(first posted 7/1/2014) What do you do when you own one of the more whimsical artifacts from the bad old days of Datsun’s renaming? Apparently, you just ignore it and let it rot. And when passersby let you know of its obscure historical relevance, you let them take photos. Good thing I’m around to remind owners of thirty-year old S12-chassis Nissans what they have.
I found this car sitting in this driveway several months ago. After so many torrential downpours and months of negative temperatures, I finally got around to snapping photos of the poor car after I came across the very well-kept, and still used, 1984 Trans Am I posted last week. The Pontiac reminded me of the Datsun-Nissan because it was similarly period correct, only in a completely opposite way. Both are overwrought, characteristically ’80s sports coupes, but while one takes a low-tech, rather atavistic (but more effective) approach to meeting the expectations of the day’s buyers, the other is a rather populist embodiment of the high-tech fantasies that defined the period.
A neighbor of mine had one of these until she replaced it with an ’88 Regal (which I also loved, with all its buttons and digital displays), but the relentless geometry of the Nissan’s fussy detailing really spoke to my juvenile sensibilities. Taillights hidden behind a six-square grid, a hexagonal grille insert, and an distinctly triangular theme when viewed from the side were Nissan’s idea of clean styling at the time; look at some of their other cars from the mid ’80s and they’re even busier. Nevertheless, aerodynamics were a genuine consideration when penning this car’s shape and a drag coefficient of .34 was quite competitive at the time. I’m not sure of the number for the rarer notchback coupe.
Not that the uber-clean styling of the famed S13 successor made it anymore popular. That car, with its composed chassis, is highly sought after today by people who rip out the KA-block truck motor and replace it with the SR-block, which was the actual follow-up series to our featured car’s twin-spark CA18ET.
With 120-horsepower out of 1.8 iron-blocked, multi-port fuel-injected liters, sans intercooler, this was as up-to-date of an engine as most could’ve hoped for in 1984. With a typically crisp five-speed transmission and rear-wheel drive, performance was pretty good for the time, with sixty being served up in 8.7 seconds; not bad for a car which weighed 2,800 pounds. Top speed was a less impressive 116 miles per hour, suggesting that the engine’s focus on torque (134 lb-ft at 3,200 rpm) didn’t translate to eager high-speed performance. Indeed, its rough high-rpm running was widely noted in contemporary reviews. Not that it mattered in the double nickel days; adapting the design for competitive emissions performance, driveability and reliability was a bigger priority.
American consumers weren’t exactly given any indication that the engine under that hoodscoop was less than Nissan’s best effort, but as always, Japan had the option of a much hotter engine with the 187 horsepower (JIS) FJ20ET twin-cam. The 300ZX Turbo sold at the same time was quite possibly slower than a 200SX so equipped.
Neither of the two would’ve been especially sharp in corners. Like Toyota did with the Celica GT-S, Nissan equipped the top-trim 200SX with an independent trailing arm rear set-up to replace the live axle standard in lesser versions (unlike Toyota, Nissan at least offered a hotter engine with the upgraded suspension). In such a softly suspended car, the live axle’s constant camber would’ve arguably been more advantageous (as a bunch of satisfied Volvo and pony car owners could tell you). But, along with all the interior gadgets that came with the 3-door-only Turbo, the special suspension was a premium feature, so there you go. After this car’s dull predecessor, I’m sure Nissan wanted to make sure those who plunked down 12,000 1984 dollars felt they got their money’s worth.
You’ll have to excuse the slight blurriness of this shot. Most shots kept coming out this way without the flash, but looked even worse when using it. The quality that went into this interior is evident despite its filthy state, and this top-end model has most of the plastic blanks on the dash filled. Nissan had a lot of fun with switchgear in this era; anyone else remember the wiper stalk with the clear plastic window which displayed the degree of delay dialed into the variable intermittent setting?
Topping out a boost gauge is often a challenge; in digital form, it was probably even more of an event. If this bright display failed to delight during the dark six AM commute to the job where its original owner earned money to make payments for it all, I hope it at least made for an amusing spectacle for friends or other acquaintances.
