Faults:

1986 heating fluid leaked into cabin, rev counter failed and could never be fixed again, at speeds over 100 km/h the engine failed (mostly on the second or third lane) and only after opening the fuel cap it would restart again, the dealer could not fix this (even after 3 attempts) so I drilled a hole in the fuel cap and the problem was solved, seats started sagging.

1987 rust, rust rust everywhere, front bonnet rusted, underside of doors rusted, big holes in the boot due to rust, most could be fixed by welding and a lot of filler.

Rear lights filled with water and gear box started failing at 100.000 km.

General Comments:

This was our first car and we have good memories about it, made some great trips to Norway and Austria and we made 3 to 4 round trips from Amsterdam to Munic a year.

At high speeds (160km/h is high for this car) things got a bit scary though, the front end wanted to lift up.

The Nissan dealers where useless, we tried them both in Germany and in the Netherlands, but where ever we went they tried to rip us off and they could never find the problems we had.

We where interested to buy the new Nissan coupe in 1988 but where totally put off by the dealers, especially the way they treated us as we tried to trade in our old model (they really didn't want it on there forecourt).

So we bought a Golf II 1.8i instead and never looked back.

Faults:

Nothing so far. Dashboard light didn't work correctly though.

General Comments:

Great value for money car, this 1.6 engine has 66kw, 16v and is suprisingly fast. Not the most exiting car to look at though, but I bought it for EUR 1100,-!

Faults:

Not very much, apart from the stuff you would expect over the years:

- Two new batteries.

- One set of new tires.

- One new rear muffler for the exhaust.

That's it!

General Comments:

This car is reliable, fun and cheap.

* Reliable because it has never ever let me down. Not even gave me the feeling something could be wrong. Every time I turn the key, it starts, be it summer or winter.

* Fun because it looks not bad at all, it has a very nice running 12-valve engine with enough power.

* Cheap because the car doesn't need much maintenance or spare parts, it doesn't cost much in road-tax and the mileage is good too.

Faults:

Apart from exhaust, rear shocks and windshield, all that ever broke down in 4 years was the thermostat ($20).

I drive both city and highway, including several trips to southern France (150 km/h non stop).

The car was always Nissan serviced, which is affordable since there's not much to service anyway.

General Comments:

Medium at everything, except for excellent reliability, good finishing and superb handling. Gearbox is like a knife cutting through butter, clutch is light and easy: my grandmother could drive this car! Too bad power steering is only available in the SGX.

It also outsmarts its '87 classmates in terms of practical gadgets (unlock the boot from the inside, etc etc).

With 60 hp you shouldn't be overambitious to impress people, although you can beat many older non-turbo diesels (thanks to the fast gearbox!). Fuel economy is about 1 litre/14 km without really trying.

Not impossible to do a tour of Europe with it (it won't break down) but don't forget your earplugs.

Buy this car cheap (nobody likes it anyway) and never sell it!!