It may look like an amusingly shaped ice cube, but… (Nissan Micra (1983-92))

Member Name: Nemesis_252

Product:	Nissan Micra (1983-92)
Date:	28/05/02 (4575 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap Insurance, Good MPG, Cheap Parts

Disadvantages: Looks, Reputation

It may look like an amusingly shaped ice cube, but… when it gets down to it, the Micra K10 is a damn good car. The K10 was produced from 1989 till 1992. You can recognize this model due is larger headlights and coloured front. The seats of this model where also improved, this because of the safety. If you look good to the front of the car you can also see that this is a bit higher than the older model K10 (just a little bit). The wheels are also a size bigger at this model; this model Micra has 13" wheels instead of the 12" mini-wheels of the older models.

I’m now in my second year as a car owner, and currently own my second car. My first was a Nissan Micra 1.0 LS (1989, F-reg) with 110,000 on the clock. As a supposedly high risk candidate for insurance claims I was forced to purchase such a monotonously boring car, and they still charged me over £800 for TPFF… and that was one of the cheap ones (I Nearly proposed to the lady who quoted me this, others were about £1000)! But alas there was no way of getting anything cheaper so I bit my bottom lip and purchased the car for £350 and the insurance for £800.

Regardless of the costs of insurance, I ran that little 1.0 LS for a whole year. The petrol consumption was good, and over 300 miles were capable on its modest 40-litre petrol tank.

According to the literature, the little bundle of joy would give out 54 BHP, getting it up to 91mph, but with 110,000 miles on the clock and only four gears to choose from, it disliked going above 60 and rarely topped 70. None the less, in hindsight, given that it was my first car and also given the rate of accidents of new drivers in powerful cars, it probably did me more favours than I realise.

After running that for a year I then sold the F-reg 1.0 LS for £250, and purchased myself a newer, J-Reg 1.2 GSX.

With it being newer it had fewer miles on the clock, this time 80,000 but the bodywork was (and still is) imm
aculate. On last count I think there were only three pinpoints of rust, of which I will take care of this summer. Again, the literature says 54 BHP, reaching 94 mph, but I say once it gets to 85mph (Certainly not on public roads, in case any of our law enforcement officers are reading) it begins panting and I didn’t take it any further.

As I have now moved up in the world, the difference in luxury between the LS and the GSX are very noticeable. For instance, although they may sound like basic attributes to you, the following list all appear on the GSX version, but not on the LS: Door Pockets… Intermediate Wipe… Rear Wiper… Five Gears… AM/FM Radio Cassette (opposed to basic AM Radio)… Light in boot… Interior clock… to name but a few.

Other than that the GSX is pretty much the same as the LS. They both have two or four door versions, both had a built in tilt sunroof and both no creditability with car thieves, which is always a good factor to have!

Maintenance on the Micra is quick and simple, with all major parts being easy to locate and fit/remove. Also, a big bonus is that spare parts can be bought cheaply at scrap yards or car parts shops across the country. Spare parts are available from Nissan themselves, but when a private alternative is (In my experience) about 20% of the price, you tend to go for that alternative. They’re just as good quality and although may last only three or four years compared to the 10 years that an official part will, at 20% of the price you’re still saving money.

All in all, I’m a very happy man with my little Micra, both the LS and GSX have served me well, and my J-Reg GSX is continuing to not disappoint. My verdict? Buy one, you can’t go wrong.

Any questions, feel free to email me.

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