It’s unfortunate that other interior shots came out poorly as this car is fully equipped with “bitching betty,” in addition to an alarm, a trip computer and a host of other trinkets worth showing off. All that gadgetry didn’t help most magazine reviewers’ rather cynical impressions of the car; this was most definitely a product designed with the home market in mind.
Starting in 1985, sport-oriented Nissan customers would be better served by the similarly tech-tastic front-drive Maxima, which would go on to become one of the company’s home runs. While it might not have been a turbocharged, rear-wheel drive show piece, its chassis was nearly as composed and more importantly, its 153 horsepower V6 was a much better performer. Perhaps that explains the decision to drop the 1.8 turbo for 1987 and replace it with the same engine used in the 300ZX, Pathfinder, Maxima and Hardbody.
Mid ’80s Nissan showrooms were confusing places even without the name change and in those days, mid-range cars like the Stanza and 200SX weren’t drawing in customers like Maximas, 300ZXs and Sentras were, not to mention the compact trucks. But during the last years of truly cheap Yen, these were still worth importing and those who did buy one didn’t see a clone around every corner. In a market full of front-wheel-drive competitors, that gave them a charm all their own.
Remember that as a Nissan Silvia in Europe… The Oldsmobile Silhouette (under the tree and next to the garage) is a much better and respected vehicle…
The Silhouette is better and more respected? One of the “Dustbuster triplets”? Seriously?
Well, it is the Cadillac of minivans.
Maybe they’re a Get Shorty fan?
Respect…NOT. Simply disgrace. Anyone should be embarrassed to be seen in anything GM. Great reference, though.
Someone must have moved a rock….
I think a Sunbird must have run over old Kev’s foot when he was but a tot…
Better? It’s been recalled. No further, your honor.
I know this marks me as a product of this era, but damn, I do absolutely love the styling on this thing as well as both generations of Toyota’s Celica and Supra of the mid-80’s as well. Great find, Perry!
Count me in as a fan of the styling. There’s just something about the angular, wedge shape that was so popular in this class at the time. I also love all the techy gadgets. Something lost with the more back-to-basics 90s.
And it did haul ass.
A 3.8L Olds Silhouette was within 1 second in the 1/4 mile and probably had a similar, if not higher top speed. Not bad for a minivan. But then again, it was the Cadillac of minivans………
Classic styling and a good looking car in its day(and still good looking in todays world) The pop up headlights and digi-dash screams 1980’s and shows an era where some car makers were not afraid to try new things. It is sad that Nissan decided to bring back the 200SX and base it off the then current Sentra in 1995 and even more sadder the thing lasted till 1998. The 95-98 200SX was nothing special and being based off of a rubbish car like the 95-99 B14 Sentra, showed that Nissan was trying imitate the U.S. Big Three by bringing back a classic nameplate and then dragging it through the mud. Of course it is not surprising that imitation is the best form of flattery as that same year GM was busy rubbishing the Monte Carlo name (which was a storied nameplate) by putting the name on a 2 door Lumina.
Great find on the 1980’s 200SX. I hope it is returned to its former glory.
Monte Carlo may have been a storied name, but it was not because of anything that General Motors ever did with it.
My mother owned an early-80s Datsun 200SX notchback coupe. It was the first new car she ever purchased, and to this day one of her favorite cars she’s owned.
“T-U-R-B-B-B-B-O” sounds like you’ve got clogged injectors. If I had been part of the team concocting ’80s Nissan ad copy, I would have held out for, “T-U-R-B-OOOH!”
I thought that myself, but I think maybe it says T-U-R-R-R-R-R-B-O, which makes slightly more sense.
Doh! I see it now, thanks. We should start an agency. 🙂
love the rims on these
This car makes me want to breakdance, its so 80’s I want to do “the worm”.
As I was looking at the pictures, I could hear “Situation” by Yaz playing in the background.
I want to play space invaders on its dash.
Let’s jump in this thing and head on down to the 3 plex and see “A View to a Kill”.
You’re speaking my language.
Yeah, I call shotgun! I NEVER would have figured that Situation by Yaz was in your musical repertoire. My whole world just shattered. 🙂
I’m in too – love me some Yaz!
