If I said “Nissan Micra,” you could be forgiven for not getting excited. It’s an unexceptional four-cylinder subcompact with some of the crummiest transmissions known to humanity. But what if you threw in a massive V6 from an SUV? Surely, then, you might have something.
The Nissan Micra has always been one of the B-tier superminis. It’s never quite gotten the recognition of rivals from automakers like Toyota or Honda, but it’s been a stable seller for the Japanese automaker nonetheless. Recent years have seen it leave a number of markets around the world, but it’s set to come back in a big way when the Micra EV is launched later this year.
As Nissan looks to promote the new all-electric model, it also saw fit to bring one of the coolest historical Micras out of storage. Meet the mid-engined, SUV-powered Micra 350SR.
The story of the Micra 350SR starts over two decades ago. Back in 2002, Nissan took a British-built K12 Micra, and commissioned its British Touring Car team, RML, to jazz it up a bit. After a few iterations, the eventual result was a Micra with a rollcage, aluminum fuel cell, fully-adjustable suspension, and a hefty 3.5-litre V6 driving the rear wheels.
As Nissan tells it, the engine block itself was nabbed from a contemporary Murano. One suspsects this may have been chosen for its transverse mounting, which made it an easier swap into the rear of the hatchback. It was paired with a six-speed manual grabbed out of a US-market Nissan Altima SE-R. The SUV mill got a little hotrodding in the form of 350Z headers, a NISMO intake, high-lift cams, and a tuned ECU. This pushed the engine from 265 hp up to 300 hp, which was more than enough to propel the 2645-pound hatchback with some verve. Oh, and it was all wrapped in a nice shiny red paint job.
EVO magazine drove the car back in 2007. It noted that the gruntier engine and new drivetrain layout led to some antics. “The newly christened 350SR did the rounds at the launch of the 108bhp Micra Sport SR at Cadwell Park, scaring journalists and eventually ending up parked snugly against a tree,” writer Jethro Bovingdon explained at the time. After that awkwardness, the car was repaired and became a long-term fleet car for the British outlet for some time.
Back in the day, a stock K12 Micra would do zero to 60 mph in approximately 12 seconds. With power-to-weight muchly improved, the 350SR was much faster, doing the same in under 5 seconds. In fact, the 350SR was even quicker than the 1988 Micra Super Turbo (aka March Super Turbo), the fastest production model built to date. With its twin-charged 1.0-liter engine, it could only muster a 7.7-second zero-to-60 mph sprint by comparison.
For its 23rd anniversary, Nissan decided to remind the world just how cool the Micra can be. It pulled the 350SR out of storage and asked designers at Nissan Design Europe to refresh it for the world of 2025.
The car was treated to a new silver-and-blue livery, with graphics apparently inspired by the rear lights of the Z32 300ZX. The car also scored new LED headlights with semi-circular DRLs for a more modern look. Inside, new seats and harnesses help provide a fresh feel. Amusingly, they also fitted the interior with a 9-inch infotainment touch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto—a mystery inclusion given nobody is seriously going to be dailying this thing. Even the press release notes that the engine noise in the mid-engined car is too loud to make playing music worthwhile.
You might be wondering why Nissan is celebrating the 23rd anniversary, but the Japanese automaker has its reasons:
* The number ’23’ has earned special significance to Nissan because the brand’s name sounds like the Japanese pronunciation of ‘2’ (ni) and ‘3’ (san), and the number has adorned its NISMO racing cars for almost 40 years.
Nissan isn’t the only automaker to have thrown a big chunky V6 in the middle of a tiny hatchback. Volkswagen famously did the same when it built the Golf GTI W12-650 back in 2007. However, like Nissan, this was a one-off demo build rather than a real production model. Other automakers have gone so far as to build actual production models, like the muchly-celebrated Renault Clio V6. An honorable mention, too, goes to Toyota. It combined a Camry V6 with the Corolla to create the Blade. However, rather than a mid-engined sports model, it invented the oddball category of the luxury hatchback.
Unfortunately, unless you’re a journalist in the UK, you’re probably not going to get a go behind the wheel of the silly mid-engined Micra. More’s the pity, because it’s probably the most interesting thing anybody has ever done with the engine out of a Murano. Shame!
