1988 Nissan Bluebird SSS Attessa 1.8 turbo

Summary:

A comfortable sedan with impressive speed and handling

Faults:

Two radiator hoses failed on separate occasions. On the second occasion I couldn't replace it myself since it was behind the engine and required removal of the inlet manifold and top-mounted inter-cooler to gain access to it. When this was off it was found that the inlet manifold was leaking, and so this required machining also.

Battery failed at 111000kms, although this was probably mostly due to trouble I had starting it when it was cold. It also ran poorly for the first few minutes each morning until the temperature gauge came up.

Stereo was not operational from the time I bought the car.

General Comments:

A very comfortable car to drive around town in, with a number of very nice features for a car of its age, including electric everything and 3-point adjustable shock absorbers (although I couldn't detect much difference when changing these settings).

The ATTESSA 4WD system offers incredible grip, even on a fairly low-grade set of tyres. Even on a day when it snowed heavily it took an effort to make the car lose traction.

Fuel economy was disappointing - around 19-22 MPG, although I suspect this would have improved after a tune-up, which may have also fixed the cold starting/running problem.

A red light runner has caused this car's early demise recently, but if I can find a good deal on a similar model then I'd love to replace it. You'd be very lucky to find a more fully featured car in this price range.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th October, 2002