Should I buy a new car?

OLeary

OLeary

Hello everybody,

I have been the proud owner of a little 2001 1.0 K11 S with 27,000 miles on the clock for just over a year now. It was my first car and as with all first cars I love it despite it's image as a granny car.

Anyway I have been working a lot over the summer and have some extra cash. I happened to spot a clean looking '98 1.3 k11 Si for sale near me. Looks as though It has been looked after but I haven't been to see it yet.

The only thing is that the micra in question has 66,000 miles. I know this is very low for its age but do you think it is worth swapping mine for a higher mileage so that I can get the extra power offered in the 1.3 and the good looks of the Si?

As a young driver insurance is hard going but getting the 1.3 allows me to have a bit more power without hurting the wallet too much. Also is the difference between the 1.0 and 1.3 noticeable?

Would appreciate your opinions.
Thanks,
OLeary
 
Quote; “owner of a little 2001 1.0 K11 S with 27,000 miles”

Not worthwhile changing to the old enough to vote 1.3 SI with more mileage & is prone to MOT rust failure at 19 years old.
What you have is good for years of low cost hassle free motoring.

When the vehicle you have is running well with no problems why take the risk of buying someone else’s unknown troublesome leave off?
Good luck
 
I was in a similar position with the cleanest, rust free Micra I had ever seen. (It had been garaged all its life)
In the end I bought a rust bucket of a amicfa with a good 1.3 engine and just swapped them over.
 
OLeary said:
Hello everybody,

I have been the proud owner of a little 2001 1.0 K11 S with 27,000 miles on the clock for just over a year now. It was my first car and as with all first cars I love it despite it's image as a granny car.

Anyway I have been working a lot over the summer and have some extra cash. I happened to spot a clean looking '98 1.3 k11 Si for sale near me. Looks as though It has been looked after but I haven't been to see it yet.

The only thing is that the micra in question has 66,000 miles. I know this is very low for its age but do you think it is worth swapping mine for a higher mileage so that I can get the extra power offered in the 1.3 and the good looks of the Si?

As a young driver insurance is hard going but getting the 1.3 allows me to have a bit more power without hurting the wallet too much. Also is the difference between the 1.0 and 1.3 noticeable?

Would appreciate your opinions.
Thanks,
OLeary
Click to expand...
The choice is yours buddy, the 1.3' and 1.4 are great motors with noticeable gains over the 1 litre.
However, just be patient, you are in your first year of motoring, save your money until your insurance is sensible and affordable.
You are driving a formidably cheap motor car to run, and drive.
All your mates may move up on their motors, but you will beat them all, when they go into the garage for repairs and fuel - you will still be motoring on pennies, and saving for that Subaru, Focus ST, and so on.
Save your money buddy, and you will be the winner.
 
Cheers for the advice everybody. You've convinced me to keep the 1.0 and enjoy paying laughably cheap insurance while my mates keep having to fork out more cash for expensive repairs, fuel and financed cars that leave them constantly skint.

Insurance isn't exactly cheap at the moment (it's about £800) but for a young driver it is and should get dramatically better next year.

If things keep going the way they are I'll be the one bragging years down the line about how well the micra served me for such a long time, needing little more than the occasional oil change, new brake pads, spark plugs etc.

So it seems I have managed to control my urges and boring logic has prevailed! Thanks again for your help.
 
OLeary said:
Cheers for the advice everybody. You've convinced me to keep the 1.0 and enjoy paying laughably cheap insurance while my mates keep having to fork out more cash for expensive repairs, fuel and financed cars that leave them constantly skint.

Insurance isn't exactly cheap at the moment (it's about £800) but for a young driver it is and should get dramatically better next year.

If things keep going the way they are I'll be the one bragging years down the line about how well the micra served me for such a long time, needing little more than the occasional oil change, new brake pads, spark plugs etc.

So it seems I have managed to control my urges and boring logic has prevailed! Thanks again for your help.
Click to expand...
Great decision there buddy.
Here's logic for you.
Many years ago I was in my local Jaguar garage having a diagnostic on my Jag at the time, I went up to the showroom to pay for the work.
In the showroom was a bottle green metallic XK8 4.2 super charged Jaguar with chrome wire wheels !!!! a dream motor......all they wanted for her was £58,000 brand new.
At that time I had just retired from work with a lot of bucks in my pocket, heart said BUY IT ...head said DON'T YOU DARE - the head won ....because if I had bought her I would have lost £14K on purchase tax immediately !!!!
Moral is ...if you move up too quick, you spend a lot of money that you could have saved for a better car down the line, just be patient, the car you want will turn up in the end.
 
