Review
The Pulsar is a car that’s unlikely to offend and, while not entirely inspiring, is pretty good to live with. However, we’ve encountered a few issues this past month, with a couple of quirks sent to add some fun to my otherwise ordinary daily commute.
The LED headlights are incredibly good, bright and white, with the main beam giving an illuminated view of the road for what seems like miles. Fitted as standard on our N-Tec trim level car, they’re now a £500 option on its N-Connecta replacement – but they’re thrown in for free on the top-line Tekna.
However, the twisty bit at the end of the indicator stalk that controls the lights seems to have a mind of its own. You should be able to leave the lights on auto but, rather more frequently than I would like, a flick on the indicator has seen the dial change position to manual dipped beam.
This is fine at night but, when you get in the car the following morning, you find the instrument binnacle is rather dimmer than you’d like. On one occasion, I caught the indicator at the wrong angle, and momentarily flicked the lights off for a second, worryingly.
On the other side of the wheel, the automatic windscreen wipers have been a little erratic, too. A light rain shower proved the perfect occasion for them to have an energetic little boogie in front of my eyes. Sadly for them, I spoilt their fun, and popped them back onto manual mode.
To complete the trinity, a dashboard light has begun to flash up intermittently, warning of a ‘key system fault’.
A quick call to our local Nissan dealer informed us that it’s likely the battery is getting flat – it appears the drain of the intelligent key’s constant communication of the car is beginning to show.
We’ll replace it and report back next month.
