Nissan Micra (K12) 160SR - cheap winter hack
Discussion
My first reader's cars thread, and not a very PH worthy one at that. But it's an interesting little car and I couldn't resist.
I've been leasing for several years, I enjoyed the easy life of changing cars every 24 months, but after the last one went back in May I've been car-less. I had no need for an expensive driveway ornament given I've been working from home so I've been jobbing around in my wife's Vauxhall Vivaro bus or using my bikes.
Anyway, enough of the history. The wife's fed up of me using her van and it's getting too cold and wet for the bike, so I started scouring local ads for a winter hack. I spent weeks looking at all sorts - 3 series, Freelander, V70, Mazda3. Then I spotted this Micra crop up on Facebook Marketplace. I'd usually look straight past this, but I noticed the 160SR badge on the rear and got inquisitive.
A few messages were exchanged, I arranged to view it this morning and the deal was done.
The previous owner admitted he knew nothing about cars so I doubt anything's been done in his 1 year ownership, but the HPI check (yes, I HPI'd a shopping trolley) shows the prior owner had it for 10 years. There's absolutely no service history with it, but mechanically it looks in very good nick. And with no turbo/DPF to go wrong, it should be bulletproof - right?
Bad points:
- No service history present
- Scrapes on every corner
- Horrendous seat covers and steering wheel cover
- The alloys are all badly kerbed
- The tyres were all holding less than 20 PSI, the fronts are mismatched and one has a bulge anyway
- Advisory for rear springs and inner steering rods
- The headlights are pretty cloudy
Good points:
- Tank was 3/4 full
- Two months ticket and relatively clean MOT history
- Air-con works
- Very, very nippy for it's (claimed) 105hp. Feels faster.
- Was surprised to find it has auto lights and wipers
- Handles brilliantly
- Trip shows it's averaging 39mpg
- It cost £14 to add to my multi-car insurance
Listed for £800. Bought it for £500. It'll do me alright for the next few months.
I'll treat it to a wash tomorrow, new tyre on Monday and then and oil and filter change.
Pic from the advert:
I've been leasing for several years, I enjoyed the easy life of changing cars every 24 months, but after the last one went back in May I've been car-less. I had no need for an expensive driveway ornament given I've been working from home so I've been jobbing around in my wife's Vauxhall Vivaro bus or using my bikes.
Anyway, enough of the history. The wife's fed up of me using her van and it's getting too cold and wet for the bike, so I started scouring local ads for a winter hack. I spent weeks looking at all sorts - 3 series, Freelander, V70, Mazda3. Then I spotted this Micra crop up on Facebook Marketplace. I'd usually look straight past this, but I noticed the 160SR badge on the rear and got inquisitive.
A few messages were exchanged, I arranged to view it this morning and the deal was done.
The previous owner admitted he knew nothing about cars so I doubt anything's been done in his 1 year ownership, but the HPI check (yes, I HPI'd a shopping trolley) shows the prior owner had it for 10 years. There's absolutely no service history with it, but mechanically it looks in very good nick. And with no turbo/DPF to go wrong, it should be bulletproof - right?
Bad points:
- No service history present
- Scrapes on every corner
- Horrendous seat covers and steering wheel cover
- The alloys are all badly kerbed
- The tyres were all holding less than 20 PSI, the fronts are mismatched and one has a bulge anyway
- Advisory for rear springs and inner steering rods
- The headlights are pretty cloudy
Good points:
- Tank was 3/4 full
- Two months ticket and relatively clean MOT history
- Air-con works
- Very, very nippy for it's (claimed) 105hp. Feels faster.
- Was surprised to find it has auto lights and wipers
- Handles brilliantly
- Trip shows it's averaging 39mpg
- It cost £14 to add to my multi-car insurance
Listed for £800. Bought it for £500. It'll do me alright for the next few months.
I'll treat it to a wash tomorrow, new tyre on Monday and then and oil and filter change.
Pic from the advert:
110hp for barely a tonne according to Evo https://www.evo.co.uk/nissan/micra "a genuinely fun little car"
Great buy for £500. Hope the french electrics don't give any trouble.
Great buy for £500. Hope the french electrics don't give any trouble.
Lovely cars,
I bought one at 83k miles in 2015 for approx £1500 after my M135i went back to the lease company. Its a really honest nice car that handles great. after I got it to approx 90k my friend took it to use for deliveries in his take away. That was in January 2017 and it now has 192k miles and running strong.
His brother also bought a 160SR to run around in.
I also have another 160SR in my garage right now on 70k miles to replace the delivery one mentioned above.
Another mutual friend of ours had one too and raved about it.
Enjoy it.
I bought one at 83k miles in 2015 for approx £1500 after my M135i went back to the lease company. Its a really honest nice car that handles great. after I got it to approx 90k my friend took it to use for deliveries in his take away. That was in January 2017 and it now has 192k miles and running strong.
His brother also bought a 160SR to run around in.
I also have another 160SR in my garage right now on 70k miles to replace the delivery one mentioned above.
Another mutual friend of ours had one too and raved about it.
Enjoy it.
Updates! Picture heavy.
