What to look for on a £400 micra?

[CB125T]

Currently looking for a first car and it appears the only one I can afford to insure is a 1.0 micra.

My budget will be up to £500 but I see there's a few for around £400. What should I look for on these? IIRC the timing chain can go wrong on them but how do I diagnose this? Are there any issues with rust? What kind of mileage will these engines do? Any gearbox issues?

I'm sure there's things I've missed but I will update this post if there is

Thanks all.

[kiethton]

Check for orange stuff around the sills and arches, actually everywhere outside as I've seen a fair few that are shocking.

Check for orange stuff in the footwells, its curry and very hard to get out! - smells a bit too!

[haddock82]

Mechanically it should be fine unless done mega miles.

Main thing will be rust. They aren't too bad normally but can rust along sills and arches..

Mate had one for many years and a few bodge welds got him through mot's.

Fairly inexpensive little cars just look out for the usual things on an old car.

[Chongwong]

I honestly don't have a clue
this might give you some choice though
http://carsunder500.co.uk/

[METHS]

Check the clutch and brakes


Then you can go and stop. Anything else is a bonus.

[Hammer67]

Rust in front crossmember and back of sills in front of rear wheels. Don't worry about timing chain unless its rattling its head off. Check cv joints and the gaitors. Apart from that if it starts, drives and stops ok then go for it.

[exgtt]

Hammer67 said:

Rust in front crossmember and back of sills in front of rear wheels. Don't worry about timing chain unless its rattling its head off. Check cv joints and the gaitors. Apart from that if it starts, drives and stops ok then go for it.

^ pretty much what sent our owned from new 1996 Micra to the scrappy about 5 years ago (never put a foot wrong prior to that mot)

Huge hole in the sill just in front of the rear wheel (drivers side only) and split CV gaitors. The timing chain rattled pretty bad @ 3k rpm for years, never snapped. Rust rust rust with these.

[CB125T]

Thanks everyone for your replies, very useful.

There's a couple of good ones on Ebay at the moment, need to pass my test in the next few weeks so I can get one and be on the road!

[tim0409]

exgtt said:

Hammer67 said:

Rust in front crossmember and back of sills in front of rear wheels. Don't worry about timing chain unless its rattling its head off. Check cv joints and the gaitors. Apart from that if it starts, drives and stops ok then go for it.

^ pretty much what sent our owned from new 1996 Micra to the scrappy about 5 years ago (never put a foot wrong prior to that mot)

Huge hole in the sill just in front of the rear wheel (drivers side only) and split CV gaitors. The timing chain rattled pretty bad @ 3k rpm for years, never snapped. Rust rust rust with these.

Second the front cross member although I think there is a bit of debate around whether it should by an MOT fail or not. The first Micra we had failed the MOT on it, the second one the MOT inspector mentioned it and said it wasn't a fail and this had been vigorously debated on one of the training courses he had attended. I don't know enough about it to say who is correct. Apart from rust they are great cars with bullet proof engines.

[HustleRussell]

What to check on a £400 car? (Apart from rust)
-tyre tread
-condition of exhaust system
-condition of windscreen and wipers
-check the lights work
-check it sounds ok and there's oily stuff in the engine and wet stuff in the expansion bottle

IME at this end of the market it tends to be little stuff like my first four points which causes cheap cars to fail MOTs and ultimately get written off.