Nissan Micra K13 1.2 Vs Polo Mk 4 One's a Gem Used Car Buy
Discussion
My in laws' bought a K13 Micra in 2016. A very low mileage car 3k with the n/a 3-cylinder engine. Other than two batteries and one bulb, not a single thing has gone wrong with this car. I have driven it a lot too, as they won't drive on any journey out of town. I can easily average 60mpg, with a verified 70mpg on a recent 350 mile journey. I do all of the servicing for them, poring eBay for filters etc: I don't think they realise it isn't magic how it walks each & every MOT :-)
Their former car, a VW Polo 1.2 2005 model was quite simply the worst car I've every known. Having the crude 6-valve BMD 1.2 engine, it struggled to 17k when a loss of compression owing to faulty cylinder head manufacture switched the emission light on.
At the time, this fault was known by VAG and in the rest of Europe, a kit of parts was sold at a large discount and VAG did the work at a very reduced labour rate. The kit: new cylinder head with valves, tubes of different sealant, bags of bolts/studs, a new timing chain kit, a brand new catalytic converter and lambda sensor. The bill was around 2,000 Euro. With the normal retail of the parts alone being around 3,000 Euro and 10 hrs labour on top, this was a comparative bargain!
Here in the UK, in 2011, as far as I could tell, you couldn't even buy the kit. I was so very lucky to find one on eBay for an amazing £240 and myself & father in law fitted the parts on a very cold Boxing day. And the next day too as I tried six hours to fit a valve collet onto a valve that already had one. Cold hands, poor daylight and the stress that my diagnosis may by wrong. The compression readings were still quite high and a lot of garages at the time were stumped as to why these cars were losing power, going into limp home and emissions light on. You could often fit a set of plugs and the light would stay off for a few hundred miles. New valves to an old head would 'cure' the fault for a few hundred miles. A nightmare for garages at the time.
Other parts required for the 20k miles they owned it for: suspension bushes, cooling fan, radiator, both rear shocks (complete loss of fluid at 16k causing loss of control on a wet roundabout) rear brakes & wheel cylinders, two rear light units, three batteries, heater blower resistor, engine wiring loom, door lock, exhaust back box, ignition coil and probably a few other bits.
If they'd have paid VW to do the even just the engine work, it would have probably been scrapped - it really needed all of those bits in the kit, I tried the cat on another car and it was ruined from the low compression issue - as VW were charging around £4800 for the repair in this country.
BTW, at the time, if you needed anything like piston rings or crankshaft bearings, VAG would only sell complete bottom-end short engines for £1900. Stating that the engine was assembled on a special jig and unbolting the crankshaft would allow the block to distort. I believe this is still the case and cannot find any mention of aftermarket parts like those mentioned for this engine being made?
One of the truly unforgiveable traits of the BMD engine is its abysmal fuel economy. Around 38mpg and a 12-valve more modern version in my Fabia was an equally thirsty engine. 37mpg on a 300 mile journey, using my best economy driving techniques...
There's no point to an 'Economy' car that isn't frugal when it comes to mpg?
Back to the Micra, yes it isn't as nice to drive as the contemporaneous Mk4 Polo. But the Polo cost £4k more when new and didn't come with aircon at that price.
The K13 Micra engine is a little unusual. It was made by a Japanese company which made nothing else apart from Nissan 1.0-1.6 petrol engines. They use 'Hard Like Diamond' treatment to some engine components. The only faults were down to poor quality timing chains on their early 4-cylinder K12 engines, which they promptly sorted and rusting/leaking oil sumps. They don't use engine oil between servicing, or have any head gasket problems. The company started making engines for WW2 fighter aircraft and make such good engines, that Nissan bought them out.
When the Renault Clio based K12 Micra was introduced, they could have simply fitted the Clio engine. But Nissan knew the tiny Japanese company's engine would be the a better product. Just look at how many K12 Micra are still running. I saw a 266,000 mile example the other day.
