Nissan's SR20DE engines have long been a favorite in the tuning community, providing reliability and power in very small packages for everything as mundane as Sentras and Pulsars to the more exotic 180/200SX, Infiniti G20, and only-in-Japan Silvias. Long popular with the crapcan racing community, Nissan Sentra SE-Rs are the poster child to us non-drift focused car nuts. But did you know that for three years, Nissan offered a smaller, sportier alternative to the SE-R for similar money, with wider tires and bigger brakes standard, and not just overseas, but right here on the North American continent? Okay, you're car geeks, so you probably already know about the NX2000, but it's time for a refresher (and an introduction for those of you who are still scratching your heads). Find this 1993 Nissan NX2000 for sale via vast.com classifieds for a mere $1,800 in Dallas, TX. Words and tip from DT commenter & contributor Bill Haworth, aka Tetsu_no_Usagi.
Now isn't that a beauty? Look at it - compact coupe with decent early
'90's styling, but not too over the top. Yes, yes, this (and all the
other NX2000s) is FWD, but if it wasn't for the fun little "fronties",
who would the RWD guys make fun of during their club meetings? This
example is in pretty good shape, and look at those wheels - big, and
begging for bigger discs and calipers, but not so over the top you fear
to lose your tires every time you approach a railroad crossing.
The front end of the NX line is, um, distinct to say the least. It's a very Asian front end, so take a good long look at it and decide whether you like it or not now, and get that out of the way. Personally, I like 'em - they're different enough to get a little attention driving around town, but not so far out in left field that children run in terror at your approach. This one, as you can see, still bears the marks of a fender bender that the car company is unsuccessfully trying to hide behind the front license plate frame. What do you want from a 20+ year old car? These were usually hooned to great excess, so expect a little roughness around the edges.
The back ends are far more palatable to North American tastes, and the little spoiler along the hood line just make 'em tastier. Also, because these were actually 3 door hatchbacks, they are a lot more practical than they first appear.
The interior on this one is in very good shape (okay, it needs a vacuuming like nobody's business), better than anyone should expect out of something this old with almost 150K on the clock. And look, LOOK! Manual transmission and a third pedal. Yeah, there's a hole where the stereo used to be, but come on, it's a '93 model, the best you could hope for was a cassette player and both AM and FM - no bluetooth, no auxilliary jacks, possibly a very early CD player (but not likely to work even if it included one... and who has CD's anymore?), and no satellite radio.
Um, yeah, rough around the edges. The fender isn't bad, but I'm not sure that the passenger door closes fully. But at this price, you've either got a beater you don't care about, a weekend project, or the start of a wonderful time in ChumpCar or the 24 Hours of LeMons.
Speaking of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, if you've never ventured
into the barrios on the east side of Grand Prairie, you should, just to
check out the wrecker yards along Jefferson and Main west of the 180/12 interchange.
They stretch as far as the eye can see, and probably have any part you
could ever need, like a new front clip and fender for a certain NX2000.
Big thanks to Bill Haworth, aka Tetsu_no_Usagi for this feature. Got your own opinion on a car? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
That face is hard to look at, but the rest of the package seems legit. Great winter beater car, and probably only a couple left in nice shape.
ReplyDeleteSeriously wanted one of these back in the day - not lust-object kind of want, but carefully considered reasonable purchase want. I was totally cool with the baby-928 looks, really appreciated the hatch, and if I was in the right situation would have been very happy with one.
ReplyDeleteThe NX cars totally lost out the the first Sentra SE-R, which had the same driveline in a lighter package for a lower price. Can't blame the market for being smart. Shame both of them are almost extinct now.