(first posted 7/12/2014) If you pay much attention to pop culture, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that a certain vision of nerdiness is passed off as sexy. In a typical example, the profoundly unattractive protagonists of Big Bang Theory manage to keep their traditionally attractive neighbor handy at all times. But this is disingenuous when describing a social experience defined by rejection and the charm of nerdiness is lost given too many attempts to redeem it using sex appeal. Much better to go full-on dork or full-on sexpot, in my opinion, and Nissan must have felt the same throughout much of the 1980s. Hence a car lineup defined at one end by the Z-car and, at the other end, by the Stanza and Sentra.
That Subaru lurking in the background begs the question: is there a difference between nerdiness and other kinds of rejection? In the automotive landscape of the 1980s and early ’90s, Subarus were falling out of favor next to the sort of understated, top-drawer chicness epitomized by the average Honda of the era, but they had a dedicated cult following and have emerged over the past decade as the default hip choice. I’ve actually begun to find them to be a very annoying cultural signifier, despite my deep respect for their engineering. The Stanza, on the other hand, had no real reputation to speak of and made no attempt to stake out an identity, despite being extremely competent and, for that, I’ve always loved them.
If the early ’80s car market were a high school, that Subaru would be the hip, young literature teacher while this Stanza would conduct the orchestra in whichever closet the school district provided. Success, unfortunately, requires self-promotion and cars like this did Nissan absolutely zero favors in the US market.
Why pursue such dowdy product design in an image-driven market? Well, we’ve dabbled in analyzing Nissan’s highs and lows in the US market a bit recently, and perhaps the most important take-away is that, as Japan’s erstwhile number-two automaker, tremendously popular at home and other East Asian capitalist markets (like Taiwan), conservative style was the order of the day.
Real embodiment of Nissan’s city-slicker chic in home markets was promoted by selling gizmo-laden, high-zoot variants of cars like these. Out here, though, adapting these designs to sell in a market where Datsun was primarily known for economy meant peddling the ultimate in appliances (aside from halo models like the Z). Hence, dowdy cars like this Stanza and the Sentra.
All Japanese manufacturers operated in this manner, but some much less than others. Honda, for instance, never had the sort of home market presence as Nissan and was a much less marketing-driven firm (until the mid ’90s rolled around). So their approach–to rely less on the home market and focus on class-leading compacts–meant that their more modestly outfitted North American specials had style and substance which made them more popular, respectable and profitable. They also enjoyed somewhat more prestige in Europe.
Nissan was by no means unique in its priorities; a lot of the dowdiness which characterized Toyota’s mainstream models was rooted in the same Japanese home market preference for conservatively styled cars with lots of gadgets. But unlike Nissan, some attention was given to making cars like the Corolla and Camry palatable to Americans (consider that we never got the front-drive Corona, for instance, or that the Camry and Corolla were given some rounded edges and sixteen-valve engines around the same time this Stanza’s successor was given a neo-gothic makeover).
This interior of this low trim level Stanza is case in point of how the company operated. Someone bought this because it was a well-built car that was close enough to the class-leading Accord. Nevermind that dealers didn’t make similar profits or move as many units, the Yen was cheap and any number sold brought some money to headquarters in Yokohama.
To a lesser extent, one could have said the same about cars like the first-generation Camry, and for both Nissan and Toyota, with such a large variety of more expensive models (like the Supra, 810, Cressida, 280Z, etc.) which Honda did not have, there were other paths to big profits, even if it meant not having the most sensational compact cars. It’s an unfortunate coincidence that the home market name for one variant of the Stanza was Auster, because austere is exactly what these cars were.
But the sad thing is, these weren’t bad cars, just unfashionable. This generation Stanza was fully competitive, even if the following generation was somewhat underpowered (moving to a rebodied version of the heavier Bluebird chassis, the extended-nosed, V6-powered version of which we got as the 1985 Maxima; Nissan genealogy is a tad complicated) and over decorated.
The final version of the nameplate we saw between 1989 and 1992 was actually sporty in its manners, even if it was dull to look at. But the same Asia-Pacific focus remained, making the nameplate increasingly irrelevant. Who was the last person you know who owned a Stanza, and do you remember them feeling any passion toward it?
