Hi All, new to the site....

[steve67]

Hi. as the title says im new to the site,
im looking for a small car for my daughter who has just pasted her driving test,

the micra has been suggested to me for the low running cost and the dreaded insurance.

what is the best make/model/year to go for

me being me, i like all the toys and thinking of safety been looking at the newer shape micra

any advice would be appreciated.

steve

 

[karlj]

For insurance I'd look at the k12's 2003/4 onwards as the insurance for either the k10 or k11 seems to be sky rocketing

 

[MicrAde]

I'll add to this if you like all the toys definitely forget the K10, it has NONE! Also, safety??? Again Not the K10

 

[karlj]

Yeah but the k10 is sooooo easy to fix

 

[JDMicra]

I'd go for the K12 or a facelift K11. Anything older is likely to need a bit of work by now. Find a low mileage one, hunt for rust around the front crossmember if its a k11, and avoid anything that isn't a sewing machine on idle. also make sure that it runs well with no flat spots in the rev range as throttle bodies can be a bit annoying.

Hope you find a good one

 

[steve67]

ive found a micra s 2001 51 plate with 41k miles, what should i look for apart fr

om the crossmember and idle.

 

[Jen319]

That does look nice...I don't know about the later model K11 (like this one you've found) but the one i had (1997) and a few others i've seen have some rust issues around window seals...usually easily sorted with some wet and dry and a tin of hammerite

....for Safety and stuff I'd recomend a K12 as it's euroncap 4 star, I believe the K11 was 3 star but the later models do have PS, airbags etc so should still be better anyway
I think most K11'a are around the Group 7-13 insurance and K12 a little higher from just 6-17....ish (that's the 1-50 system) mostly arounf the 11 mark

It's an idea to check insurance group information etc by having a look on the Parkers guide website...also handy for checking tax groups...
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/advice/car-insurance-groups/

a 2003 1.0 K12 "E", the base model, has drivers airbag/CD/PS and front electric windows...and is only Insurance group 6!
but it's worth getting the 1.2 (insurance Group 8) as it's got a bit more...omph!
but not enough to raise the insurance too much

although in saying that If i was buying my first car all over again I'd go for a 1 litre K11...perhaps a little newer than "97 though ^_^
it was so easy and still fun to drive...cheap and easy to get parts, new or from scrap yards, and there's not as much to go wrong mechanically anyway

I hope at least some of that helps LOL

Good luck

 

[Guy]

That K11 looks very nice but it needs some peanut butter on the grey plastics .

 

[JDMicra]

Looks pretty solid. Plastic polish will make the greys look fresh once again. Is it a 1.0L or a 1.3? I drive a 1.3 and it has decent power for the engine size

 

[steve67]

missed the above car..... but still on the look out. thanks for the advice.