Rent Nissan Micra 2020 in Dubai

The Nissan Micra 2020 is the car most of our renters reach for when the plan is simple: get around Dubai without spending much and without worrying about where to park. We drop it at your door within one to two hours, take a debit card or cash on delivery, and the daily rate sits near the bottom of the fleet. It is a five-seat hatchback built for the school run, the supermarket run and the odd airport hop, not for eating up Sheikh Zayed Road at speed. This page settles the question that actually matters before you book: is a car this small and this simple enough for your week, or should you size up?

What you get for the money

Under the bonnet is a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine making around 100 hp and 135 Nm, sent to the front wheels through a 4-speed automatic. That gearbox is older tech than the CVTs in most of our other economy cars, and you will notice it in the way the Micra takes its time reaching 100 km/h, closer to 14 seconds than 10. Around town this does not matter. In traffic, at roundabouts and pulling out of a mall exit, the engine has more than enough for the job.

Fuel is where the Micra pays for itself. Nissan quotes 15.4 km per litre combined, and while you will not see that lab figure with the AC running flat out in August, real Dubai driving should still land in the 11 to 12 km/l range for most weeks of ordinary errands. The 41-litre tank means you are not queuing at petrol stations often. Two costs sit outside the fuel bill and land on you as the renter: Salik at every toll gate, and any RTA fine picked up during the rental. Neither is large, but they are yours to budget for.

Room for people and bags

At 3.78 metres long and 1.68 metres wide, the Micra is one of the smallest cars we rent, and that size is the whole point. It turns in a tight 4.7-metre circle, so a U-turn on a narrow street in Karama or Satwa takes one movement, not three. Basement ramps at the Marina towers and the sharper speed bumps on internal roads pose no problem either, though like any low hatchback, take them gently rather than at pace.

The boot holds 265 litres, which is honest small-car territory. One large suitcase and a soft bag fit with the rear seats up. A second big case will not, so two people flying into DXB with a full week of luggage should expect to squeeze or fold a seat down. Up front, two adults sit comfortably. In the back, two adults manage a short trip across town, and a third across the middle is really a spot for a child rather than a grown adult on anything longer than a few minutes.

Running cost, heat and the cabin

A Micra left in an open Dubai car park through a summer afternoon heats up like every other car here, and the small cabin actually works in your favour once you climb back in. Less air means the vents pull the temperature down faster than in a larger hatchback or an SUV. The controls are manual, simple dials rather than a touchscreen climate menu, and like most cars at this end of the market, do not expect rear vents to do much for second-row passengers on the worst afternoons. Front-seat comfort comes back within a few minutes if you point the vents at yourself and give the engine a moment to work.

Keep the Micra to city roads and it stays comfortable. It will hold a steady pace on Sheikh Zayed Road, but this is not a car for confident overtaking once you are past 100 km/h with a full load. The 4-speed automatic and modest power mean a long highway stretch asks for patience rather than speed. That trade is fine for a car built to be cheap and small, not fine if your week is mostly motorway driving.

Who should rent it, and who should size up

Book the Micra if you are one or two people running errands, doing the daily commute or making short hops around the city, and the goal is spending as little as possible on both the rental and the fuel. Nothing else on the fleet is easier to park in a cramped multi-storey or turn around on a tight residential street, and few cars cost less to keep filled up for a week.

Size up in two situations. If you are four adults with luggage for the week, the back seat and the 265-litre boot will feel small fast, so a mid-size sedan or a car with a larger boot suits you better. And if your days involve real highway distance, Abu Dhabi runs or repeated overtaking on E11, the Micra's modest power and older gearbox will have you planning ahead rather than just flooring it. For everything else, city errands, a light airport case or two, and a week of keeping costs down, this is one of the easiest cars we hand over. The daily allowance is 250 km, extra kilometres cost AED 0.5 each, and drivers need to be at least 21.