2000 BMW 523I SE for £650.

[turbopete]

Not sure if I should admit to having a bright yellow 1300cc Cherry back in 1983 or not.... (it was called Pulsar in NZ).

Cherry wasn't a bad car, apart from rust issues ALL Japanese cars had at the time. I wasn't aware they ever had the Pulsar name though. I thought it came around with the Sunny (which replaced the cherry) so I guess ive learned something today

 

[Frontstep]

I had a 120Y where you could see the front wheels through the rotted holes in the wings.
On the plus side it ran as new and everything worked, the revelation was heater controls something BL constantly failed on.
So to reacquaint myself with that era I bought a W210 only everything hasn't carried on working and it keeps rusting for some reason I still have it ??????????????????
Perhaps I should book a few sessions with a shrink....

 

[turbopete]

ah yes the 120Y. a friend of the family had one. and numerous of the bigger saloons (180B and 200B IIRC)

 

[Craiglxviii]

Cherry wasn't a bad car, apart from rust issues ALL Japanese cars had at the time. I wasn't aware they ever had the Pulsar name though. I thought it came around with the Sunny (which replaced the cherry) so I guess ive learned something today

Pulsar is a generic name Nissan gives mid range B segment cars that don't really fit anything else going... one market might call it Tiida and another Pulsar (same car) and yet another Pulsar (totally different car).

 

[turbopete]

Pulsar is a generic name Nissan gives mid range B segment cars that don't really fit anything else going... one market might call it Tiida and another Pulsar (same car) and yet another Pulsar (totally different car).

that makes sense. after all the Cherry was around at the time that the badges were changing from Datsun to Nissan. I never really did understand WHY they changed it (or why some cars like the Cherry and some Bluebirds IIRC were badged as Datsun Nissan, except dual badging helped with the transition) but to me, the name often sticks. even now I occasionally call Nissans Datsuns! I'm sure there was a reason for the namechange but as, at the time, Nissans rotted as badly as the Datsuns, I'm not sure that was the reason.

 

[LostKiwi]

Cherry wasn't a bad car, apart from rust issues ALL Japanese cars had at the time. I wasn't aware they ever had the Pulsar name though. I thought it came around with the Sunny (which replaced the cherry) so I guess ive learned something today

To be fair it handled well and went like stink (at the time) for what it was.
It was replaced with a Sunny.....(not the best days of my car owning history).

 

[Craiglxviii]

that makes sense. after all the Cherry was around at the time that the badges were changing from Datsun to Nissan. I never really did understand WHY they changed it (or why some cars like the Cherry and some Bluebirds IIRC were badged as Datsun Nissan, except dual badging helped with the transition) but to me, the name often sticks. even now I occasionally call Nissans Datsuns! I'm sure there was a reason for the namechange but as, at the time, Nissans rotted as badly as the Datsuns, I'm not sure that was the reason.

Datsun is Nissan's economy brand, just as Infiniti is Nissan's premium brand. Different market segments/ regional markets might require different brand levels of preiumness, if that's a real word.

 

[turbopete]

Datsun is Nissan's economy brand, just as Infiniti is Nissan's premium brand. Different market segments/ regional markets might require different brand levels of preiumness, if that's a real word.

is the Datsun name still going then? I just never got my head around wht the Datsun name (which everyone knew in the UK at the time) was phased out and replaced with the Nissan name on EXACTLY the same cars

 

[Craiglxviii]

is the Datsun name still going then? I just never got my head around wht the Datsun name (which everyone knew in the UK at the time) was phased out and replaced with the Nissan name on EXACTLY the same cars

Yup, going strong. It was the export-only name applied to Nissan cars until 1986 (which is why we all remember Datsuns); it died off when the Sunderland plant opened and started building Primeras for the European market badged as Nissan. And, as I've just learnt, it was phased out in 1986 and only brought back in 2013 for emerging markets. I thought they'd kept it for markets such as Thailand, Indonesia etc but apparently not.

 

[Droverunner]

>>>just never got my head around wht the Datsun name (which everyone knew in the UK at the time) was phased out and replaced with the Nissan name on EXACTLY the same cars

Datsun was a car brand that became part of Nissan in the 30s and as far as I understand they never got around to reflecting the Nissan parent company name until the 80s when I remember for a short while there were a few cars seen with the badge Datsun "by Nissan".... like a Bluebird a friend had at work.

In the past few years they have brought back the Datsun name for some ultra budget vehicles for the market in India, Russia, South Africa etc.


Edit.... sort of ditto.

Edit 2... just looked round and found this which explains in more detail... https://www.datsun.com/about-datsun.html

 

[Yugguy]

You can lease Infinitis really cheaply at the moment. Probably because they're trying to break in to the market.

