1997 Nissan Micra K11 goes for a drive 

Ikr

Apart from the lack of air bags

@@aaroncable4739 later ones had airbags

I have one 😊

the transmission sounds just like my first 1965 mini i really like the Micra it really is a good car tony Leics

tony n It was a fabulous little car. Roomy, great visibility, light and effortless to drive and unfailing reliable despite ours having a high mileage and being run on a student budget.

@@andreasphotiou1886 i have one 2002 year with only 140000km, everything works even a/c

Thank you for offering it, it was a pleasure to review!

Absolutely factory-fresh. Loving it! Would love to see it at the Japanese Auto Extravaganza, (our flagship event) next year!

@@micrasportsclub And hopefully you will! Just got some doorhandle repairs to do and it'll be right as rain!

@@alfiewoolard2598 surprise it takes repair considering the overall condition of the car, but ok....

Great little car and brilliant review! Looks just like my little K11! :-D

You're 100% right, The Nissan Micra k11 is literally like an upgrade from the Classic mini, Small and fun to drive.

TheCounty90 - ITS doors. Not IT'S doors. IT'S means IT IS.

The 90s was a good time lol

i have 5 or 6 in my life, now i have one 2002 year with only 140000km, 1000cc all works even a/c... its very fast when i told its only 1000cc no one believe me

Yeah the standard speakers are quite good indeed.

somebody translate this in american please lol

JDM Guy that's because of their association with Renault.

i agree, but they are still much better than renault

Yep. Renault got better with the alliance! But Nissan worse! Cut off maybe doesn´t happen these days. But distance in many ways. Nissan working on it!

Let's get the facts straight here - Nissan were skint. However reliable or wonderful you may have thought they're products were - they weren't selling and the company was very very close to going under. Without Renaults intervention and controlling interest Nissan would be no more - its as simple as that.

The first car I drove was a Datsun 1200 (Nissan in Japan). I adore the K11, I have a 1.3 Super S, a 1.3 SLX and a 1.0, and I offered another one to my daughter. I have already Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Honda, etc., but in reliability, until 2000, Nissan was ahead of all!

Thats always the test!

wow, my family to maybe even more than 5, but i still have one 2002 year with 1000cc engine, only 140000km all works even a/c, no heart to sold her... sorry for my english

@@DejoR79 they will last forever, as long as you can stop them rusting.

@@cardude5323 i never have problem with that, but here in montenegro we dont have much rain, maybe day or two of snow for whole winter or nothing, probably that is the reason i guess

I have a 96' SLX that was my Nan's from new.... I've had it from 2001 and it currently has 52k on the clock.... Absolutely fantastic car.... 👍🏻

My aunt and uncle had one for a while and it was a ludicrous rocketship from a standing start despite the unexceptional engine output. Possibly the only time a CVT has been any good for improving performance (though IDK what it did for the economy), essentially giving you a perfect racing driver high rev launch if you stomped the throttle, and avoiding the usual lull between 1st and 2nd. No idea what it was like at high speeds but I have some very clear memories of bombing around in it when getting lifts from a leadfooted uncle... that plus the toytown suspension would literally make your head spin.

@@markpenrice6253 Yup i loved mine it was a lot of fun and at higher speeds it was pretty average but off the mark it was a little rocket up to 60 . The original factory times for 50 to 70 mph overtaking where quicker than a Nissan 300zx. I still have the magazines from the 90`s showing that.

@@markpenrice6253 oh and as far as economy went mine never did less than 40 mpg even when ragging it.

Absolutely true. Before I got my SLX a friend had a CVT & could easily bate XR2’s & XR3i’s at the lights!!

Yes and today CVT must brake... :(

Its mint!

haha, shame! Did you impress her with the replacement?

furiousdriving Well I’m not sure about that but the replacement was a 1966 MG Midget - I was going to say “couldn’t have been more different” but they had similar charm in their own way.

What a shame!! She can’t have been that attractive then lol. Having no appreciation for a quality, retro, reliable car which won’t break down on dates. And a PURPLE one at that!! I’m a late converter. I just bought a 1996 (in 2022!!) and I love it. Only 55K miles on the clock such fun to drive 😊

would better (as in newer compound) tyres have helped?

@@furiousdriving ..possibly...they tend to go very light at the rear though when your pushing on...thrashy little engine which can and has been turbo'd relatively cheaply with surprising results.