It was a shock to many casual observers when Nissan went bankrupt in 1998, but the fact of the matter was that cars like this eventually did the company in in the US market. Once the Yen rose and the bottom fell out of the sports car market, there were few paths to profit for Yokohama’s finest in the US. But for fans of the brand, even these dowdiest of Nissans have a pocket-protector charm which is hard to deny.
I think Auster was the Roman god of the south wind—looking at a list of JDM names it doesn’t look like Nissan ever went as far as Maserati and VW in terms of naming their cars for winds.
WRT Honda, it’s a nice exercise to go through a tony suburb and see what proportion of houses have an Accord in their driveway vs. a luxury marque. It tells you a lot about the character of the place (parts of Massachusetts and Chicago’s north shore score fairly high on the Accord Embarrassment of Riches Index).
That is somewhat the case in Ithaca, NY. A top of the line Accord or Camry is a status symbol though some people do buy Japanese or German luxury vehicles.
Drove one of these on an adrenaline fueled 24 hour 1000 mile whirlwind tour of the mid south about 16 years ago. I remember the tires being ancient, and the wheels unbalanced. It took about a week for my body to stop feeling the vibrations.
Parents of a friend of mine had one growing up. The Dad was an NYPD Lieutenant and the Mom worked for Columbia records. He drove an 81 or so brown Cutlass Supreme sedan which was very austere. Vinyl seats, rear windows that did not open, etc. I remember it not being very luxurious but enjoyed the Dad’s company. A really good man who passed away a few years ago. The Mom drove an 84 Stanza sedan in a similar but more metallic champagne color as the car featured here but loaded with every option including a red velour interior and top of the line stereo. Since she worked for Columbia records, she always had the latest 80’s music available. Strange for me to say this, but I knew it was going to be a good day when I got a ride in that Stanza…. comfortable seats, power everything, and that stereo!
Mom had an 85 4 door sedan 5 speed stick in the same champagne with red velour color. It drove nicely, shifted very smoothly and had very good power for a 4 cylinder in 1985. It was also very smooth riding and reliable. I drove it quite a few times, a nice car. And the glovebox was big enough to hold a large roll of masking tape, several pens and my largest pocket protector. The mirror in the sunvisor was perfect for adjusting the earpieces so one side was 1/4 of an inch higher then the other.
If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife.
It’s not that it’s not politically correct. It’s that it sounds so very very gay…
At least here in the USA, most Sentras are the modern equal of a 1960’s 4 door, 6 cylinder, PowerGlide Chevy II.
I thought more of the Sentra being the modern equal of the Chrysler A-body Dart/Valiant slant six with Torqueflite as well as the Ford Fox-body Fairmont/Zephyr.
” I’ve actually begun to find them to be a very annoying cultural signifier, despite my deep respect for their engineering”
Precisely how I have felt about Volvo over the years.
Well done Perry, interesting take on the Stanza and enjoyable read with my Saturday morning coffee.
We all have our annoying cultural signifiers. BMW anyone? 🙂
Did a head gasket on one of these for a friend once. Really simple cars to work on (Disclaimer: I am a pro, your results may vary) and pretty well built.
As I remembered it this car didn’t sell very well in Japan because it was too European in design, too plain, didn’t have all the surface gimmicks still popular in Japan at the time. Car and Driver also included the fuel injected Stanzas as one of the fastest production cars available in the US, rivaling emission strangled Corvettes.
That’s one of the things about this car. It was a rocket ship by the standards of 1982, even before they fuel injected the engine. Everyone seems happy with the characterization of it being a frumpy and dorky appliance. Take a look at what else was in this market in 1982. The VW Rabbit was geriatric and less appealing than what VW offered in 1977. The Omnirizon was no challenge to the Stanza. The Corolla was still stuck in the ’70s and had no engine to rival the Nissan. You could still get a Chevette, and many people did. The J-car was an underpowered dud while the Stanza was faster than a BMW 320i. The K-car was styled to look like a kiddie version of a ’77 Buick LeSabre while lacking the Stanza’s performance. The Escort was a similar design to the Stanza without the quality of execution or the strong engine. Only the new Accord had much to recommend it over the Stanza, and even it didn’t have the Stanza’s moves.
