Nissan 200SX Turbo
Son of 300ZX Turbo?
Road & Track Magazine, May 1984
Words: Road & Track
Photographs: John Lamm
“THE OLD DATSUN was a car that did everything wrong. Lift off the throttle a bit midway through Riverside's Turn 9, and you'd find yourself looking at the track through the driver's window rather than the windshield. In automotive parlance we call this oversteer. Conversely, if you didn't lift and drove the old bus into that same turn too fast, you'd soon see the familiar white-and-red stripes of the retaining wall looming before you, even though you had cranked in two turns of steering. This is referred to as understeer.
“After two-and-a-half years of racing a 200SX in SCCA Showroom Stock C, I experienced both (and some other handling characteristics that defy interpretation), not just in Turn 9, but in 2, 6, 7 and 8. And not just at Riverside, but at Phoenix, Holtville, Laguna Seca, Sears Point and Carlsbad. However, one adjusts and after a while the Datsun and I reached an understanding. But I never really thought of the 200SX as sporty. Until now. Suddenly, here's this redesigned 200SX, a contemporary design with independent rear suspension and turbo-charging. What I could have done with a car like that!”
We told our Motor Sports Editor, Joe Rusz, to spare us the details. We already knew more than we wanted to about his illustrious racing career. What we wanted to know is how someone who had spent 30 weekends in a 1980 200SX perceived the latest version of that car, the upmarket Turbo model.
“Pretty slick” would not suffice. Anyone can see that the 1984 Nissan 200SX Turbo is figuratively and literally slick. As in the past, there are a hatchback and a notchback and both are aerodynamically cleaner than their predecessors. Given half a chance, our resident punster, Editor John Dinkel, might say: “These cars are really Cx-y.” Bad pun, good numbers: new 0.34 (versus old 0.47) for the hatchback and 0.36 (vs 0.42) for the coupe. Nissan engineers achieved these figures by integrating the front and rear bumpers into the bodywork, hiding the retractable headlights under the hood (thus lowering the hoodline 2.0 in.) and moving the side window glass outward so that it is almost flush with the body.
Speaking of bodywork, you'll notice that the new 200SX is not only cleaner looking, but also smaller than the old SX. Although it has a 1.0-in. longer wheelbase, it is 2.0 in. shorter and 0.5 in. narrower than the 1983 model. One dimension that has increased rather than decreased is height: The latest 200 is 0.8 in. taller.
Does this mean more interior head room? Yes, 1.0 in. more, but only up front. In the back seat the numbers are the same as before. Perhaps Nissan is telling us something that we have long suspected: Although cars such as the 200SX can accommodate four passengers, they are really designed for two.
But let's get back to styling because this is one of the car's strong points. Pressed for further descriptives the Editor might call the new 200SX, “A real glass act.” Paneful! But true. The doors extend upward into the roofline and have curved side glass. Notchback and hatchback have rear windows that wrap around the C-pillar, Honda Prelude-fashion. And both models have large wraparound taillights with checkerboard lenses. It's probably no coincidence that they look a lot like 300ZX tail lamps. it may be an attempt at maintaining corporate identity. Or it could be the 200SX Turbo is meant to be a poor man's 300ZX. You see, Nissan's not selling a low-line version of the ZX in the U.S. and the 200 fills that void nicely. At least, the turbocharged model does.
We'll devote only minimal time to the normally aspirated model in this road test. Because, in spite of its distinctive interior and exterior styling, the non-turbocharged 200 feels much the same as the 1983 and earlier SXs. It has a new engine, essentially a slightly more powerful Nissan Stanza powerplant. This 1974-cc sohe inline-4 develops the same horsepower as the 1983 4-banger, leading some people to assume it is the same. Not true, says Racer Rusz who reminds us that 1) the displacement is smaller; 2) the new engine is physically smaller and has a belt- rather than chain-driven overhead camshaft.
Although it runs smoother, this 102bhp non-turbo is no barn-burner. But then, neither was the old four. “The biggest failing of that little gem was that it would flat run out of steam at about 5500 rm.” says Rusz. “Sure, you could rev it to the 6000rpm redline, but it was like running in place because the car didn't go any faster.”
Continuing our meanderings amongst the mechanical data, we find that although the normally aspirated SX has the same 5-speed manual transmission as last year's car, there's a new 4-speed automatic with lockup top gear. Stick and automatic use a live axle rear end, just as previous 200s did. But for 1984, the once standard rear disc brakes have been replaced by drums, probably all you need in a model that places sporty looks before performance.
Nissan learned long ago (when it was still Datsun) to play Detroit's option game. So it comes as no surprise to learn that the non-turbo coupe, available with manual or automatic transmission, comes in two trim levels, Deluxe and XE. The hatchback has the same gearbox options, but has three trim levels. Deluxe, XE and Turbo.
Now as we said before, it's the Turbo that turns us on. Here is a car that should give the Honda Prelude and the Toyota Celica, nay, the Supra, a run for the money. The Turbo looks different than the other 200s. There's a front air dam, a rear spoiler, side spoilers/runningboards and a non-functional hood scoop whose raison d'être is to remind you that, by God, this is a TURBO. And herein lies our major criticism of the car: It savs “cafe racer” in big bold letters.
R&T's Assistant Art Director Larry Crane, a man with a keen eye for esthetics (and a Lancia Aurelia GT), couldn't have put it better when he said, “Think of any styling cliche ever used to invoke 'performance,' and this car has it. Hood bulge? Yep. Spoiler? Yep. Side sills? Yes. Op art interior? Yep. Although the overall shape isn't bad, all the garishness spoils it for me.
