Rare Rides: The 1995 Nissan Rasheen, a Boxy Off-road Wagon

by Corey Lewis

Published: April 19th, 2021

rare rides the 1995 nissan rasheen a boxy off road wagon

Today’s Rare Ride is kind of like a more modern and luxurious version of the Honda Civic Wagovan sold in North America in the Eighties. Offered by Nissan only in the Japanese domestic market, a case for the Rasheen in North America could’ve been made. Let’s check it out.

Considered an SUV in its home market, the Rasheen debuted in prototype format at the 1993 edition of the Tokyo Motor Show. Rasheen went into production in late 1994 for the 1995 model year and rode on the B14 platform donated by the Sunny and Sentra.

Under the square hood was one of three different inline-four engines, sourced from Nissan’s compact Pulsar line. Displacement was 1.5, 1.8, or 2.0 liters, the latter of which was the SR20DE from the Sentra SE-R. Transmissions on offer were a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual. Initially, all examples were equipped with the 1.5-liter engine good for 125 horses. Early in 1997, the 1.8 became available, though only with an automatic transmission. The ultimate version was the SR20DE-equipped Forza trim, which appeared midway through 1998 and had 145 horsepower.

All examples of the Rasheen were equipped with full-time, four-wheel drive and used Nissan’s ATTESA system initially offered in the Bluebird in 1987. An advanced version of ATTESA was also used later in Nissan’s rear-drive cars like the Skyline and FM platform Infinitis.

Nissan updated the Rasheen over its life to include ABS in 1996, along with a few different trim packages like the aforementioned cladded sports Forza. Alas, the Rasheen lasted only through 2000 and was not granted a second generation. A casualty of the Ghosn-created Nissan Revival Plan, the Rasheen’s official replacement was the X-Trail (available in Canada) on the FF-S platform. By 2014, X-Trail and Rogue were merged into one.

Today’s Rare Ride is an earlier Rasheen, with a manual transmission and the 1.5-liter engine. It’s been repainted like a banana and lowered among other owner edits. It does have the big moonroof, but sadly lacks the plaid seats and wood dash of more upscale examples. Yours in Seattle for $10,000.

[Images: Nissan]

#1990s #ClassicCars #CollectorCars #CompactCars #EconomyCars #Imports #Japan #NewsBlog #Nissan #NissanRasheen #UsedCars #Wagons #SUVs #RareRides #Rasheen

Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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2 of 15 comments

Chasesidney on Apr 28, 2021

I own one of these and they are a blast to just cruise around town in. They're pretty unique and quite the conversation starter. You really only want to own a manual, though, which I do.

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Bob on Jun 27, 2023

I have a 94 Rasheen but no service manual...can't find one anywhere!! Anyone can help me out??

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Recent Comments

TheMrFreeze Difficult call...the more the mainstream automakers discontinue their more affordable models and only sell crazy overpriced EVs and trucks, the more appealing the idea of letting in cheap imported cars becomes with the buying public. If the government is going to impose tariffs on Chinese vehicles, at the same time they need to be getting with the Big 3 and telling them to fill the void with affordable models and not use the tariff as an excuse to simply raise prices. Otherwise, public pressure could see the tariffs withdrawn.I seem to recall the last administration put a 25% tariff on Chinese steel, at which point the US manufacturers immediately used the opportunity to raise their prices 25%...that needs to not happen.
Daniel J The real problem I see is it's about 8K too much. I'd prefer a lower trim but they don't offer enough HP for my tastes.
Teddyc73 Beautiful color, although the overused black wheels detract from it. It's nice to see a car in an interesting color instead of the also grossly overused dull greys.
Master Baiter If you rear-end someone, it's your fault, period. If motorcycles need more time to stop, then riders need to increase their following distance.
Master Baiter Until recently, virtually every cell phone and computer was made in China and no one seemed to care. The majority are still built there. I'm not a fan of tariffs as it just gives domestic makers a price umbrella to sell their garbage products to U.S. consumers at higher prices.