Yaz, like Datsun, had a different name in their home country.
I have a really wide range of musical tastes, but I do love me some 80’s….
I’m tying to work out why that music still sounds new and I’m now so old!
Another car that failed to make my radar back in its day. Another sporty Japanese coupe? Noooo, not for me. My first new car would be kept forever, and I was prepared to pay for superior engineering. Japanese cars were rustbuckets that were designed for the undiscerning masses. I, however, was under the thrall of cars engineered for the Autobahn (though a hot American V8 might be considered).
As it turned out, my VW GTI, while fwd, had power output and performance not far from this car. Top speed was about the same, and its 100 normally aspirated horses got me to 60 in maybe 10 seconds. But the car was gone from my life in 2 years. Hindsight tells me that a more open mind in 1985 would have led to quite a few more memorable test drives, and possibly a different ownership choice.
A very nice find, BTW. Have not seen a “Datsun” nameplate in a long, long time.
What your GTI had was good suspension damping, travel and light weight. In fact, one of the best front-drive chassis out there, so no comparison, really.
But as your peer in 1985, I’d have argued with your characterization of Japanese cars. With cars like the RX-7, Prelude or Civic out there, there were exceptions to the glitz and vanity of cars like this. Not to mention, powertrains were often more than competitive.
Cars like this 200SX aren’t the best rebuttal to your sentiment at the time, but they’re pretty damn charming. I think a few chassis mods and an intercooler would make this a very fun car and in terms of retro-cool, it’d be entering its prime if not for its sorry state. I want one after writing this.
Make a sporty turbo model…..put a 2 spoke grandma steering wheel in it.
Why?
Because its an 80’s Japanese car….its not supposed make sense.
I will always remember these as the first “talking” car I ever saw in person.
I need some checkerboard Vans to go with those seats.
Look at the photo of the steering wheel in the upright position — they were doing something ’80s-ish with it. I confess I’m not sure exactly what, but there’s some kind of period aesthetic going on and it’s not grandma-styling. A number of Nissan’s mid-level sedans of the same era had similar steering wheels. The Japanese-market Silvia did have a three-spoke wheel, but it’s not really an improvement since it looks like it came out of a Mazda 323.
Yeah yeah, I know, there but for the grace of Japan go I.
If it was a GM car, it would be “2 spoke steering wheel in sporty car? fail, omg bbq, wtf, Roger Smith lol”
Used in Nissan midrange sedans too?…..Well that changes it, …we all know that they set the standards of excitement for the 80’s.
That wheel would look right at home in a Camry or a Cressida, or a Stanza or a Skylark, Its grandma, all the way. I’m not saying its wrong or ugly, and it is very 80’s, and along with the pseudo op-art interior, checkerboard taillights and Glalaga dashboard, adds to the awesome absurdity that makes this car so 80’s, but it is very grandma too.
Well, my point regarding the midrange sedans is that Nissan was applying two-spoke steering wheel designs to what were considered upmarket cars at home. (There were also some two-spoke wheels with angular, downward-turned spokes that were clearly supposed to have the same kind of ’80s high-tech look with which the rest of this car fairly drips.) So, I think to some extent it was a matter of different market expectations — and Nissan not doing a good job of navigating those differing expectations. On the other hand, the home-market Exa (Pulsar NX) had a three-spoke sports steering wheel that is more like what you’d expect in a sporty coupe, so I dunno.
Whats interesting is that Nissan did have a 4 spoke in the same era 300ZX with radio controls in it too from what I recall, 2 spokes weren’t that uncommon in this era, even in sporty cars. The Corvette even had a 2 spoke, but the difference is in the centers, the wiiiiiide center, like the 200SX wheel instantly makes me think “Buick”….not that that’s a bad thing, I love Buicks, but just an observation.
I may an exception to the Smith-era hate, JSYK. I may defer to conventional wisdom, but I love me some W-body and other ’80s GM. In fact, a lot of those cars have the same digiflash as the Nissans and quirky Toyotas (think Supra, Cressida) that I love so much.
I think that increasing level of nostalgia for the 1980’s means that peoples views on lots of 80’s cars will be a lot friendlier in the future than it has been, notice the kinds comments this 200SX has gotten here today.
