Owned car from new, after 3,000 miles and still in warranty, the clutch burnt out Nissan said it was due to the driver and therefore I had to pay for new clutch. I contacted Nissan H.O. they would not help and also said it was due to driver error. 30,000 miles/6 years later clutch fine - now it's the timing chain. Warning light came on - took to Nissan garage (paid £90 for diagnostic check)they told me it's the timing chain - they said it's stretched, there should only be 10mm movement this has 18mm. I asked what the chain tolerance is; neither Nissan H.O. nor the local Nissan garage could answer. Nissan said it will cost £1,811.59 to replace. I contacted Nissan H.O. and suggested that this problem must be due to a design fault as the car has only done 33,000 miles. The chain should last for the life of the engine, this should be 100,000 miles plus. I was told ‘it is out of warranty therefore we will not help’. I asked how common this problem is; they said we don’t know - we don’t keep records. Nissan suggested the car has not been serviced regularly – this is not the case.

I bought my 2004 micra in January 09 and ever since ive had problems with it. After having the car about 6 months it suddenly stopped whilst i was driving on the motorway and later found out i needed a new clutch and gearbox!!! this cost me about £700 and was told at this time that the timing belt had already been changed (lucky i know). The engine light kept coming on after about 8 months and spent a lot of money on sensor lights for everything possible on the car. The cars now leaking oil and has a warning light now appears. I was told by my mechanic that its common knowledge that newish Micras are terribly made and prone to alot of expensive problems especially the timing chain. I think its awful that a 5 year old car has this many problems and nissan should take responsibility as so many people have had this problem. Would certainly not reccommend to anyone! (unless you really dislike them)

I loved my Nissan Micra until recently when I too had problems with the timing chain.
The garage I took it to told me this IS a recognised manufacturing problem with a bad batch of Micra's sent out (which I can only assume is 2003 models as mine is) and that most garages know about it (which also explains the reluctance of garages I had tried to trade my car into just before the problem appeared).
Contacted Nissan who told me this was not a recognised fault and as it fell outside my warranty they wouldn't look at it as they normally would have done as a "good will gesture".
This has now cost me £700 and as the garage told me the timing chain should outlast the car, I will be taking it further. I wouldn't mind if it had been my fault, or if Nissan had at least been reasonable about it but neither is the case and I refuse to lose £700 over it.