The NarfMICRA, My Red 2015 Nissan Micra SR Automatic

[NarfBLAST]

Greetings! I had this beauty delivered by https://www.canadadrives.ca/ just one week ago and I have already put 600 kilometers of smiles on it.

Here it is on the left, beside my mother's 2015 Micra S automatic that I helped her to choose six years ago:



Already completed my first upgrade: a larger Type 85 Battery, thanks to this thread:
https://micra-forum.com/showthread.p...ll=1#post25778

The Micra saves our 2014 Honda Odyssey from being driven daily:
https://www.odyclub.com/threads/sant.../#post-1190434

The Micra replaces my 2001 Volkswagen Golf TDI:
https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php...lf-tdi.288316/

Good times!

[NarfBLAST]

Second and Third Modificiations:

Turned off auto-locking and auto-unlocking: now passengers can get in and out and open the trunk!
- procedure in owners manual involves turning on ignition then holding the lock or unlock botton on the door panel for 5 seconds until the hazard lights flash once for "disabled". The lock button disables the auto-lock, the unlock button disables the auto-unlock, so you have to do it twice.

Turned off the beep noise when when locking: no need to wake up neighbours or sleeping children when locking the car!
- procedure found here on micra-forums.com is super easy: Hold both lock and unlock on the remote until the lights flash three times for "stealth mode". Now when you lock the car there are no lights or sounds (other than the lock solenoids) and when you unlock the car you get two flashes. NICE! You can always go back to "annoying mode" by holding both buttons on the remote.

I can't believe I lived with these dumb features for a whole week. Love my stealthy Micra even more now.

Next up: get two more keys cut at the Nissan Dealer.

[HammyJ]

Belated welcome to the world of Micradom......I hope you are enjoying your vehicle as much as I am mine......as the price of fuel continues to rise.....I am grateful that I made the purchase I did....plus its a blast to drive.....I especially enjoy beating big trucks off the line....not great for fuel economy, but still fun.....

[NarfBLAST]

Belated welcome to the world of Micradom......I hope you are enjoying your vehicle as much as I am mine......as the price of fuel continues to rise.....I am grateful that I made the purchase I did....plus its a blast to drive.....I especially enjoy beating big trucks off the line....not great for fuel economy, but still fun.....

Thank you! Yes I am enjoying it very much. I just installed a ScanGuageII to monitor fuel economy. I also installed a dashcam to monitor idiots in front of me.

I also enjoy the handling, I like to believe I am driving an exotic red sports car. I was thinking about getting white racing stripes.

[GreatWhite]

Congratulation on the new to you Micra.
I use a quality synthetic motor oil and a quality filter. A low cost car does not mean cheaping out on maintenance in my opinion, unless you don't plan to keep it. The Micra will last longer than the sibling CVT equipped SUV as the CVT's fail around 120K on average according to my friend who is a senior service manager. Nissan will only replace it one under warranty and then tell you to pound salt if it fails again.

[NarfBLAST]

Congratulation on the new to you Micra.
I use a quality synthetic motor oil and a quality filter. A low cost car does not mean cheaping out on maintenance in my opinion, unless you don't plan to keep it.

I plan to keep it a very long time. I am really enjoying my new daily driver. I just can't see the advantage of a fancy oil in a basic engine.

It was fairly cold firtst thing this morning so I made "one of those" videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npznaAIiduw

[HammyJ]

Thanks for your post......I am coming up to a years ownership of my 2019 Micra, and the past two weeks has been its first real taste of winter.....I have to say I am extremely impressed with its cold starting......-10C...at times....most unusual temperatures for the Fraser Valley in BC, even for this time of year. The car fired up immediately, each and every time......the traction with my Michelin snowies was incredible too......I sailed past numerous trucks and cars that started to lose traction on the steep hills in my town...and if I did start to slide a bit, the traction control system kicked in and the car was back on track....My love affair with the Micra continues.....I'm just sorry I didnt purchase one sooner.....

[NarfBLAST]

UPDATE: KEYS AND WINTER WHEELS AND TIRES

It took two trips to the Nissan dealer but I finally got the plain keys I asked for last week.



I had two plain keys cut with programming, at Burlington Nissan, and it came to $256 including tax. Saved almost $300 over the original quote of $550 inluding tax to cut two fancy keys including remotes. I am happy to have keys that I can fit in my pocket and won't constantly lock, unlock, or worse set off the panic alarm on the car every time I bend down to tie my shoe or pick something up. My wife was happy to take the key with the remote that came with the car. Phew, that is finally settled.

This week's random picture of mine and my mother's Micras:



Parking them next to eachother never gets old.

WINTER WHEELS AND TIRES

While I was at the Nissan dealer waiting to get my keys cut (and the car washed, which I didn't ask for, which reminds me of why I avoid dealers, but it did make me smile, so I guess it was okay). Anyway, while I was waiting I noticed stacks of winter tires everywhere so I inquired and they wanted $1000 plus tax for a set, mounted and balanced on genuine Nissan steel wheels. I told them I know I place that ships them to my door for $600, we had a nice talk about hub-centric vs lug-centric and they said $600 would be hard to beat likely the big savings comes in the wheels. I thanked them for the quote.

After I got home I told my wife about all the money we would save, received my pat on the head for being a good boy, and ordered these:



Their website is http://4tires.ca

Make sure to select Micra S if you want 15" wheels, Micra SR if you want 16".

I'm 99% sure the 15's will fit my SR, but if not, they will definetly fit my Mother's car.

Good Times!

[HammyJ]

Thanks for this info.....I just mounted my Michelin X-Ice Snow snow tires(purchased last year at Canadian tire at a pretty good after season sale price) on the rims that came with my Micra.....I would have purchased new rims, but the plan is to purchase second hand 15 inch factory alloy wheels when I can find some that dont cost the earth.....the UK has tons of them, at a very reasonable price, but the shipping is outrageous....I have to say the ride is a wee bit smoother, and softer than the stock all season Firestones, but the handling remains the same......Im looking forward to our first snowfall to give them a real tryout!.....

[NarfBLAST]

Winter tires and wheels arrived three days later! They are stacked in the garage, but I might move them out to the shed as I am waiting to install them when temperatures are more consistently below 7 degrees celcius. Hopefully we have a few more crisp fall weeks before then.

Hit 2000 km in three weeks since purchase. Here is a picture out at my wife's grandfather's farm:



Good times!