1988 Nissan Silvia K's 1.8 turbo petrol from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Best bang for your buck

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

My now has Silvia has 220hp with a three inch cat back exhaust, K&N performance injection kit, bleed valve running at 14psi, blow off valve, front mounted intercooler from a Mitsubishi Galant VR4 and an air oil separator.

The automatic gearbox is killing performance but it will still pull low six second sprints to 100km which is enough to embarass WRX Turbo owners.

Struggles for traction in first with 235 tyres on the rear.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 31st October, 2000

8th Dec 2000, 21:19

Will it improve the performance by just putting an intercooler on the original 1.8 turbo 122HP?

How many HP/KW/PS will I get from that?

17th Jul 2001, 22:59

Intercoolers are definitely worthwhile if you drive your car hard and essential if you are planning to raise the boost on your car. Remember, if you're raising the boost substantially, the engine will need a lot more fuel. The two best ways to get around this are one, add an extra injector into the system or two, increase the size of the current ones.

25th Nov 2022, 22:21

Thanks to games like Gran Turismo, this car is soo well known :)

1988 Nissan Silvia 1.8 turbo petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

I'd buy another one. Fast, cheap thrills

Faults:

Pop up headlamps have stuck in the upright position.

Clutch broke.

General wear and tear for a 12 year old car (new exhaust, tyres, radiator core).

General Comments:

It's actually my wife's car and I was very sceptical until I drove it. Great performance, comfortable driving position, very reliable. The looks grow on you. It's got a large carrying space in behind the rear seats - which are quite comfortable for a sporty coupe.

In summary, what other 130 BHP rear wheel drive coupe capable of 190K miles can you buy for less than a grand? An unsung hero, stillborn by the stupid name they gave it.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th September, 2000

1988 Nissan Silvia K's 1.8 turbo intercooler petrol from UK and Ireland

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Modified exhaust, K&N Air filter approx 180Hp. Performance approx 0-100 7 sec.

Great turbo punch. Handful in the wet, easy to tailslide. Excellent handling.

Seats not very comfortable. Weight effects performance dramatically.

Superb Japanese past master.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd December, 1998

21st Jan 2001, 17:44

Is this the engine with 8 vents and 8 sparkplugs?

What have you done with the car to get an extra 60 horsepower?

12th Feb 2001, 13:11

There is not an extra 60hp. The Silvia S13 K's has the CA18DET turbo engine which produces a little less than this stock. Later models (PS13's) were fitted with the 2 litre SR20DET which produces more like 210bhp.

They were never (as far as I know) sold outside of Japan officially. The European export version for example is called a 200SX and has a different body style. Confusingly this fastback type body was also available in Japan but was called a 180SX.

26th Aug 2002, 19:59

I would assume the 180SX was called that because when it first came out it had the CA18 engine, 1.8 liters = 180SX. The stateside model having the limp KA24, 2.4 liters was called the 240SX probably for the same reason.

Why the euro version was called the 200SX? Maybe they ran out of numbers. They should have used that name in Japan when the SR20 2 liter came out.

24th Feb 2003, 11:33

Nissan codes their cars with the engine first available. As such, in Japan it received the 1.8 liter ca18det 180sx in 1988. America got the KA24E in the 240sx in 1989, and Europe later received the SR20det 200sx.

In the US, the SR20de was available in a piece of crap FWD version of the Sentra known as the 200sx. The coupe was available in the US, but with pop up headlights of the 180sx, and also had the 2.4 liter ka truck engine.

The coupe in Japan was the Silvia, had fixed projectors, and was never officially released outside of Asia, though greys can be found throughout right hand drive markets, including Europe, and conversions using the left hand drive 240sx coupe and Silvia front ends are now popular in the states.

The 180sx hatchback body style was so popular, that it was produced until 1998 in Japan, but was dropped in other markets after the switch to the S14 body style in 1994.