Unfortunately, the K13 goes for silly money used, as in a lot, perhaps the car's only downside, apart from being quite an ugly car?
2015 automatic cars are selling for as much as £7500+ private on eBay with one trade car with a £9500 asking price.
They paid £7,000 for their 2014 car in May 2016. They can expect around £4,800, so about £2,200 depreciation in eight years when they sell next year.
Needing a set of new tyres - £160 for Toyo and £30 extra trade price fitted - total maintenance will come to about £260.
Apart from maybe a Toyota Aygo, I cannot think of a cheaper way to run a decent car. The fuel economy can only be beat by a small diesel?
£5.29/week depreciation. If you can afford the high price that used small cars are now fetching, it's cheaper than bus fare.
Finally, the K13 & K12 Micra, one of the last car buys around which aren't so overcomplex that the average DIY person can still fix.
My niece's 2015 Polo FSi 1.2 recently had a problem with a failing battery. A voltage surge fried the ECU and cost her close to £1k using the cheapest way of used parts and a cloned ECU. The VAG 'Part Protection' 'feature' will not allow used parts to be fitted without the car switching on every warning light it can, simply because a single module was from a car with a different VIN. Stupid, devious and pointless for VAG to be so obsessive about denying any replacement part to be fit, unless sold by them. There are lot of VWs on eBay for spares/repair. Have a look at GM cars like the Insignia CDTI on eBay too. A mint 2012 car can be bought for well under £1k. If you don't mind rebuilding the engine before you can drive it...
Apart from Honda, I think many cars are now intended as a throwaway item. Lasing eight years,120,000 miles, then you simply buy or lease a new one. With electric cars costing well over £30k and costing as much in electricity as a petrol car to run, I don't know how they expect an average family to buy & operate one. My 306 diesel will be legislated off the road in a few years time, too. The free Insignia CDTI was going to be sold for spares, the car might just see me repairing the engine. At least it can do 50mpg :-)
Their former car, a VW Polo 1.2 2005 model was quite simply the worst car I've every known. Having the crude 6-valve BMD 1.2 engine, it struggled to 17k when a loss of compression owing to faulty cylinder head manufacture switched the emission light on.
At the time, this fault was known by VAG and in the rest of Europe, a kit of parts was sold at a large discount and VAG did the work at a very reduced labour rate. The kit: new cylinder head with valves, tubes of different sealant, bags of bolts/studs, a new timing chain kit, a brand new catalytic converter and lambda sensor. The bill was around 2,000 Euro. With the normal retail of the parts alone being around 3,000 Euro and 10 hrs labour on top, this was a comparative bargain!
Here in the UK, in 2011, as far as I could tell, you couldn't even buy the kit. I was so very lucky to find one on eBay for an amazing £240 and myself & father in law fitted the parts on a very cold Boxing day. And the next day too as I tried six hours to fit a valve collet onto a valve that already had one. Cold hands, poor daylight and the stress that my diagnosis may by wrong. The compression readings were still quite high and a lot of garages at the time were stumped as to why these cars were losing power, going into limp home and emissions light on. You could often fit a set of plugs and the light would stay off for a few hundred miles. New valves to an old head would 'cure' the fault for a few hundred miles. A nightmare for garages at the time.
Other parts required for the 20k miles they owned it for: suspension bushes, cooling fan, radiator, both rear shocks (complete loss of fluid at 16k causing loss of control on a wet roundabout) rear brakes & wheel cylinders, two rear light units, three batteries, heater blower resistor, engine wiring loom, door lock, exhaust back box, ignition coil and probably a few other bits.
If they'd have paid VW to do the even just the engine work, it would have probably been scrapped - it really needed all of those bits in the kit, I tried the cat on another car and it was ruined from the low compression issue - as VW were charging around £4800 for the repair in this country.