I too am a fan of digital dashes, I always thought they were so damn cool when they first came out.
I think it’s a more futuristic/Starship Enterprise deal than it is a grandma touch. Think Citroen’s one-spoke wheel.
My favorite two-spoker is the 89-90 Maxima GXE steering wheel. This is a terrible shot of it in an unflattering color, but y’all get the idea.
These had that weird off to the side HUD that Nissan only offered on like 3 cars.
Nissan at this time recognized that their earlier products were seen by Americans as some forms of Japanese science fiction Godzilla creatures. Throughout the 1970s, Nissan sent us Datsuns that were, to put it kindly, cars so ugly, only a mother could love them. Their lone exception was the Z, and even then Nissan kept uglifying it. How a company that gave us such a beautiful series of cars during the 1960s, could turn out cars that looked like they did during the 1970s must have some ties to drugs, bad sake, and Mighty Morphin Power Ranger villains.
So this era of Nissan is a visual atonement for the F-10, the previous generation SX-200, the B-210 and other eyesores sold in the States. Nissan recognized that for them to succeed in other markets, they needed to stop making hideous rust buckets. Nissan went conservative styling-wise during the 1980s.
The States received a series of cars that were more in keeping with the look of the Datsun/Nissan 510, than the generations that preceded it. This 200SX was a great improvement over the previous generation. Yet – Nissan still wanted to bring what succeeded so well in Japan to the States and did so inside their 1980s line-up. Nissan was not alone here. Mazda and Subaru also served up great globs of Japanese Nintendo interiors, op-art cloth seating and “digital” lettering and badges.
Somehow, Nissan never caught on that Toyota was finding the proper styling targets for global success and copied what worked so well in Corollas and Celicas during this time. Perhaps Nissan wanted to be different. Perhaps they were still hung-over from their earlier acid-inspired days of the previous 200SX.
What I discovered about their cars at this time is that they were not fuel efficient. If you were looking for a frugal Japanese car – Nissans were not the place to shop. Until the new Nissan Sentra established Nissan as an entry-level Japanese vehicle for consideration, Nissan attempted to foster the American market using their Z cars as the key to acceptance.
Honda “made it simple”. Toyota was the dull boring accountant machines. Nissan was trying to woo American money being the Japanese sports machines. While this might have made sense after Americans were trading in their old American muscle cars for smaller imported ones, this approach was self-limiting.
Nissan didn’t succeed with these cars. The Maxima discovered a market, but the rest of the line didn’t find the same level of acceptance. Nissan was flat busted by the end of the 1990s and needed help or was facing bankruptcy. They got help from Renault in 1999. Not technically a merger, but a way out of the failure of these cars.
So it is easy to overlook how overpriced, overpowered and short of the marketing target these Nissan products were.
Well put. It’s this city-slicker flash which makes me love ’80s and ’90s Nissans so much. The cars were often feature-laden and given very competitive powertrains (though not always).
Making cars like the later Sentras, and Stanzas was the key to salvation, but they were always so dour that few people paid top-dollar for them, unlike the competitors at Honda. But then, the cars of the late ’80s and early ’90s were so much better but by that time, the market moved on. I’ll always be a bit of a fan-boi, though.
I think you may be forgetting about the S110 200SX that was sandwiched between the first 200SX we got in the mid 70’s and the S12 car described here. I thought that the S110’s were very modern looking cars for 1980, even sharper than the Celicas of the same era:
That’s exactly what I was thinking…forgot about that fat-ass first generation. Egads! Gen 2 was a gorgeous little angular machine and was the top bang-for-the -buck machine until MY (mine, not ‘model year’–I leased one) 1985 Corolla GT-S hit the shores. Now THAT was a pocket missle.
I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: I think the reason for the shift in Japanese styling in the ’70s was the growth of the domestic market. In the ’60s, a lot of Japanese automakers either hired European stylists or tried to emulate them — Bertone did a bunch of early Mazdas, Pininfarina did the 410 Bluebird, etc.
