It’s getting harder to come by decent ‘80s RWD Japanese coupes these days. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe 200SX is a V6 and looks way better than just decent, but will its price make you think it has SX appeal?
Did you know that last Friday was Elisabeth Moss’s birthday? She played Peggy on Mad Men, was once married - for like five minutes - to weirdo comedian Fred Armisen, and is a raging Scientologist. Yep, she’s the whole package.
Also on Friday, and a whole ‘nother sort of package, was our 1992 Passat G60 Syncro, a car brought to the U.S. from Canada, and generally possessing a lot of features we like individually. We apparently don’t like them when they’re packaged in a green carded Passat and then priced at thirty-five hundred bucks however, as that quirky Vee-Dub dropped in a 64% Crack Pipe loss.
Okay, new week, new cars. And, maybe someone else’s birthday!
Hey, do you remember the Eighties? Or, maybe you read about them - a paragraph perhaps - in your Contemporary U.S. History book if you’re too young to have actually been there. It was glorious era if you where into big hair, cocaine, synthesizer-laden new wave music, or just maybe, rear-wheel drive Japanese sport coupes.
One of the rear-driver-iest of the era was Nissan’s 200SX which the company slotted below the full-on sporty 300ZX. Back in the ‘80s Nissan was all about the X. Called the Silvia elsewhere, the ’83 through ’88 200SX was the fourth generation (S12) of a line that could trace its roots back to an Albrecht Goetz-designed coupe built on a Fairlady roadster platform all the way back in 1965.
Oh how things had changed over the years, and this 1988 200SX (link removed because the former owner keeps getting calls!) represents perhaps the closest thing to a Grand Touring Coupe that the marque ever offered. Under the hood you’ll find a VG30E V6 engine which was shared at the time with the 300ZX and Maxima and others. That’s good for 153-bhp and 182 lb-ft of twist, all of it at bargain basement RPMs.
Here that’s backed up by a 4-speed automatic with overdrive lockout. Remember those? Suspension is independent all the way around, and supports the hatchback’s modest 2,580 pounds. This one sports plain jane Factory alloy wheels, but it does have some cool pop-up headlights going for it, another common Eighties styling trope.
The rest of the car looks like it’s either just off the line, or at least has been kept in suspended animation with a good dollop of detailing ever now and then. The whole car looks clean as a bean and even the cooling system catch tank under-hood seems to have escaped yellowing with age. What sorcery is this?!
You’ll find the interior on this 95,000-miler to be equally clean with no evidence of wear apparent anywhere in the pics. There is a modern stereo in the un-marred dash, so you won’t be relegated to just listening to The Thompson Twins.
The seller claims to have undertaken the usual maintenance on the car - new filters and fluids, etc - and says the only issue it possesses is a lame half shaft out back. Oh and one tip to you all: no one is impressed by Duralast brake pads, I’m just saying.
I’m also saying that I’d now like your opinion on this fresher than a Bel Air prince 200SX V6 and its $4,000 price tag. Is that an asking that you think deserves an answer? Or, is this an SX that just not SX-y enough?
You decide!
Chicago Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears. (NOTE: Links removed at former owner’s request)
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