Datsun Go+ review, test drive

It’s called the Go+, and as it says on the tin, this new MPV is basically a Go with a little something extra. View the car head on and it looks exactly like the Go. It has the same chin and bumper, with the same hexagonal grille, sharp-cut V in the bonnet, attractive wrap-around headlights with metal inserts and windscreen.

On the inside too, the front of the cabin is all but identical to that of the Go, like the nicely styled but sparse dash,  the slim bench seats and the same basic AC system with just a four-speed blower and no option for de-fog or re-circulate. The presence of the aftermarket audio system on this car however, makes this dash a touch more attractive. 

Even the mechanical bits are unchanged. The three-cylinder, all-aluminium 1.2-litre engine has high-tech features like one ignition coil per cylinder, and produces 67bhp @5000rpm. The front strut type suspension is the same, as is the torsion beam unit at the rear. Even the 155/70 R13 tyres and the wheelbase of the car are the same.

It’s past the rear door that all is new, like the combination of the descending roofline and the rising beltline that looks nice and the stylistic ‘flick’ on the shoulder of the car. There's a lower roof at the rear and a new, slimmer rear windscreen as well. The clever bit here is that despite the increase in length, the Go+ still qualifies as a sub-four-metre car. The biggest beneficiary of this extra rear overhang, of course, is interior space. Legroom on the second row seems to be marginally better than on the Go and the cabin feels airier too.