Tell me about the Nissan Figaro

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

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The girlfriend really loves these and is thinking of getting one as her first car. Just how bad an idea is this? I'd never actually heard of them till yesterday when we saw one in town and she told me that's the car she'd been after for ages.

Reading up on them, they don't seem like the worst idea in the world but obviously they're getting on for 20 years old now so there's bound to be some issues.
 
A friend of mine has one and she really likes it but I don't think she'd count as the most demanding driver in the World, I suspect that the criteria was that it must look good and be reasonably comfortable.
 
SoliD said:
Very bad, horrible cars based on micras iirc? Really old and with rubbish engines.
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Depends what you think really old is.

The engines are quite good for what it is i'd rather a blower than nothing on it, i saw one from japan ages ago that was tuned to the nuts. :D

Most of the one's I have seen in Edinburgh, and thats a few oddly, have been very clean normally in horrible pastle green blue or beige. The leather interior is quite funny to start with as its everywhere.

I don't like the look from the outside, but its very much a lady car on the inside. An ex had an old import, was spotless. Don't know the prices now, but they weren't worth the £4-6k then.
 
It's a Nissan Micra in a retro frock. They rust a fair bit if neglected and don't seem to lose much value. Drives like your average supermini, it's not really the sort of car you buy for the driving experience, it's purely a fashion exercise.

I think they look alright actually if you get them in a pastel blue or green. Not my sort of thing to own though.
 
They rot for fun, it's mostly botched Micra underneath, and even a glacier would call one slow. But they're great, and your GF should definitely get one :)
 
Yeah very overpriced but like the guy said above they do keep value. My girlfriend loves these things, especially the interior, which I think is pretty cool actually. We both think that if Nissan were to do a remake there certainly would be a market for them. However I'm glad driving dynamics are actually quote high on her list of things when looking at cars, otherwise in sure she would have got one ages ago.
 
I've looked at them for my mum but didn't end up getting one.

You really need to be getting one from a specialist or enthusiast. There is a place in / near Boroughbridge which always have 4-5 in varying degrees of preperation (although not always on their website). Think +5k for a decent one.

Someone mentioned it, already, but look for rust, condition of chrome, and leather. They are a nisan after all and fairly reliable (I think the engine was orignially a little turbo mitzi unit, and not the crap micra engine ..... but its no performer on the motorway)
 
Biohazard said:
Depends what you think really old is.

The engines are quite good for what it is i'd rather a blower than nothing on it, i saw one from japan ages ago that was tuned to the nuts. :D

Most of the one's I have seen in Edinburgh, and thats a few oddly, have been very clean normally in horrible pastle green blue or beige. The leather interior is quite funny to start with as its everywhere.

I don't like the look from the outside, but its very much a lady car on the inside. An ex had an old import, was spotless. Don't know the prices now, but they weren't worth the £4-6k then.
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There used to be on that followed me about Edinburgh, it had a private plate so I knew!
But there was one near my house and one near my school so i could have just been confused and not paying attention to them.
To me they look like mini cadilacs, or something american.
 
JRS said:
They rot for fun, it's mostly botched Micra underneath, and even a glacier would call one slow. But they're great, and your GF should definitely get one :)
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This, actually - get one thats not rusting (too badly) and you've got Micra reliability with a surprising amount of mod cons for a 1991 car.

And honestly, do you really think the sort of person who buys one cares about anything other than the way it looks and how reliable it is?

They're going to be pretty solid residual wise too
 
Has she checked out what insurance group they are? It may cost more than the standard Micra to insure as a first car.
 
I'm probably going to get one for the missus, she loves them too.

Interior options
* Cushion (rug)

Yep, definately a bird's car :)
 
Janesy B said:
You sure? I thought they were all pastel green?
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No there are quite a few colours. I've seen more of a 'baby' pink, but they all seem to be quite pastel in tone. The blue ones look pretty good.

1ltr turbo, 75BHP & 3-speed transmission. What more do you need? :p
 
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They have 1 litre engine from Micra with turbo strapped to it. Most of people think it was based on bubble shape Micra, and they're wrong - it's the K10 Japanese Nissan March, square box with slit grille, not the K11/K11C bubble shape with pear shape "nostril" grille, which is why rust can be an issue. There were only about 19,000 of them and production run ended in early nineties. 0-60 in under 11 seconds, about half that of 1 litre K10 Micra. Some well kept examples with mods, and light enough driver, surprisingly will outpace Fabia vRS in town. Figaro is a purely town car. Try motorway commutes and sooner or later the 3 speed gearbox and tiny old turbo will start causing trouble.

Most of Figaros now reside in UK because of stringent car requirements in Japan.

Rust in peace, girly car, rust in peace.
 
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