• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

What to buy

Share this page

7

70herald

Luke Skywalker
Country flag
Offline
Since my 20 year old minivan failed its annual inspection thanks to a leaky steering rack it's time to look for something newer.
I have been looking at "superminis" since this is really all we need for a second car to get around the city.
So I am debating between a few different Nissan Micras and wondering would slightly newer but higher mileage or a year older with lower mileage be better. Higher mileage car 2019 has 150,000km lower mileage car 2018 78,000km. Otherwise almost identical.. need to negotiate a bit but mileage is figured into the cost.
Real question is extra age or extra mileage more likely to cause problems.
 
When you buy a used car, you are only buying however many miles remain available for your use. Particularly since you seem willing to drive a car 'til the wheels fall off, (so resale value is not really relevant), the 78,000 km unit, assuming no obvious big defects, is your best choice.
Bob
 
I presume that it is a manual transmission? Nissan had real issues with their CVT transmissions. Mostly resolved by 2018/19 but worth checking
 
bobhustead said:
When you buy a used car, you are only buying however many miles remain available for your use. Particularly since you seem willing to drive a car 'til the wheels fall off, (so resale value is not really relevant), the 78,000 km unit, assuming no obvious big defects, is your best choice.
Bob
Click to expand...
LOL I might have taken this a bit to far..... last night driving it home after its last family outing in the middle of the drive I suddenly lost 1st, 2nd, 5th and reverse gears. Highway no problem. Hilly crowded city people probably thought I was a bit crazy racing the engine a chirping the tires to get started. Oh and just out of curiosity.... I took a real quick look. shifter mechanism seems to work - whatever happened is inside the transmission.
 
Sounds like time to make the decision.
 
JPSmit said:
I presume that it is a manual transmission? Nissan had real issues with their CVT transmissions. Mostly resolved by 2018/19 but worth checking
Click to expand...
Yep only really interested in a manual. I looked at 2 yesterday.
One claimed to have only 38,000 km. I don't know what / how but either those were the hardest 38,000 km ever or they rolled back the electronic odometer. Interior wear, accumulated dust in the motor, looks like they may have played with the wiring loom. Just set off every red light possible.

2nd car had 78,000 and the only wear was on the driver side carpet which had holes worn into it. Maybe she always drove with high heels. Everything else looks nice and clean, new battery, new tires, fresh clean oil and a full tank of gas... Only issue is the tire air pressure indicator light hopefully I just need some air..
And here she is in my driveway :smile: the little tiny 3 cylinder engine revs up to about 7,000 and feels like a big go-cart.
1696435956018.png
 
Congrats on the new wheels!

Six speed manual gearbox? Variable compression - turbo engine?
 
Last edited:
Ha... 6 speed nope variable compression probably not, turbo no.. This is Nissan India's finest.

BUT it has a CD Player. Which must make it one of the last cars built with a CD. It's a time trip right back to.. oh about 1998. Which is just fine with me. A light weight, car not built like a tank. Now I am going to need to look around to find a few CDs..
 
great choice! I am a member of another forum where Micra's are very collectable - here is a guy in New Zealand who is doing all kinds of fun things - also there are legitimate go fast parts available as well

The retro rides k11 micra appreciation thread | Retro Rides

Thread name change. Now that I have (many) k11s and the price of fuel is pretty absurd compared to 2 years ago let's just keep this thread as a place to pop up pics and ideas for the humble little
forum.retro-rides.org forum.retro-rides.org

fun little cars!
 
JPSmit said:
great choice! I am a member of another forum where Micra's are very collectable - here is a guy in New Zealand who is doing all kinds of fun things - also there are legitimate go fast parts available as well

The retro rides k11 micra appreciation thread | Retro Rides

Thread name change. Now that I have (many) k11s and the price of fuel is pretty absurd compared to 2 years ago let's just keep this thread as a place to pop up pics and ideas for the humble little
forum.retro-rides.org forum.retro-rides.org

fun little cars!
Click to expand...
And a racing series in Canada! looks like a blast. In many ways not so different from LBCs... small light cheapish fun to drive.

 
70herald said:
And a racing series in Canada! looks like a blast. In many ways not so different from LBCs... small light cheapish fun to drive.

Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly - I had forgotten about the racing series.
 
Back
Top