1983 Nissan EXA N12 from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Both CV joints were gone and the turbo had seized when I bought the car.

Snapped a clutch cable at 198000 km.

Front left indicator globe blew at 199000 km.

Starting to develop rust around the front windscreen, but then it is 18 odd years old.

The three-quarter windows at the rear don't offer very good blind-spot visibility. The mid/rear pillar is a little too large.

Suspension is quite tight, so it's a very uncomfortable ride, but then that's the trade-off for sports-car handling. It may also have to do with the terrible roads around Sydney!

The steering is very heavy. Unusual in such a small light car. I have had a smaller diameter sports steering wheel fitted as well as larger width wheels, so that wouldn't be helping, but even so it is unusually heavy to handle.

Cornering it has a tendency to understeer, but nonetheless the handling is still good.

The take-off is very fast - it pulls like a V8. It is a very light car (900kg's) with quite a punchy little engine, so you have no trouble at all beating off 90% of other cars at the lights. Quite easily drags off most V6 and V8 saloon cars.

Comfortable bucket seats from the factory. The interior has lasted very well - still clean and undamaged (though I don't know whether that is due to people looking after the car well, or good build quality. I'd say a bit of both.).

Interesting what you've written. My Exa has only just hit 187,000km and the interior is falling apart, so it's probably more a factor of well cared for over quality parts. The interior handles are crumbling, interior door panels are popping off and water is leaking into the car in a few spots. Also a massive split in the middle of the dash is developing too.

Seems like the clutch cable snapping is a common thing too, mine went at about 185,000km.