Now to the downsides. Nissan’s building and dismantling of the Datsun brand meant their new cars had to be amazing to get anyone to consider them. Dumb. The Stanza’s advantages were quickly usurped by new offerings over the next three years. Adding fuel injection didn’t make up for how fast the body and interior aged, particularly with the facelift that only succeeded in making the car look blocky and generic. CR said it was the highest quality sedan at the time, but absence of problems didn’t make up for generally low quality finishes and materials. Getting spanked in sales by the boxier Accord and Toyotas sent Nissan to extreme cereal box styling as others rediscovered curves.The next Stanza was not as interesting as the first was when introduced.
Thanks for the perspective. As cars so forgotten by the public, it’s virtually impossible to get this sort of info. But when looking at Japanese brochures, it was impossible to find wacky digital dashes and as I recall the FI versions of the car had a healthy 102 horsepower so your analysis makes sense. I suppose that’s what makes CC so useful; we all learn something.
I’ll find a way to integrate a redemption of the model in a future piece.
Much as I hated Nissan’s hyped, over-the-top adverts (“You NEED this car!”; “AWESOME“), which sounds like a desperate peddler in a Mideast bazaar, I felt like a chump back then for buying domestic after reading reviews of the Stanza & Sentra. “Japan Inc.” [remember all the media fuss about this?] were in a different league technically.
The epiphany in my car life was driving a rented E70 Corolla around San Jose. It felt totally solid, & made me realize I bet on the wrong horse in buying an Escort.
From a design standpoint, I find this much better than the first gen Camry or the Corolla featured yesterday.
It reminds me a lot of the 1st gen Camry, especially the 5-door version.
In Australia we got the even more generic and somnolent 4cyl Nissan Pintara, which I imagine was styled at the same refrigerator factory that penned the 1988 Dodge Dynasty.
That’s the first gen Pintara which was a four-cyl dropped into an R31 Skyline. I believe the second gen ‘hatch/wagon’ was an oz design.
A.K.A. Ford Corsair.
truth
The Pintara Superhatch and Corsair whatever-they-called-it were not common in either form.
In Australia, Nissan seemed to be a schizophrenic car company. Their reputation in the sixties had been great, and they even outsold Toyota back in the seventies. But then it all seemed to fall apart for them. New models were not as good as their predecessor. Styling went from full-on weird to ultra-boring. Their FWD small cars were decidedly “meh”. Solid axles replaced IRS on their rear-drive sedans. Their mid-size cars remained RWD when everyone else, even Toyota, had gone to FWD.
By the time cars like these Pintaras came along, nobody cared about Nissan any more. And nowadays they seem to have gone fully bipolar – the GTR on one hand, and rehashed Renaults on the other.
“rehashed Renaults on the other.”
For example? To the best of my knowledge there are no Nissans on sale in Australia that are “rehashed Renaults”, there are some co-developed products, e.g. Koleos/X-Trail, but your terminology makes lends the impression that you think Nissans are but badge-engineered Renault product.
My apologies if I have mis-understood.
I agree with Pete that the Pintara that was a large midsizer and the last rwd available provided a unique selling proposition that disappeared when it changed to a bland-erific fwd.
The C platform is Renault-led, and was first used for the 2nd generation Megane – http://blog.alliance-renault-nissan.com/content/c-platform On the other hand the smaller B platform was Nissan-led.
The featured Stanza wasn’t sold in Australia, we still had the previous rwd (A10 Violet) at this stage, but it looks like an almost by-the-numbers rendition of an entirely conventional, inoffensive design for the times.
The area rearward of the B pillar is Aus design, the basic design is as the U12 SSS-R as shown in the main article.
The U12 liftback/wagon was also sold in Japan as the “Bluebird Aussie” with (if my memory serves me correctly) an SR20DE. It featured little Australian flag decals on the front guards, and some model-specific colours. I’ve only seen one over here in NZ.
Back in the late 80s, I knew an accountant who drove one of these, in that deeply unappealing light yellow color. It was a perfect car for him – competent, frugal, all substance and not much style. That car was, to me at that time, the ultimate appliance – the car that said “shaddap and quit whining about what you want, this is what you need, so just take this and like it.”
That chickpea color was quite popular, huh? I wonder why they’d even offer it; why not more gold ones? That was a popular color back then.
