It's videos like this that remind me of how glad I am to have found this channel oh so long ago. I doubt you will read this Mr. Car, but if by chance you do, I would love it if you could do one of these for the Toyota Sera. My other favourite quirky import ❤️
Including one that spent a lot of time to figure out how to color Christmas tree led lights so they look like lamps… And the thing is that some fools like me watched his videos and enjoyed them!😁
I first saw one of these at a car show surrounded by Mustangs, Camaros, and so on. The owner said I was the only person there who knew what it actually was. He was very impressed so I think I made his day.
Good for you and good for the owner. I also knew what these were and are, because a lady living near us had one and I made a point of finding out about it. I knew it was Japanese and wondered if it was a “city car”, having recalled they had rules about dimensions for coming into certain metro areas. It not for me, but it’s lovely.
Cost. Nissan had the money and confidence at the time to create totally bespoke switchgear for the Figaro - not a single March/Micra button in sight! Times are too desperate and uncertain for Nissan and any other similar marque these days to do something like that. I mean, Renault even fitted the brave Alpine A110 with HVAC controls from the Zoe EV and a media stalk seemingly from the 1990s...
It seriously is way way way too expensive. Nowadays you would need to produce spare parts for a model for years to come (and that's not a bad thing!) and when you can't use these parts in other models and volume models... This batch production really was a bad idea. You won't get important spare parts for these cars.
Thought exactly the same ! Exhaust fumes from the back cigar fumes out the front ! The Columbo car is still around ! Kept under wraps at a universal studios lot :)
In the comments of Doug Demuro's review people were suggesting the Gutbrod Superior. It is funny how1950s cars all looked the same. Imagine the reaction to concept cars like the Lamborghini Marzal when they were first shown. To me it still looks futuristic today.
LOL! I saw the thumbnail I knew that had to be Alec's Figaro :) Nice to see Mr. Dunn's footage too! Technology Connections and Aging Wheels are some of my favourite channels.
I remember the Figaro launch soooo well. And it was only in production a year and it was a Japan exclusive. Yet it is way more famous than it should be. Truly remarkable
A car people cherish rather than scrap at the first major problem. I wonder how many have gone from the U.K. to the U.S.A. now they can be imported ? p.s. While we don't have a 25 year rule in the U.K. cars over forty years old are don't need road tax or safety inspections. I was looking through Autotrader and the majority of cars over that age were either MG and similar sports cars or Land Rovers.
went to Japan last month, it's actually surprising how many Micra based Retro cars there are, I don't know what it's called but I also saw a classic Jag looking sedan on the same platform which was common too(saw a few that had it) edit: at 19:51 it was this lol, you would be surprised how common these actually were.
We’ve got two Figaro’s. The best cars we’ve ever had. Had them just over eleven years now. I’ll never be rid of them! No rust issues ever on either of them unfortunately, daily driven and kept outside and both with 180K miles on the clock. Cannot fault them! 😊
@ that’s your opinion, the Figaro has been the only car that’s been kept by us, been reliable and worth every penny in restoration costs. We’ve had boring cars before like Corsa’s. Life was too short to have a boring car. We love em. That’s all that matters.
@ you guys are two of my favorite channels on TH-cam and I’ve been watching both of you for just about as long as you have been making videos and the one thing that bugs me is that you don’t have more subscribers than you do. You definitely deserve more. Especially for the quality of work that you put out on such a regular basis. I just want to thank you for all of the information you are able to compile and share with the community because I know if I appreciate it then others do too. ❤️
Its funny my son who is now 28 is a massive Whovian. Just before the rebirth of Dr Who with Christopher Eccleston he heard several times the Supernaturals song Smile. He asked me what a Dalek was as it appeared in the lyrics and I told him and soon afterwards Dr Who came back and he was hooked. There were several spin offs one was The Sarah Jane Adventures in which the star the late Elizabeth Sladen drove a Figaro. So today over 15 years later whilst he knows its a Figaro he will always say when he sees one "oh look a Sarah Jayne car"
I live in Atlanta and have test driven one of these in Nashville 260 miles north. Unfortunately the Georgia government in their infinite wisdom has banned Kei cars in our state, so you can own one but you can't title it or drive it on public roads.
