#Silvia

The S110 Nissan Silvia, sold in the United States as the Datsun 200SX for the 1979 through 1983 model years, has all but disappeared from American roads by now. We’ve seen a couple of the S110’s successor, the S12, in this series: this ’86 200SX and this ’86 200SX Turbo, and that’s it. Late last week, I spotted this faded but unrusty two-tone ’81 at a Northern California wrecking yard.

The 240SX version of the Nissan Silvia has become something of a cult car among drifter types in the United States, but the earlier (1984-88) 200SX version seems to have disappeared from both the streets and the public consciousness. Still, I see the occasional 200SX in wrecking yards these days, and I spotted this red ’86 in a Denver yard last week.

It’s hard for me to be impartial about the Nissan Silvia: my first car was a 1983 200SX five-speed. I thought it was the coolest car ever. Unfortunately, I totaled it the very first time I drove it without adult supervision. (The story of that mishap, and its aftermath, can be read here.) I still think the 200SX and its successors are pretty cool cars. Nissan stuck with the rear-wheel-drive compact coupe formula for a full nineteen years after Toyota compromised on the Celica.

We’ve spent a lot of time in the sixties and seventies lately, probably alienating some of our younger readers, so lets set the time machine a bit closer to home. Why did I pick this? Because I think its a pretty fine looking car, as well as being one of the last of its genre: affordable fun-to-drive, lightweight RWD coupes. Kind of ironic, that this vintage of the SX/Silvia was a looker, because most of its predecessors sure weren’t. Some things do improve with age.

Maeve writes:Hi Sajeev and Steve, I’m looking to buy a new car in the next year or two. I have a 2006 Toyota Corolla CE with 35k on the clock. It’s a manual transmission, which is the only thing that’s kept me from going insane. When I bought it, I didn’t have much choice in the matter (time crunch) and the price and gas mileage (something like 41 mpg hwy, though I regularly get 35 mpg in stop and go traffic). It has been servicable, reliable (mostly), cheapish, and gas efficient. There is nothing wrong with it, other than it’s just kind of boring.

I’m looking for something a little more fun. I want something that is fun to drive, not just a machine to get from point A to point B. I used to have a fabulous 1991 Nissan 240SX SE Fastback (again, manual) that I loved. However, I moved to Phoenix and didn’t have the funds (because of the move) to take care of the things that it needed. I still regret selling it. So now I’m looking for: