2020 Nissan Versa base price climbs by over $2,000

The 2020 Nissan Versa represents the first ground-up redesign of the subcompact economy sedan since the 2012 model year. And with the redesign comes a major price hike of $2,270 from the previous model's starting price of $13,355 to the new car's base of $15,625. Prices for both are for the Versa S trim, the entry point for the model, with the standard five-speed manual transmission, which continues to be available. Adding a CVT to the Versa S raises the price to $17,295. Two other trims are available, the midrange SV at $18,535 and the top trim SR at $19,135, both of which come only with a CVT. All versions of the Versa go on sale this summer.

The new Versa does bring quite a bit more to the table to make the price increase more pleasant. It's more powerful with 122 horsepower and 114 pound-feet of torque versus the old car's 109 horsepower and 107 pound-feet of torque. It's also slightly more efficient than the old car when equipped with a CVT. The new CVT-equipped Versa adds one more mpg in each category for totals of 32 in town, 40 on the highway and 35 combined. The manual transmission matches the old car's 27 mpg in the city and 30 combined, while highway economy drops 1 mpg to 35.

Another area of improvement is in safety equipment. The 2020 Versa now comes with both front and rear automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning and automatic high-beam headlights. None of these features were even available as an option on the outgoing Versa. Additional safety features including rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring are available on higher trims.