Thank you for doing the Figaro story . You done the car proud 😊. My wife has a pale aqua and loves the car sorry Figgy to bits . The Figaro Club is fab with great people .
Come to think of it, I find the whole design and proportions of the Nissan Figaro very reminiscent of the Peugeot 403 convertible, which everyone will remember as Columbo's car, played by the late Peter Falk.
This is the sort of car we need to know more about. Something original, that someone actually designed to look like something, not everything else. Well done.
I worked on many of these in the early 2000s. It would have been worth mentioning the Nissan Micra C+C Essenza which was meant to be inspired by the Figaro.
One of my friends took a photo of one of these parked in the street and sent it me saying "look at this cool classic car!!" She was amazed when I told her it was a Nissan
2:20 The Nissan March had an awesome range topper in Japan. The March Super Turbo! The world's first combination super and turbo charged production car. It had a 930cc 4cyl Super charged & Turbo charged homologation special engine made for racing and rallying in the 1.3 to 1.6lt class (930cc x 1.7 FIA super charger factor = 1581cc)
even the older march turbo with the quirky "dyno" steering wheel and the digital dash was cool, the body kit was really cool too, would love to see these covered someday in the future as k10s are being forgotten more and more sadly
When I was a kid, I used to love whenever I saw a Figaro, even though you never saw them by the early 2010’s. I was absolutely fascinated by them, and just thought they were so cool!
I missed when automotive design was so diverse and "bold?" Yeah, at the time these designs were controversial, but today I really appreciate how quirky they were. Especially in this current sea of homogenous modern car designs.
Another great video & on such a deserving little ride. Like so many others, I fell in love with the Figaro from day one. Hopefully one day I'll have one or something from the Kei segment. There's so many nifty rides.
My son had one and loved it. His two boys were small and to them it was the Batmobile. That a while ago - they’re both well over 6 foot now. Quite a few came to Ireland- mostly spring’
I saw one of these while driving around the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. It was parked, so I was able to pull over and get plenty of photos. It was a green one. It's such a lovely little car.
OMG I was thinking this is the car that the guy at Technology Connection has and then he shows up. I found his channel recently and I immediately got addicted to it. It’s so good.
We had one. Drove it to France on holiday. It broke down 11 times in the end we put a new loom in a recon engine transmission re spray recrome and water cooling system. And it still kept over heating. Couldn’t get to the bottom of it. Part exchanged it for a Nissan cube. Best car I’ve ever had
The Nissan March Bolero, Rio, Tango, Rafeet also existed. I don't know if Nissan's retro phase influenced Subaru but the Impreza Casa Blanca also exists.
I used to drive a Triumph Herald 1200 every day, and when I started seeing the Nissan Figaro here in the UK, I thought classic looks and reliable drivetrain that looks a good proposition, however the lack of space for storage put me off. The TV presenter, Andrew Marr used to drive one to the BBC studio for his Sunday morning political show, I believe it was his own car. Thanks for telling the story. 👍🏻🚗
When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area on the peninsula, I saw one of these in the town I lived in. It was pink with a white top, and though tiny looked nice in person.
Saw one of these in Ft Myers, Florida, back in 2019. I had no idea what it was. Got pictures of it because it was just so different from everything else on the road. Glad to see a video about it. IIRC, the PT Cruiser was built on the Dodge Neon chassis / engine / tranny, etc. So clearly Nissan isn't the only company out there looking at leveraging something they're mass-producing to make something ... different.
I was NOT expecting my nerd overlord Alec from technology connections to make an appearance on my favorite automotive storytelling channel. A most unexpected crossover but a welcome one
I adored the styling from the moment I saw one. My daughter is learning to drive and I spent a while looking for one this year. It's incredibly hard to find a solid example with a service history.
First time I saw one of these parked up and I thought it was something from the 60s I'd not seen before! Really knocked me for six when I found out it was a Nissan Import. The look fab though. 👍
I would love to see more classic-style cars. Especialliy when they're done as well as the Figaro. Building off of electric platforms should make daring designs a lot easier to realise I think.
