Today I drove a Micra

[wsn03]

I've always been a big believer that anything from Japan probably can't be bettered - but then I'm a motorbike rider, ex racer, restorer etc. In all things 2 wheels the Japanese rock.
I have found the Japanese cars I've been involved with (family and own) that on the whole they are in a reliable well built world of their own too.

Today I drove a friend's Micra because he borrowed my car. To me a Micra is something of a turd on wheels, something silly looking that really can't have any other purpose than to embarrass young drivers who can't afford insurance yet. Wrong.
This car had 100k on the clock, I'm gobsmacked, it just drove so well, what a complete package it was. I've driven, hired and owned various small cars at various times and for various reasons, and this is just better than anything I've driven to date - it really was very very good indeed.

I presume these are built in the UK? They seem damned good, is it just me? I presume they must be cheap. Seemed far better than the Toyota and Ford equivelants

[anonymous-user]

I have a shed 2006 Micra 160SR with 150k on the clock and bits of bodywork hanging off from where my ex wife smashed it into stuff. It's superb, an absolute hoot.

My friend, who was very skeptical, has it right now because they've fallen in love with it. A few months ago we had a 2011 Mini Cooper and the Micra was a far better steer, the Cooper being utterly ruined by it's appalling ride quality and mediocre engine.

[fido]

French chassis, Japanese engines .. albeit with some input from Renault but Japanese quality control cos the French don't do that. My first car was a K12 Micra - it was scary to drive round corners at more than 30mph even though the 16v engine were pretty advanced.

[trevalvole]

stickleback123 said:

A few months ago we had a 2011 Mini Cooper and the Micra was a far better steer, the Cooper being utterly ruined by it's appalling ride quality and mediocre engine.

Interesting, that iirc, you liked your earlier Mini One 1.4, but not the 2011 Mini Cooper, which aligns with my dislike of the 2011 Mini One 1.6 I had.

[anonymous-user]

trevalvole said:

stickleback123 said:

A few months ago we had a 2011 Mini Cooper and the Micra was a far better steer, the Cooper being utterly ruined by it's appalling ride quality and mediocre engine.

Interesting, that iirc, you liked your earlier Mini One 1.4, but not the 2011 Mini Cooper, which aligns with my dislike of the 2011 Mini One 1.6 I had.

Yes well remembered. I loved the 1.4 One, the way you could feed it down a bumpy and bendy B road was quite something, the sophistication of the chassis was absolutely obvious, but the cooper rode so poorly it destroyed the handling and made it an unpleasant car to use; in the end it sat outside for a couple of months until somebody bought it because I'd rather use a 2003 shed of a 1.6 Focus over the Cooper. Whoever bought it new with those wheels/tyres and chassis options was an absolute prat. The extra power from the engine wasn't worth the 10mpg drop in average economy either.

The engine in the Micra was better to use than either though, it feels remarkably flexible and strong for it's size. I'd rate this Micra 160SR over the Mini One or Cooper for driving fun, by a mile. Can't speak for a Micra 1.0 though