1990 Nissan Sunny LX 1.6 petrol from Norway

Summary:

A cheap, fast, reliable but boring car.

Faults:

The radiator has got a small leakage.

The front dampers needs to be replaced.

There is a rattling sound coming from the steering system when I drive over bumps.

General Comments:

The car is very quick compared to other cars in this class, the GA16i engine is really powerful.

But what I really miss on this car is servo and steering wheel tilting.

The exterior might seem a bit plain too.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 10th July, 2001

1990 Nissan Sunny ZX 1.8i from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Wolf in sheep's clothing?? - it certainly is!! :)

Faults:

Absolutely nothing, although I bought it with a broken window motor and the fuel and temp. gauges weren't working - although this is a common problem.

The only problem I had was I got too mechanical and managed to bust the air flow meter, which then cost me 500 quid.... although this was entirely my own fault.... Doh!!

General Comments:

This car has been amazingly reliable, discreet and yet really punches with power. It is so unknown, your average RS Turbo racer won't believe what he's seeing when a Sunny beats him at the lights.

The ZX 3 door hatch is everything I wanted my old sunny 1.6GS to be in looks, sound and speed. It revs forever and has a V-tec like pickup at 4000rpm, it makes you want to drive it all day everyday. Believe me when I say this car is a hot hatch dream.

It's a shame there aren't more performance parts for it, but there's plenty you can do. The ZX was only made for one year and they are rarer than you can imagine in hatch form, but buy a well looked after example and you'll be grinning as hard as I have been for the last year - I don't ever want to get rid of this car... I only wish I'd had it from new :)

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th September, 2000

16th Jan 2001, 06:01

Well!... the ZX is still in my ownership and after a brief upset with the increasing amount of bodyroll, I discovered that all four shock absorbers at 70,000 miles were completely knacked... the rears especially on Sunnys tend to go first so an all round set of KYB shocks and Chassis Dynamics springs sorted things out wonderfully!!

The car has been as reliable as ever with the only problem being a worn front passenger side ball joint.

I sorted out my passenger side electric motor by making a trip to the local scrappies and sourcing the regulator/motor combo from a poor old 1.3, 15 quid thank you very much and she's working again, after a little DIY. Much better than the 150 quid it would have cost from Nissan.

The car has now donw 75,000 miles on a G plate and I don't think I will ever sell it. The Janspeed half exhaust system and K+N 57i have done it well, but a chip is on the cards in the next week, more importantly a rolling road setup to check and maximise the performance, not that it's slow after beating a Celica 2.0 16v GTi last week, and having had 127mph out of it before realising my license was in real danger!!

Love the car... if you are thinking of getting one, then do, before you never find one again!!

12th Apr 2001, 14:44

Well, my 2 years with the ZX are up, having had a great time with the car, it is time for someone else to enjoy it as I cannot keep it under the circumstances. It has many modifications, only 78,000 miles under its belt and is in very good condition, with tonnes of service history.

EEmail me at b1zkit@yahoo.com for more info. Dated... April 12th 2001.

24th Jan 2005, 06:01

127mph? My friend had one of these and we had 140mph out of it on the M6, still as standard. Very quick hot hatch for its time!