It's videos like this that remind me of how glad I am to have found this channel oh so long ago. I doubt you will read this Mr. Car, but if by chance you do, I would love it if you could do one of these for the Toyota Sera. My other favourite quirky import ❤️
Star of _The Sarah Jane Adventures_ . BBC must have had more than one in the green color, because sometimes it had the stock white wheels, and others it had what looked like Minilites.
I missed an interesting part of the story in the 1990s and Patron Banpei has it here: www.banpei.net/tag/march-athon
It's videos like this that remind me of how glad I am to have found this channel oh so long ago. I doubt you will read this Mr. Car, but if by chance you do, I would love it if you could do one of these for the Toyota Sera. My other favourite quirky import ❤️
Ever upload to soon. Always keep a copy. A clone. Record your voice separately just in case.
SO, the Daihatsu Gino 1000 next then? Japan went on t a bit of a 50's-esque binge in the 90's to early 00's.
3 of my favorite TH-camrs in 1 video? What is this, a crossover episode?
Needs more Jonny!
Including one that spent a lot of time to figure out how to color Christmas tree led lights so they look like lamps…
And the thing is that some fools like me watched his videos and enjoyed them!😁
Just needs MrHewes and a tank + Rob Dahm with an RX7 and it would be all my favourites
I was literally thinking the same thing lol. Like who's been stalking my algorithm 😂
Crossover episode? Nah, that was the XC70 video from a few months ago
I first saw one of these at a car show surrounded by Mustangs, Camaros, and so on. The owner said I was the only person there who knew what it actually was. He was very impressed so I think I made his day.
Good for you and good for the owner. I also knew what these were and are, because a lady living near us had one and I made a point of finding out about it. I knew it was Japanese and wondered if it was a “city car”, having recalled they had rules about dimensions for coming into certain metro areas. It not for me, but it’s lovely.
@ I still see him whenever I go to a Cars and Coffee in the summer and he was invited to a Concours D’Elegance a few years ago.
When I saw the title of the video, I instantly knew that Technology Connections would feature :)
I was imagining Alec watching this!
Absolutely. In fact, I just watched the Fan thrust video
That's.... One of the most beautiful interiors I have seen in my life 😱 Why can't we have nice things like this anymore in ordinary cars ?!
Cost. Nissan had the money and confidence at the time to create totally bespoke switchgear for the Figaro - not a single March/Micra button in sight! Times are too desperate and uncertain for Nissan and any other similar marque these days to do something like that. I mean, Renault even fitted the brave Alpine A110 with HVAC controls from the Zoe EV and a media stalk seemingly from the 1990s...
Hyundai is slowly leaning towards 90s interior designs so yeah there's some hope
It seriously is way way way too expensive. Nowadays you would need to produce spare parts for a model for years to come (and that's not a bad thing!) and when you can't use these parts in other models and volume models...
This batch production really was a bad idea. You won't get important spare parts for these cars.
I always thought the Nissan designers had been binge-watching episodes of Columbo 😊
Yes, it reminds me of Columbo's Peugeot too, not as tatty though🙂
😂
Thought exactly the same ! Exhaust fumes from the back cigar fumes out the front ! The Columbo car is still around ! Kept under wraps at a universal studios lot :)
Bring...Back....These...Cars!!!!!
Well, apparently Lexus is bringing back the LFA. Will that do?
The next Nissan Micra is going to have retro styling... as it will be a rebadged Renault 5
I was always reminded of Columbo's 1959 Peugeot 403.
A 403 convertible. Even rarer than the sedan.
Yeah that's where my brain goes to
In the comments of Doug Demuro's review people were suggesting the Gutbrod Superior. It is funny how1950s cars all looked the same. Imagine the reaction to concept cars like the Lamborghini Marzal when they were first shown. To me it still looks futuristic today.
One of the two Japanese cars I own, the other is a MK1 MX5. Both in green and both classic looks with modern reliability.
LOL! I saw the thumbnail I knew that had to be Alec's Figaro :) Nice to see Mr. Dunn's footage too! Technology Connections and Aging Wheels are some of my favourite channels.
Same here!
A car that brings a great colab of various TH-cam channels together!
