Ford Ka/Nissan Micra

[sweep]

I have a nice 1.4 2001 fabia here....

[daimlerman]

I have a nice 1.4 2001 fabia here....

Hummm,drop me a PM with a few details,age,milage,how little you will take...

[capri_rob]

Mk3 Golf malc - you can buy them for buttons as the VAG homos all want the Mk1 or Mk2 or newer stuff
They probably offer better crash protection than a Micra/Ka or anything else that small - IIRC they were so much heavier than the Mk2 thanks to all the doorbars/strengthening stuff that was done in the name of progress.

Frumpy, slow and not particularly nice to drive but easyish to fix and the bits are cheap.

[daimlerman]

Remember this must be narrow so that it fit's up my back passage!
E30 girth as a maximum.

This is the draw to the Micra,plus,as Trev mentioned way back,there's plenty of nice,low miles Micra's out there.Just that today,they are all 100+miles away!

We will look/consider anything that fit's the base spec,though.

[HairyScreech]

They seem to take any excuse to chop the roof off a car now, I think they are just itching to use there equipment.

[rh306]

Remember this must be narrow so that it fit's up my back passage!
E30 girth as a maximum.

..E36 Compact is only about 3cm wider than an E30 (not sure if that includes mirrors?) My missus likes hers a lot

[harry_p]

That's what i was going to suggest.

e36s are pretty narrow compared to anything else modern with anywhere near the interior space. only 6.7cm wider than a ka, less than 3 inches in old money

decent boot, get one with reverse sensors and theyre a doddle to park, good steering lock, simple and cheap to maintain mechanicals.

and i would think sonsiderably stronger than a ka / micra in a crash.

[rh306]

...cheap as chips too. Our 318ti with 60,000 miles on it was I think £750, came with parking sensors, air-con, sports steering wheel.. and that's a bout it Definitely another car you could weld the bonnet down on though because it never needs anything, even taken it to Europe a couple of times

[daimlerman]

Remember this must be narrow so that it fit's up my back passage!
E30 girth as a maximum.

..E36 Compact is only about 3cm wider than an E30 (not sure if that includes mirrors?) My missus likes hers a lot

This does make a lot of sense,but we will be starting again with NCB,and having a small-engined car reduces VED as well...the Fiat was £140 for twelve months.
In principle,an E36 compact is an E30 hatchback...hummm..

[rh306]

...I was thinking along the sames lines: 1.0 something or other vs. Compact.. My man maths worked out that the cost of buying and keeping running a 1.0 french or italian shopping cart would soon outweigh the tax and fuel costs (we've got an auto) of the compact...

[B7]

Hows she and her mate doing Malc?

Any CCTV footage?

Fabia looks promising.

Via Wikiopedia:

2001 fabia width 1,650 mm (65.0 in)
E30 width 1,646 mm (64.8 in)

But does she ever bring the e30 into the passage of doom????? Or is that why your going smaller for her?

[daimlerman]

Not looked into CCTV,good call.

Both are still moaning,Jane is now able to put some wieght on her left foot so can get about a bit better.

When we were running two E30's as dailies,she could drive in and out of the side passage without hitting the wall too often,I painted a coloured square on the wall to mark the correct position to place the door mirror on.But our main house door is also off this passageway,so I need to think about callers brushing past a parked car to get to the doorbell!

Three months back,there were several Micra's within 30 miles with sub 50k miles,now I am looking seriously,Murphy's Law dictates that they are all at the other side/end of the bloody country!

[Jesus325iTouring]

They seem to take any excuse to chop the roof off a car now, I think they are just itching to use there equipment.

Quite right, I just watched Fireman Sam and the local odd job dimwit rolled his car. The car was on it's driver side and he couldn't open the passenger door as it was jammed. Now any normal person would say open the window, but no, good old Fireman Sam got the jaws of life out and cut the door off

Honestly, what a wally

[daimlerman]

They seem to take any excuse to chop the roof off a car now, I think they are just itching to use there equipment.

Quite right, I just watched Fireman Sam and the local odd job dimwit rolled his car. The car was on it's driver side and he couldn't open the passenger door as it was jammed. Now any normal person would say open the window, but no, good old Fireman Sam got the jaws of life out and cut the door off

Honestly, what a wally

What upsets me is that the fireman did not even bother to ask permission,they just got on with it.

[Jesus325iTouring]

Ha Ha Ha..... How rude of them not to phone first to ask if they could cut the car to bits to get your injured wife out

[harry_p]

Sadly the claim culture is to blame yet again.

The emergency services don't want to risk being sued should any further injuries become evident.

There was a good one on one of those police tv documentaries. A woman was involved in a crash, felt ok, was walking around just a bit dazed. A passer by who had stopped to help let her go and sit in his car. A short while later she complains of a stiff neck, so the firemen go and cut the roof off this poor blokes jag so they can extract her on a spinal board

[daimlerman]

I'm the highest bidder on this...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0965224156

Hope it's OK!

[B7]

Looks a little blinder. Did you win it?

[capri_rob]

its in Southampton Malc - thought you wanted something local

[B7]

Malc will do the distance. He picked up a set of style 10s from me and I ain't exactly local..........

[capri_rob]

Malc will do the distance. He picked up a set of style 10s from me and I ain't exactly local..........

Wouldnt relish the prospect of Southampton to Lincoln in a Micra

[B7]

Malc will do the distance. He picked up a set of style 10s from me and I ain't exactly local..........

Wouldnt relish the prospect of Southampton to Lincoln in a Micra

No probs. Settle yourself into one of these and they'll cruise at 80 all day long. These ain't no 1983 Mini Mayfair. It's actually not a bad place to sit the miles out. You'd be surprised. I'd have jumped into my mums old SE and driven it to the Costas with no worries.

[capri_rob]

Never been in one of that shape although I did put a lot of miles on one of the Mk1 shape Micra's - can see why they were so popular with driving schools back in the day - they practically drove themselves they were so easy to drive !

[daimlerman]

Yes,it's mine!
One way train ticket to Southampton cost me £96.50
Vendor instructed me to 'Turn right out of the station building and I'll be in the blue Jag in the car park'!

Collect Monday evening.

I could have cadged a lift to Eestliegh via work,but that would have left me the hassle of Eastliegh to Shirley,plus recovering a car from work.

I'll start a new thread for it later in the week,thanks to all for your help.

[B7]

Good work.

£96.50????? Shit the bed! No wonder people drive instead of take the train!

[Rtaylor2208]

Bloody hell, it cost me less than that get get 3 trains and a plane to pick up mine and that was Glasgow to Canterbury.

Does look like a good buy though.

[daimlerman]

If I had booked the train ticket last Saturday,it would have cost me just £30!
But I had not bought it then...