Sometimes, a CC subject can be a bit borderline. I like old cars, but there are two kinds: the really old ones and the late ‘80s / early ‘90s econoboxes that some folks may appreciate nowadays, but are still under the radar for me. I remember those times all too well. And I remember thinking at the time that cars like the Fiat Uno, the Citroën AX or the Seat Ibiza were flimsy and appalling in almost every way. I still think that, but seeing this very well-preserved first generation Micra got me seeing the issue differently.
There is nothing objectively wrong about this Micra. It is an honest, well-built four-door hatchback that likely served many owners very well. The roads of Europe, Japan, Canada and large parts of Asia were crawling with these at one point. Even in France and Germany, which still had a vigorous domestic car industry, Nissan managed to get a slice of the market. But why did these do so well everywhere they went?
Late 1981: Nissan unveils the NX-018, soon to be dubbed “March” in Japan and “Micra” overseas
Because they were the definition of mainstream. When Nissan launched the March (as the Micra was and still is known in Japan) in late 1982, they had softened the blow by giving a preview of the new car one year prior. The message was: “Guys, we’re going FWD and making a Japanese Golf. Let’s beat VW, PSA, Fiat and all the others at their game.”
Forward March: JDM cars came in many flavours, from the base model E (above) to the deluxe FV (below)
Throughout the ‘70s, Japanese carmakers made a lot of sound business decisions. They cracked the American market, dominated a lot of the Asia-Pacific countries and even made a dent in Europe and Africa. But the cars were not really mainstream: they were extremely basic, technically (with notable exceptions such as Honda, Subaru and the Mazda Wankels) and sometimes oddly styled. Japanese automakers had perfected their sales operations, production facilities and marketing strategies, but the products they were peddling were not all that impressive, at least for some people.
Above: pre-’89-facelift Euro-spec Nissan Micra; below: plethoric 1991 Nissan March JDM range
At the time, European automobile journalists and gearheads in general routinely derided Bluebirds, Corollas or Colts for being crude, old-fashioned and underpowered. Which they were. But they were also well put together, dependable and very well equipped. The formula worked somewhat in some European markets – though not as well as in the US, where domestic cars were also old-fashioned and underpowered, so Japanese imports seemed all the more interesting.
Just as Detroit started downsizing its wares and switching to FWD, the Japanese automakers started doing the same. Only this time, new design ideas came from manifestly non-American sources. Does anyone else see the VW Golf in this Nissan? The cabin and rear of the Micra certainly look very second generation Golf-ish, only with a little less personality. Since the March / Micra came out about a year before the new model Golf, perhaps we’re seeing a case of convergent evolution here, but still.
Presentation counts for a lot, and this Micra caught my eye chiefly because looked really clean and well-looked-after – and almost entirely original. The colour differences seen on the grille and the driver’s door indicate that this car has had a few replacement parts put in over the last quarter century. That would have mattered if we were in the presence of a 1949 Cadillac, but in this case, it just looks like what cheap old cars look like.
The interior was spotless, just as the exterior seemed to promise. And entirely original, as far as I could tell. This being an early ‘90s car, the dash and instruments are of the black Lego brick variety – cheap wheels looked very cheap on the inside in those days, but then so did expensive ones. A touch of levity was provided by the black and white gingham seat fabric. Coloured plaid must have been deemed either too passé or too daring…
The Micra fulfilled its intended purpose. In 1993, a second generation was launched, which further improved market penetration in Europe and made Nissan a true household name. As per David Saunders’ first-hand experience with these cars, one could describe the first gen Micra as “good Autoshite” – innocuous 20-plus-year-old economy cars that still litter the landscape by the thousands, but are sufficiently cheap and (usually) durable to warrant consideration for personal transport. I subscribe to this description of the Micra mark one, though this facelifted French version is slightly less appealing to me than the older ones. At least this little red beater looks like it still has a few years of servitude left in it.
Related post:
My Curbside Classic: 1989 Nissan Micra – Good Autoshite, by David Saunders
Micras and Marches are pretty common here but Ive not seen many early editions recently,
I had a 1983 first gen Micra. In our family we were used to Cortinas, Fiestas, Avengers etc, so this was our first concentrated experience of how Japanese do cars – and it was a revelation. It was clearly a budget car, but a new kind of budget. It was surprisingly spacious, it was quiet and it was completely effortless to drive. Light clutch, slick gearchange and what I have come to recognise as a typically refined Japanese engine.