I remember the Figaro launch soooo well. And it was only in production a year and it was a Japan exclusive. Yet it is way more famous than it should be. Truly remarkable
A car people cherish rather than scrap at the first major problem. I wonder how many have gone from the U.K. to the U.S.A. now they can be imported ?
p.s. While we don't have a 25 year rule in the U.K. cars over forty years old are don't need road tax or safety inspections. I was looking through Autotrader and the majority of cars over that age were either MG and similar sports cars or Land Rovers.
went to Japan last month, it's actually surprising how many Micra based Retro cars there are, I don't know what it's called but I also saw a classic Jag looking sedan on the same platform which was common too(saw a few that had it)
edit: at 19:51 it was this lol, you would be surprised how common these actually were.
I think i have seen that car at a top gear episode
Mitsuoka Viewt.
lol, I was thinking of Technology Connections the whole time and then he shows up! Perfect.
From an era when Nissan was truly creative.
The art deco window switches are are beautiful and the steering wheel looks like what dodge tried with the PT Cruiser done correctly.
We’ve got two Figaro’s. The best cars we’ve ever had. Had them just over eleven years now. I’ll never be rid of them! No rust issues ever on either of them unfortunately, daily driven and kept outside and both with 180K miles on the clock. Cannot fault them! 😊
The best cars you ever had? 😂 They barely qualify as cars. What was the competition?
@ that’s your opinion, the Figaro has been the only car that’s been kept by us, been reliable and worth every penny in restoration costs. We’ve had boring cars before like Corsa’s. Life was too short to have a boring car. We love em. That’s all that matters.
Did you get the odometer converted? Or am I taking “on the clock” too literally 😅
Every time I see one I stop and give it a look over. Always a smile!
Love the Figaro - such a different and beautiful car…
both of my favorite TH-camrs together
Very funny to see Alec in Robert’s garage using Andy’s camera set-up.
Yay technology connections cameo! Glad you guys were able to come together on this video. Sure gave me a smile to see him on your channel.
It took a while to come together, but it was very cool he did a bit for my channel.
@ you guys are two of my favorite channels on TH-cam and I’ve been watching both of you for just about as long as you have been making videos and the one thing that bugs me is that you don’t have more subscribers than you do. You definitely deserve more. Especially for the quality of work that you put out on such a regular basis. I just want to thank you for all of the information you are able to compile and share with the community because I know if I appreciate it then others do too. ❤️
A video about the lovely Figaro? With a guest appearance of Alec from Technology Connections and a cameo by Roger from Aging Wheels?
You spoil us Sir!
Its funny my son who is now 28 is a massive Whovian. Just before the rebirth of Dr Who with Christopher Eccleston he heard several times the Supernaturals song Smile. He asked me what a Dalek was as it appeared in the lyrics and I told him and soon afterwards Dr Who came back and he was hooked. There were several spin offs one was The Sarah Jane Adventures in which the star the late Elizabeth Sladen drove a Figaro. So today over 15 years later whilst he knows its a Figaro he will always say when he sees one "oh look a Sarah Jayne car"
I live in Atlanta and have test driven one of these in Nashville 260 miles north. Unfortunately the Georgia government in their infinite wisdom has banned Kei cars in our state, so you can own one but you can't title it or drive it on public roads.
The Figaro isn’t a Kei car though
@@patrickmartin3322yup, based on the larger March/Micra
Thank you for doing the Figaro story .
You done the car proud 😊.
My wife has a pale aqua and loves the car sorry Figgy to bits .
The Figaro Club is fab with great people .
Come to think of it, I find the whole design and proportions of the Nissan Figaro very reminiscent of the Peugeot 403 convertible, which everyone will remember as Columbo's car, played by the late Peter Falk.
I always thought the Figaro looked like the Subaru R360, which also has the same kind of roof.
The Subaru R360 looks more to me like a cross between the original Fiat 500 and the Messerschmitt KR200.
This is the sort of car we need to know more about. Something original, that someone actually designed to look like something, not everything else. Well done.
You say that and then people go and buy a big crossover blob car.
I worked on many of these in the early 2000s. It would have been worth mentioning the Nissan Micra C+C Essenza which was meant to be inspired by the Figaro.