 

[Craiglxviii]

You can lease Infinitis really cheaply at the moment. Probably because they're trying to break in to the market.

Pretty much this. The brand was invented for the US market and Infiniti had a whole series of tech firsts... fully active suspension in the mid 80s for instance...and now they're trying for Europe.

 

[A.J.]

You can lease Infinitis really cheaply at the moment. Probably because they're trying to break in to the market.

Pretty much this. The brand was invented for the US market and Infiniti had a whole series of tech firsts... fully active suspension in the mid 80s for instance...and now they're trying for Europe.

A few months ago I was seriously considering buying a 15 Plate Q50. I was very impressed with the car, however I did still end up with a 'C'

 

[Craiglxviii]

A few months ago I was seriously considering buying a 15 Plate Q50. I was very impressed with the car, however I did still end up with a 'C'

Ive been eyeing them up too. Or the Q60. Road rocket, with the V6...

 

[A.J.]

Ive been eyeing them up too. Or the Q60. Road rocket, with the V6...

Q60, great looking car with superb build quality, maybe next time......

 

[Craiglxviii]

Q60, great looking car with superb build quality, maybe next time......

Really nice inside and out and the handling is REALLY sharp. One of the few cars I've been in with absolutely no "wobble" at all during any evolution.

 

[turbopete]

ive not seen many but they do look OK. my thoughts with them though is that I spent some small amount of time driving early 90s Lexus GS300 and LS400's (and recently had a drive of an early IS200) and for me, yes they were technically brilliant with all the toys (no idea how much would still work nowadays in those old cars) but every time I drove one, I couldn't help feeling id just driven a bog standard Toyota carina. I hoped they would feel more special than their 'basic' cousin, but they didn't. and that's what worries me with Infiniti, that they will feel no more special for a driver (ignoring toys, I mean just the feel of the car itself) than a basic Nissan/Datsun. for me Audi have the same problem. it might as well be a VW/Skoda/Seat you are driving. they feel NO DIFFERENT

 

[A.J.]

ive not seen many but they do look OK. my thoughts with them though is that I spent some small amount of time driving early 90s Lexus GS300 and LS400's (and recently had a drive of an early IS200) and for me, yes they were technically brilliant with all the toys (no idea how much would still work nowadays in those old cars) but every time I drove one, I couldn't help feeling id just driven a bog standard Toyota carina. I hoped they would feel more special than their 'basic' cousin, but they didn't. and that's what worries me with Infiniti, that they will feel no more special for a driver (ignoring toys, I mean just the feel of the car itself) than a basic Nissan/Datsun. for me Audi have the same problem. it might as well be a VW/Skoda/Seat you are driving. they feel NO DIFFERENT

Mmmm. Interesting, I had a Lexus IS200 when they were first introduced in 1999. I must say that I was quite impressed with it. Maybe it was the feeling of driving a 'Lexus' as opposed to a 'Toyota'.

I had driven Toyota Carina's in the past but never owned one and I did feel that the Lexus was far superior at the time and far better screwed together. It was a while ago but I do remember the IS200 being a lot quieter and gave the feeling of a more robust vehicle than a Carina. It had a 6 pot engine coupled to an auto gearbox which set it apart from the Carine. The 6 pot was not available on the Carina as far as I can remember. My first impressions of the car put it in the BMW 3 Series/Audi A3 sector. Horses for courses !

 

[LostKiwi]

Mmmm. Interesting, I had a Lexus IS200 when they were first introduced in 1999. I must say that I was quite impressed with it. Maybe it was the feeling of driving a 'Lexus' as opposed to a 'Toyota'.

I had driven Toyota Carina's in the past but never owned one and I did feel that the Lexus was far superior at the time and far better screwed together. It was a while ago but I do remember the IS200 being a lot quieter and gave the feeling of a more robust vehicle than a Carina. It had a 6 pot engine coupled to an auto gearbox which set it apart from the Carine. The 6 pot was not available on the Carina as far as I can remember. My first impressions of the car put it in the BMW 3 Series/Audi A3 sector. Horses for courses !

I test drove an IS200 in 2000 and whilst it was nice I was severely put off by the hard plastic dashboard. Other than that it was quite nice and handled well. That I6 was lovely and smooth and sounded superb when revved (just as well as in common with many Japanese engines it had no torque!) and the 6 speed manual was lovely to use.

 

[A.J.]

I test drove an IS200 in 2000 and whilst it was nice I was severely put off by the hard plastic dashboard. Other than that it was quite nice and handled well. That I6 was lovely and smooth and sounded superb when revved (just as well as in common with many Japanese engines it had no torque!) and the 6 speed manual was lovely to use.

I had forgotten the concrete dash !! You are right, it did lack torque, you did have to rev it to make any real progress