I was too much of a budding Honda (and Mazda) fanboy at this time to have any interest in these. I thought they were way too dumpy. Perfect for the frumpy orchestra teacher–in my case, literally. Mrs. Botts, who taught music at my school, bought at new-for-82 light brown Stanza 3-door. Functional, yes, but simply not attractive, inside or out. She had traded in a light green 1974 AMC Hornet wagon, so it was clear she liked her cars offbeat, practical and plain.
Oh, and my high school Social Studies teacher, the newly-divorced (and very good looking) Miss Mayhew drove a yellow Subaru 🙂
I was taken by the blatant cribbing of the 80 to 87 Audi 4000 (80, everywhere but N.A.) design on the 89-92 Stanza. I owned an 86 4000 at that time and when parked next to a period Stanza, the similarity was quite striking.
I’m having a hard time seeing it.
For me nothing says dork like a piece of masking tape holding on the arm of a pair of eye glasses. How could it be possible that… a) nerds all around the world knew how to do this, even before the internet, b) didn’t just get the glasses fixed or buy a new pair and c) this did not happen with any other eyewear on any other demographic? Also why not use clear Scotch tape or even black electrical tape why did it ALWAYS have to be masking tape?
The automotive equivalent were those air vents in back, usually at the sides of the taillights like on these Stanzas. To prove Perry’s theory true about it being best to play up your geekiness Nissan went ahead an made the vent PART OF THE TAILLIGHT on the ’87 model. Most manufactures of course hid the vent, usually behind the bumper facia.
In terms of sheer dork appeal nothing beats the total random placement of these vents on the Mitusbihi Tredia.
Not that I’m a dork or anything. But growing up, I had to buy new glasses every year, or every other year. My eysights changed, and I was growing, literally. So, if the glasses broke in a fixable way, you were basically stuck with that fix until the next time new glasses were bought. Luckily for me, most of the time they broke in a non-fixable way, making a trip to the optician imminent.
Lucky you, Ingvar. My parents only bought me new glasses about every three years, and to this day I have indentations in the side of my head where the arms go. 🙁
That explains why the younger demographic would want to repair rather than replace, thank you Ingvar. I still do not understand why so many of you guys used masking tape, when a less noticeable kind of tape, wire or well placed screw would look better. Was it not caring or perhaps a geek chic thing?
You talk about it like there’s a good way and a bad way of fixing glasses. There is no good way of fixing glasses. They all look like a cheap fix…
Ingvar when I was growing up the studious kids were wearing square glasses with heavy black frames. These came to symbolize intelligence and been a strong fashion trend in the US for last 10 years. People wear them now to look cool and smart.
To say it another way the nerdy look is in. But back then to repair these glasses with masking tape did not look good at all. Notice the heavy hardware on Mr. Perry’s glasses to deal with the breakage issue.
Yes, the nerds rule supreme. And it’s kind of fun. And yes, I embrace my inner hipster to the fullest. I actually wear an original line of browline glasses, the Ronsir Zyl from Shuron. I’ve always liked that particular kind of glasses, but it never occured to me that I could actually buy them. There’s no retailer in my country, but I ordered them over the internet and let my local optician fix the glasses. I’m very happy with them, and will likely never change the style.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browline_glasses
“Browlines enjoyed a renaissance as sunglasses in the 1980s before returning to popularity in the 2010s, thanks to the influence of hipsters and retro style.”
That is what I’m talking about! I’d love to see a revenge of the nerds thing happen where you guys go back to the masking tape “repair” just as an inside joke, a secret handshake if you will. The real nerds will get it and the rest will copy it on their Browlines.
My great aunt and great uncle had a grey one. This would be mid-late 80s, and they were living in Vermont. Replaced with the blue Stanza van, which was in turn succeeded by a Subaru Legacy wagon.
Very frugal Yankees with little interest in automotive style, just bang for the buck. Nissans suited them perfectly. As JPC says it was very much a “forget what you want, this is what you need” car. They only wanted what they truly felt they needed.
I prefer the restrained plushness of the upper-middle American brands but in a way both types of cars reflect in different ways an attitude not often seen today: a desire to minimize the appearance of conspicuous consumption–either by driving something quietly formal or by sheer minimalism and utility.
