for sleepy late-light minicabbies.

Well, thanks to such a huge back seat and Nissan's reputation for reliability, no doubt the cheaper trim levels will be very popular in in the hire and reward trade. We bet you'll be dozing off in the back of a Pulsar in the not too distant future..