Ok, fell in love with another Si for sale. 29K on the clock! Looks great but I am worried about rust. Especially with the first facelift having lots of problems with sunroof drainage and front cross member. The guy says he has plated rust on the sills, but I still have the cross member to worry about. Plus he wanted £995 for it at first and I only got him down to £850. I have some pics, was wondering what you guys think, does this look bad? I am not a very good judge.
IMG_2439.JPG IMG_2440.JPG IMG_2441.JPG IMG_2442.JPG IMG_2443.JPG IMG_2444.JPG IMG_2445.JPG IMG_2446.JPG IMG_2447.JPG IMG_2448.JPG IMG_2449.JPG IMG_2450.JPG IMG_2451.JPG IMG_2452.JPG
 
OLeary said:
Ok, fell in love with another Si for sale. 29K on the clock! Looks great but I am worried about rust. Especially with the first facelift having lots of problems with sunroof drainage and front cross member. The guy says he has plated rust on the sills, but I still have the cross member to worry about. Plus he wanted £995 for it at first and I only got him down to £850. I have some pics, was wondering what you guys think, does this look bad? I am not a very good judge.
View attachment 55275 View attachment 55276 View attachment 55277 View attachment 55278 View attachment 55279 View attachment 55280 View attachment 55281 View attachment 55282 View attachment 55283 View attachment 55284 View attachment 55285
Click to expand...
 
Nice photos, shame about the rusty K11 horse shoe nail at £850 the seller is having a giraffe?

A walk away & write it off to experience? Good luck
 
Looks to me like your heart could be broke the first time the car is jacked up.. too much fibre glass showing where the strength is meant to be, £300 with a view to fixing the car properly would be my price range
 
hey buddy ....you don't know what's under that fibre glass and paint, and it's around the main structure of the car.
He's blagging because of the mileage.....walk away mate.
 
magnet? a blunt tool to check the parches and push hard as hell on them and the inner sills?
another but its a bit much is pull the inner panel out and see
the front crossmember will be rotten on the first skin layer (mine was the same on a 99 )
but that does not look like a welded job on the sills and the rear looks like its just been fiber glasses (its a cheap arse way to pass a mot)
im guessing its the blue si with the pool ball gear knob?
sadly to say althought the car looks good its looks the owner has tried to tart it up and sell for good money
if the car was cheaper it was only those minor then repairing it properly fairly easy
 
if the sills have already been plated you know it gonna have rust in it, and potentially a real rust bucket - walk away, or run!! I'd go higher mileage any day if the body is a solid one. My k11 1.0 vibe had 57,000 on the clock but there isn't a spot of rust on it anywhere, even the MOT guy said how clean it was!!
 
Back again, cheers again to everybody for your advice. Didn't even bother to go and see the thing, I called the guy and he sounded a bit eager to sell. Plus mine has almost no rust in sight, I don't think I give it as much credit as I should haha. Attached some pics of mine:
IMG_2455.JPG IMG_2466.JPG IMG_2469.JPG IMG_2465.JPG .
 
best off stripping off any rust and some of the original under seal like on the inner sills , i used a chisels and wire brush and rear then treat it and red lead and waxoil and do the inside of the sills aswell
and check the rear half of the inner arch behind the shock were the arch meets the floor they do go there aswell
also while your there just going over the inner sills with some pressure to check they arnt weak ect just best off aswell
does it have a sun roof?
and the rear vents check the bumper mounts att the bottom they rot off pretty easy
 
also worth doing the axle aswell
they arnt hard cars to take apart or put back together so if you get bord pop some of the panels or parts off and clean or treat ,
to do the inner sills you need to take the rear inner panels off (3door) they are just clipped in and pop out easy to get decent access
also the is holes behind the carpet with tape on the to get into the sills
 
nissan boy said:
also worth doing the axle aswell
they arnt hard cars to take apart or put back together so if you get bord pop some of the panels or parts off and clean or treat ,
to do the inner sills you need to take the rear inner panels off (3door) they are just clipped in and pop out easy to get decent access
also the is holes behind the carpet with tape on the to get into the sills
Click to expand...
Thanks for the help, will have a look when I get a chance. It has a sunroof but it's a second facelift I heard the drainage issue is not as much as a problem on them?
 
no even with them they still drain into the sills
at the A pillar and come down the C pillar
the rear ones you can just feed them out the rear vents and are just behine the rear panels
the front ones are behind the front kick panels and i re routed mine down and out through the gromits in the sill with some hose
you can tell they work when it rains heavey , but dont worry tho mine leaked but the sills were almost mint on a 99 inspiration and are still good now
 

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