“They only wanted what they truly felt they needed.”
A lot of people who had grown up in the depression years kept this attitude all their lives.
The cultural reference here is dead on. I worked in a chemistry lab, and there was one married couple who were each so geeky in their own way that people would say they were an illustration of the maxim “There’s somebody for everybody”. One of these Nissans was their car.
I’ve been waiting for CC to do a piece on the Stanza. My aunt and uncle bought a new dark red/cherry/burgundy Stanza hatchback in ’82 to replace their ’78 accord hatchback that was completely destroyed in a car accident. (Incidentally, they barely had a scratch on them and weren’t even wearing their seatbelts!)
They loved the car. It was enough room for them and their two teenaged boys and was one of few imported cars that could carry a family of four with luggage while climbing a hill with the air conditioner on.
They kept it 11 years and about 175,000 miles and as I recall the paint and interior were still in decent shape. The engine, brakes and clutch were still good, and the air conditioner still worked. They say to this day that the Stanza was one of the toughest cars they ever owned.
Sure, they weren’t popular and they weren’t all that attractive, but it was a darned good car.
Not to be a stickler, but the 1989-92 Stanza wasn’t the final version of the nameplate sold in the U.S. Early Altima’s were, in fact, badged “Stanza Altima,” although the first part was merely a small sticker on the car’s rump.
I deliberately didn’t include the ’93 Alty.
I can remember the T11 Stanza being introduced in the early 80’s, because it was a new name and it looked a promising car. So much more advanced than the old Violet.They didn’t seem to sell too many though, and they all vanished very quickly. I always assumed some kind of serious fault had caused Nissan to buy them all back, the way Toyota did with the last rear-drive Starlet model in Ireland.Certainly the Stanza name was never used again in Europe.
The Nissan that happened to was the Van, not the Stanza, at least in the USA. A propensity for catching on fire, as I recall, caused Nissan to buy them back from anyone who’d sell, making survivors (unburned ones, that is) very rare indeed.
At the time these came out, in 1982, I thought it was a pretty nice looking car, with surprisingly clean but well-done lines. This was not exactly one of the great eras for auto design; the Americans were still lost in Brougham-ville, with the exception of some of the newest cars, like the Citation. And this Stanza reminds me more than a bit of the Citation; not so much in the small details, but the general configuration and lack of over-wrought details.
It reminds me more than a bit of the gen2 Celica, which was designed in the US, and made me wonder if the Stanza was too, but I don’t know if Nissan had a design studio in the US then. This little window of clean, international design by some of the Japanese was short-lived, as the next generation Stanza (and Celica) adopted a blocky and rather fussy Japanese style that I could just never quite warm up to.
I recommended one of these, in the exact same color, to a young couple that worked with me at the tv station. At the time, its performance was superior to the Accord’s, and the price was cheaper, so they thought it was a good choice too. They loved it, and drove it for many years, until I lost touch with them. But when I found this particular car, it reminded me of that day back in 1983 or so, and how happy they were with their new Stanza hatchback. I drove it once briefly, and it felt particularly lively. A very good car for the times.
It’s proven to be a hard car to pin down, as your comment and CJinSJ and Justinx have proven. I think I made too big a judgment based on its appearance, because I can think of some other designs from the era which have aged better.
When compared to even the ’82 Accord and ’83 Camry, it’s a very upright, boxy car; at least, when you consider the sedans. Perhaps it was conceived with hardpoints and a roofline which favored the five-door first, with the sedan being a secondary consideration.
I admit that it’s pretty generic looking, especially in hindsight. But then I tend to like cars that are simple and honest, especially given what was rolling around the streets at the time (think endless late 70’s Tbirds with the basket handle roofs and those horrible fake “luggage straps” down their trunks). Everything is relative.
Yes, to my own tastes, it’s quite charming. I am also quite fond of the “graph paper” background on the gauges (popular on some other cars as well), though it’s a fussy detail.
Guys the 3-door was the Stanza bodystyle that was good looking. I was going to post a pic earlier but couldn’t find one, looked again and here it is. This was the first car to have the side window treatment that we would see later on cars like the Mitsubishi Mirage and Chevy Spectrum. I suppose there is some ’78 Celica in it too like Paul said.
