Faults:

Small 'leak' around transmission bell housing, but so small it doesn't pour out or anything.

Cracked rear engine mount.

General Comments:

Excellent drive and great pick up.

Handling is fantastic along with brakes.

Interior is great and comfortable.

Modest sport styling, but still looks great.

Overall I was very pleased with this car and will carry on driving it.

I know someone who has the same car and its still going at 280,000kms without a hitch.

Faults:

Starter motor failed ($500 fix, Nissan wanted $1100 for the part alone)

General Comments:

Possibly the best car I have ever owned. For a four cylinder, the Bluebird outperforms six cylinder local cars with its stock 0-100km/h of 8.6 seconds. Mine has extractors, KN filter and mandrel exhaust for a nice note and power increase. Fuel economy returns under 10litres per 100km with my "spirited driving". All the creature comforts and four doors make it an excellent daily driver.

Only annoying feature is the fuel light coming on after only 38 litres of fuel has been used despite being a 60 litre tank.

Faults:

On occasions the electic 'air conditioner' would not light up, so I put a new bulb in and, good as new, other than that nothing.

General Comments:

This car would take any other four cylinder non-turbo car on the road made before 2000, except when you put your foot down the front wheels spin occasionally.

General Comments:

This car was very reliable, for the six months I owned my Bluebird it had no mechanical troubles and the engine ran smoothly. However, in general I did not enjoy ownership of this car. I found many features unnecessary and irritating, for example a miniature joystick to electronically alter the mirror orientation and buttons to fold mirrors up. I found the air conditioning, whilst effective removed too much power from the engine. This problem was particularly noticeable at idle.

Aesthetically the exterior of this car recieved no points for style, coming from the shapeless organic school of design.

I found that the engine did not live up to it's SSS sports designation, needing more revs than I expect of a 1.8 L engine to reach decent acceleration. Acceleration between the overtaking speeds of 110 - 130 was especially sluggish and the engine needed 5500 revs to quickly build momentum and overtake safely.

To be fair I did find that this car did have good resale value.

Faults:

No breakdowns at all - basically 3 1/2 years of trouble free family motoring.

General Comments:

For a 2 litre car, it is unbelievably quick. Developing 107 KW of power, it has more than 10% more grunt than my father's 2.4 litre Australian assembled Bluebird.

The motor has one annoying quirk - if it is started and stopped when cold the hydraulic valve lifters can stick, locking the valves open. If you are shifting the car just a few metres, run the engine for 2 or 3 minutes!

Comfort and finish is very good, although the fake woodgrain strip on the dashboard is a little cheesy.

Handling is also good, although the ride in the back seat is a little hard.

It has air conditioning and factory fitted security system.

Faults:

Driver's side electric mirror motor failed so would not adjust. Fixed by a dealer for less than $50 New Zealand. Otherwise nothing!

General Comments:

This is a wolf in sheep's clothing. If you're a traffic light racer you'll win against most vehicles.

If you are looking for a car to take on a road trip which includes winding roads and hills, look at a Bluebird. Handling and just the right amount of power to the front wheels.

Get at least 16 inch alloy wheels to dress the car up suitably!