One of my friends took a photo of one of these parked in the street and sent it me saying "look at this cool classic car!!" She was amazed when I told her it was a Nissan
O FIGARO É UM CARRO QUE VENDIA BEM NOS DIAS DE HOJE....OS CARROS SÃO PRATICAMENTE TODOS IGUAIS HOJE EM DIA E O FIGARO ERA UMA LUFADA DE AR FRESCO...
Some of these were imported to the US,pretty cool little car
The 1st time I saw a Figaro I thought "What a gorgeous classic car,I wonder what make it is" then i saw the number plate and was confused as heck!
Me too. With no obvious manufacturer's badge either.
Cars with character……..we need these now more than ever!
this car actually fooled me into thinking it was genuinely from the 50s/60s lol ❤️
Reminds me of the Daihatsu Copen
2:20 The Nissan March had an awesome range topper in Japan.
The March Super Turbo! The world's first combination super and turbo charged production car.
It had a 930cc 4cyl Super charged & Turbo charged homologation special engine made for racing and rallying in the 1.3 to 1.6lt class (930cc x 1.7 FIA super charger factor = 1581cc)
even the older march turbo with the quirky "dyno" steering wheel and the digital dash was cool, the body kit was really cool too, would love to see these covered someday in the future as k10s are being forgotten more and more sadly
So very nice to see my two favorite channels and hosts together!! What a great surprise!!! 😊
When I was a kid, I used to love whenever I saw a Figaro, even though you never saw them by the early 2010’s. I was absolutely fascinated by them, and just thought they were so cool!
Aww, the Figaro is adorable. You just wanna go up and give it a big hug. 😁
Thanks for that @8:59. 🤣🤣🤣
One of the best you tube channels out there, always very informative
I missed when automotive design was so diverse and "bold?" Yeah, at the time these designs were controversial, but today I really appreciate how quirky they were. Especially in this current sea of homogenous modern car designs.
no
Mr Car, your love of all things automotive just flows out from the screen. Just keep being you.
nissan should release these today as EVs, based on the leaf platform
Another great video & on such a deserving little ride. Like so many others, I fell in love with the Figaro from day one. Hopefully one day I'll have one or something from the Kei segment. There's so many nifty rides.
My son had one and loved it. His two boys were small and to them it was the Batmobile.
That a while ago - they’re both well over 6 foot now.
Quite a few came to Ireland- mostly spring’
I saw one of these while driving around the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. It was parked, so I was able to pull over and get plenty of photos. It was a green one. It's such a lovely little car.
I have always loved these little cars, so cute and interiors are so stylish. I think I would go for the mint green colour.
OMG I was thinking this is the car that the guy at Technology Connection has and then he shows up. I found his channel recently and I immediately got addicted to it. It’s so good.
I’d love to see a in-depth video about the PIKE cars, especially the Rasheen. Great video as always, thank you ❤️❤️
Great video and lovely to see Alex take a starring role. His channel is outsanding.
We had one. Drove it to France on holiday. It broke down 11 times in the end we put a new loom in a recon engine transmission re spray recrome and water cooling system. And it still kept over heating. Couldn’t get to the bottom of it. Part exchanged it for a Nissan cube. Best car I’ve ever had
The Nissan March Bolero, Rio, Tango, Rafeet also existed. I don't know if Nissan's retro phase influenced Subaru but the Impreza Casa Blanca also exists.
Just looked it up and now I need to bleach my eyes.
Loveee it. A neighbor has one, not in perfect condition, but they drive it around.
What a coincidence, I love your YT both channels ❤
Funny thing, there’s one driving around here in Belgium too, saw it last week!
Brilliant episode, love Johnny and Alec too!
I often see these things on the road and I know Mitsuoka does a lot of reimagination. It would be cool to see a story about that.
I was in Japan this summer and saw a couple of Figaro's... but thought they were 1960's cars!!
Didn't realise they were retro styled 90's cars!!
I used to drive a Triumph Herald 1200 every day, and when I started seeing the Nissan Figaro here in the UK, I thought classic looks and reliable drivetrain that looks a good proposition, however the lack of space for storage put me off. The TV presenter, Andrew Marr used to drive one to the BBC studio for his Sunday morning political show, I believe it was his own car. Thanks for telling the story. 👍🏻🚗
Thanks for the reminder of Poundshop Abba 😆
When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area on the peninsula, I saw one of these in the town I lived in. It was pink with a white top, and though tiny looked nice in person.
as soon as i saw this video i thought of Alec and Robert, and i was not disappointed!