I still can’t believe the 3-door actually existed! They must be extinct (or close to it) at this point along with 3-door hatch Sentras and the 5-door hatch Stanza from the next generation.
You’re right, this is the best looking version. Makes an interesting comparison to the 2nd gen Accord hatch (which I love so much). I do like all of the Stanza bodystyles, though. I’m the same age as Perry so I can definitely see them as retroactively dorky, but weren’t they actually a huge hit for Nissan at the time? I remember even around the turn of the millennium, the streets were still littered with Stanzas from this generation.
No not a huge seller like I remember the 510/710/610 models being in the late 70s. Those cars weren’t as attractive as the new Stanza but it didn’t matter, people wanted fuel economy and quality. Don’t forget the Japanese had a big price advantage back then too.
In the 80s things got tougher. After the experiment with contemporary styling Nissan went conservative on the ’87 model, the one with the taillight vents. It bombed, Accord took off, Camry improved and it took until ’02 for Nissan to close the gap, though the first Altima in ’93 did pretty well. That beautiful ’02 Altima saved the day for Nissan. Today they are all tied for sales.
But is the current model doing as well for Nissan? And did the ’02, with its hideous interior, command the same prices and profit margins that the Accord usually manages, sans incentives? If so, good for Nissan (I was under the impression it’s still not wine and roses for them).
The only source I have are the headlines I see and from those it seems Accord, Camry and Altima are neck and neck in sales these days.
Have no way to confirm but my guess is that the ’02 Altima doubled retail sales of its predecessor. I remember the car costing as much as an Accord because there were few discounts. Since the prior model was heavily discounted the transaction price was, what, maybe $2k higher than the old car? $3k more if you include the V6? Profits were probably sky high, in part because of the cheap interior! Styling played a key role though the ’02 was also a larger car that finally matched Accord and Camry in size.
The facelifted car got an all-new interior in ’05MY, which you usually don’t see until the next generation model.
No not a huge seller like I remember the 510/710/610 models being in the late 70s. Those cars weren’t as attractive as the new Stanza but it didn’t matter, people wanted fuel economy and quality.
Wow, I’d never have guessed that… those cars had mostly rusted away by the time I was old enough to notice them. I always assumed Nissan kept grabbing more and more market share up until the 90s, just not as aggressively as Honda and Toyota. It’s almost hard for me to imagine a world where Datsun 710s and 610s were a common sight, haha!
I also figured that this Stanza sold roughly as well as the 1st gen Toyota Camry, based solely on their survival rate later on. From ’87-’01 it seems like Nissan didn’t even try to compete with the Accord and Camry directly, preferring to bracket them on both ends with the Stanza/Altima and Maxima. Never really worked, although plenty of those were great cars.
I don’t have any stats to back this up, but just based on what I see with my two eyes I’m pretty confident saying that the 2002+ Altima is likely the highest volume model Nissan has ever had in the U.S.
The ’02 was the comeback car. For the first time everyone knew what an Altima was, it was stunning.
The all-new ’07, which looked nearly identical, sold even better despite the ’08 financial crisis. The last year of that model in ’12 was its best year. I think it out sold Accord.
The all-new ’13 continued what the earlier cars started and is selling as well as A & C.
It’s been said it takes two successful generations to turn a nameplate around. The 13MY Altima seems to be proof of that. Nice car but I hope they give it a fresh face for the facelift, there are so many around LA that I am getting sick of the look.
Dorky as they may seem today, in 1982 these really looked nice especially compared with their immediate Datsun predecessors. They had clean, rational, spacious lines. I remember the ’82 stanza being pitted against competitors like the Accord and J-Car by C/D and it coming out on top. Its successor in ’87 was, however, reviewed by C/D,as having taken aim at the Celebrity and hitting it spot on. Not complimentary.
My manager had one of these back in 1982, and for wome reason what stood out for me was the velour upholstery, it kind of had a repeating 2 level effect that kind of looked old fashioned.
I guess it was an upgrade from what I had in my 710, though some people now might envy my having white (vinyl) seats…the odd thing was that the carpeting was brown (in my mind not very color coordinated with a black dash. By the time the Stanza came around, everything was color coordinated, including the whole dash (no black dash here)…must have been pretty expensive to stock the various interior colors back then, but kind of wish they still offered this kind of choice nowdays.