Possibly a common thing to a lot of old city cars with simplistic suspension designs. Wouldn't be surprised to find that with something resembling McPherson struts at the front but a simple torsion-bar and swingarm setup at the rear, and the acres of bodyroll suggest it doesn't even have an anti-roll bar, which will only magnify the effect as the weight gets flung around all over the place when you come on and off the throttle (and even in the K12, the understeer was truly epic, leaving plenty of opportunity for the excess lock you'd then put on to suddenly bite, snatch, and flip right round into oversteer). My vaguely similar vintage Polo had just such a setup, with the mild benefit of a vaguely effective ARB (though VW forumites swore blind that one of the best things you could do was fit an equivalent bracer between the rear shocks... and an extra one up front), and even with the best tyres I could afford (some midmarket Michelin Energys) you could, on a damp roundabout, transition it between understeer, four-wheel drift, and a sudden, snapping, almost impossible to counter (unless you were VERY quick with steering wheel and throttle) oversteery about-face. Which was actually an improvement from its characteristics on generic budget rubber. A friend's Panda was even worse, it essentially eschewed the idea of handling altogether and just bounced around all over the place. There was one time we took a particularly tight town centre roundabout at such speed, five-up, that I swear the only logical explanation for our safe traversal and the stomach churning sensations I experienced was that they managed to synchronise with the car's wacky handling and the potholes of the approach road _just-so_ as to deliberately take off and sail over the top of it, like a cyclist doing a bunny hop. Thank god the only time they ever saw more than about 45 out of it was when we embarked on a knowingly pitiful race down the local bypass, where they just beat me (...ie, I didn't have to suffer it as a terrified passenger).

Ross Turnbull it wasn’t a bad thing. Made them incredibly fun to drive! K11 1.3 with arbs actually handled really well. The 1300’s were more refined & really peppy

Ah, the days when manufacturers actually tried to keep small cars, yknow... small. Nissan was actually a holdout amongst them until recently, which was one of the reasons I ended up buying a K13. It was the only supermini class car that hadn't bloated considerably since the 90s (many of them that started out around 360cm long were now sailing past 4 metres), and so would still fit in my poky garage with room for a bike as well. Not sure what I'll do to replace this one if I'm still living at the same address, to get something with similar interior room and overall spec. Might have to sacrifice boot space and buy an as-high-spec-as-possible Up or Twingo (or maybe an i10, which a neighbour recently replaced his oldskool Punto with), plus a roofbox.

@@markpenrice6253 I have an N16 Almera and I handed the keys back on my 1960s rented lock up garage because I ended up whacking the wing mirrors on the door frames. Anyone with a modern SUV has little chance. A K13 would be a good replacement for it.

Scrubworks I thought front subframes were the major issue. Certainly that & damp into the underbonnet fusebox causing a headlight to go out

@@chrismc1977 In the last few years yes, the front subframes on a lot of the earlier models have started to see corrosion. Never seen one suffer with a damp fusebox. The electrics on these are generally very robust.

Scrubworks mine was a 93 K SLX. Subframe corroded. The fusebox wasn’t the main fusebox but the little one adjacent to the inner edge of the battery (as per the OP car). Road spray could get straight in onto it through the grille. Normally manifested with headlight fuses corroded to dust!

Hi, i find if i open the front doors wide and use a hosepipe on the front sills it gets rid of all the dead leaves, etc. ive not had any problem with rust as i clean them out once a month all the best tone

That would be astonishingly Nissan like in its sensible thinking

That is as basic as it gets - but less to go wrong...not that it would on one of these

@@furiousdriving One thing for sure with a Micra, People used to take one at me for having it, Corsas, Lupos and Fiestas. Guess who didnt need to get a new car? The Micra is absolutely fantastic. Along with the Nissan Bluebird some of the best cars To come from Japan manufactured In Sunderland!

And lemme guess....in UK English you can actually rhyme "can" with "Nissan"? (Yes, of course you can, when you say "NISS-ann" instead of "NEE-sahn"! :-)

Same, mine has done 130 k, doesn't miss a beat, never fails

JJ O'Riordan ace. Even in the K11 the 1300 was a quick little car. Much much quicker than the book figures suggested

And more than likely scrappage schemes have claimed the rest. Especially when low-annual-mileage owners look at the £165+ tax bill and consider it against the £30 or less they could be paying with a newer car...

Cheers, good cars but overlooked by many

its cleaning cloths! Honest!

Just cleaning cloths and some Turtle Wax!

@@alfiewoolard2598 oh, that's how it's called these days :P

Ha not just me then. 😁

@ Alfie Woolard I'm sure, but my alternate view on reality makes a much better story!

Just got myself a k11 with a sunroof and it leaks 😕 and also drips out of the sills like a sieve!! Just got MOT test so must be ok still. Anymore info. On how or where to do this drain pipes mod to reroute ?? 👍cheers. 😉🚗

@@Belindaxtz660 If you wind back the sunroof, you will find 4 drain holes - one at each corner of the panel directly below the roof. Check each one is clear and use a length of wire (eg coathanger wire) to clear any debris from the tubing below them. The tubing extends down inside the roof pillars right down to sill level. The front pair empty straight into the sills, the rear ones are not usually a problem as they empty onto the road just behind the rear wheel plastic mudguard. To get at the front drain tubes, remove the plastic covers at the lower front corner of the front doors. You may also find another tube on the drivers side which comes from the aerial - you can ignore this or just put a bung in it (I have not found it to leak on my car). The easiest solution for the 2 others is to attach some suitable plastic tubing and extend the drainage tubes so that any water empties outside the inner door seal and then channels out underneath the door. You should only need about 6 inches of additional tubing. Or you could drill a hole through the bottom of the sill and poke the tubing through so that it empties straight out onto the road. Hope this helps !

Thank you so much for your reply! The info is very helpful.😉👍🚗