It was a modern engine in a modern car (even though it still had points and a carburetor) and made for very efficient transportation, I very well remember how it felt to have a nice free-revving engine with 5 speeds in a super-light car, especially compared to the very average English products that we were used to.
It had significant lift-off oversteer, which I found out about in the snow one time. Was always a bit more careful after that.
By 1993 it was full of rust. Doors and rear valance were the visible problems, but there were significant structural issues as well. I don’t think many of this era survived in countries where the roads a re salted.
There’s still a few of the early Micras running around here; not common anymore, but not quite rare either. I’d say the five door is almost Peugeot 205/106 without the style. Of course, nowadays they look tiny unless parked by a classic Mini or Spridget.
Oh how I love those Japanese brochure scans. The names! Pumps! Collet! And the stripes on that R are insane! If anybody knows a good site for Japanese brochure scans, let me know.
This is a Nissan we missed out on here in Australia but we got the following generation… which flopped, IIRC, because the UK-Australian exchange rate took a turn (our Micras were sourced from there).
Having worked in marketing for a number of years, I’ve always been fascinated by Japanese-market brochures and advertising, and the abundance of non-Asian models and scenarios.
Notice the wedding party in the first brochure scan (the fifth image); Japanese ads often depict what I imagine is the novelty and emulation of Western culture. But in the US, despite having a much more diverse population than Japan, ads for everyday products often depict models who are “just like us,” in scenarios we could conceivably place ourselves into. Not judging or making a social statement here, but rather intrigued by what works in advertising between these two countries.
Good observation. Makes me wonder what a Japanese agency would come up with for a Western culture!
I haven’t seen one of these for a very long time (see Chaz’s comment) but funnily enough I thought of them yesterday when someone wondered who would have bought a Renault 4 in 1990 and I thought “someone who didn’t want a miserable biscuit tin like a Micra”.
Surely an R4 was a much more pleasant proposition back then, and cheaper too.
R4 vs. Micra
Character vs. anonymous appliance.
“This is a Nissan we missed out on here in Australia but we got the following generation… which flopped, IIRC, because the UK-Australian exchange rate took a turn (our Micras were sourced from there).”
That sure is an interesting twist. RHD cars built in a RHD island country, just not the close one. Could you explain further why that was done?
I would guess because Nissan was weak in Australia (following on from bad product decisions from Japan and poor quality local assembly), and they weren’t sure there was a big enough market for this size Nissan. We already had the Suzuki Swift (and the equivalent Holden Barina) and the Daihatsu Charade, both of which had an excellent reputation and were very successful in this segment. Although smaller companies in Japan, they would be formidable competition for Nissan to overcome in Australia. You would really have to have a good reason to choose an unproven Nissan rather than one of the well-known segment leaders.
As for the mechanics of why cars for Australia came from Britain and not Japan, I’d guess the British plant had production capacity to spare.
I worked for an import services company in Australia and we had the Asia/US style Civic which was Thai built, and the Euro style Civic which came from Swindon, England.
The Focii came from South Africa, except the sporty XR4?5? which was built in Saarlouis, Germany. So could it also be down to availability of the desired spec? Are import duties lower if it’s from the EU?
A late ’80s Micra was the first car I ever drove. My driver training class had a white one. I remember merging onto the highway for the first time in that car. It was scary as hell and the pedal was to the floor. That thing got blown around a lot when passed by a fully loaded semi. It made my mother’s Escort seem like a luxury car.
My friend who took the same class wouldn’t fit in it, so he got to drive the Tercel they had as a backup. I was jealous.
The closest thing we in the U.S. had to this was (I believe) the Dodge Colt, which really was a very worked-over Mitsubishi. I cannot recall whether or not they were good quality machines but they sure looked interesting!
You just made the point I was about to make. The Mitsubishi Mirage/Colt dated to 1978 and was well established by the time the Micra came out in the early 80s. The Mitsu was more of a pioneer (or copied the Golf sooner) but Nissan had a bigger global reach.
We had an 83 Colt (the last year of that 1978-83 generation) in the family and it was an excellent little car in all the ways the Micra probably was.
The closest thing we in the U.S. had to this was (I believe) the Dodge Colt, which really was a very worked-over Mitsubishi.
It wasn’t “very worked over” at all; it was a Mitsubishi Mirage with Dodge badges on it. All Dodge Colts were just badged Mitsubishis.
Probably a little smaller than a Colt.
The Micra design having shades of Golf isn’t a coincidence. Although not officially confirmed by Nissan, the ItalDesign Catalogue Raisonne lets it slip that the Micra was penned by Giugiaro himself (and is rumored to be a rejected Fiat Uno proposal).
Another source says that “the (Micra) bodystyle was originally designed for Fiat as a replacement for the Fiat 127, but Fiat then adopted the Giugiaro styled Uno instead”. Which implies that it wasn’t styled by Giugiaro. But who knows?
Per the text from the book Japanese Showcars, Vol. 3:
“Nissan had an ace up their sleeve in the important B-segment that signaled a pre-production FWD model that would be brought into market in October 1982 under the name of “March”, the export model “Micra”. The body was said to be designed by Giugiaro, with an engineering effort focused on saving weight in the overall construction. The engine block was of aluminum, first seen in Nissan products having no water passages between the cylinders, achieving the unit weight as light as 95kg (when combined with 3AT). Suspention was strut/coil at the front, rigid axle located by 4 links in the rear.“
Every home has appliances. Not every home has an enthusiast. Perhaps that is why boring, generic cars outnumber and outlast all the others.
How well did these sell in Canada? Here in the US we had a mixed offering and acceptance in this size class. The Toyota Starlet didn’t last long, and was of a previous RWD generation. Then the Subaru Justy, the GM/Suzuki Metro and Swift, and the Ford Festiva and Aspire (Kia). Toyota returned, and Mazda came in much later with the Yaris and Mazda 2, and GM and Ford also re-entered with the Spark and Fiesta. I guess the Versa also falls in this class but seems bigger to me. And now Honda has the Fit, though the Civic hatch sort of played in this space anyway, I wonder if the Micra would have done well here.
The Micra has since been re-introduced to the Canadian market since 2014 and they even used Jim Parsons from the Big Bang Theory to promote it.
They sold well. There were lots of this generation of Micra on the road.
They sold well in Canada but have pretty much disappeared from the roads. When I owned mine is was very hard to find parts as they used a mixture of US/Canada parts in place of other unique parts. The ignition system for example is not the same as other markets – Canada did not get the points but used a distributor from the Nissan pickup. It is hard to track that down because they were low volume (compared to US sales), not documented and no enthusiast following.
They were hardly something anyone saw as a classic to be preserved through the years. Kind of like the Firefly: they were flogged until dead, and it really took quite a white for that to happen.
We had a 1984 Micra in Toronto, from new until about 1990 or so – I remember it for being incredibly plasticky inside (including rubber flooring rather than carpets) and for *never* going wrong. Not exciting, but totally reliable.
This car strongly reminds me of the 83 Colt we had in our family. It was Mrs. JPC’s first new car, then sold to her brother in 1988 and then bought by me in 1991.
I have no doubt that the Micra experience would be very much like my Colt experience. Just looking at these pictures make me want to take this Micra for a spin or three so that I can experience that kind of minimalist fun once again. My Honda Fit is surely a more complete car but lacks a certain visceral thrill that I used to get in the cheap little early 80s econobox.
You associating Micras with fun is surely a symptom of how deprived the US has been of good small cars. They were exclusively driven by WW2 veterans (yes, you heard me) and driving instructors.
I may have to start a charity importing Peugeot 205s, Minis, and Fiat Unos, if any have survived the scrappage schemes.
They were exclusively driven by WW2 veterans (yes, you heard me) and driving instructors.
Thank you for your very objective and well researched conclusion. Unfortunately you must have missed my young female cousin in Austria (who was not a driving instructor) in your thorough census of all Micra owners. And come to think of it, I remember one or two others who don’t fit that either. Maybe you missed more than one exception?
Aye, come to think of it a few WW1 veterans drove these too.
I’m guessing Tonito’s speaking only of the UK which has a somewhat unique company-car culture. Japanese cars in general seem to have a fogeyish reputation there, possibly because they weren’t really doing fleet sales and retirees were/are over-represented in the pool of people who buy new cars with their own money.
nlpnt – the company car factor in the UK is often greatly overstated.
I suspect UK oldsters bought/buy Japanese cars because of reliability, and a related perception of respectability. In the 80s they were often slightly more expensive than the Euro equivalent, they had smaller dealer networks, they were unstylish and appliance like so you went out of your way to buy one, and generally you did that while dressed entirely in beige (That’s probably fashionable now, I wouldn’t know)
Japanese cars might have seemed sharp when compared to a malaise era Detroit sedan, but compared to European cars, they were less appealing to the average buyer and way ahead in reliability (but crucially for the UK, not rust protection). My retired engineer great uncle bought a string of Hondas after being blown away by the quality of his first one, which he bought by accident. (It was a Triumph Acclaim)
There. An anecdote involving a relative. If that isn’t sufficient academic rigour then I’m not an academic.
“Guys, we’re going FWD and making a Japanese Golf. Let’s beat VW, PSA, Fiat and all the others at their game.”
Your statement would apply much better to the Nissan Cherry N10, which was on the market by 1978, and was in the Golf class. The Micra was at least one (or more) classes smaller (and cheaper) than the Golf, and didn’t even pretend to compete with it. (image of one in Eugene below)
Except for one critical fact: Nissan had been building Golf-sized FWD Cherrys since 1970!
It would be more accurate to have VW say: “Guys, we’re going FWD and making a German Nissan Cherry. Let’s beat Nissan, Honda and Subaru and all the others at their game.”
This generation of Micra sold well in Canada. They were used as city commuters and did so very well.
We still have the Micra. Whenever I see and old guy ranting how he’d like a $7000 car with no options “to go wrong,” I think of our $9999 Micra and $9999 Spark (in Canadian funds, of course). I have actually seen maybe two of each of the stripper models. Even thrifty Canadians really don’t want cranker windows and no a/c.
And I’m still shocked by the fact that you bought. a VW!
I am, too.
But you know, after many, many years of doing the right thing, the cheapest thing, the best thing for the family…..
I got what I wanted. The Golf is a beautiful car for the money. It simply drives better than anything in its price range.
Nice one. Refreshing!
Saw one up to last week still in good shape, but like the B11 Sunny from the same era, they are getting rare now. I remember three of my teachers at high school coming in with their newly-purchased Marches (as we called them here) when the new school year started in September 1984. In their heyday, they were quite popular, and their main rivals here were the Suzuki Forsa and Daihatsu Charade, both of which were a bit smaller.
We still have a 1999 Micra in use as one of our daily drivers. The only thing that will kill it is rust, and it looks like that takes about 20 years to happen. Great little cars, maybe the best ever made.
What no mention of the mighty Super-Turbo? I haven’t seen one myself, but the MA09ERT engine is pretty unique. The first production twin-charged car engine, I believe. 7.7 0-100 and a 15.5 quarter is pretty impressive for a little car like that!
We saw a few of the MA10T engined turbo models, which imagine probably aren’t too far off on performance.
There were a few K10’s around here in NZ, but I haven’t seen one in a longg, loooong time. Still a few K11’s around, and we’re awash with the K12. K13 doesn’t seem so popular, C11 Tiida seems to have taken it’s place these das as the cheap import of choice.
These things always seemed geriatric to 10-year-old me. The headlamps on the facelift model looked just liked a grandmother’s glassed, and the decidedly unathletic stance didn’t do it any favours either. Add to that the boring grey colour it was usually sold in to – mostly – elderly people, including an older female family friend. Not my favourite car, like most Nissans of the era. Negative association is hard to shed, all objectively positive attributes be damned.
Here in Canada, anyway, many older folks had the Micra. And why not? It was cheap, durable, had good visibility and was easy to park. Perfect grocery getter.
Absolutely, they were a perfectly valid automotive choice. Children aren’t very rational, and even today I still don’t like those Nissans.
Personally, I can see some Giugiaro in the door shapes and glasshouse. Looking at the shots without door mirrors, there is a definite Fiat Uno look to the window and glasshouse, so I can buy the reject Fiat proposal line.
Size wise, the Micra was (and is) a class down from the Golf, being a Polo/Fiesta/Clio competitor.
In the UK, the Micra ownership demographic was relatively elderly and/or not car person, and it would have been outside the company car zone, by size and origin.
I remember taking a tour of the Nissan plant in the Tokyo area (Oppama?) when I was studying Japanese at International Christian University one summer in the 1980s.
That plant produced a lot of Micras and Marches back then. Noticed some RHD ones with the speedometer in MPH. That must have been for the UK market.