I’m almost ashamed to say it: I had no idea the Stagea existed. My knowledge of cars becomes pretty scattered around the 1990 mark, especially for non-European models. I know the cars I grew up with and I’ve kept a few tabs on the American stuff, but a lot of the Korean, Australian, South American and JDM cars can still baffle me, especially the more recent ones.
So when I saw this wagon a few days ago, I was well and truly baffled. The foglamps-in-the-grille face, the weirdo double-unicorn emblem, the aura of power and poise of the beast – I liked it, but had no idea what this was. I know, it’s sad. For some of you, a mere partial glimpse of this car’s taillight would have been enough for a full rundown of the history, specs and relative merits of the Nissan Stagea. It’s been on CC already. A little before I started reading the site, but still – this should be a no-brainer. Well, not for me. This one got past me, for some reason.
Being surrounded by JDM cars is like discovering a completely new universe. In this brave new frontier, there are microscopic machines with unlikely names, a whole ecosystem of small vans and pickup trucks that I never knew existed and a plethora of bigger saloons and wagons that I only dimly observed through the prism of the Eurocentric literature I grew up reading. Oh, we knew of some. The Skylines, the Imprezas, the RX7s, the Celicas and other Legends of the deep – these were renowned, even in snobbish Europe, though not necessarily common. But many gems were kept from us.
Before I came to Asia, I never knew of Mitsuoka or of the Toyota Century. Neither did I learn of the Nissan Gloria, the Mitsubishi Debonair or of the Toyota Chaser until I saw them in the metal. This learning curve-side classic is an ongoing process, now facilitated by my being physically situated right at the heart of the matter. So to answer my own question, which was “What’s a Stagea?” – it’s basically a long-roof Skyline.
Six generations of Skyline wagons – 1965-1985
The idea of a Skyline wagon is not new. Back when the nameplate was invented by Prince, the Skyline had a long-roof variant called Skyway, introduced back in 1959. This tradition continued with subsequent generations until the R32 Skyline arrived in 1989. Suddenly, the wagon disappeared. Two generations of Skyline would pass by without it – but it seems Nissan were aware that their high-performance coupé and saloon family was missing a key member.
Thus the Stagea was set for the wagon’s return. It took place in 1996, only this time, the Skyline name was absent. The Stagea’s underpinnings were clearly a mix of R33 Laurel and Skyline, but the front end styling was its own thing, just to make the new wagon a bit more special, I suppose. The base model made do with a relatively peaceful 2-litre straight-6 driving the rear wheels only, but there were increasingly spicier variants available, culminating with the fire-breathing 2.6 litre 280 hp Autech-modified AWD 260RS Twin Turbo pictured below.
It’s dead easy to graft an R34 Skyline nose on the Stagea, so quite a few folks have done just that. And with the original Stagea, the idea has some merit. Fortunately though, Nissan gave their big wagon a mild facelift in September 1998 and gave it a wider grille containing a distinctive pair of lights. This was not necessarily a new idea and it could have been a disaster, but it ended up looking pretty nice, in my opinion. Put it this way: it sure worked better on the Nissan that it did on the ’62 Dodge. Faint praise, I know…
As per usual, the Stagea came in about 57 varieties of drivetrain, equipment and trim levels
Our feature car is a Stagea RS Four, which means it has the 2.5 litre RB twin cam engine and 4WD. What I don’t know is whether said six is turbocharged or not. If it is, this wagon has 250 hp. Otherwise, it’s a mere 200 – still a reasonable number, by any standard, for a 20-year-old wagon. Whatever the hp, the RS Four came with a 4-speed automatic, as did the overwhelming majority of this generation of Stageas.
The interior of this well-worn example looks as inviting as any driving machine from the turn of the century. That is to say, every pre-digital creature comfort is there, the ergonomics seem in order and the design is neither particularly inspiring, nor egregiously horrible. This is not the first time I’m seeing a ‘90s/’00s Nissan with a two-tone steering wheel. It seems this is one of those “they all do that” things. The rest of the cabin seemed to have weathered the past couple of decades pretty well, from what I could tell.
