If you are considering buying a used Nissan Micra, these are the common problems worth knowing about first. Our garage database tracks 10 known faults for this model, 6 of them rated high severity. Every one below is a repair bill a seller has good reason not to mention.
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Paste the advert and we read it against these 10 known faults, its MOT history and the DVLA record, and tell you what the seller has not. Free, about a minute, no card.
Check a Nissan Micra advert (free) →The Nissan Micra has 10 known faults in our database across 3 generations, 6 of them rated high severity. The most serious are gearbox (nissan acknowledged a higher than usual number of clutch issues with the K13 Micra) and gearbox (the CVT transmission is prone to failure, often at relatively low mileages). None of them makes the car a bad buy on its own; the risk is a seller who knows and says nothing.
That is a count of the faults we hold, not a reliability score. Popular cars get written about more, and a newer generation has had less time to show its faults.
No year is a write-off on its own. What matters is which serious faults a given year and engine can have, and whether the car in front of you has had them fixed.
Each one is set out in full below, with the symptoms, the typical mileage and a rough repair cost.
One owner each, in their own words rewritten as a line, and not counted in our risk scoring. A fault joins the list above once a second report or an editorial source backs it.
One owner each, in their own words rewritten as a line, and not counted in our risk scoring. A fault joins the list above once a second report or an editorial source backs it.
Sellers rarely admit these faults outright
We track 24 specific phrases sellers use in adverts to soft-pedal these exact issues. Paste any Nissan Micra advert and we check it in seconds.
Check an advert now (free) →Recall work is done by the manufacturer, and GOV.UK says you will not usually have to pay for it. These are the 13 DVSA recalls for the Micra, newest first. They do not tell you whether this particular car has had the work: for that, put the registration into the free GOV.UK MOT history check, which shows a recall status where the manufacturer shares it, or ask a franchised dealer to check the VIN.
In certain vehicles should the drivers seat be set in the position where it coincides with a design featurein the upper rail it mayin certain conditions exceed the stress limits of the rail material.
Put right by: Replace the seat slide rails with countermeasure parts.
The masses applied on the VIN label may be incorrect.
Put right by: Replace VIN label with new.
The passenger airbag may develop a tear during deployment.
Put right by: Replace the passenger airbag with new countermeasure parts
The front wheel hub may suffer cracking. Drivers may notice abnormal noise and in extreme cases the hub may fail.
Put right by: On affected vehicles check manufacturing date of the wheel hubs and replace if required.
The ignition switch harness connector of some Nissan Micra (K14 models) equipped with a mechanical key may not be correctly locked in position. As a result the connector may disconnect which in an extreme case could result in engine shut down while driving with no possibility to restart.
Put right by: On affected vehicles inspect wiring harness and where necessary rework the ignition switch retaining latch.
The engine ignition coil may not be to the correct specification. The internal electrical components of the coil may short circuit resulting in an engine misfire. In the worst case this short circuit may cause a fuse inside the Power Distribution Module (IPDM) to fail stopping power to the ignition relay. In this condition the engine may stall and prevent the customer from being able to restart the engine.
Put right by: Recall the vehicles that are likely to be affected and replace the ignition coil with new.
On affected models with a push start ignition switch the switch may remain in the pressed position and not return after switching the engine on. If the vehicle continues to be driven in this condition the emergency engine stop function may operate and cause the engine to unintentionally stop.
Put right by: Inspect and where necessary modify the push start switch housing.
The lower pinion needle bearing may have been omitted during manufacture of the steering gear due to insufficient controls in the suppliers manufacturing process. It is possible the pinion may disengage from the steering gear with loss of steering control.
Put right by: On affected vehicles inspect and where necessary replace rack.
The engine ECM unit may have an error with its software. This could under certain exceptional engine start circumstances result in the ECM setting an incorrect engine throttle valve position. When the engine speed is in excess of 3600 rpm the customer may briefly experience an unexpected acceleration. However the driver can counter this by applying the brakes.
Put right by: Recall all affected vehicles to install new software.
It has been identified that due to the incorrect assembly of the driver airbag inflator. If the vehicle is involved in a collision and the air bag is required to deploy then the gas flow path may have been blocked increasing the internal pressure within the inflator. As a result the driver airbag inflator casing may crack and fragment.
Put right by: Recall all affected vehicle to inspect and where necessary replace driver airbag with a quality assured item.
