2014 Nissan Micra Acenta CVT 1.2 liter
Faults:
None.
General Comments:
A very good small car. Its handling is fantastic: very quick in the corners, with no roll or nearly imperceptible, reduced dimensions and a good perception of the body size allow for driving smoothly with no hesitation or unsafe behavior, without fear of body contact and damage or risk to scare your passengers or any pedestrians.
CVT - in my opinion - is better than a traditional torque converter transmission: yes, it has a lack of cue when you start after a stop, but it is a matter of less than 2 seconds; if you push on the gas, the time is recovered and traditional mechanical transmission vehicles remain behind you when they need to move to second gear after a traffic light stop.
Anyway, not nervous driving is the best assumption to perform an unbelievable ratio kilometers/liter: a mixed trip, 50% urban, 50% extra-urban, allows 17-18 km/liter. The best performance is extra-urban not exceeding 80-90 km/h: 21-22 km/l; urban performance, although lower, is good, too: 14-15 km/l. The longest pulleys set-up of the CVT plays a very important role as well as in the comfort: running at 110 km/h with the engine turning at 2100-2200 RPM is the premise for a comfortable journey, but only if the surface is smooth; any bumps, even if small, promptly are recorded by the rear suspension (note: my car has 15" wheels with /55 tyres, maybe with 14" wheels and different tyres it would improve).
Brakes are good, but sometimes they appear noisy, especially on the rear when wet weather or a cold winter is happening.
Finishing sometimes appears less in quality than the celebrated German competitors, but in my opinion it is just a matter of appearance, not of coupling quality or durability.
I bought it in January 2019 and no issue appeared: it is only 6 months, but the car is 5 years old and no other work than periodical services were performed by myself and the previous owner. Just the roof ceiling light was on when the door is closed, but it happened for few hours only, never more: too meaningless an issue to describe it in the reliability section, I prefer to say "None".
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 17th July, 2019
24th Jul 2019, 12:15
Relatively trouble free car for the first years of ownership, but it has its problems as it gets old. Common wheel bearings issues, VVT valve (rough idle), rattling side mirrors, premature rotten catalytic converter flange, windows rattle, sway bar bushings wear (gets noisy), heat shield rattles, some early engines had problems.
Also, keep in mind that some young owners abuse and add aftermarket parts on these cars (but put back the original parts when it goes for sale); never buy a used Micra from young adults that seem a little too passionate about their car, because these cars cannot take abuse and will have problems with the engine, transmission, etc. Also be aware about owners who say "I've never had a single problem" because these people simply want to make their car look like it's perfect.