I took a few snaps and went on my way. As luck would have it, when I came back to check on the Stagea again a while later, the cars parked on either side of it were driving off, allowing me to take additional shots, including a few decent profiles. The shape of this wagon’s greenhouse is quite unique. The frameless glass of the doors makes this a hardtop wagon of sorts – not something we’re likely to see again in a hurry.
The blacked-out C-pillar gives this wagon a touch of aggressiveness and character that is not encountered all that much on this type of vehicle. The thick D-pillar, with its mock air vent, ends the car with an almost vertical drop. Dr Kamm would have been proud and it adds that much more cargo space. If you’re going to design a wagon, you might as well make it as boxy as possible – that’s kind of what it’s for.
I don’t know who came up with the double unicorn emblem, but it’s a nice touch. It is said on the Interwebs that the shape of the unicorns is supposed to resemble the “S” for Stagea. I guess it does, but then the horns don’t really help with the “S” shape, so why not go for plain horses’ heads instead? Surely that would have looked even more like the initial. “Unicorns are cool” seems to be the rationale. I cannot fail not to disagree with that contention, but I’m still dubious as to the real meaning of this emblem. Not even sure if it featured on all 1st gen Stageas – maybe only the higher trim ones, though that Autech one didn’t have it… Someone might let us know.
Our feature car could have been made anytime between late 1998 and late 2001. After that date, the new model Stagea took over, with just as much oomph under the bonnet, but a shade less class and discretion elsewhere, in my eyes. The base was still the Skyline, also known as the Infiniti G35. The rear end got Volvo-like taillights that went from the roof to the bumpers, the front end became more bulbous and lost its double unicorn. Instead, the three-slat grille was stamped with the big stupid London Underground-shaped “Nissan” badge like the rest of the range. The poor innocent doors were framed – framed, I tells ya! – and the C-pillar lost its rakishness… It was still a great car underneath, just less so on the outside.
Production of the 2nd generation stopped in 2007 and that was it for the Stagea saga. The SUV plague claimed yet another victim as the Skyline Crossover (a.k.a Infiniti EX) took the Stagea’s place. A great loss, just as the Skyline celebrated its 50th birthday. Twelve years on, things are even worse: after an infinity of stagnation, a new Skyline appeared in 2014. Get this: it has a 4-cyl. Benz engine and is only available as a four-door – the coupé is history. Not sure how that qualifies it as a Skyline, as it’s actually known as the Infiniti Q50 and even bears the Infiniti badge, but that’s another discussion.
Let us not dwell on the present. The past is a much friendlier place to be, especially given the kind of future we can expect to endure. I’m sure you’ll join me in commending the owner / driver of this fine machine, who has had the tenacity and taste to refrain from trading it in for a Leaf. Never mess with a mythical beast, even in emblem form. I’m sure unicorns eat Leafs for breakfast.
Related posts:
Cohort Sighting: Nissan Stagea – Volvo and Audi, Eat Your Heart Out, by Perry Shoar
CC Outtake: Nissan Stagea re-visited – Skyline front clip version, by David Saunders
Missed the Boat: The Wagons That Never Came, by William Stopford
CC DIY: Taking the Nissan Stagea to Infiniti and Beyond, by Scott McPherson (NZ)
These were a popular import before the rules changed but there are still plenty around some go like the wind some dont depending on the powertrain, NZ got Skyways new back in the day the odd one is still around, Skylines are popular with the boy racer crowd and lowered and befinned Stageas have joined in, all the Skyline mods fit whether they improve them or not is debateable.
A couple I know had one when I met them….they kept it for nearly ten years, which is forever in Japan. They bought an Outback (Legacy wagon here) and like it, but both say they miss the Stagea.
Man, talk about the CC effect striking in the most bizarre way: I saw one of these roaring around the DC area just yesterday. Very nice-looking wagon, and impeccable timing on the article.
Stage-uh? Stuh-GEE-uh? STAY-ghee-uh? STAG-ee-uh? STAJ-ee-uh? Stage-aye? Schwanzstucker?
At this stagea life, it’s too hard to work out anyway.
The next generation of this car was called the Stageb.
That shallow-S-double-unicorn grille ornament reminds me of the classic Studebaker S, which I always thought was one of the prettier corporate logos out there.