Image credits: Nissan
Why downplay it as merely “the engine out of a Murano”? This is the Nissan VQ, one of the best V6s ever made and used in a ton of their cars from the 90’s till now. They put variants of this into their race cars.
The Micra didn’t have the shitty CVT. It had a 4-speed automatic (or a 5-speed manual of course). They sold it in Canada but not down here 🙁
And yeah, we need more of these hot hatch things 😀
Put a K20 turbo in a Fit or Brio
Put a 2.0T in a Spark or Sonic
One of those, or both, were available with turbos
The Sonic was available with the 1.4T that made 140 hp, the same as the 1.8 non-turbo that was also available on it.
However, it wasn’t available with the 260 hp 2.0T they offered on bigger cars.
And of course, no turbo Spark at all.
That blue-on-silver paint job looks like a weird factory second that missed the stamping mill by a few feet.
It’s a real-life Terrazi Wild Gang!
Time to put a Micra engine the Autopian Murano CrossCab!
I’d be more excited if they drop one of the Cummins turbodiesels from the Titan truck in the back of the NV200…
Sticking large things in other things that should be too small for them never gets old!
I hear you can pay to see that down in Mexico
Honourable mention to the Ford Festiva SHOgun built by Special Editions (aka Kia Pride / Mazda 121).
One of my dream cars, actually.
I think car companies and enthusiast forget sometimes that you dont need to combine your 10/10 halo engine with a 10/10 bespoke chassis to make something cool. You take a 5/10 car with a 6/10 engine, maybe add a turbo or a bespoke intake and youre like 90% there.
OG Mitsubishi Evos are Mirages with a big block and a turbo, 90s C43 AMG is a hot version of the small bore commoners 430 motor, and who wasnt happy to see a big 6 cylinder in a tiny porsche 914 or boxster
In this era of 2.0 4 banger turbo solves everything. You just dont get this extra spice anymore
Totally this. A mythical beast of a halo car is a pretty picture and impressive specs, but if you cram a Highlander engine into a Yaris, folks have enough familiarity with both of those things to understand how ludicrous that would be.
SHOgunning anything I love very much, but when I see “big engine in a small car” headlines I see Duntov in a lilliputian big-block CERV II, and so I am a little disappoint.
Can one say “R5 Turbo”?
a concept that never gets old
They should have hybridized this to add on another 70-100 horsies in addition to also driving the rear wheels with the electric motor.
This thing is 23 YEARS OLD?!!!
Fook me sideways. I swear it looks no older than 10, or 15 at most. Where have all the time gone?
There was a few years after 2019 that seem to have just disappeared.
I have only vague memories of that time . . . mostly of hording toilet paper and turning my kitchen into a bakery specializing in mediocre sourdough bread.
It’s almost an antique.
I’d love to build one of those someday. I’ve developed a strange obsession with doing a mid-engine swap on the tiniest car I can fit the engine of choice into. Monique would prefer I find something other than a kei car. I toyed with the idea of a Fiat 500 too, but I think engine choice would be seriously limited for one of those. I wouldn’t be against moving its drivetrain behind the front seats and building the engine up a bit.
Unfortunately I don’t think anyone will ever beat the Goggomobil with a 10l radial engine shoved in to the back of it – that thing was ridiculous and mega!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2V7B7-gdRA
That thing is amazing.
I like the idea of a Honda Del Sol mid-engine swap, since it’s already a 2-seater with a back window so you’re not sharing space with the engine.
I have fond memories of the older Micra, sold in Canada in the 2010s. Mostly I remember how cool it was that you could get the base trim (5-speed manual, crank windows, no AC) for only $9998 CAD, iirc, which would have been even cheaper in USD! It would probably have been my budget pick over the slightly cheaper $9995 Chevy Spark (which I recall was weirdly cheaper than it was stateside).
I still see Micras around regularly, but I’m sad to know that such a cheap option is no longer available here.
I do like this, but I’d give my left kidney (but not my right one) for a Juke-R
This is why you got banned from BaT.
If they could just stretch it by a few inches to make the back seat usable by non-Munchkins.