I’ll wager this post will not break the Internet. A relatively obscure JDM-only ‘90s Nissan four-door will probably attract very few CComments – likely fewer than ten, maybe under five. What’s there to add about the C34 Laurel, even if this is the first time you’re reading about it? It’s not like these cars were all that riveting, to be entirely frank, so this kind of circumspection is, if not warranted, certainly understandable. But in my defense, I’m not out there looking for the blandest of all JDM sedans: that’s what is out there.
It can’t all be Subaru 360s, Toyota 2000GTs and rotary-powered Mazdas, can it? Most old Japanese cars I find happen to be rather middle-of-the-road coupés and saloons because those were bought by people who valued them (and kept them on the road all these years), as opposed to classic kei cars, city cars or just basic family runabouts, which tend to have shorter lifespans for a variety of reasons.
So there are easily ten 30-plus-year-old Toyota Crowns, Supras or Mark IIs for every RWD Corolla (not counting the AE86 Levin/Trueno, of course), or ten classic Skylines, Fairlady Zs or Cedric/Glorias for every moldy Cherry found in the back of the fridge. Not that it would necessarily be all that exciting to find a moldy Cherry, but it is a bit tiresome to look at the same class of JDM car nearly every time, be it as a reader or a writer.
So what about this Laurel then? Well, it Is (and was) a tough sell, because it’s essentially a Skyline chassis dressed to look like a Gloria hardtop, so although it may seem as if we’ve already seen it several times before, we actually haven’t. As a matter of fact, these Laurels are relatively rare, especially unmolested ones like this. Because they are mechanically identical to Skylines but less sought-after, many of them are being butchered by boy-racers and crashed into highway barriers and cherry blossom trees all over the country. Or were shipped over ten years ago to places like Kamchatka, Samoa or New Zealand (am I right, Scott-san and Bryce-san?), no longer to be seen in their native land.
The C34 Laurel took over from the extremely successful C33 in January 1993, by which time the market for higher-end hardtop saloons was in crisis, mirroring the economic situation. Yet because it had been planned during a time of plenty, the C34 still offered a lot of luxury and only came with “RB” 6-cyl. power, unlike previous generations, which always kept a 4-cyl. for the base models.
1995 Nissan Laurel brochure excerpts
The inline-sixes were the same as the ones offered on the R33 Skyline: a 2-litre, a 2.5 litre with or without turbo and a 2.8 litre Diesel. Basically, the C34 Laurel range was divided into two broad categories: the sporty “Club S” type and the deluxe “Medalist” kind. Our feature car has the naturally-aspirated RB25 providing 180hp to the rear wheels via a 4-speed auto – all quite standard for the times in this segment.
Only the Medalist breed was decorated with this hood ornament, which makes this Nissan look like an alternate-reality Lexus. Oddly prescient (coincidental, even?), as the Laurels have sported this emblem since 1989. Good thing that Toyota kept their luxury brand out of the JDM for the first couple of decades – and never bothered with this sort of bling for the Lexus anyway.
Standard-issue JDM mid-‘90s luxury can be found inside: grey dash, “wood” veneer on the console, mouse-fur velour upholstery, obligatory white doilies on the seatbacks – this is what passed for a colourful cabin in those days. Kodachrome and Technicolor need not apply.
For a so-called hardtop though, the C34 Laurel provided decent amounts headroom and legroom for its rear occupants. But given the size of that transmission hump, it’s a strict four-seater, unless the fifth passenger can be persuaded to leave their legs in the trunk.
The C33 sold about 345,000 units from 1989 to 1993, whereas the C34 Laurel managed just over 175,000 when production stopped in June 1997. Aside from the economic downturn, one reason behind this dramatic difference in sales was that the C34 was “over-sized” – i.e. it exceeded the Japanese government’s size limit for the lower tax band, in a deliberate but ill-fated attempt to take the nameplate upmarket. It’s therefore not a very common sight compared to either its predecessor or the C35 that followed it. Still doesn’t make it all that exciting, though, does it?
This is the reality of CC hunting in Japan: a lot of relatively dull, if usually unfamiliar, higher-end “hardtop” saloons in meticulously-preserved condition. At least, this one wasn’t painted in the obligatory white or dark grey. Let us yawn together and move on. Makes the complete clunkers, tiny microcars and whacky ‘60s and ‘70s finds all the more outstanding.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1990 Nissan Laurel (C33) – The Last True Hardtop Sedan, by T87
Curbside Classic: 2001 Nissan Laurel (C35) Medalist – Wreath Havoc, by T87
OK, ball rolling – I find it bland, but in a pleasing way.
As boring as these are, I have to hold a degree of appreciation. These are the bread and butter, after all.
I’ve never seen one in the flesh….but I am in south Texas!
Well things like this are about – check out Texan Youtuber Steve’s PoV’s channel, you’ll be surprised.
I do like the inset taillight design, how it sort of precisely just “fits” within the surrounding metalwork, technically the same but visually differently than normal tail lights, the first Infiniti Q45 did it similarly. It’s okay to be bland as long as you’re competent. Kind of like an accountant (nothing against accountants. Well, as long as they are competent). Anyway, an interesting vehicle due to unfamiliarity and the L logo would surely have me squinting hard and figuring that the owner had appropriated it from a Lexus or picked it up at JCWhitney-san.
The script font though on the back, “Medalist”, looks as terrible here as on anything Brougham.
This car could be parked next to me and I wouldn’t see it. A camouflaged generic car is something that sounds impossible, but here it is, right? Impressive. I’m a bit surprised it shows up in photographs.
A couple weeks ago, we were mentioning cars like this, cars that could pass as unrecognizable blobs.