I saw a black Stagea on the streets Calgary in the summer of 2017. Did not know what it was but eventually figured it out. Because Canadian import rules are much more liberal than ours in the USA, there are a lot of newer JDM cars there. So the Stagea can be found there (and as I now know is likely most seen in Vancouver area).
I like that it is a big boxy long roof. – like a Volvo 960 or Mercedes W210 (E320) wagon. And it is modern enough with good Japanese running gear. One of these could by my introduction to JDM car ownership in the USA but these are still too new to import.
Handsome wagon.
An interesting car with an appealing profile. But that rear window is begging for a double wiper à la some other Japanese wagons.
I saw a couple of these in Japan after only being familiar with them from here and other places on the web, it’s a very good sized wagon with lots of load capacity and good looks.
The one fly in the ointment is that the C pillar is a little offputting if you look at it long enough compared to the D, but I could live with it. Many older Subaru wagons also have frameless doors like this one.
The 3rd and 4th generation wagons have a lot of “Jetsons”-theme going on in them, very cool and likely extremely rare nowadays…
Nice overall shape, but the C-pillar should be vertical. This reminds me of the ’61 Rambler American wagon.
I agree, there’s some conflict between the C and D pillars in profile. The profile of this shot almost looks like a quick photoshop job of what a sedan would look like if turned into a wagon.
But I suppose that near-vertical D-pillar creates a usable cargo area, and all things considered, this seems like a great package.
You’re almost right: as soon as I spied this, I thought someone else would know what it was.
For reasons enshrined inside of ball of twined intricacy covered by subterfuge and two layers of mystery, these things floated down to Oz for a while as used cars (meaning also that Oz import laws are baffling and I don’t know how they got here). I had no idea they had anything to do with the Skyline bloodline. They don’t look like a relative, and frankly, they have the ass of a Camry wagon, but I probably shouldn’t be looking at relatives asswards to determine their genetic closeness or who they might have had a midnight fling with. We shall draw a curtain now.
Something not super-apparent from the photos, god-bless you Sir T, is that these look really, really good in the flesh. A simple enough shape, potentially a bit of a brick, but in reality, it just works. And unlike the (now-curtained) Camry, it doesn’t have the irritating upswept D-pillars or the 7 wipers on the back window.
A pity the old stager is no more.
OZ used import laws used to be simple, providing you imported a car not sold locally you were fine but you were not allowed to undermine the local industry with Corollas and Hiluxes so people brought in the other badges the Japanese put on them like Spinter and Surf Delica instead of L300 but the duty in OZ was the killer I enquired about bringing my Amon Corona back for some reason it doubled in dollar value and the tax was 25% of that plus compulsory replacement of some parts it simply wasnt worth it, NZ on the other hand has no import duty on used cars which is why we are drowning in old Japanese cars like these Skyline derivatives.
All the kids think all Skyline type car go and handle like the ones Jim Richards raced ignoring the fact those were Australian built by Gibson motorsport and use only the Nissan block and shell.
The combined teams of the Skid Factory and Benny’s Custom Works built such a double unicorn several years ago in Australia. There’s a really good build series on YouTube.
Looks like the airbag steering wheel used on the E32/E34/E36 era BMW. I always thought those looked rather generic…
I like the idea of the Stagea but can’t quite get with the Kamm back in such contrast with the design all the way from the grill to the back door. Maybe I’d do better with a dark color.
A wagon with not one, but two unicorns on the grille – I think I need one.
But wouldn’t that grille emblem more properly be called a duocorn?
A cornucopia!
I don’t know why but that emblem reminds me something oriented to gay male. The side sheet metal work carry resemblances from the Golf III variant.
Nice to see one of these again on the pages of CC. They were very common 5 years ago when I wrote the Stagea article linked to above; but this shape is now mostly gone from our roads. Even the 2001-7 Stagea has mostly disappeared now. A shame really, but life marches on…!
These are fairly popular as a used import. I’ve seen a few on the street from time to time. Here’s one I spotted outside the local hospital last year.
From the brochure:
25t RS has the RB25DET engine.
T = single turbo. (TT would be Twin Turbo, as in the RB26DETT of the GT-R)
25 RS has RB25DE. No turbo.
All engines (2.5 and 2.0) are “NEO Straight 6”
25t RS FOUR S comes with 5-speed manual,
the others have 4-speed electronically-controlled automatic.