1989 Nissan Pintara GLi 2.0 from Australia and New Zealand
Summary:
Flimsy trash, but strangely reliable
Faults:
The odometer stopped working soon after I bought it, so it's hard to tell how many km I have done, and even harder to tell when I should service it.
I've been skinned a couple of times during what I'd hoped were routine services, where the garage found over $1,000 worth of stuff to fix. This could of course be due to my own naivity.
I accidentally broke the aerial, and purchased another that was designated for my model, but didn't fit. I assumed that although my car was first registered in 1989, it was probably built in 1988. I looked for a 1988 aerial, but they don't exist. I still get only one radio station.
All four doors latches are continually coming loose. The back doors must be pushed shut firmly, or they will spring half open - very annoying if you've just locked them locked them. Every six months the drivers door needs to be re-adjusted because it does not latch firmly enough to extinguish the "open door" warning light. The interior light has actually drained the battery twice because of this.
Every single vent in the dash (4 of them) have broken. You have to jam your little finger between the louvers to adjust the direction of air flow.
General Comments:
The seats are comfortable, but there is no lumbar support - a pretty common feature even in 1989.
The air-con has been great and required no service.
The car always starts first time and runs well.
For a 2.0l, it has heaps of interior space. It is competitive with pre-1986 Commodores in interior space.
The windscreen wipers are annoying. They are set below the fringe of the bonnet, and cannot be lifted for cleaning unless you run them up the windscreen first. They also have a minimum 2-wipe cycle which dives you nuts when there is only a little rain.
Power is OK with one or two adults inside, but sluggish if under load. Avoid towing.
Space in the boot is good, but not compared to modern cars.
These cars have plummeted in price of late (but most have). For A to B travel, they are quite good at $1500 (used in 2003). Nothing seriously major has gone wrong in my car, but the little things that break make me mad. I have two friends who has joyfully discarded their Pintara, and they had similar niggly problems to mine.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 15th February, 2003
10th Aug 2002, 07:58
As the original author of this review, and the car's now done 218000 km (last count) It's been a serviceable steed. Nothing's gone wrong with it in the last 12 months - only the fan hub thingummy.
It's light on fuel, it's got more spark plugs than any of my friends cars (they can't drive V8s - P plate laws in Victoria) and it will do 150 km/h on a straight stretch.
Read some of the Gregory's manual - it's more technical than anything built by Ford or Holden in about 1994, and it's a 1986 design.
Find a good Nissan, they'll serve you well!