Micra buyer's guide?

TempestSabre

The micra is a "supermini". But in reality its best as a city car. The thing is that super mini's have got bigger they are the size of original hatchbacks now. The Smart is pointless here, though I do like them. I have used a micra for long journeys, and long commutes and it will it do them no problem. But the lack of space and power if you have any kinda load means it best as a city runabout. For one or two people just getting to work its fine. Especially in our world class congestion in Dublin at least.

colm_mcm

most of the smaller cars I sell are bought by couples as second cars, by young single people, or elderly drivers. town or country doesn't really come into it

blastman

First of all, thanks to anyone who actually bothered to read what I asked in the first place and then had constructive advice to give. As for cantdecide, you should really pull in your horns occasionally. Despite agreeing with some of your points, there's no amount of discussion that will make my mother comfortable driving a large car, so you may have to accept that there is someone with a differing viewpoint to yours and that your suggestion just doesn't match the criteria.

cantdecide

blastman- part of your criteria, in actual fact, is that it should look/ feel small and insignificant. Therefore, creating an illusion of Great Saving. i advise you to ignore this piece of criteria for just one minute and look at the real alternatives for your own situation.
i would be very surprised if a micra is the most suitable car for the vast majority of micra/ fiesta/ yaris owners. i am assuming you are not a little old lady or a dublin city centre house-husband and put to you that if you spend any amount of time or cover any amount of distance in your car, you should have a 1.4 leon/ golf/ civic/ astra as a minimum. it won't be much more expensive i promise you.
it is an inverse ratio- the smaller the car, the less value. you will find that people in the trade love selling small cars because of the sheer amount of fat to be had in them, based almost solely on the small car misconception of economy. i know one unscrupulous seller who won't stock anything above 1.6 as a rule.
I helped a polish workmate get his first car last year. he circled an ad for a '92 toyota starlet 1.0 for €1,000 with 140k, and asked me to ring for him. the car right above that ad was a '93 toyota carina 1.6 with 95k.also €1,000. which one do you think he bought?
that really is economic motoring because of the sheer bang for your buck.

maidhc

cantdecide wrote:

blastman- part of your criteria, in actual fact, is that it should look/ feel small and insignificant. Therefore, creating an illusion of Great Saving. i advise you to ignore this piece of criteria for just one minute and look at the real alternatives for your own situation.
i would be very surprised if a micra is the most suitable car for the vast majority of micra/ fiesta/ yaris owners. i am assuming you are not a little old lady or a dublin city centre house-husband and put to you that if you spend any amount of time or cover any amount of distance in your car, you should have a 1.4 leon/ golf/ civic/ astra as a minimum. it won't be much more expensive i promise you.
it is an inverse ratio- the smaller the car, the less value. you will find that people in the trade love selling small cars because of the sheer amount of fat to be had in them, based almost solely on the small car misconception of economy. i know one unscrupulous seller who won't stock anything above 1.6 as a rule.
I helped a polish workmate get his first car last year. he circled an ad for a '92 toyota starlet 1.0 for €1,000 with 140k, and asked me to ring for him. the car right above that ad was a '93 toyota carina 1.6 with 95k.also €1,000. which one do you think he bought?
that really is economic motoring because of the sheer bang for your buck.

blastman wrote:

there's no amount of discussion that will make my mother comfortable driving a large car

Give it a rest cantdecide.

cantdecide

you'll find i wasn't speaking to you. no one is making you read

maidhc

cantdecide wrote:

you'll find i wasn't speaking to you. no one is making you read

Its a public forum and your rants are tiresome.

TempestSabre

cantdecide wrote:

....'92 toyota starlet 1.0 for €1,000 with 140k, and asked me to ring for him. the car right above that ad was a '93 toyota carina 1.6 with 95k.also €1,000. which one do you think he bought?...

Neither its a trick question. They only drive Audi's and BMW's with fat alloys and blacked out windows.

cantdecide

they sure do and enjoy every minute of it................

cantdecide

maidhc wrote:

Its a public forum and your rants are tiresome.

yes you're right, IT IS a public forum and you DON'T have to read

Ratchet

cantdecide wrote:

...... i am assuming you are not a little old lady or a dublin city centre house-husband and put to you that if you spend any amount of time or cover any amount of distance in your car, QUOTE]

you should get this from reading previous post and not from assuming

cantdecide

Ratchet wrote:

cantdecide wrote:

...... i am assuming you are not a little old lady or a dublin city centre house-husband and put to you that if you spend any amount of time or cover any amount of distance in your car, QUOTE]

you should get this from reading previous post and not from assuming

That's sarcasm. welcome;)

TempestSabre

Big cars and big engines are more economical to run, and old 10yr old cars are safer then new ones. Big cars are more fun than small cars. All small cars end up under trucks. Makes perfect sense. Must tell my mate to ditch that tricked out mini hes driving, he'd have more fun in a 7L automatic Merc, and save some money in the process.

colm_mcm

this is fun!

cantdecide

TempestSabre wrote:

Big cars and big engines are more economical to run, and old 10yr old cars are safer then new ones. Big cars are more fun than small cars. All small cars end up under trucks. Makes perfect sense. Must tell my mate to ditch that tricked out mini hes driving, he'd have more fun in a 7L automatic Merc, and save some money in the process.

your mixing my metaphors but nonetheless, that's right, i'm the foolish one. a micra is a good car and i've been testing you the whole time. it IS a sensible car and you can go back to sleep now because i've conceded it- it is worthwhile to bend over backwards to accomodate your micra. you've all passed the test and you're all very clever


(ps A tricked out mini is a cool car. not very sensible, but cool. tell your mate to keep his act together and he can eventually have a micra too)

TempestSabre

Mixing metaphors how so? I think its brilliant idea. If I buy something thats dearer to insure, tax, fuel, repair, and buy, then its actually cheaper. Ditto older safety features are much safer then new ones.