At that point, the Japanese market was still fairly small because it took until the ’70s before a lot of people had the money to afford a new car, much less be choosy about its styling. Once incomes and prices had come into synch, the home market started developing its own tastes, which were very different than American or European tastes. JDM buyers liked ornate detailing and “surface excitement,” I think in part because when there wasn’t a vast difference in size between expensive big cars and small family cars, it was a way of separating the two. Much like with chrome trim on American cars of the ’50s and ’60s, “clean” could easily read as “cheap.” So, with some exceptions, what worked well abroad didn’t play at home and vice versa.
The trick was that by the ’70s, total Japanese auto production was split pretty much 50/50 between domestic and export sales, so deciding whether to cater to home market tastes or try to court export buyers wasn’t necessarily a simple or easy decision except for the small fry who didn’t have a lot of market share at home or the dealer strength to get more.
That put Nissan in a tricky position because they were the perennial number-two player at home, which meant (a) that they were always trying to take some ground from Toyota and (b) they realized that they were more vulnerable to losing market share to upstarts than Toyota was, which was a matter of corporate pride as well as a financial issue. Also, their export efforts had been hit and miss — the Z was obviously a big international success, but Nissan’s bread-and-butter cars were often second-string players abroad. So, I think their default mode was to try to play to the home market, and even that didn’t always work. (In the ’80s, Honda and Mazda did indeed end up eating some of Nissan’s JDM share.)
Very convincing analysis about surface flash.
Nissan was in a very difficult position, being huge at home and also in markets like Taiwan. They were a large, well-run operation and any tone-deafness when it came to American customers’ tastes surely had some basis in the home market’s preferences. I, for one, really liked the relentless geometry as a very young child.
I shot a red one of these, a turbo too, a few years back, and was quite pleased to have found it on the streets. But the file it was one somehow got lost, the only one that ever did, and I’ve been lamenting it ever since. No need to anymore; you found one too. And did it justice.
I didn’t really like these very much back in the day, as I had a hard time with Nissan’s design language, but they are terrific period pieces.
I had an 86 200 SX XE – hatchback – maroon – five speed. It was a nice car to drive – seats were comfy, plenty of legroom. Not as fast as it looked – but fast enough. Treacherous in the snow if you weren’t careful. Mine didn’t have the digital dash – but had a full array of “proper” gauges – and it did talk! It only came with an am/fm radio which I eventually replaced with a stereo with a cassette player. I drove it a lot – 86,000 miles in three years – a good car overall – very hard to find these days.
Drool, drool…..would really love to have had one of those equipped just the same. But back in 1982 I thought a morbidly obese Trans Am had to be the choice as my first new car purchase. I might as well have gone and had “STUPID” tattooed on my forehead in reverse so that I could read it every time I looked in a mirror. That is the POS (times infinity) I traded in (unloaded, that is) on the 1985 Corolla GT-S.
Well you know – time heals all wounds – and I do recall my car had a penchant for warping front rotors – and it had a loose exhaust manifold that was tough to fix.
I had an 87 XE notchback 5-speed … white with blue interior. My older sister had an 85 hatchback in a dirty silverish color. I liked the more claustrophobic interior of the notchback, it was noticeably quieter and felt more sporty even if it wasn’t. But it was a competent cruiser and very reliable. The only trouble in over 100K+ of usage was tapping lifters which were more of an annoyance than anything else. Little sis eventually wrecked it otherwise it would prolly still be in the family. We were a Nissan family … my father still has his 84 Maxima for beater duty with 250K+ on the clock. But he’s the only one who has stuck with the brand.
Well the license plate is pretty current and I bet it is rotted out underneath from being in Indiana.
I like the face of the Maxima and this 200SX. The 200SX has more quirky features though.
Despite my general dislike for most of these cars, and living in an area where sales were below most major / middle metropolitan areas, I did notice them. The invasion force I didn’t like. I can’t deny that Nissan’s woes were welcome news when they arrived.
The only Nissan (Datsun) that carried any weight during the ’70s and early ’80s was the ZX. A few post gold chain younger guys drove them as alternatives to the Camaro / Firebird / Trans Am.
