In view of their capacity to develop high strength following limited alloying and ease of processing, medium carbon microalloyed (MA) steels are very cost effective compared with quenched and tempered (Q&T) steels for the production of automotive components. Recently, a two-step cooling (TSC) procedure with an additional anneal following low temperature forging/rolling was developed to obtain multiphase (ferrite-bainite-martensite), microstructures in a microalloyed steel. The microstructure predominantly contained granular/lower bainite, lath martensite and polygonal ferrite, with inter-lath films as well as blocks of retained austenite. Vanadium carbide precipitates were observed only in the polygonal ferrite and the ferrite in the bainite region. The F-B-M (R) exhibited (rolling route) significantly higher yield and tensile strength values than the F-B-M (F) microstructure. Under low cycle fatigue (LCF) loading, the F-B-M (R) microstructure exhibited a cyclically stable response at total strain amplitudes ≤0.6% and continuous cyclic softening till failure. However, the F-B-M (R) microstructure exhibited a greater fatigue life than the F-B-M (F) microstructure when the comparison was based on the total strain amplitude, (Δεt/2). Fatigue tested microstructure of F-B-M (F) at a total strain amplitude of 0.4% and the microstructure of F-B-M (R) at a total strain amplitude of 0.55% were stable. The inter-lath retained austenite strips/films played a significant role in preventing the softening during fatigue loading. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.