In certain contexts some of what you said made sense. Unfortunately you've never stated the context, so as a sweeping generalisation its nonsense.

cantdecide

read back TS. i haven't spoken about economy as much as VALUE. ignore all the BM7s, the lexus GS, the E classes. superb cars, RELATIVELY cheap. micra RELATIVELY expensive and also impractical.

the RELATIVE VALUE of a micra versus eg a corolla 1.4 or a primera 1.6 blows away difference in running costs. not in cost. in VALUE.
you are tending to stumble over this.


you WILL save a little money overall compared to a corolla for the same price (maybe one or two years older) but only by slashing the amount of VALUE per Euro. are you also maintaining that a micra is a safer and more reliable car than a corolla?

all the semantics in the world won't detract fom my point that IN GENERAL, a micra is a bad idea for most people. there are exceptions.

i'm not suggesting we all run off and buy knackered old M3s;)

colm_mcm

relative value is a load of a**e. you just have a major hang-up about superminis

cantdecide

as a car lover, i'm entitled to have a hangup about crap cars and the people who put them on the roads.


why are you so determined to defend them? you've said yourself you prefer bigger cars, but you choose to insult me instead??? what's your hangup?

colm_mcm

I've sold lots of small cars to very satisfied customers. I have enough respect for these people to realise that they're not idiots and have put some thought into their purchase. most of these people have come to the correct conclusion that a small car is right for their needs.

You seem to think that drivers of small cars do so because of some in-built inferiority. As has been previously stated before small cars make huge economic sense, they are also better for the environment.

I like your theory that small car = crap car.

TempestSabre

Of course its better value to spend more money than you need to, or want. You always need to carry two sets of clubs.

Depends on the corolla. If its a €100 '91 Corolla and a 06 Micra then I guess the Corolla since its "bigger".

unkel

@cantdecide - perhaps you should start a thread about what you drive. Other people who drive older but bigger engined cars like myself might join in

For now, the OP has been clear since his original post that he is going to procure a Micra. Give it a break...

cantdecide

colm_mcm wrote:

I've sold lots of small cars to very satisfied customers. I have enough respect for these people to realise that they're not idiots and have put some thought into their purchase. most of these people have come to the correct conclusion that a small car is right for their needs.

You seem to think that drivers of small cars do so because of some in-built inferiority. As has been previously stated before small cars make huge economic sense, they are also better for the environment.

I like your theory that small car = crap car.

they make MINOR economic sense. my whole point is that people who buy these cars have a faulty logic box and would buy anything they thought was cheaper. i can't respect that. only at the level of the most hard up does it make sense to drive the MOST economic car. everyone else should buy one that suits their habits and DRIVING CONDITIONS. micras usually don't do this.

cantdecide

unkel wrote:

@cantdecide - perhaps you should start a thread about what you drive. Other people who drive older but bigger engined cars like myself might join in

For now, the OP has been clear since his original post that he is going to procure a Micra. Give it a break...

i may not have started this one but it has definitely become cantdecides "i hate micras" rant thread. even the title "micra buyer's guide" is enough to make the car fanatic puke.

colm_mcm

cantdecide wrote:

they make MINOR economic sense. my whole point is that people who buy these cars have a faulty logic box and would buy anything they thought was cheaper. .

If that were true, then they'd all be driving 10 year old cars?

cantdecide

age is not an issue to a good quality car. a micra is an expensive disposable appliance, designed for the non-discerning motorist to perceive as shrewd. lambs to the slaughter.

colm_mcm

But Micras are very well built and regularly outlast other superminis, and indeed much larger cars

TempestSabre

cantdecide wrote:

age is not an issue to a good quality car. a micra is an expensive disposable appliance, designed for the non-discerning motorist to perceive as shrewd. lambs to the slaughter.

True a 60's car would be just as safe. Obviously every one needs a Lotus Elise to go to the creche and pick up 2 kids and the bread and milk.

Stephenm

I have a 1l '94 micra 80,000miles. For the last year it had been cutting out at traffic lights and it got worse to the stage where it was cutting out every few minutes (especially under accelleration). The problem was the Throttle Body. Expensive to replace. I found the solution on this website:#http://www.micra.com.au/technical-articles/cg13de-throttle-body-resoldering-guide.php
took 30mins to do (and I'm not used to fixing anything on a car) and the car is now perfect, I'm getting much better fuel economy now too. Thought I'd post it here as apparently it's a common problem.


Anyone know the rap/song "Micra" by a Dublin group "The Spoilers"?