It's in the gearing. The 6 speed Versa's are city gearboxes. The ratios for the manual boxes are extremely close. I shift every 10km/h in my Versa, or at 2000RPM (for fuel economy), I can hit 6th at exactly 60 and so on. You can tell this was meant as a city runabout just from this alone, they didn't bother to change final drive or any other gearing for the land space of America. This gearing is better for the city, being able to creep in 1st from a stop without ever touching the gas, but I can imagine how fuel economy is affected anywhere 80km/h+, where revs are high 2000s to low 3000's. Not to mention engine wear. I love my Versa in the city for whipping through the streets, the gearing really makes it feel sportier than it should be for the low HP, but country or freeway driving isn't good. However, this short gearing is convenient if you make some more power, helps out acceleration quite a bit at the expense of top speed and vice versa.
German cars in general are built for high speeds. My 928 has a 2.73 rear end, good for about 170MPH stock. Earlier 928's had 2.20. It takes about 500HP to reach 200MPH on a later car.