BTW, at the time, if you needed anything like piston rings or crankshaft bearings, VAG would only sell complete bottom-end short engines for £1900. Stating that the engine was assembled on a special jig and unbolting the crankshaft would allow the block to distort. I believe this is still the case and cannot find any mention of aftermarket parts like those mentioned for this engine being made?
One of the truly unforgiveable traits of the BMD engine is its abysmal fuel economy. Around 38mpg and a 12-valve more modern version in my Fabia was an equally thirsty engine. 37mpg on a 300 mile journey, using my best economy driving techniques...
There's no point to an 'Economy' car that isn't frugal when it comes to mpg?
Back to the Micra, yes it isn't as nice to drive as the contemporaneous Mk4 Polo. But the Polo cost £4k more when new and didn't come with aircon at that price.
The K13 Micra engine is a little unusual. It was made by a Japanese company which made nothing else apart from Nissan 1.0-1.6 petrol engines. They use 'Hard Like Diamond' treatment to some engine components. The only faults were down to poor quality timing chains on their early 4-cylinder K12 engines, which they promptly sorted and rusting/leaking oil sumps. They don't use engine oil between servicing, or have any head gasket problems. The company started making engines for WW2 fighter aircraft and make such good engines, that Nissan bought them out.
When the Renault Clio based K12 Micra was introduced, they could have simply fitted the Clio engine. But Nissan knew the tiny Japanese company's engine would be the a better product. Just look at how many K12 Micra are still running. I saw a 266,000 mile example the other day.
Unfortunately, the K13 goes for silly money used, as in a lot, perhaps the car's only downside, apart from being quite an ugly car?
2015 automatic cars are selling for as much as £7500+ private on eBay with one trade car with a £9500 asking price.
They paid £7,000 for their 2014 car in May 2016. They can expect around £4,800, so about £2,200 depreciation in eight years when they sell next year.
Needing a set of new tyres - £160 for Toyo and £30 extra trade price fitted - total maintenance will come to about £260.
Apart from maybe a Toyota Aygo, I cannot think of a cheaper way to run a decent car. The fuel economy can only be beat by a small diesel?
£5.29/week depreciation. If you can afford the high price that used small cars are now fetching, it's cheaper than bus fare.
Finally, the K13 & K12 Micra, one of the last car buys around which aren't so overcomplex that the average DIY person can still fix.
My niece's 2015 Polo FSi 1.2 recently had a problem with a failing battery. A voltage surge fried the ECU and cost her close to £1k using the cheapest way of used parts and a cloned ECU. The VAG 'Part Protection' 'feature' will not allow used parts to be fitted without the car switching on every warning light it can, simply because a single module was from a car with a different VIN. Stupid, devious and pointless for VAG to be so obsessive about denying any replacement part to be fit, unless sold by them. There are lot of VWs on eBay for spares/repair. Have a look at GM cars like the Insignia CDTI on eBay too. A mint 2012 car can be bought for well under £1k. If you don't mind rebuilding the engine before you can drive it...
Apart from Honda, I think many cars are now intended as a throwaway item. Lasing eight years,120,000 miles, then you simply buy or lease a new one. With electric cars costing well over £30k and costing as much in electricity as a petrol car to run, I don't know how they expect an average family to buy & operate one. My 306 diesel will be legislated off the road in a few years time, too. The free Insignia CDTI was going to be sold for spares, the car might just see me repairing the engine. At least it can do 50mpg :-)
My experience of Polo’s of a similar age is that they are a good cheap reliable car depending on which engine you get. I’ve got a 1.4 TDI that’s gone from 11k to 171k in my family and has barely had any work done outside of servicing. It will do 60+ mpg and seems to just work. It’s still on its original clutch and the only thing that’s given up is a wheel bearing which after 170k isn’t unreasonable.
A friend has a 1.9 SDI and that’s just passed 200k too.
A friend has a 1.9 SDI and that’s just passed 200k too.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff