Buying a Micra

G'day all. I'm new to the forum and I must say from what I've seen there is a lot of info to be had. I've been looking around for a Micra here in Brisbane for the last few weeks and thus far nothing has jumped out and grabbed my attention. It seems a good micra is a little bit hard to come by. I am looking to buy this car as a second car and possibly modify it only mildly in the future, I own a Nissan Patrol also so the micra will basically be the town car. I have instructions from the better half that it must be a 5 door so a super s is out unfortunately. I have a couple of questions for the gurus out there.

1. Are there any common problems in Micra's I should be looking for? (eg. I found two cars with broken air vents in the same place)

2. Are the CVT transmissions any good or should I just get the manual?

3. Should I be looking for an SLX or LX? What is the differences?

Welcome to our happy little site, BigMav. If you must have a 5 door, the SLX is the only option. LX is a 3 door. I drive a manual, which can be a tad tedious around town, but fantastic on the highways. Look for a micra with the least amount of klm's possible, as I feel that as the mileage gets higher on these little babies, the problems kick in. Not that that doesn't happen on all cars, but parts can be difficult to obtain. Just recently I was in need of a new throttle body, $1000 and it had to be imported (new). If it wasn't for Alex having a spare, I would still be a pedestrian. (thanks again Alex :) ) Being a mechanically minded person is definitely a benefit if you own a Micra as heaps of $$$ can be saved by following the technical guides in this forum.

Good luck in your search, Micras do come up for sale from time to time, but you need your speed skates on to get to them quick!

Steer clear of the cvt (unless you like fitting 2nd hand ones constanly)

I took another micra for a test drive today, this one was a CVT auto. I am taking your advice to steer clear but I wanted to compare it to some other micras that I have looked at. The CVT certainly is interesting to drive. The car was a 95 SLX with 159k, looked to be in good nick inside and out but no A/C which I think is a necessity up here in the sunny state. Anyway the dealer was asking 6k which I think is a little too much. What should I be paying for a low k 95/96 model manual slx five door with a/c?