2007 Nissan Micra 1.2 Petrol
Summary:
It is like the ugly duckling. Beneath the questionable looks beats a heart of joy!
Faults:
The car has, for the most part, remained completely reliable apart from when it was rammed into a wall by a friend of mine. The radiator cores were bent, and because of my negligence the car overheated while being driven in extremely hot temperatures. This engine was almost driven into the ground without any oil changes or air filter changes or oil filter changes. I ended its days by pouring ATF in the engine rather than regular engine oil, which predictably grenaded the engine.
The engine block was warped and therefore it began to consume engine oil. A new engine (CR12DE) was swapped in for relatively cheap and it has been running like a charm since.
Other small niggles that showed up was a ruined A/C compressor, which I had replaced for cheap. A wheel bearing was broken which was replaced as well. A check engine light popped up, which after tracing through the on board diagnostics, turned out to be a faulty O2 sensor.
General Comments:
I had this car imported from Japan to Pakistan back in 2012. There is no Nissan dealer network in Pakistan and therefore repairs and replacements seemed like a daunting aspect of ownership. However, to my surprise spare and replacement parts were readily and cheaply available contrary to popular opinion.
The car is very easy to drive, very easy to work on and very cheap to keep running at least in my part of the world. It does sort of disappoint in the power department, but it really is not too bad. The automatic variant that I have owned and driven for a better part of 7 years feels very relaxed and sluggish however; the manual variant has a lot more get up and go, and if you value speed per buck I suggest you stick (pun intended) with that.
In short the car does not have any major pitfalls, and if you can look beyond the looks that only a mother could love, there is a very nicely handling, practical, fun to drive little car!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 19th July, 2019