By the early ’90s, the Maxima did seem to get some respect as as upscale younger persons car. A very confused time for a fresh college grad as I was. Mid price domestic cars were your father’s or grandfather’s cars, Mercedes and BMW were for the big dollar grads, and a mish mash of well equipped Nissan, Honda and VW cars seemed to be for my demographic. But, I just wasn’t interested and went with an ’87 Grand Marquis instead. Oh well, I still managed to date and get married!
I find it interesting that these don’t have any real value yet the similar looking (and less a turbo) Corolla GTS is quite collectable.
The Corolla is about 5-600 pounds lighter, and the engine is a lot more rev-happy (plus Initial D made it famous). The S12 might have been somewhat more popular if it hadn’t been completely outclassed by the S13.
Not a fan. I do remember being told the 200SX was the perfect drift racer because of 50/50 (or close to) weight distribution. Not sure if it was this model, or the next one, though.
A View to a Kill. hehehe
Still RWD, I assume, given that the S13 was?
A friend in high school had one, though his was a notchback non-turbo. As such, and as it was 12 or 13 years old at the time (mid-late 90’s), it barely registered on my radar as an interesting car, though I did get a kick out of the talking feature. “The door is ajar” was a fun one.
Now, with these cars much less common and farther removed from the ovoid sensibilities of the 90’s, I do rather like these hatches. Some of the details are indeed fussy but the shape overall is good.
Still don’t care for the notchback version though.
Neat car–very much a car of its time and place.
So Perry, did you make an offer on it?
‘fraid not, Tom, but I could really see myself enjoying one of these as a daily.
I definitely like the looks of this Nissan. There were a lot of cars I really liked in the ’80s that I couldn’t afford (new), in addition to the turbo Mopars and non-turbo Mopars. Dare I say it: ’80s music and ’80s cars continue to greatly appeal to me. Yeah, I also really dig Bowling For Soup’s “1985.”
Im keeping my s12 coupe alive and kicking. ’86 mk1.5 xe notch with digi dash and bitching betty. in the 2years ive owned it ive fallen in love with its quirkiness and styling
Anyone wanna buy my 86? I’m in SC, btw. Used to have a KA24DE swap, and I can get u half off a 1 KA24DE ecu mod+ tune. I just can’t afford to put an engine in right now. Interested? Find me on Facebook as chuck josef. I really love my car I just can’t keep her. Has bitchin Betty, and power everything
My 84 Datsun 200SX complete with talking computer, digital dash and power moonroof
This is identical to the one I owned during the ’90s. Same color even. Damn, I miss that car.
Stumbled on this article once again and noticed something else… Top speed of 116MPH…? I got mine up to 122 late one night and it wasn’t even straining. My nerves gave out at the point, I’m sure it would have gone higher.
I really liked these when I was a kid. They looked sharp and fresh, if a little busy. The interiors looked nice too. I’ve never driven one or been in one though. Even now I’d like to try it out on a curvy road. It reminds me of the Corolla SR5 I had when I was 19.
Nobody has yet mentioned this car’s most idiosyncratic feature: the long row of warning lights positioned in front of the front *passenger*, not the driver. The ’85 Maxima had a toned-down version of the same thing. I recall that in the ’87 mid-cycle refresh many of the lights were moved to the driver’s side.
These also featured pushbutton true keyless entry, like modern Fords and Lincolns.
I preferred this 200-SX in standard non-turbo XE trim which had less eye-popping upholstery and cleaner exterior styling without the scoops and spoilers.
Anyone interested on a 1984 Nissan 200SX Turbo (98,000 original miles). Located in California…all original.
I used to own one of these back in the early 90’s. It was pretty spunky for what it was and I thought it looked good. A good American version would have been the Dodge Daytona. However, where the build quality of the Daytona was trash and nothing more than a throw away car, the 200sx was pretty decent. I never had any major issues with how it ran and it could keep up with the 80’s muscle cars pretty good.
I would love to find another one of these.
I had a 1985 silver hatchback with the 5 speed. Easy to drive and had enough pep for NYC. It was a talker. No digital instrument panel for me. Seats were a stylish grey with maroon stripes. Replaced a 76 Celica GT liftback. Loved both of those cars. Have not owned a vehicle since 1989.