Datsun 510 Reviews from North America

I owned 3 510's over the years. One of each body style. My favourite was 'Sherman', a green (Datsun green 939) 1971 wagon, which I bought with 87,000 miles, and reluctantly sold with 151,000 miles.

With a 4-speed and basic interior, I moved 2000 miles in it with half my furniture, baby equipment and a 2 month old behind my wife. All the while getting far better fuel economy than I deserved...

My mother bought a 1972 510 Wagon brand new when we moved to the Pacific Northwest. It was a great little car and I believe she had all the options except the A/C and the automatic (she preferred the 4-speed). Great car that never let us down. We went all over the NW in it, including a week long camping trip to Canada. My mom, 3 growing male children and our dog (Irish Setter).

Once during a 'powder puff mechanics' course the idiot instructor cross-threaded the spark plug and my mom had to drive home on 3 cylinders and then get it fixed. She made it and the motor was no worse for wear.

Aside from normal wear and tear of our family, that little wagon took the abuse for 10 years and I think almost 90k miles when she traded it in on a 1982 Sentra.

The only other thing that happened was the shifter came out in her hand in the middle of a busy intersection while trying to merge. She just stuffed it back in the connection and drove it home where we installed a new nut on the lower end, and she drove it like that for another 2 yrs. I drove it for a summer and it was awesome. Went all over and with my friends. It outran many a new car (Toyota and Honda) and required zero maintenance.

Ditto.

My 1980 Datsun 510 5-door hatchback went like the EverReady Rabbit. We were given it by the in-laws in 1990 with 99,000 miles on it. I drove it on 100 mile commutes for 10 years. Also, on a rural 50 miles/day paper-route. My wife drove it also. Then gave it to my oldest son to learn how to drive stick and for school/work. The next was my oldest daughter who changed out the heater core while in high-school auto shop. Then it was my youngest son's turn. We found out that he was going out to the desert on the weekend and putting it in air-borne mode while racing around a dirt course. Told him to watch the engine. It needed coolant on a regular basis, but alas, he didn't and then "boom!"... the engine stops cold. It's been sitting for about 8 years now. If you keep the maintenance up, they'll go on forever. If you abuse any car, it'll give up the ghost. Getting ready to donate it to my daughter's former high school auto shop for a new student to have something to work on.