1996 Nissan 200SX SE-R review from North America

Car started leaking oil after switching to synthetic.

Alternator died (happens to all cars at some point).

Started getting a lot of noise in the engine.

Pretty fun car, really peppy and nice handling. The problem is that for every good point I can make about this car, there is this part of me that thinks they could have done a lot better if they had tried just a little bit. Case in point, the SR20 is a GREAT engine. A lot of fun, but they needed to fit it with an LSD like the Infinity G20's using the same engine have. You get a ton of wheel spin otherwise.

Mechanically the car was reliable and quick, but again lacked the polish that it really needed. The transmission the whole time I had it felt really quick engaging. It lacked finesse. As I mentioned above, this car really needs an LSD to give traction to the tires that need it. It was really reliable, and again a fun quick car.

As for the interior, for the most part it was really nice. Road noise was above average, but not bad though the speakers were terrible which made long highway trips kind of annoying. The dash was laid out really well, only a few places where it could have improved looks wise. Seats are comfortable for the most part and everything feels and works nice. It's obviously a less expensive car, but the interior is much better than most cars of its era.

Bottom line, buy an Infiniti G20. It's this car, but with all the little details fixed up and 4 doors.