This is a winner. A car designed for Episcopalians and Unitarians. Mennonites would ignore the Nissan Laurel if it showed up in their parking lots.
The Laurel that came before and after it were both much nicer looking vehicles.
Nissan seemed headed more to the mini Gloria camp with this one.
1998 Laurel pic attached.
Ship loads of them washed up in NZ, I know Scott is a fan of them Im not, they get the boi racer treatment or turned into parts cars for Skylines and diesel transplants so have now largely vanished from mainstream use, Fanbois thinking they handle well killed off a lot of them the same fate met by a lot of their bretheran Skylines, those RB sixes with a bit of tuning can easily overwhelm the very average suspension and lowering and all the other tricks doesnt seem to help,
Nice comfy sedans if you want a cruiser though and the diesel had fairly good economy.
Neatly anonomous, though the rear lights look slighty out of place set in like that compared to the wrap round frontal treatment.
I guess Nissan thought so too, as the facelift C34 taillights wrapped around:
I have a picture I snapped while walking around Nassau, Bahamas, in 2005 of an older lady in a full robe/headscarf combo parking her Laurel Medalist in a muddy dirt parking lot within a mile of of the cruise port. That sounds a bit creepy. I was obviously interested in the car, however the driver certainly was a bit of an interestingly clothed character. That was an odd car market to me back then, spotting Hummer H2s, Town Cars, Kei trucks, mid-90s JDM sedans, Wranglers, Benz and Hyundai passenger vans, and of course Land Cruisers all mixed together.
I like the greenhouse, kind of the prototype for the Y33 look but with more proportional C pillar. I absolutely have a thing for bland-ish Japanese sedans.
Not much to say about this, though it’s no blander than an Avalon and more exotic to an American. So there you have it, ten comments.
So here’s comment number 11! Which is 10 more than the C34 deserved…and I say that as a former C34 owner and a Laurel fan.
My C34 was a 1994 Medalist diesel, dark blue, grey velour, nice aftermarket alloy wheels. It arrived in NZ in 1998 with 56,259km, and I bought it in December 2009 at 209,000km. I needed a car quickly as I’d just accepted a new role with my employers, and unlike the previous 9 years, it didn’t include a company car. The new role was also 140km from my house, and various reasons meant I needed to commute.
I still owned my R33 Skyline, but it had a manual trans which was tiring in stop-start traffic, and I wanted to keep it as a weekend fun car. I’d previously owned a C33 Laurel diesel which did 1,000+km per tank, so decided a newer Laurel would suit. My budget was tight, but I found a C34 at a dealer for NZ$2,495, and unlike most earlier C34s, it had dual airbags and ABS. I didn’t especially like the C34 styling, it was shapeless and blobby, with slightly odd proportions in place, but the price was right!
It had been the dealer’s courtesy car, until his teenage grandson blew the engine. He fitted a replacement engine and assured me all was well. Fun fact: all was not well, and it turned out to be the most horrible car I’ve ever owned by a margin as comfortably large as its seats…
I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that the various mechanical failings it experienced over the following six months were bank-breaking. It’s the only car I’ve continued to drive with the temperature gauge in the red, whilst willing it to blow up. Damn thing always started and ran again after it cooled down. After 6 months of pouring money into it, it was obvious I’d bought a dog so I gave it away for $200.
I still needed a fuel-efficient car for the commute, but spent decent money and traded my Skyline on a C37 Laurel with a 24-month mechanical warranty. The C35 was every bit as good as the C34 was bad. Here’s my pos C34:
The 2.8 engines are great a guy I know has turboed two of them as transplants one into a 48 ford Bonus pikup the other into a XF Falcon ute they go quite well with good economy. YMMV.
Twelfth comment.
No, CC-in-scale doesn’t have one. A kit probably exists though.
Apart from the neat tail treatment, it’s a very generic, mundane sort of style.
That ‘Medalist’ trim level though – what kind of medal did they have in mind?
This car would be fun to park at a Cars & Coffee here in the midwest. Park it without talking to anyone and go walk around for a half hour. Then come back but stay in the background and just observe. Even with Google unless they happen upon your interesting CC write-up I bet you would witness much frustration and head scratching by confused enthusiasts. Then go explain your boring everyday Laurel Medalist 2.5 and mention its Skyline underpinnings.
Well unless a member of the growing JDM fan club is around. Such cars are now appreciated by that set and are imported into the US more and more – again I recommend the Steve’s PoV YouTube channel for those who wish to see obscure JDMs in US surroundings.
The Philly Radwood had a pretty solid showing of freshly imported mid-90s JDM sedans, oddly relegated to the overflow parking and mostly for sale, though I don’t know if it was an organized effort. Laurels, Mark IIs, Legends, Cimas, Presidents, Crestas, Cefiros, Crowns abounded, along with the (to me, anyway) pointlessly imported Preludes, RX7s, GTOs and of course about 10 Skylines.
The inset taillights were certainly one of the better features. Here’s mine:
Back in the 1980s I lived and worked in London, England, and one of my colleagues had worked for himself, previously, and during that time had had a Nissan (sorry, Datsun) Cedric and he would always say that it had been the best car he ever had! I’m assuming that it was a forerunner to this car. I was also interested to see how many comments were made before mine in the light of your remarks at the beginning of this article!
I want to take the hood ornament and put it on a Lexus.
I often got that comment with mine when people saw the hood ornament – “Oh, you bought a Lexus!”, and my personal favourite at a gas station: “Mate, do you know that’s diesel you’re putting in your Lexus?” (To which I feigned ignorance and said ‘Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine’). Incidentally I removed and kept the hood ornament from all three of my Laurels; they make nice shiny shelf ornaments!
What’s the colour of this 1 featured