It is possible that the steering wheel mounting bolt may not have been torqued to the correct specification. In addition this torque setting may deteriorate over time as axial tension on the steering wheel boss can be affected by temperature change. The driver will receive warning of the issue by the excessive play/movement in the steering wheel. However should the driver neglect to take notice of this warning it is possible that the steering wheel could detach and affect direction control of the vehicle.
Put right by: Recall all affected vehicle check the torque and if required re-torque the steering wheel bolt.
The brake master cylinder piston/plunger outer surface is not to specification. This can result in an issue with the internal seals in the cylinder which can cause longer brake pedal travel under light braking. In extreme cases braking efficiency maybe affected.
Put right by: Recall all affected vehicles and replace the brake master cylinder.
Nissan has identified that the fuel rail pressure sensor of some vehicles may have not been correctly tightened to the fuel rail of the engine and may loosen gradually due to heat and vibration of the engine. If left undetected and the vehicle continues to be driven in this condition in extreme cases fuel leakage may occur.
Put right by: Re-tighten the pressure sensor and replace the pressure sensor gasket if required.
Recall data published by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency under the Open Government Licence v3.0. A recall listed here may not apply to every car of this model: the build dates and the registration check are what decide it.
An overdue cambelt is the most expensive thing a seller can fail to mention on a used Micra. These are the figures UK specialists work to.
The Renault-sourced K9K schedule is 72,000 miles or 5 years, whichever comes first. Some Nissan bulletins pair a 6-year term with a longer 100,000-mile limit, so the shorter 5-year term is recorded here. Ensure the water pump, tensioners and idlers are replaced at the same time.
Change the NS-2/NS-3 CVT fluid approximately every 60,000 miles under normal conditions, and as early as 30,000 miles in severe use, to prevent premature transmission failure. This is specialist and remanufacturer guidance rather than a figure Nissan mandates in every manual. No time-based limit is published, so none is recorded.
Always confirm against the vehicle handbook. Intervals vary by engine, and several manufacturers revised theirs after failures in service.
Three stand out. Gearbox: nissan acknowledged a higher than usual number of clutch issues with the K13 Micra (typically 7000 to 40000 miles). Gearbox: the CVT transmission is prone to failure, often at relatively low mileages (typically 27000 to 63000 miles). Brakes: ABS/ESP modules are prone to failure after 3-4 years, often due to water ingress (typically 30000 to 70000 miles). The full list above is grouped by generation, with typical mileage and a rough repair cost for each.
No Nissan Micra year is a write-off, but the K12 (2003 to 2010) carries the most serious faults: brakes, suspension and engine. The K13 (2010 to 2017) has high-severity faults on record too. The K11 (1992 to 2003) has none rated high severity. Year matters less than whether the specific car has had the known fixes, so check the history for them.
Ask the seller about the gearbox and brakes faults on this page and whether they have been fixed, with invoices. On the test drive watch for clutch slipping, transmission slipping and ABS warning light on dashboard. Read the MOT history for repeat advisories, then paste the advert into the free check, which reads it against all 10 known faults before you travel. Check a Nissan Micra advert →
The DVSA lists 13 safety recalls for the Nissan Micra issued between 2012 and 2023. The most recent, from June 2023, is "In certain vehicles should the driver s seat be set in the position where it coincides with a design feature in the upper rail it may in certain conditions exceed the stress limits of the rail material". Recall work is done by the manufacturer, and GOV.UK says you will not usually have to pay for it. This list is by model, so it cannot tell you whether one particular car has had the work: the free GOV.UK MOT history check shows a recall status from the registration where the manufacturer shares it, and a franchised dealer can check the VIN.
Owners report 50.7 mpg on average across the Nissan Micra engines with data, about 90% of the official combined figure. The gap between official and real-world economy varies a lot by engine, so the Real MPG page lists every engine and generation separately, from 354 owner submissions. Nissan Micra Real MPG by engine →
Looking at a Nissan Micra right now? Check the advert before you go and see it.
If you used to check the Honest John “Good & Bad” section before the site closed in 2026, this page is where that information now lives. We rebuilt the Nissan Micra owner-report history from the archived Honest John dataset, added our own research, specialist and owner-club sources and DVSA recall data, and we keep it free. Each fault above is badged with its source. The same data feeds our free advert check, which reads a listing against every known fault for the exact engine and year.
CarAdCheck is not affiliated with Honest John or Volkswagen Financial Services. What happened to Honest John, and where each feature lives now.
Knowing what a Nissan Micra goes wrong with is half of it. The rest is reading the advert and checking the car's history before you hand any money over.