Micra-wave

Ever found yourself thinking about a particular car – the one you’re planning to buy, most likely – only to suddenly spot them all over the place? It’s as though they’re multiplying at precisely the moment that make and model entered your consciousness. This has been me and a certain cuddly Japanese hatchback ever since I bought one for a magazine feature in 2018.

I see Nissan Micras everywhere. Specifically I keep seeing the second-generation model, the K11. That’s the one that looks like a bubble with a cartoon face, all joyful and friendly. Although as they follow me around town like hyenas stalking a lone lion cub, they’re beginning to seem quite sinister…

So what is it – have I simply become more aware of them in the last three years? Or is there more to it than that? I suspect the latter. I’m convinced there are loads of them around, certainly compared to other Nineties city cars. That august website of record, howmanyleft.co.uk, suggests there are still several thousand of the things registered in the UK today, three decades after the car first went on sale here.