Having told you that the emperor has no clothes (or that he has too many), let's get down to what we do like about the 200SX Turbo-driving it. Open the door, drop into that Recaro- or Scheel-like bucket seat and grasp the steering wheel. Good grip and, with its asymmetrical spokes, good sighting of the pri- mary instruments, a big tach and speedo, oil and water temperature, turbo boost and fuel level gauges. Easy reaching to the shift lever, headlight and wiper stalks plus dash-mounted switches for the cruise control, rear-window defroster and side mirrors. Rusz: “It all feels familiar, yet different. I know I'm in a Nissan, mabe even a 200SX (See, the heat/vent control panel looks the same.). But this feels and looks more like a ZX and where my car's dash is very angular and plain, the new Turbo's is rounded and full of details, just like the 300's.”
Fire up the engine, get underway and slip into something uncomfortable traffic. That's when you'll discover one reason we love the Turbo. It trundles along effortlessly, belying its spirited turbo nature. Proper behavior for a car that undoubtediv will spend most of its time in the daily dice that we call commuting.
Another reason we love the Turbo is its performance on the open road: exhilarating and accelerating. Zero to 60 mph takes only 9.5 seconds, the quarter mile 16.9. This compares favorably with the Honda Prelude's 9.7/17.2 sec. Then there's the matter of top speed. Here the car's exceptional aerodynamics come into play and the Turbo slips through the air at a respectable 116 mph. If memory serves us correctly, that's faster than some of the early Datsun Z-cars.
Yet the engine does not have the peaky feel of many other turbos. It makes the transition from low to high boost very smoothly, so smoothly that a certain person who shall remain nameless, but who should know better because he's a 200SX “expert,” didn't know it was turbocharged. One interesting observation: You get less engine noise but all the performance needed for most driving conditions if you shift below 5000 pm rather than at the 6000-rpm redline.
We'd be derelict if we didn't point out that the key to this performance is a turbocharged 1809-cc inline 4-cylinder that develops 120 bhp at full boost, 7.3 psi. The oomph comes from a Garrett AiResearch turbo working in concert with Bosch electronic fuel injection. Nissan geneologists, please note that this engine block is another Stanza derivative. But unlike the normally aspirated 200SX powerplant, the Turbo has a smaller bore and stroke and a lower compression ratio.
Time for another dash of romance: driving on the open road, known to R&T readers as “Our Favorite 2-lane,” and/or “The Twisty Bits.” This is where you'll discover what really makes the Turbo shine, handling. With irs (borrowed from the ZX), the 200SX Turbo becomes a well balanced car with good grip and crisp response. Unlike the old SX, which we said had a proclivity for understeer, the Turbo feels relatively neutral and is quite tossable. It's the sort of car experienced drivers can maneuver by using either the steering wheel or an educated throttle foot. Along those lines we should add that the Turbo is an easy car to heel and toe and that even though the gearbox has well spaced ratios, the turbo's flexible boost makes 4th gear usable in turns where 3rd or even 2nd is typically needed.
Obviously, irs has done wonders for the 200SX's handling (ride too), as Rusz reminds us.*I know why they called the old rear axle live.' It had a personality of its own. In turns, the inside rear wheel would lift and spin helplessly and if by some chance it did get a bite, the rear end would judder.” Another advantage of the irs is derived from its 300ZX lineage: a 2.6-in. wider track that, in a roundabout way, improves cornering stability.
Those attractive cast alloy wheels and low-profile tires further contribute to the Turbo's handling, which for you numerologists shapes up like this: In the slalom, the Turbo breezes through at 62.6 mph, 1 mph faster than the Honda Prelude. On the skidpad, it manages a more than respectable 0.783g, same as the Honda. Can you win the numbers game? Sure, just throw on some bigger wheels and tires. Toyota did that on its Celica GT-S and chalked up 0.804. But it didn't help the car's ride one iota and we prefer Nissan's approach, which, admittedly, is a compromise.
When Turbo owners begin bragging about their cars' merits, we'll bet they won't talk about panic stop braking. We, however, measured 154 ft from 60 mph and 288 ft from 80. So now you know and will undoubtedly be the life of the party the next time around. If your interest is more than superficial, please note that the Turbo stops quickly, at least from 60, because it uses the ZX rear differential and thus has rear, as well as front, disc brakes. What's more, it has ventilated front rotors unlike the old SX, which had solid discs all around.
True, the new brakes have less swept area (340 vs 393 sq in.). But the Turbo has three percent less weight up forward and this means that the front brakes don't have to work as hard. The proof (you'll really wow the cocktail set with this): fade. Formerly 52 percent (on a car that was 140 lb lighter); now it's nil.
Did the old 200SX eat its brakes? Ask our Motor Sports Editor. “I thought my Datsun had metallics until I realized that it was the metal backing that was scraping against the rotors, quips Rusz.
If the Turbo's brakes are so effective, why did it take 288 ft to reach a full stop from 80 mph? Because from this speed the rears had a tendency to lock and no amount of pedal modulation would alleviate the problem. And at R&T we do not believe in flat-spotting the tires.
Undoubtedly, all of you out there have been waiting for that segment of our road test wherein we place our regulation sheet of plywood and dozen bags of Sakrete into the Turbo to measure its cargo carrying capacity. Sorry, that's not what this car is about. Admittedly, its rear hatch accessibility and fold-down rear seat make such things possible, but we don't expect to see many Turbos backed up to the loading dock at Wickes.
Nope, we suspect most 200SX Turbos will be shuttling from home to office to store and, occasionally, spending a Sunday fun-running in the country, just like “real” sports/GTs such as the 300ZX do. And the old 200SX tried to do. But this time there's more to it than pretension. The 200SX Turbo has the looks, performance and handling to match its image, even if the mascara is a bit thick.