Well I was shocked.

The old Micra was a tank disguised as a car. The thing was incredibly
well built, and had a reputation for reliability and quality build
that few other cars had. One friend has an 18 year old Micra in great
condition, another had a 12 year old Micra which didn't have a thing
wrong with it.

The new Micra is, as you say, a French car with a Japanese Nissan
sticker on the front. Its not well built, its not well designed, its
not solid and its not a patch on the old Mirca. Some design faults are
really bad. Its pretty cheap, cheap plastic, cheaply put together,
cheaply designed.  It feels and drives like a common French car, and
those aren't known for reliability or quality build.

I was hoping to buy a quality Japanese car that I could keep for 10
years or longer, but I got a shoddy French car that I'll have to sell
after 5 years.

In my experience French cars are not something you want to have around
after 60,000 as they tend to fall apart. A good Japanese car can be
driven for 120,000 before it starts having serious problems, and
sometimes not even then. A friend's Micra has done over 150,000.

The Micra became a hit on its reputation for quality and reliability,
i.e. it sold on word of mouth. But if its just another shoddy French
car, I don't think Nissan will be able to fool people for much longer,
and will perhaps go the way of Rover. You can only fool people for a
limited time, and people talk.

Today I found that the car doors have soft foam on the interior, so
when I put a box in the front it dented it, and now is permanently
damaged. This is appallingly bad design, I just can't believe that a
quality car like the old Micra is now being made cheaply and badly. Oh
well....all good things come to an end.