First to get some attention was the clouded headlights. Started off looking like this:
20 minutes with some 800/1200/2000 wet and dry, then some Ultimate Compound using a polishing pad on my drill. Pretty happy with that.
The first wash it's seen in a while.
Ably assisted by mini-me for the brake dust encrusted alloys. Even the Bilt Hamber had trouble shifting it.
Then I thought I'd pop the sill cover off and see what was lurking inside. 120,000 miles worth of crud. The sills themselves are still in remarkable condition though.
£30 of Eurocarparts' finest. The old oil was pretty clean so I'm reasonably assured someone has at least looked after it during its lifetime. Whoever did the last change was a bit overzealous with the torques on the sump plug though, that took a bit of encouragement. The oil filter was only hand tight though, fortunate really because my filter socket wouldn't fit.
And that's today done. Looks good from a distance.
New tyre booked in for tomorrow and then I'll probably turn my attention to some bad lacquer peel on the rear bumper. Wouldn't mind getting bluetooth hooked up somehow, I'm tempted by a cheapo £25 Chinese double-din unit from eBay. It'll be terribly laggy and slow, but worth a try.
First to get some attention was the clouded headlights. Started off looking like this:
20 minutes with some 800/1200/2000 wet and dry, then some Ultimate Compound using a polishing pad on my drill. Pretty happy with that.
The first wash it's seen in a while.
Ably assisted by mini-me for the brake dust encrusted alloys. Even the Bilt Hamber had trouble shifting it.
Then I thought I'd pop the sill cover off and see what was lurking inside. 120,000 miles worth of crud. The sills themselves are still in remarkable condition though.
£30 of Eurocarparts' finest. The old oil was pretty clean so I'm reasonably assured someone has at least looked after it during its lifetime. Whoever did the last change was a bit overzealous with the torques on the sump plug though, that took a bit of encouragement. The oil filter was only hand tight though, fortunate really because my filter socket wouldn't fit.
And that's today done. Looks good from a distance.
New tyre booked in for tomorrow and then I'll probably turn my attention to some bad lacquer peel on the rear bumper. Wouldn't mind getting bluetooth hooked up somehow, I'm tempted by a cheapo £25 Chinese double-din unit from eBay. It'll be terribly laggy and slow, but worth a try.
I’ve got one, they’re a brilliant daily drive, I love it to bits. As you say, they feel far quicker than 110bhp and handle well (especially as mine is wearing Bilstein & Eibach hardware 
), combined with good fuel economy when driven gently.
Heads up-if you ever have to remove the rear drums, have a slide hammer/puller plus a new set of wheel bearings ready, they seize to the stub axle and are a nightmare to remove.
), combined with good fuel economy when driven gently.Heads up-if you ever have to remove the rear drums, have a slide hammer/puller plus a new set of wheel bearings ready, they seize to the stub axle and are a nightmare to remove.
itcaptainslow said:
Heads up-if you ever have to remove the rear drums, have a slide hammer/puller plus a new set of wheel bearings ready, they seize to the stub axle and are a nightmare to remove.
Oh joy! Thanks. Front discs will need changing at some point, but I'm yet to inspect the rear drums. Fingers crossed.My brother had one of these back in the day and I tried to get a test drive in one but my local dealer was a bit of an arse and told me that one of his salesmen had it for the weekend (after I called ahead to confirm I could see it that day) but that I could buy it unseen. If I wanted to drive one I could take out one of the base spec cars they had which were apparently identical to drive to the 160SR.
Ended up buying a Panda 100HP instead but the Micra was also a great car (when I finally drove one).
Chris
Ended up buying a Panda 100HP instead but the Micra was also a great car (when I finally drove one).
Chris
They are-there’s masses of head and legroom in the front and the back isn’t bad either-four reasonably sized adults fit fine in mine. The boot is pretty decent too and the back seat slides back & forth to increase the boot capacity/chop your rear seat passenger’s legs off.
Another tip for the OP-the standard size tyres (185/50/16) are an odd size, 195/45/16 fit the wheels just fine, maintain the speedo accuracy and are much more plentiful, and cheaper.
Another tip for the OP-the standard size tyres (185/50/16) are an odd size, 195/45/16 fit the wheels just fine, maintain the speedo accuracy and are much more plentiful, and cheaper.
Cheers for the heads up. I've actually just put one new tyre on the front today because they were mismatched and one was bulging. Stuck a Nexen on there for £73 something which I thought wasn't too bad for a somewhat ok brand.
Total outlay so far stands at a smidge over £600.
I don't plan on spending loads on this. It might need rear springs for the MOT which look to be cheap and a doddle to do with a beam axle.
Got it up on a jack to check the steering play and it's minimal to say the least, so it should get through as an advisory again.
I've thoroughly enjoyed bombing around in this for the past couple of days. It revs so freely and is a joy around corners.
Total outlay so far stands at a smidge over £600.
I don't plan on spending loads on this. It might need rear springs for the MOT which look to be cheap and a doddle to do with a beam axle.
Got it up on a jack to check the steering play and it's minimal to say the least, so it should get through as an advisory again.
I've thoroughly enjoyed bombing around in this for the past couple of days. It revs so freely and is a joy around corners.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff