I had one exactly the same. Same age, same spec, same colour, same problem! Turned out to be the mass airflow meter. The CVT being so smooth masked the problem, and can give the impression that it is a transmission problem, but it's not. It's the engine missing and running poorly that is holding it back.
Ive just bought a k11 with 16k on the clock and its like new. At a junction if you put sport mode on and pull out then switch it off it falls into normal mode . And it works to get you off the line. Its a 2002 and its only ever fauled its mot twice in its life. Once for a wuper and once for headlight adjustment. I love it and its a cracking little car. 😅
I bought one of the these (Micra) for my aunt about ten years ago when she was in her late 70's. She just couldn't understand why it "wouldn't change gear". She wrote it off after two weeks, losing control in a petrol station, writing off both it and the Mini in front. We managed to make her give up driving, thank goodness. Shame it was a lovely car!
Have a Jazz with a CVT. Driving at 100 kmh or 60 mph, engine revs sit below 2000 rpm. At 60 kph / 35 mph, revs sit just above 1000 rpm. Engine rarely goes above 2000 rpm. Even when taking off quickly to fit into traffic, the CVT allows the torque to do most of the work. 👍
Yeah my wife has a 2006 1.3 Fit which is pretty much the same spec as the Jazz in the UK. Feels very effortless for city driving considering the engine size. Only feels strained at WOT. I have a 2006 1.5L Sport which the UK didn't get. Its not fast but doesn't embarrass itself. Is only a second slower to 100kph than an auto Accord Euro or base DC5 Integra.
I had two K11s in the 90’s and my mother had 3. They were bulletproof cars. My first Micra bought in 1996 was a black 1.3 Super S - ref. L940KNT from Shrewsbury and with a Shropshire number plate.
6:35: a friend in holland was working on the development of the steel-link belts you mention. i was told that unlike conventional belts - which 'pull' - the metal belts work in a pusher configuration. he showed me one of the belts - it was a splendid-looking piece of engineering..................
Yes had one of those in CVT form, the later ones do have a torque converter but interestingly I think the 1st gen cvt k11 had an electronicly controlled clutch. A CVT fluid change may help as I think it was designed to become "sticky" when under perssue between the belt and pully. Oh and the Daf CVT primary pully width was done with vacuum controlled by centrifugal weights and the secondary pully was sprung, the later volvo's featured an electronic vacuum contol unit so they held a higher gear for longer helping with fuel economy ... Thanks for the Video brought back many happy memorys of driving CVT volvo's 340's and "the bubble"...
You probably need to find a scrapped one at the wreckers and swap the transmission out. Unless you're a CVT specialist and want to try rebuilding it. But as Ian says, as is it's a good city car as long as you don't expect any more than that from it.
I have a 1 litre k11 dizzy with a CVT. The best city car ever. Relaxing to drive even in heavy traffic, good mpg. Cheapto own and run, and I don't care if someone hits the door in the supermarket car park, specially since it has a home made rattle can camo "paintwork". Looks cool, and it's stress free...
channel gets better every day🙏.love bob the caravan and all and seeing grumpy titch and miss hubnut ..Chops garage too is another i subscribe to .You are all genuinely nice honest people .
I also just remembered something that I had read and I found weird, that the Opel (probably Vauxhall too) Astra from 2019 to 2021 was available with a CVT gearbox, with a 1.4 Turbo engine and 145 horse power
I bought my ex one as she liked the look of it. It was the 1. 3 YRV F speed with auto or gears on steering wheel not turbo. It was a nippy fun to drive biscuit tin. She had it 9 or 10 yrs. The gearbox would some times clunk into action with a bang jolt motion from standing start but it was a good little car. When the whole exhaust and manifold needed replacing, we sold it on as it would have cost more than the cars worth to do.
Toyota have a CVT in the Corolla. They have added a "launch gear" in the K120 CVT to take the strain off the belt at takeoff, and reduce the variability of the pulleys. My sister and my sister in law both have CVT Subarus and love them.
The 1.0 engines in these micras were good for 150k miles without a problem. Very tough reliable and economical cars. Could park anywhere. Manufacturers take note this is what the poor public want in a car. The cats need flooring not tickling
I seem to recall the rear wipers all used to park in the 10-11 o'clock position, but it was a popular modification to remove the arm and adjust it so it parked at the bottom as most of us would expect.
I've never driven the CVT version of the K11 but I remember the motoring press raving about it at the time. I'm a huge fan of a K11 and looking forward to seeing what Chops does with it. For simple, Go Kartyness and ease of driving - and being British built- it almost seems like the real successor to the Metro
Great to see the collaboration with “Chops” continuing, and this Micro is definitely getting her 15 minutes of fame - really looking forward to the next instalment on the YRV, and very tempted to place an offer ! Keep ‘em comin’ JCHK
Interesting Nissan were big on CVTs, because now they seem strong on series hybrids, which gives you a similar disconnect between car speed and engine revs, with the added benefits (especially in the city) of regenerative braking, one-pedal driving, and Audi-taming torque from a standing start.
Here in Canada CVT transmission Prius are used as cabs and are driven for 600,000 miles with no issues. Toyota Corollas driven as cabs with a CVT achieve 300,000 miles with no issues. Design and maintenance count. Nissan has a less stirling reputation, but I had Juke with 50,000 km and CVT no issues.
I'm a big fan of CVTs and have also driven a Micra 1ltr with said transmission. Was lovely to drive if only for the slight hesitation of the automated clutch (not torque converter). Thank you Ian for test driving this car on your channel - I look forward to your next ones! 👍🚙
I had a 5 door manual that same colour and similar year , for £200 and ran it for a year , great car and would have another , pulled over by the police in it as the previous owner had stopped driving and surrendered his licence , it flagged up on the police wotsit as I myself had had the car just a week , somebody that knew the car thought the timing belt had stretched causing running issues , but it was the metal fuel pipe to the tank which had rotted and the rusty bits contaminated tank , lines and filters , sorted that and ran like a champ .
Gotta love a micra, but def not an auto. Can't wait for the YRV Turbo drive!.. Had the manual standard 1.3, was a blast to drive. So few of them around now.
That's clearly got an ailing gearbox or engine issues. So it's not exactly representative. I've driven the 1.0 & whilst not a quick car it's adequate. The 1.3 CVT (which I owned for many years) was an absolute hoot & surprisingly quick. Some contemporary road tests showed it to be quicker than the manual version.. The earlier CVT K11's 1.0 & 1.3 had no creep function in the gearbox. Creep function along with the sport button was added later for the K11's final facelift when the 1.4 also replaced the 1.3 engine. A CVT K11 with a healthy gearbox is an excellent car.
I live a good K11 Micra. I've owned alot of cars in my 'car life' and my K11 was probably one of the best! Mine was manual 1.0 base model. Didn't even have a 12v power socket lol.
Love a K11 Micra but then I am biased as I have owned two in the past (both manuals) and after watching this review I may be wanting another one!? Excellent review as always.
There is a big difference between the 1.0 and 1.3 or later 1.4 and these cvts had to be correctly maintained which a lot of people overlooked. But this one wasn’t working correct probably needed a service. If memory serves every 25/30000miles or 4 years and must use cvt transmission oil not atf
I've obviously got too much time on my hands as I just spent the last half hour figuring out your route around Barnstaple. Interesting how you don't notice the edits when you don't know the area but, when you do, you notice suddenly skipping two roundabouts forward between comments. Sad, I know but it kept me off the streets for half an hour!
Learned to drive in a K11 face-lift model, obviously with a manual trans. Don't remember much about it as I was usualky trying not to sh1t myself in the wrong gear at roundabouts 💩 There's a curry house near me that still uses a couple of old Micras as delivery vehicles because they're so basic and reliable: four wheels, two doors and an engine, what else do you need to whizz around town delivering food? Also that patinated chalky blue is lovely and reminds me of a couple of old Volvos I know 😊
The mileage discrepancy could be similar to what happened to me a few years ago. The MOT station entered the incorrect mileage by about 150k so now on a check mine shows a suspicious error. Needless to say I have never used them again. Nice video, I like the look of the Daihatsu.
I don't know how true it is, but my MOT station at MOT time always say (after the test) check the mileage on the certificate because if it's within a short time they can amend it, otherwise once it's been on the system for a while you cannot change it. I cannot recall what the time is, though. Ah, just seen the other comment.
@@SuperFIFTHGEAR Surely the best time to bring it to their attention is whilst still at the MOT center. There can be no arguments then. Many are so chuffed that it has passed they don't look closely at the paperwork and just drive off, not noticing until next year.
We had one for 10 years and very good car the gearbox works fantastic you don’t lose any power or MPG on the CVT Unlike ordinary automatic gearboxes, it should have decent power
I never got used to the k11 shape at the time. I had a k10 for a while, in the early 90s and loved it . I see now the k11 has its charm . Like all the cars in their day look radical then later become icons. Great video from you both . Fun to see you visit other you tubers . So many cars and bikes I wish I had now! But we all wish we'd kept them . Peace and love brother ✌️ 💛
Interesting test drive, I had a 2001 Micra 1,0 like this, but with manual transmission. Mine was silver, and Finnish spec, so had a LHD dash and heated driver's seat :) Oh and the rear window wiper was indeed at the bottom edge of the rear window when parked :)
I worked at a Subaru dealer when the Justy came out. There were a couple of pizza joints in town that used the CVT ones for delivery vehicles. Strangely, they were the only ones we had trouble with, having to rebuild their transmissions. We found out later that the young drivers were holding down the brake pedals and trying to get them to squeal rubber.
The Micra K11 was a really solid car, as I also wrote in my comment at the roadtest video. But those days one of my mothers friends, also an old lady, owned a CVT -version. She made her license very late, because her husband became very sick and they lived in upper countries. She bought that car with only 16.000 km on the clock. But I can remember very well, that the car had a lot of issues with the CVT-gearbox. One gearbox she had to swap at low km's, I think at only 44.000 km. Later again the new gearbox caused trouble and she was fad up with the car and sold it. I myself I liked the K11 very much, but only manual gearchange. I drove often my sisters Micra and my sister in law's Micra in Belgium. My sisters one was made in Yokohama and the Micra of my sister in law was made in Sunderland, U.K..
Having driven the 1.4l version of this car pretty extensively, I can say that it’s great, at least for city and country driving (it still ain’t no highway cruiser), and definitely worth it over the 1l. Still not the fastest, but it will get out of it’s own way when it needs to. Also pro tip: the sport mode will enhance the engine breaking by letting the engine go to a higher RPM, it doesn’t do much for acceleration tho in my experience
Looking forward to the Daihatsu, my music teacher had one in primary school, and it fascinated me. Such a strange looking car, if memory serves me right, it was a shade of orange. Possibly not as strange as the teacher who had one of those Renault Scenics 4x4s with the big off roader spare wheel on the back. Don't think I ever saw another one of those.
For CVT history, one cannot forget the Hondamatic of the late 70s / early 80s. I drove a 79 Accord and an 82 Civic with this box. There was L for Low, a star for Drive and OD for - you guessed it - Overdrive. If you stuck the box in Star on a reasonable gradient and tried to take off, the car would rev its little heart out but wouldn't move. If you were REALLY lucky (as I wasn't one day) the revs would at least stop it from rolling backward into the car behind you. Putting it in Low helped it get off the mark in these circumstances, but it was marginal. The best idea was to take off on the flat and give any incline a bit of a run-up in order to reach the top. If you hoofed it, you got bulk noise and little movement (as in the Micra) until things spooled up properly. Taking off in L and shifting to Star and OD manually, sort of defeated the purpose of an auto box I thought. I hated the ruddy things with a passion, because it WAS just like driving with a slipping clutch - including the fact that if you put the foot down too suddenly, the bands lost grip and the old cow slowed down instead of speeding up! If you are pulling out of a side street and suddenly need more power to get out the way of a suddenly-appearing lorry, it's a case of the box saying "Sorry mate - I got nothing for you here" and the lorry chucking his anchor out the back to slow down enough to give the high-revving slow moving CVT-driven vehicle time to get out the way. Modern CVT units are marginally better, but get some miles on them and they feel just like a Hondamatic to me. I will never own one.
@@HubNut - Ah....I stand corrected, my friend. Still, I couldn't help making the comparison when I first drove a 2012 Mitsi Outlander. The Lancer of the same era also has one too, but maybe because of the weight difference, it went a bit better than the Outlander. Drove examples of them both recently with them having travelled more than 160,000km and they were more Hondamatic than nippy-zippy, that's for sure!
Another heater unnecessarily on - run away this time!! Only kidding - I know you were dealing with an honest fella this time. Love the K11s - prefer the early ones as I worked at a Nissan dealer when they came out, so personal nostalgia there. That one reminds me very much of the usual Motorbility base 3 door CVT we used to sell many of. 👍🏻
Haha! Yes I went on Trademe on a Friday night and bidded on a Holden Commodore that was 400km away from me. Logged in on Monday morning and the Commodore was mine.
I follow Chops, great channel. I love a traditional automatic but cannot get used to CVTs at all, tried quite a few and they all drive pretty much the same. Super cool car though! Great video Ian
About Nissan still using CVTs, even the current generation Qashqai (since 2021) is available with a CVT, both on the normal "mild hybrid" and on the full hybrid, but of course CVT on hybrids is a very popular way
Here in NZ a huge number of Japanese import cars feature CVT Trans.. I have a Toyota Ractis a 2nd gen Fun Cargo with CVT with a 1500 VVT engine.. its works great but found by using the Sport mode around town it responds more like a normal auto but without the gear steps..some CVTs have the Step electronically built in .. True CVT isnt the best for out n out boots in racing away from the lights but once you know how to drive them they are okay..CVT was designed to improve fuel mileage over a full Auto.
Buy it mate if the price is right 👍 I did comment on his video saying I'd be interested if the price was right...I had one of these last year same everything but the colour and it flew I like the valleys with massive hills and it would pull up and down them without a problem I even hit 100mph 😂 there's definitely something up with this one but it would be a cheap fix either way them micras always are you can buy complete engines for pocket change 🤣I regret selling mine 😂
You catch the same problems with the cvt in cars as what you do in scooters. Say for instance you're going around a corner so you let off the throttle, then there's a slight hill so you open up and it does nothing. But if you brake before you go around the corner the pulleys alter and you've got more power coming out the corner.
Brill, I'm a fan of both channels, I love these cross overs (unlike modern cross over cars, right chaps?). I can't imagine why anyone except a person with physical disabilities would want a CVT Micra, it is such an odd car. I can't tell you how much I respect the manual cooking model, I've had three in my lifetime. Remarkably good cars, definitely okay for motorway as well as the short commute in a city. Quite right Ian, there is NO reason why you should buy this car, it is incredibly niche. Entertaining vid though, looking forward to the Daihatsu!
The A377 was my favourite 1st light, Midsummer Sunday, 2 lane blacktop, "just popping out for a blat dear" road! A bit like the A303 used to be like before all the bypasses ruined it! New buildings (nothing younger than half a century I think) Black Dog (...and the Black Dog Inn with those two wooden chairs either side of the fire. The biggest chair for the oldest guy in the village, the slightly smaller chair for the next youngest. Gorgeous pub! Used that road a lot doing Brixham to Barnstaple and back pretty often. I remember a birthday bash in King's Nympton. You couldn't get near the pub for bikes, coaches kitted out for living in, vans, cars, more bikes... Parked on the outskirts & walked in. The Angels & various affiliated clubs had drunk the place dry of beer & they'd started on the Creme de Menthe with twee little umbrellas! Quite the sight! The Landlord had said "We're not licenced for music but an acoustic guitar to sing Happy Birthday shouldn't be a problem." Half of Hawkwind turned up, set up & went for it! That was one helluva night! Back to a huge untouched farmhouse out Umberleigh way I think... One of the best after parties I've ever been too!
I think you might like the Toyota hybrids, they call it "e-CVT" though it's a planetary gearset with no cones or belts. Generally reliable and adequately responsive.
Both Nissan and Toyota continue to fit CVT as well as Subaru. The current Qashqai automatic is a CVT as are all auto Honda Civics and current model CR-V. Nissan use a CVT made by Jatco which has had an appalling reliability reputation in recent years but which is quite good while it does work as it should.
My Honda jazz (Honda Fit) has CVT - 2019 but it’s also more powerful, with a small VETEC engine, sport mode and 7 simulated gears (paddle shift). It’s a lot more refined and quicker than that micra. And yes mine has a sort of torque converter-drive always at the wheels. Doesn’t disengage like VW DSG. …important to remember that micra toward the end of its life had CVT only on special order with the poverty 1.0 engine. Most therefore later were coupled to the 1.3 + 1.4.
My 2020 John Deere 6175R has IVT (their name for CVT). Coupled to a 6.8 litre 6cyl diesel, it's great. Once you get used to CVT, it's so simple, it makes you wonder why there's any other sort of transmission...I think!
I've owned a Daf 33 and a Mk 2 Micra with CVT. Both worked brilliantly. Both were very cheap to run. My current second EV though, is even smoother and a darn sight quieter than the air cooled twin cylinder Daf! I've had sensible cars too.
Interesting you say the Primera is horribly uncomfortable - I test drove one back in 1996, and came to the same conclusion. I even asked the salesman in the car with me if they were all that bad, I thought the suspension may be knackered. They gave me a Micra to play with too, but I ended up getting a Xantia - much more my style :).
The Ford Fiesta CVT would not reverse up reasonably steep hills. Other than that, no gear changes and surprisingly smooth! As long as you didn’t want to reverse up a hill they are fine.
I had one back in 2001 on a w reg i think as a courtesy car when someone reversed into side of my bran new saxo at the time, it was the 1L tempest manual gearbox, for a small car it felt roomy and very comfortable, a lot more than the saxo, it felt higher up, but i found motorway slip roads a bit of a task, especially up hill, it was a bit slow getting to motorway speeds trying join into traffic i must admit, but my saxo was the 1.6 vtr model probably why the micra felt so sluggish to me, but id have one today if i could find a nice example in 1.3 form, once again Ian, great video, keep them coming always enjoy your content
I loved it. " Let's clarify, I thought that you were here to buy one of these cars. No one comes to Chops Garage and doesn't buy a car. " This sounds like something that I would have heard back when I first bought cars...back in those dim, dark, 70s.
An interesting car. A look at some of the Micra history shows that in 2000 they did a second "facelift" on the cars. It was mostly minor things like coil packs but it also had a rear wiper that rested horizontally instead of vertically with the rear third brake light sitting at the top of the window instead of the bottom of the rear window so that car has the wiper rest position correct. I think on paper Nissan CVTs are pretty nice but in practice, Nissan had a lot of issues with them (at least the ones in the USA (especially the Altima) when they worked it was one of the smoothest transmissions out there, when it did not work right it was painful for the driving and the wallet. As for it being silly to have a bottle holder in the door that go in the way of the window roll down crank, I had this with my 2011 Chevy Colorado pickup truck. It had manual windows and a place in the door designated for water or soda bottles but when a normal sized bottle was in the door, you could not roll the window down or up....
This is a second facelift car, so the wiper should be horizontal. I suspect the motor failed at some point and an earlier one was sourced from a scrappy.
Thanks but it isn't. First and second facelift had an erect rear wiper, but the last facelift didn't, and used a curved wiper arm. Not that I'm obsessed or anything...
Funny how there is the NATS sticker on the door window. The so called anti theft system whereas it doesn’t have central locking. Or what does it refer to? To the code on the head unit in case of theft thereof? I remember being fascinated by those stickers when I was a kid. I liked the logo.
I always thought those must be the perfect city car. Really all you need to go from A to B, it's a real shame that simple cars like this have effectively been banned as new cars due to modern emission and fuel consumption rules. Because these cars lasted so well they must be one of the greenest of all time.
If we had simple cars that met emissions we would be lucky to have 20hp and who is buying a car with 20hp. Even the 1litre i-10 was over 100 co2 and they were slow. And very small.
@@chrishart8548 but the real world emmissons of one of these will probably beat any modern car. Particularly once a few components have been bypassed. The problem with modern cars is they burn hot to get the fuel consumption down. This means that only the slightest thing needs to go wrong and the emmissons go through the roof.
I had one exactly the same. Same age, same spec, same colour, same problem! Turned out to be the mass airflow meter. The CVT being so smooth masked the problem, and can give the impression that it is a transmission problem, but it's not. It's the engine missing and running poorly that is holding it back.
Two of my favourite RUclipsrs combined into one video! Great stuff.
Two of my favourite RUclipsrs together - what could be better?!
Ditto. Luv 'em both.
Thanks guys
I think this should be an on going thing. Maybe you could swap some cars.
Ive just bought a k11 with 16k on the clock and its like new. At a junction if you put sport mode on and pull out then switch it off it falls into normal mode . And it works to get you off the line. Its a 2002 and its only ever fauled its mot twice in its life. Once for a wuper and once for headlight adjustment. I love it and its a cracking little car. 😅
I bought one of the these (Micra) for my aunt about ten years ago when she was in her late 70's. She just couldn't understand why it "wouldn't change gear". She wrote it off after two weeks, losing control in a petrol station, writing off both it and the Mini in front. We managed to make her give up driving, thank goodness. Shame it was a lovely car!
Have a Jazz with a CVT. Driving at 100 kmh or 60 mph, engine revs sit below 2000 rpm. At 60 kph / 35 mph, revs sit just above 1000 rpm. Engine rarely goes above 2000 rpm. Even when taking off quickly to fit into traffic, the CVT allows the torque to do most of the work. 👍
Yeah my wife has a 2006 1.3 Fit which is pretty much the same spec as the Jazz in the UK. Feels very effortless for city driving considering the engine size. Only feels strained at WOT.
I have a 2006 1.5L Sport which the UK didn't get. Its not fast but doesn't embarrass itself. Is only a second slower to 100kph than an auto Accord Euro or base DC5 Integra.
Chops 'n' Hub. This could run and run.
Audi used CVT "Multitronic" on A4s and A6s until 2014. I remember driving my mother-in-law's Daf back in the 70s.
I had two K11s in the 90’s and my mother had 3. They were bulletproof cars. My first Micra bought in 1996 was a black 1.3 Super S - ref. L940KNT from Shrewsbury and with a Shropshire number plate.
The cvt in these is "double sided" Low side and high side, besides that it should act as regular unmodified cvt.
6:35: a friend in holland was working on the development of the steel-link belts you mention. i was told that unlike conventional belts - which 'pull' - the metal belts work in a pusher configuration. he showed me one of the belts - it was a splendid-looking piece of engineering..................
I had a K11 on hire once about 20 years ago in the Isle of Man. It was lovely.
Yes had one of those in CVT form, the later ones do have a torque converter but interestingly I think the 1st gen cvt k11 had an electronicly controlled clutch. A CVT fluid change may help as I think it was designed to become "sticky" when under perssue between the belt and pully. Oh and the Daf CVT primary pully width was done with vacuum controlled by centrifugal weights and the secondary pully was sprung, the later volvo's featured an electronic vacuum contol unit so they held a higher gear for longer helping with fuel economy ... Thanks for the Video brought back many happy memorys of driving CVT volvo's 340's and "the bubble"...
My wife has a 1.5 CVT Cube and it's absolutely superb. I can't fault the decisions the transmission makes. It's always in the right ratio 👍🏻
Yes because has no gears...lol that what CVT means Continuous Variable Transmission lol
Except is was BCA auctions mate!
So harsh to make your wife drive a cube....
@@VDPEFi 😂
MY two favourite youtubers working together ...excellent
You probably need to find a scrapped one at the wreckers and swap the transmission out. Unless you're a CVT specialist and want to try rebuilding it. But as Ian says, as is it's a good city car as long as you don't expect any more than that from it.
I have a 1 litre k11 dizzy with a CVT. The best city car ever. Relaxing to drive even in heavy traffic, good mpg. Cheapto own and run, and I don't care if someone hits the door in the supermarket car park, specially since it has a home made rattle can camo "paintwork". Looks cool, and it's stress free...
Funny when nothing changes but the noise… 💥😂💥
Love the Nissan CVT. My Qashqai 1.6 Diesel is fantastic, 60- MPG,
channel gets better every day🙏.love bob the caravan and all and seeing grumpy titch and miss hubnut ..Chops garage too is another i subscribe to .You are all genuinely nice honest people .
I also just remembered something that I had read and I found weird,
that the Opel (probably Vauxhall too) Astra from 2019 to 2021 was available with a CVT gearbox, with a 1.4 Turbo engine and 145 horse power
I have always liked these Micras and Subscriber to Chops
I bought my ex one as she liked the look of it. It was the 1. 3 YRV F speed with auto or gears on steering wheel not turbo. It was a nippy fun to drive biscuit tin. She had it 9 or 10 yrs. The gearbox would some times clunk into action with a bang jolt motion from standing start but it was a good little car. When the whole exhaust and manifold needed replacing, we sold it on as it would have cost more than the cars worth to do.
Toyota have a CVT in the Corolla. They have added a "launch gear" in the K120 CVT to take the strain off the belt at takeoff, and reduce the variability of the pulleys. My sister and my sister in law both have CVT Subarus and love them.
Do they still insist on simulated gear ratios on the Toyota 🙄
The 1.0 engines in these micras were good for 150k miles without a problem. Very tough reliable and economical cars. Could park anywhere. Manufacturers take note this is what the poor public want in a car. The cats need flooring not tickling
How ironic you uploaded a video of a K11 on the day of grans passing, and you've uploaded this on the day of her funeral. It's a sign!
Drove a Yaris I think with a CVT god lord the noise it made when put foot down was biblical lol
I seem to recall the rear wipers all used to park in the 10-11 o'clock position, but it was a popular modification to remove the arm and adjust it so it parked at the bottom as most of us would expect.
Very popular mod on the MK2 Golf.
I've never driven the CVT version of the K11 but I remember the motoring press raving about it at the time. I'm a huge fan of a K11 and looking forward to seeing what Chops does with it. For simple, Go Kartyness and ease of driving - and being British built- it almost seems like the real successor to the Metro
I had a couple of manual facelift Nissan Micra k11 absolutely loved them one of the best first car 👍
Great to see the collaboration with “Chops” continuing, and this Micro is definitely getting her 15 minutes of fame - really looking forward to the next instalment on the YRV, and very tempted to place an offer !
Keep ‘em comin’
JCHK
Interesting Nissan were big on CVTs, because now they seem strong on series hybrids, which gives you a similar disconnect between car speed and engine revs, with the added benefits (especially in the city) of regenerative braking, one-pedal driving, and Audi-taming torque from a standing start.
Here in Canada CVT transmission Prius are used as cabs and are driven for 600,000 miles with no issues. Toyota Corollas driven as cabs with a CVT achieve 300,000 miles with no issues. Design and maintenance count. Nissan has a less stirling reputation, but I had Juke with 50,000 km and CVT no issues.
I had the use of a MK4 Fiesta 1.25 CVT Ghia! It was strangely fun!!
In my late teens and early 20s, mum had the 1.0 and 1.3 auto. I literally drove them on 3 wheels every where!
I'm a big fan of CVTs and have also driven a Micra 1ltr with said transmission. Was lovely to drive if only for the slight hesitation of the automated clutch (not torque converter). Thank you Ian for test driving this car on your channel - I look forward to your next ones! 👍🚙
Have driven several Nissan Altimas in the US which have CVT boxes. They Drive very smoothly.
Been following the journey of this car on Chop's channel and the 'WANT!' for it is strangely large!
What a great bloke
I had a 5 door manual that same colour and similar year , for £200 and ran it for a year , great car and would have another , pulled over by the police in it as the previous owner had stopped driving and surrendered his licence , it flagged up on the police wotsit as I myself had had the car just a week , somebody that knew the car thought the timing belt had stretched causing running issues , but it was the metal fuel pipe to the tank which had rotted and the rusty bits contaminated tank , lines and filters , sorted that and ran like a champ .
The CVT model even when working well would still put put you off one , the Manual version though is 100% better , , really good for the money .
Gotta love a micra, but def not an auto.
Can't wait for the YRV Turbo drive!.. Had the manual standard 1.3, was a blast to drive. So few of them around now.
That's clearly got an ailing gearbox or engine issues. So it's not exactly representative.
I've driven the 1.0 & whilst not a quick car it's adequate. The 1.3 CVT (which I owned for many years) was an absolute hoot & surprisingly quick. Some contemporary road tests showed it to be quicker than the manual version..
The earlier CVT K11's 1.0 & 1.3 had no creep function in the gearbox. Creep function along with the sport button was added later for the K11's final facelift when the 1.4 also replaced the 1.3 engine.
A CVT K11 with a healthy gearbox is an excellent car.
I live a good K11 Micra. I've owned alot of cars in my 'car life' and my K11 was probably one of the best! Mine was manual 1.0 base model. Didn't even have a 12v power socket lol.
Love a K11 Micra but then I am biased as I have owned two in the past (both manuals) and after watching this review I may be wanting another one!? Excellent review as always.
There is a big difference between the 1.0 and 1.3 or later 1.4 and these cvts had to be correctly maintained which a lot of people overlooked.
But this one wasn’t working correct probably needed a service.
If memory serves every 25/30000miles or 4 years and must use cvt transmission oil not atf
Had one of these in grean cvt automatic 2000 Xreg it was always 100% reliable
I've obviously got too much time on my hands as I just spent the last half hour figuring out your route around Barnstaple. Interesting how you don't notice the edits when you don't know the area but, when you do, you notice suddenly skipping two roundabouts forward between comments. Sad, I know but it kept me off the streets for half an hour!
Learned to drive in a K11 face-lift model, obviously with a manual trans. Don't remember much about it as I was usualky trying not to sh1t myself in the wrong gear at roundabouts 💩
There's a curry house near me that still uses a couple of old Micras as delivery vehicles because they're so basic and reliable: four wheels, two doors and an engine, what else do you need to whizz around town delivering food?
Also that patinated chalky blue is lovely and reminds me of a couple of old Volvos I know 😊
11:20 you can hear the mighty micra k11 power!!!!
The mileage discrepancy could be similar to what happened to me a few years ago. The MOT station entered the incorrect mileage by about 150k so now on a check mine shows a suspicious error. Needless to say I have never used them again. Nice video, I like the look of the Daihatsu.
As a quick FYI to anyone reading it is possible to have a mileage error made at an MOT corrected for a short while after the test.
I don't know how true it is, but my MOT station at MOT time always say (after the test) check the mileage on the certificate because if it's within a short time they can amend it, otherwise once it's been on the system for a while you cannot change it. I cannot recall what the time is, though.
Ah, just seen the other comment.
I'll hazard a guess that this Micra's had a speedo change.
@@SuperFIFTHGEAR Surely the best time to bring it to their attention is whilst still at the MOT center. There can be no arguments then. Many are so chuffed that it has passed they don't look closely at the paperwork and just drive off, not noticing until next year.
The best unexpected cross over, been following Chops' Micra capers
We had one for 10 years and very good car the gearbox works fantastic you don’t lose any power or MPG on the CVT Unlike ordinary automatic gearboxes, it should have decent power
Well done Ian for using your head over your heart in this occasion. Walk away and don't look back
Qashqais had CVT. I got CVT fluid changed after 5 years in my wife’s. No problems so far.
I loved the cvt box on my MGF Steptronic especially in 6-speed push button gear change mode which was fantastic on country lane drives
I think the Sports mode is basically Overdrive off. On the newer Nissans in North America it just says O/D off (Overdrive off)
another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍
I never got used to the k11 shape at the time. I had a k10 for a while, in the early 90s and loved it . I see now the k11 has its charm . Like all the cars in their day look radical then later become icons.
Great video from you both . Fun to see you visit other you tubers . So many cars and bikes I wish I had now! But we all wish we'd kept them .
Peace and love brother ✌️ 💛
Had a couple of CVT motors a Y10 selectornic but the best was the Rover Metro 1.4 SLX best traffic light grand Prix car I've had
Interesting test drive, I had a 2001 Micra 1,0 like this, but with manual transmission. Mine was silver, and Finnish spec, so had a LHD dash and heated driver's seat :) Oh and the rear window wiper was indeed at the bottom edge of the rear window when parked :)
I worked at a Subaru dealer when the Justy came out. There were a couple of pizza joints in town that used the CVT ones for delivery vehicles. Strangely, they were the only ones we had trouble with, having to rebuild their transmissions. We found out later that the young drivers were holding down the brake pedals and trying to get them to squeal rubber.
The Micra K11 was a really solid car, as I also wrote in my comment at the roadtest video. But those days one of my mothers friends, also an old lady, owned a CVT -version. She made her license very late, because her husband became very sick and they lived in upper countries. She bought that car with only 16.000 km on the clock. But I can remember very well, that the car had a lot of issues with the CVT-gearbox. One gearbox she had to swap at low km's, I think at only 44.000 km. Later again the new gearbox caused trouble and she was fad up with the car and sold it. I myself I liked the K11 very much, but only manual gearchange. I drove often my sisters Micra and my sister in law's Micra in Belgium. My sisters one was made in Yokohama and the Micra of my sister in law was made in Sunderland, U.K..
Evocative of an old DAF my uncle used to have. Very counter intuitive when you're speeding up but the revs are decreasing gradually.
Having driven the 1.4l version of this car pretty extensively, I can say that it’s great, at least for city and country driving (it still ain’t no highway cruiser), and definitely worth it over the 1l. Still not the fastest, but it will get out of it’s own way when it needs to.
Also pro tip: the sport mode will enhance the engine breaking by letting the engine go to a higher RPM, it doesn’t do much for acceleration tho in my experience
The heater controls are the same, just encased in silvery plastic.
Looking forward to the Daihatsu, my music teacher had one in primary school, and it fascinated me. Such a strange looking car, if memory serves me right, it was a shade of orange. Possibly not as strange as the teacher who had one of those Renault Scenics 4x4s with the big off roader spare wheel on the back. Don't think I ever saw another one of those.
i loved my micra had 2 of them one blue 1999 inspration but diffrent shade older and a red one 2000 plate SE. they where great
I had a 1994 Micra CVT, it was really nippy and quite fun to drive around town.
For CVT history, one cannot forget the Hondamatic of the late 70s / early 80s. I drove a 79 Accord and an 82 Civic with this box. There was L for Low, a star for Drive and OD for - you guessed it - Overdrive. If you stuck the box in Star on a reasonable gradient and tried to take off, the car would rev its little heart out but wouldn't move. If you were REALLY lucky (as I wasn't one day) the revs would at least stop it from rolling backward into the car behind you. Putting it in Low helped it get off the mark in these circumstances, but it was marginal. The best idea was to take off on the flat and give any incline a bit of a run-up in order to reach the top. If you hoofed it, you got bulk noise and little movement (as in the Micra) until things spooled up properly. Taking off in L and shifting to Star and OD manually, sort of defeated the purpose of an auto box I thought. I hated the ruddy things with a passion, because it WAS just like driving with a slipping clutch - including the fact that if you put the foot down too suddenly, the bands lost grip and the old cow slowed down instead of speeding up! If you are pulling out of a side street and suddenly need more power to get out the way of a suddenly-appearing lorry, it's a case of the box saying "Sorry mate - I got nothing for you here" and the lorry chucking his anchor out the back to slow down enough to give the high-revving slow moving CVT-driven vehicle time to get out the way. Modern CVT units are marginally better, but get some miles on them and they feel just like a Hondamatic to me. I will never own one.
The Hondamatic was not a CVT. It was an epicyclic oddity that was typical Honda - unlike anything else.
@@HubNut - Ah....I stand corrected, my friend. Still, I couldn't help making the comparison when I first drove a 2012 Mitsi Outlander. The Lancer of the same era also has one too, but maybe because of the weight difference, it went a bit better than the Outlander. Drove examples of them both recently with them having travelled more than 160,000km and they were more Hondamatic than nippy-zippy, that's for sure!
get the yrv turbo, that thing is so so so cool!
Another heater unnecessarily on - run away this time!! Only kidding - I know you were dealing with an honest fella this time. Love the K11s - prefer the early ones as I worked at a Nissan dealer when they came out, so personal nostalgia there. That one reminds me very much of the usual Motorbility base 3 door CVT we used to sell many of. 👍🏻
Haha! Yes I went on Trademe on a Friday night and bidded on a Holden Commodore that was 400km away from me.
Logged in on Monday morning and the Commodore was mine.
I follow Chops, great channel. I love a traditional automatic but cannot get used to CVTs at all, tried quite a few and they all drive pretty much the same. Super cool car though! Great video Ian
About Nissan still using CVTs, even the current generation Qashqai (since 2021) is available with a CVT, both on the normal "mild hybrid" and on the full hybrid, but of course CVT on hybrids is a very popular way
Here in NZ a huge number of Japanese import cars feature CVT Trans.. I have a Toyota Ractis a 2nd gen Fun Cargo with CVT with a 1500 VVT engine.. its works great but found by using the Sport mode around town it responds more like a normal auto but without the gear steps..some CVTs have the Step electronically built in .. True CVT isnt the best for out n out boots in racing away from the lights but once you know how to drive them they are okay..CVT was designed to improve fuel mileage over a full Auto.
Buy it mate if the price is right 👍 I did comment on his video saying I'd be interested if the price was right...I had one of these last year same everything but the colour and it flew I like the valleys with massive hills and it would pull up and down them without a problem I even hit 100mph 😂 there's definitely something up with this one but it would be a cheap fix either way them micras always are you can buy complete engines for pocket change 🤣I regret selling mine 😂
Like my 400 burgy, seamless pull, love it, great vid. thanks.
You catch the same problems with the cvt in cars as what you do in scooters. Say for instance you're going around a corner so you let off the throttle, then there's a slight hill so you open up and it does nothing. But if you brake before you go around the corner the pulleys alter and you've got more power coming out the corner.
Brill, I'm a fan of both channels, I love these cross overs (unlike modern cross over cars, right chaps?). I can't imagine why anyone except a person with physical disabilities would want a CVT Micra, it is such an odd car. I can't tell you how much I respect the manual cooking model, I've had three in my lifetime. Remarkably good cars, definitely okay for motorway as well as the short commute in a city. Quite right Ian, there is NO reason why you should buy this car, it is incredibly niche. Entertaining vid though, looking forward to the Daihatsu!
Williams F1 also tested the CVT on an F1 car, this car is in the DAF museum in Eindhoven.
I thought I recognised that road, it’s just across from the Norboard factory at Hill village, go past there at least once a week in my lorry
Always fancied one of those yrv’s especially the turbo ✌️
"There's a VW Transporter at the head of this queue" - yep, you must be on the A377.
The A377 was my favourite 1st light, Midsummer Sunday, 2 lane blacktop, "just popping out for a blat dear" road!
A bit like the A303 used to be like before all the bypasses ruined it!
New buildings (nothing younger than half a century I think) Black Dog (...and the Black Dog Inn with those two wooden chairs either side of the fire.
The biggest chair for the oldest guy in the village, the slightly smaller chair for the next youngest.
Gorgeous pub!
Used that road a lot doing Brixham to Barnstaple and back pretty often.
I remember a birthday bash in King's Nympton. You couldn't get near the pub for bikes, coaches kitted out for living in, vans, cars, more bikes... Parked on the outskirts & walked in.
The Angels & various affiliated clubs had drunk the place dry of beer & they'd started on the Creme de Menthe with twee little umbrellas! Quite the sight!
The Landlord had said "We're not licenced for music but an acoustic guitar to sing Happy Birthday shouldn't be a problem."
Half of Hawkwind turned up, set up & went for it!
That was one helluva night! Back to a huge untouched farmhouse out Umberleigh way I think...
One of the best after parties I've ever been too!
I think you might like the Toyota hybrids, they call it "e-CVT" though it's a planetary gearset with no cones or belts. Generally reliable and adequately responsive.
That's the only CVT like car I've driven and I very much had no objection to it.
This is the mash up we've all been waiting for
Both Nissan and Toyota continue to fit CVT as well as Subaru. The current Qashqai automatic is a CVT as are all auto Honda Civics and current model CR-V. Nissan use a CVT made by Jatco which has had an appalling reliability reputation in recent years but which is quite good while it does work as it should.
My Honda jazz (Honda Fit) has CVT - 2019
but it’s also more powerful, with a small VETEC engine, sport mode and 7 simulated gears (paddle shift).
It’s a lot more refined and quicker than that micra.
And yes mine has a sort of torque converter-drive always at the wheels. Doesn’t disengage like VW DSG.
…important to remember that micra toward the end of its life had CVT only on special order with the poverty 1.0 engine. Most therefore later were coupled to the 1.3 + 1.4.
It motors along nicely
My 2020 John Deere 6175R has IVT (their name for CVT). Coupled to a 6.8 litre 6cyl diesel, it's great. Once you get used to CVT, it's so simple, it makes you wonder why there's any other sort of transmission...I think!
I've owned a Daf 33 and a Mk 2 Micra with CVT. Both worked brilliantly. Both were very cheap to run. My current second EV though, is even smoother and a darn sight quieter than the air cooled twin cylinder Daf! I've had sensible cars too.
Interesting you say the Primera is horribly uncomfortable - I test drove one back in 1996, and came to the same conclusion. I even asked the salesman in the car with me if they were all that bad, I thought the suspension may be knackered. They gave me a Micra to play with too, but I ended up getting a Xantia - much more my style :).
Had a '96 manual 1L, bleddy brilliant it was
The Ford Fiesta CVT would not reverse up reasonably steep hills. Other than that, no gear changes and surprisingly smooth! As long as you didn’t want to reverse up a hill they are fine.
I had one back in 2001 on a w reg i think as a courtesy car when someone reversed into side of my bran new saxo at the time, it was the 1L tempest manual gearbox, for a small car it felt roomy and very comfortable, a lot more than the saxo, it felt higher up, but i found motorway slip roads a bit of a task, especially up hill, it was a bit slow getting to motorway speeds trying join into traffic i must admit, but my saxo was the 1.6 vtr model probably why the micra felt so sluggish to me, but id have one today if i could find a nice example in 1.3 form, once again Ian, great video, keep them coming always enjoy your content
I loved it. " Let's clarify, I thought that you were here to buy one of these cars. No one comes to Chops Garage and doesn't buy a car. " This sounds like something that I would have heard back when I first bought cars...back in those dim, dark, 70s.
I don't think he was joking.
An interesting car. A look at some of the Micra history shows that in 2000 they did a second "facelift" on the cars. It was mostly minor things like coil packs but it also had a rear wiper that rested horizontally instead of vertically with the rear third brake light sitting at the top of the window instead of the bottom of the rear window so that car has the wiper rest position correct. I think on paper Nissan CVTs are pretty nice but in practice, Nissan had a lot of issues with them (at least the ones in the USA (especially the Altima) when they worked it was one of the smoothest transmissions out there, when it did not work right it was painful for the driving and the wallet. As for it being silly to have a bottle holder in the door that go in the way of the window roll down crank, I had this with my 2011 Chevy Colorado pickup truck. It had manual windows and a place in the door designated for water or soda bottles but when a normal sized bottle was in the door, you could not roll the window down or up....
This is a second facelift car, so the wiper should be horizontal. I suspect the motor failed at some point and an earlier one was sourced from a scrappy.
I loved those Micra's there amazing, Sorry to correct you Ian The Micra rear wiper is Parked in correct position
Thanks but it isn't. First and second facelift had an erect rear wiper, but the last facelift didn't, and used a curved wiper arm. Not that I'm obsessed or anything...
@@HubNut ops sorry your right, thanks Auto Trader, there quite strong money wise
Look but don't touch! 😁
Funny how there is the NATS sticker on the door window. The so called anti theft system whereas it doesn’t have central locking. Or what does it refer to? To the code on the head unit in case of theft thereof?
I remember being fascinated by those stickers when I was a kid. I liked the logo.
I always thought those must be the perfect city car. Really all you need to go from A to B, it's a real shame that simple cars like this have effectively been banned as new cars due to modern emission and fuel consumption rules.
Because these cars lasted so well they must be one of the greenest of all time.
If we had simple cars that met emissions we would be lucky to have 20hp and who is buying a car with 20hp. Even the 1litre i-10 was over 100 co2 and they were slow. And very small.
@@chrishart8548 but the real world emmissons of one of these will probably beat any modern car. Particularly once a few components have been bypassed. The problem with modern cars is they burn hot to get the fuel consumption down. This means that only the slightest thing needs to go wrong and the emmissons go through the roof.