Back in the early 1990s his then girlfriend had a Nissan Micra, and despite all the obvious, “gets us from A to B” arguments, he thought it was terrible. And it was red. Nigel Jones relives his youth.

When I was 17 I had issues with the Nissan Micra. The only buzz I ever felt being in the car was because it genuinely felt like a dangerous place to be, and that had nothing to do with the driver, every expense had been spared and all corners cut, this was a basic car.

There are very good technical reasons why there are precious few of those K10 Micras around nowadays. Those that have somehow fluked it past 15-years of active service are conspicuous, spewing out more carbon emissions than Drax power station with the back end scraping along the tarmac. That technical term is ‘rubbish’.

I’ve (stupidly, as it turns out) managed to avoid the Micra for the best part of 13-years, and didn’t feel I was missing out on anything. That was until I got my hands on the 1.5 dCi version. Within ten-minutes all negative preconceptions has disappeared. I liked it.

Within an hour I was wishing I’d been born 15-years later – My life could have turned out completely differently, I thought. And driving around a town it became apparent that this was a perfectly formed small chariot, so I decided to give it the ultimate around town test, and take it to London.

It is a well-known fact in the North of England that people in London can’t drive properly. (I’ll qualify that, not can’t drive properly – they refuse to drive properly.) Junction boxes are ignored at will. Evil drivers revel in others’ misery when they have the misfortune to find themselves behind a parked car, size matters, and infuriatingly, “I passed my test in London” is used as a badge of honour to excuse bad driving habits when they come up north (mainly to watch their favourite Stretford based football team).

In the ‘ultimate urban driving challenge’ the Micra excelled. It’s manoeuvrability and acceleration was impressive, and despite being the driver of a small car in a big city, my confidence grew with every tussle.

The best compliment I can give the car is that it gave me the ability to drive like a native – only when I had to, of course, because, let’s be honest, it’s dog-eat-dog. It’s cheap to run and easy to drive and, whilst the dashboard is basic and uninspiring, there’s an honest to goodness aura about the car that makes you feel a warm glow when driving it around.

Not only would the Micra be the perfect car to learn to drive in, it would be ideal for any fleet operating in a bustling urban environment and it conforms to the EU4 emissions class. Coupled with Nissan’s reputation for ultra-reliability, in the right circumstances it would be a perfect small fleet car.

The latest incarnation of the Micra is a delight, and a highly recommended driving experience. It’s come a long way in the last ten-years. But then again, haven’t we all?