1988 Nissan Silvia ZX Turbo review from UK and Ireland

When I bought the car in June 2001:

The air conditioning did not work.

The central locking had given up the ghost.

The radiator was leaking.

The fitted alarm/immobiliser did not work.

The pop-up headlights refused to flash and refused to switch to high-beam.

I bought this Silvia to replace my previous one which had been written-off on a wet roundabout trying to avoid a stray dog. All those stories I had heard about the Silvia being a handful in the wet, which I had come to question because I had tested the theory and had found it easy to control the oversteer as it started, came home to roost. One piece of advice dear reader, never, ever emergency brake in the Silvia, in the wet in the middle of a turn! You will never catch it.

Due to the fact that I kept my old Silvia for spares, most of the faults with my new Silvia were fixed over a weekend. The only expensive repair was to the air conditioning system which due to lack of use had to be completely changed; £1,205.59, OUCH!!

Since buying the car I have fitted: a K&N 57i air filter system; high performance ignition leads; a turbo-timer; 17" BK alloys with 225.45 tyres; changed the front shocks to coil-overs and up-rated the rear ones, plus added stiffer, lower springs all round.

I cannot recommend this car highly enough. When I bought my first Silvia I was on the lookout for a coupe 2+2 body-shape, rear-wheel drive, fast and not so common car. I was going to buy a new car but the majority were front-wheel drive and the two or three that were rear-wheel drive were either very common or the wrong side of 40K.

I now have a car that is rare, fast, easy to make a lot faster, easy to work on, and because it lacks all the gizmos of modern sports cars that control and prevent everything from wheel spin to oversteer, it is a real joy to master and play with on track days.