Replying to my comment (6 years ago now)
Guess I’m a fan of Datsun/Nissan’s mid-sizers since my first car was a Datsun 710. Someone commented that some of these mid-sized Datsuns were pretty common, but I didn’t find that to be the case, 710’s were very scarce, particularly the elusive coupe (which I’ve never seen in person). While I was still driving my 710, I worked at Hertz during summer breaks from college (’77 and ’78) and got to drive the predecessor to this, a 510, which although nothing like the original 510 I though was a pretty nice car, it even had the (back then) touted NAPS-Z engine, and was the last of the RWD mid-sizers like my 710, as I think this generation coincided with FWD along with the phased-in name change to Nissan (were any of this generation sold as Datsuns?). Anyway, the Stanza seemed to get lost with people migrating to the Camry or Accord (and nowdays Subaru, but not back then). Not sure why changing the name to Altima made a difference, but it seems to have worked well, as I see far more Altimas on the road than I ever saw Stanzas (while they were the same age).
My younger sisters continued to carry a “similar” torch, as they owned a total of 4 200/240 SX’s (which I think of as being derrived from the mid-sized RWD Datsuns. My middle (surviving) sister still owns her ’97, bought new, which lots of people want to buy off her, despite it being an automatic…and she previously had a ’95 that was totalled in an accident. My youngest (deceased) sister actually bought her 200SX probably in 1989 or so, I bought the shop manual for it (very detailed) and helped fix some issues like one of her headlights not turning on, plus an air leak in her intake bellows…but it was totalled (in a hail storm) and she bought a ’93 as a replacement. All 4 of them were notchbacks with automatic.
I still remember the seat upholstery as being unique on this Stanza…better than the vinyl on my 710 (though I did have white seats, when was the last time you saw them on an economy car?)…the 510 seats didn’t stand out, think they were still vinyl, but this Stanza had a nice velour that really stood out (at least to me)…you would think I would remember the first FWD but my first thought is always the upholstery…strange what one remembers (and why).
My parents had one – exact same color as the one in the pictures. I drove it numerous times – it was roomy and had a nice ride and was pretty quick for the time. I believe it was pretty reliable as well. Thanks for posting
I still rather like these in this five-door hatch body style, but then again I have something of a soft spot for 80’s “slanty” hatchbacks as opposed to today’s more common and more useful “boxy” hatches. The sedan, on the other hand, I always found ugly. Something about the abrupt cut of the roofline and the way it met the trunk seemed very heavy-looking and turned me off.
I do not even remember the 3-door hatch existing, despite being alive for this car’s entire model run (though I was only a year old when it debuted).
This is one of those cars that I’ve not seen in so long that I don’t even think to say “where did they all go” anymore. Haven’t seen an early 80’s Sentra in a long time either. Though the Stanza vans (AKA Prarie) can still be found puttering around town. Really a different beast though that happened to share a nameplate in this country.
I was surprised to read the other day that the C22 Van was still being built new as late as 2010 in Malaysia, complete with the A series pushrod engine! WOW! What a find that would be. [There is a 1990 C22 Van on sale right now on Trade Me, with the little A12 engine. It’s completely restored the seller says..wants around 3k for it and has owned it since 1996, 185,000kms, tempting!]
I think all the Malaysian Vanettes had the A15 in them. Superb little engines ..
My 85 Stanza runs great. It is not my primary car of course, but its great for strictly local driving.
Beautiful car! I had an 86 sedan, red with the optional alloy wheels also.
Side shot. The car belonged to my grandmother who called to have it junked, because she had no use and there is nothing wrong with it. Everything works.
I had an 82 Stanza as my 1st car, it was my dads who was a traveling. He gave it to me in 85 with 116k on the clock. I was the envy of most teenagers at the time because the car was loaded with features like a/c, power sunroof and it was very comforta Le and had a smooth ride. It was white with burgundy interior. My mom had an 86 accord LXi at the time & while it was prettier it was not as comfortable as my Stanza. I liked the car and so did the girls! I kept the car until 1989 & it had 244k miles on it. Since I was a college student I bought a 90 Honda Civic EX which had the 108 hp engine but it was automatic and slow, I hated the civic.