First thing I thought of was Columbo's 1959 Peugeot 403 Cabriolet. same vibe..
Love the shoutout to TC and AW.
Saw one of these in Ft Myers, Florida, back in 2019. I had no idea what it was. Got pictures of it because it was just so different from everything else on the road. Glad to see a video about it.
IIRC, the PT Cruiser was built on the Dodge Neon chassis / engine / tranny, etc. So clearly Nissan isn't the only company out there looking at leveraging something they're mass-producing to make something ... different.
Thank you, Andy - enjoyed this one 😊❤️
These are fantastic cars. I wish they came in LHD
All these great youtubers are in this video yes lawd
Wow, what a cool litte car!!! I love the design......
We had the Daihatsu ‘Copen’ too. That was a baby Audi TT. Almost a copy = copen (?). Or ‘Co’ from ‘copy’ and ‘open’ from ‘open top’. 🙈
I would love to own a Figaro, and I think the Rasheen looks quite cool too. Thanks for the video.
I was NOT expecting my nerd overlord Alec from technology connections to make an appearance on my favorite automotive storytelling channel. A most unexpected crossover but a welcome one
I'm so happy that I've managed to feature my three favourite TH-camrs on this channel.
These were everywhere in London from 2005-2008.
The ultimate middle class girlies car of the time accompanied by a ‘small dog breed’ or poodle.
and gonnorea
I think its beautiful, and I love seeing the odd one around here in Dublin!
I adored the styling from the moment I saw one. My daughter is learning to drive and I spent a while looking for one this year. It's incredibly hard to find a solid example with a service history.
What a great vid! One of your best, You see them in Holland too, but not that often of course.
Keep up the good work 👏
14:14 "And through the magic of buying two of them, I have an already-taken-apart one right here"
新車で手に入れた日本の男性は隣にガールフレンドを乗せるために買ったのです。
I was thinking 'Don't Alec from Technology Connections have one?' and then he showed up in the video.
Volkswagen took a similar approach with the New Beetle, using Golf mechanicals underneath.
Always loved the Pao, although now it looks too fussy. The S-Cargo was genuinely clever, and pointed the way for small vans.
I have only seen one of these little gorgeous car in Toronto.
First time I saw one of these parked up and I thought it was something from the 60s I'd not seen before!
Really knocked me for six when I found out it was a Nissan Import.
The look fab though. 👍
22:15 - Herpa has already tried this in Europe. But they couldn't find a production partner for the NewTrabant...
I would love to see more classic-style cars. Especialliy when they're done as well as the Figaro.
Building off of electric platforms should make daring designs a lot easier to realise I think.
The "new" Jaguar should try this I bet it would pan out.
Wonderful Car. The looks are inspired by the Gutbrod Superior of the early 1950s.
3 of my fav channels crossover, me likey
I've sometimes wondered if Ford used the Figaro as inspiration for its eleventh generation Thunderbird two-seater revival of 2002.
That Figaro song is great! Thanks for sharing that. I'm all for the ABBA knockoffs of the late 70s.
I actually saw this thing in Hungary, it was there right around my school lol
Amazingly cute aren't they! It is absolutely not my sort of car, but I can't help liking the styling!
It's videos like this that remind me of how glad I am to have found this channel oh so long ago. I doubt you will read this Mr. Car, but if by chance you do, I would love it if you could do one of these for the Toyota Sera. My other favourite quirky import ❤️
Glad you like the channel. Not sure I'll do the Sera any time soon, but I love the drag show!
The Nissan Figaro was clearly inspired by the German Gutbrod Superior (1950-54).
Ooh, a crossover special!
Star of _The Sarah Jane Adventures_ . BBC must have had more than one in the green color, because sometimes it had the stock white wheels, and others it had what looked like Minilites.
I knew this day would come!
9:35 modern Minis have toggle switches as well
I came across the Rasheen exactly today, so if a full video on its story is made by you, i'd love it!
‘What on earth is thát for a car?!’. ‘Well, you Figaro it out!’. 😝