Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
10/15/24 12:49 p.m.
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Is it a coupe? A wagon? A convertible? A targa-style sports car? The Nissan Pulsar could be all of the above thanks to its unique modular design.

This example from 1987 is billed as an SE model fitted with the five-speed manual gearbox and its original CA16DE inline-four engine.

The Rad-era points don’t end there, though, as this Pulsar also features an …

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Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
10/15/24 12:59 p.m.

I can't totally explain it, but the NX just scratches an itch.

The bodykit is just the icing on the cake.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/15/24 1:42 p.m.

Back in the day, Erebuni had the raddest body kits: Testarossa slats, side scoops, giant fog lights.

I wonder if I have a catalog somewhere....

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/15/24 1:43 p.m.

To be period-correct, though, this Pulsar really needs 14- or 15-inch wheels–ideally something chrome and from the Prime or Ultra catalog. 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/15/24 1:51 p.m.

Wrong bolt pattern, but these Ultra alloys would work:

Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
10/15/24 1:59 p.m.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Oh yeah, those would be perfect.

J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
10/15/24 3:14 p.m.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I'd like some white wheels, please. laugh

Tom1200
Tom1200 PowerDork
10/15/24 3:41 p.m.

My wife owned one of these when we were dating; it was the standard hatch with some BBS knock off wheels.

Her favorite memory was a guy in a 911 getting his car wobbly trying to follow here around an off-ramp. These cars actually handled really well and were fun to drive.

Hers was a 5 speed as well.

Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
10/15/24 3:50 p.m.

In reply to Tom1200 :

So what I'm hearing:

The Nissan Pulsar NX handles better than a Porsche 911

Sounds like a great reason to buy one. wink

Tom1200
Tom1200 PowerDork
10/15/24 3:59 p.m.
Colin Wood said:

In reply to Tom1200 :

So what I'm hearing:

The Nissan Pulsar NX handles better than a Porsche 911

Sounds like a great reason to buy one. wink

Yes..............with my wife behind the wheel.

DavyZ
DavyZ Reader
10/15/24 4:42 p.m.

I was (and still am) a Datsun/Nissan guy, but the styling of the Pulsar never did interest me much.  I do confess to being wowed by the modular capability of the NX, though.  But it didn't really take off, did it?  Too bad.

dculberson
dculberson MegaDork
10/15/24 5:27 p.m.

I love it. It needs much wider wheels to fill out that body kit, though. One thing that ad taught me is that the whole sport bak assembly lifts as one piece; I thought just the glass lifted. I wonder what the squeaks and rattles from that are like? The price seems reasonable if the condition is as claimed.

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/15/24 7:13 p.m.
Tom1200 said:
Colin Wood said:

In reply to Tom1200 :

So what I'm hearing:

The Nissan Pulsar NX handles better than a Porsche 911

Sounds like a great reason to buy one. wink

Yes..............with my wife behind the wheel.

I'm not going to say that most cars handled better than 911s, but Porsche had some of the best chassis people in the world for a long time because they were trying to get good handling from a car with a heavy rear engine smiley  And a whole driver school of thought was built up around driving around the chassis' idiosyncrasies while exploiting its benefits.  (So much so that GRM published an article about it )

 

As one former Porsche engineer put it, rear engine and air cooling were handed down from Ferdinand-on-High and so any talk of changing that was verboten. He described his time there as having to constantly "put out fires" while ignoring the two biggest "fires". Meanwhile, he also pointed out that in the executive motor pool, the 928s always went first and the stragglers had to drive 911s.

 

(None of this dissuades me from wanting a 911SC, mind)

Datsun240ZGuy
Datsun240ZGuy MegaDork
10/15/24 8:43 p.m.

I never liked this car - it's dad was the Datsun 310GX and I came to hate that bad boy. 

Tony Sestito
Tony Sestito UltimaDork
10/15/24 9:17 p.m.

Man, a Sportbak-equipped NX with that body kit? That's the stuff right there. Definitely needs the sawblade wheels to complete the look. 

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