This may be the only existing photo of a 1982 Stanza coupe. I replaced the original equipment tires (which as you can see had white walls – in 1982!) when the cords separated on them at about 15,000 miles. This greatly improved handling and ride. This Stanza had a carb, which came with a hairline crack in it and resulted in fuel economy in the single digits, until after about six months one of the techs at the dealer detected the problem and replaced the faulty carb. Subsequently I got highway mileage in the mid to high 30’s. Zero to sixty in about eight seconds was pretty good for the early 80’s!
I owned a 1982 Stanza 3 door coupe, five speed manual, mine was red. Traded in my 1978 second generation 510 for it. The car was comfortable, lowering the back seat gave you lots of room to put stuff in. I remember buying an electric dryer at Montgomery Ward and loading it in the back for the trip home. Downside was the interior bits faded in color from the sun and I even had a window winder snap in two after it discolored. The other major setback was the Stanza loved to destroy clutch plate springs. Every 25K to 30K miles the clutch plate springs would start to rattle, one would break and you would be stuck in gear. Replaced the clutch 3 times, by the third time I had it down to a science and could perform the replacement in an afternoon by myself. This was a front wheel drive with a transverse engine, lots of extra bits to remove. Sold the Stanza with 110K to a friend he drove it to work every day until the trunk floor rotted out. The winter salt in Western New York sent it to the junkyard.
Both Nissan and Mitsubishi rarely offer anything their competition does better. These were cars for buyers who actually eanted something else, but couldn’t afford it. Infiniti had a nice halo effect Nissan needed. However, like Hyundai/Kia, I still think “rental car” when I consider Nissan.
I had one of these; an ’82 manual. I remember the long, smooth shift throws and the sprightly handling, and the U2 Zooropa CD usually playing as as I drove it (still my favourite U2 album).
I also remember that somebody added some sand to my gas tank. In order to get around I had to remove the fuel filter and shake the sand out before driving.
I was pretty excited when these came out, as I was shopping for a car that would be the polar opposite of my TransAm. With memories of 510’s (and Z’s) giving Datsun an image that Toyota, purveyor of dull Corona’s, couldn’t match, plus FWD and a roomy hatchback, I was eager to test drive one. Within a few miles I knew it wasn’t for me: totally dull driving dynamics. Not just the polar opposite of my Firebird, but nothing like the ‘82 Accord I cross-shopped. Admittedly the Stanza didn’t carry the dealer markup of the Accord, but that wasn’t enough and I bought a Civic instead.
Great article, Perry, only one disagreement–I was buying AND selling new cars in the early 80s, and Subaru’s were not the least bit hip or young. They were not all AWD either, where they finally carved out their niche (or as you put it quite accurately, cult), just an incredibly gutless little oil-burning sidewinder, which is why they were falling out of favor into the 90s.
The Stanza, however, was a massive mistake by Nissan as they tried to jump on board the Accord bandwagon with an awful car that must have been rushed to market, given the good bones they had to start with. By the time they had the car straitened out a few years later, they had to change the name to Altima to salvage any reasonable sales #s.
This generation of Stanza went under the series code T11 and its shovel nosed frontage was quite radical among lower medium/mid-sized Japanese offerings for the time.
Many thought it was a knock off of the GM Europe J cars (Opel Ascona B/Vauxhall Cavalier Mk2) that made their debut just ahead of the T11.
Sadly for Nissan, the T11 was riddled with issues from the get go, with erratic idling that would set the whole car vibrating and other general quality issues as Nissan was on a rampant cost cutting binge at the time.
The general design also proved too radical for the conservative Japanese market and a refreshed model appeared within two years with a squared up frontage and larger tail light units but it did not do much to reverse declining sales.
Some Nissan insiders actually labelled the model the Trouble 11.
This is what I remember as well. Since it was FF, Nissan wanted a clean cut (European) design language to match the then avant-garde other contender in the family segment (the Accord preceded it). Failure. Too modern and what today we would call clean. The “real” Camry followed a year later with more sharp angles and a definite Japan feel, and handily swept them from the floor clean. Keep in mind this was all before even the Corolla went FWD, that was still fairly radical to the typical Japanese buyer in this time.