Nissan IDx Concept - Is this our affordable RWD sports car?

[dre1507]

300hp and 6 speed manual or bust!! Nissan needs a crazy (read: radically awesome) car fight the cvt-people moving stains.

[Rev_D21]

No longer 'watching this space' as the space will be filled with something that offers a stick. Sorry Nissan, looks are only skin deep and a CVT is far from exciting. You are the Buffalo Sabres of the automotive world and this is coming from a Sabres fan. It will take more than a new color uniform to win the game, you need to rethink your entire team.

[AZhitman]

I'm thinking the NISMO version could be modded into something way cool - but I'm with Mike, why should I have to?

That car in charcoal and silver 2-tone, with proper Volks (17-18") and a nasty stance would be a looker.

Where's our Photoshoppers?!

[Razi]

Saw this on Facebook today.



Not too bad.

[dre1507]

NICO for President of NNA 2014.

That chop looks nice, Razi.

[nissangirl74]

Saw this on Facebook today.



Not too bad.

that's not horrible

[TurboSauce]

that pic can grow on me.

[themadscientist]

Saw this on Facebook today.



Not too bad.

The face is still wrecked, but that profile with those huge steamrollers is not bad.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

^+1
We don't need photoshop, we need a doctor that can cure PDS.

[jbracy7]

Here's my money take it

[pepesilvia]

I made a photoshop job too!



took away the "tongue" in the front and split pillar in the rear.... and wheels of course

[Hijacker]

While we wait patiently for Stev0ns notes on his meeting with the suits regarding the IDx, Jalopnik put out this article about their impressions from Detroit. Most notably is Andy Palmer mentioning a manual gearbox isn't out of the equation, so that's reassuring to hear. However, I'd prefer, and I'm certain the rest of the enthusiast crowd will agree, that we'd rather see Nissan execs talking definites on putting a manual in the car. Anything less than a manual just defeats the whole point of the car and hands more sales back to Subaru/Toyota and now Kia.

[EZcheese15]

While we wait patiently for Stev0ns notes on his meeting with the suits regarding the IDx, Jalopnik put out this article about their impressions from Detroit. Most notably is Andy Palmer mentioning a manual gearbox isn't out of the equation, so that's reassuring to hear. However, I'd prefer, and I'm certain the rest of the enthusiast crowd will agree, that we'd rather see Nissan execs talking definites on putting a manual in the car. Anything less than a manual just defeats the whole point of the car and hands more sales back to Subaru/Toyota and now Kia.

The actual quote that Palmer said was "high-performance, eco-friendly 1.6L direct-injection turbocharged engine together with a sporty CVT with 6-speed manual shift mode and synchronized rev control."

That's not the same thing as a manual. I've read the Jalopnik article as well as the Drive article, and they both just say that Palmer *hinted* at a manual, but the only direct quote I've found is the one above. That's not very convincing to me.

Until I hear Palmer himself state that the IDX WILL have a manual, then I'd put money on it that it won't. And by manual, I mean a transmission that uses a clutch disc. Not a simulated CVT with a gear shifter.

[Bubba1]

I agree with Torry. I think Mr. Palmer is doing the Texas Two step with the transmission choice because if he confirms now it's not going to be a real manual, he'd lose all respect/credibility from the enthusiast community before the car ever hits a showroom. The last thing you want is have a dud for a major sporty themed car introduction. I hope I'm proven wrong and they do offer a man-pedal, but his coyness hints the car is going to follow the mothership's recent disturbing trend of being sporty in appearance only.

[float_6969]

I think you're giving him too much credit. If he had the wherewithal to realize telling us a manual won't be an option, they would be offering it. I think he's out of touch.

He could also be screwing with us to drum up more attention about by not telling us about the transmission.

[AZhitman]

I concur with Bubba 100%.

I think, in the collective mind of Nissan Corporate, "paddle shifters" equates to "manual control of the transmission."

The problem is, all that electronic programming logic is simply fakery - It's no different than BMW "piping in" engine sounds through the speakers (dumb), adding a "fake blow-off valve" to a non-turbo car (dumb), or installing speakers behind the bumper of an electric car to simulate "real" car sounds (dumb).

They can program the shift logic on a CVT to feel like a 4-speed, a 6-speed, an 8-speed automatic... the sky is the limit - it's all 0s and 1s. The problem is, somewhere, somehow, these guys got the mistaken notion that "flicking a paddle" or "bumping a stick" somehow means the driver has "control" of the transmission. It's all false feedback, and it's not proper.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope Mr. Palmer is "playing us" so we can get twice as excited if a true 6MT is included.

I don't think I'm wrong.

[Bubba1]

Reading Mr. Palmer's quotes made me think of this....



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8ajhu_e5Y

[float_6969]

LOL!

[Mr. Music]

IDx NISMO on Jay Leno's Garage. There wasn't a single mention of the transmission in the video but the design guy sure mentioned the "three box" design a lot.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2Rg3zH5EY[/youtube]

[Bubba1]

I'm sure transmission talk was intentionally omitted.

[D3stro]

Nissan go no choice to go on with this concept and make it to the dealer. Sure, the concept look won't be 100% the one of the final product, but hoping that Nissan don't do like toyota with the FRS/GT86/BRZ and make a concept 1, concept 2...

Totally down for that car. Do it Nissan! But please, not a big 4 cylinder in there!

[MinisterofDOOM]

Here's what drives me nuts about the IDx:

It has one-piece fenders with screw holes. They're not screw-on fenders. But they have screw holes. It looks moronic.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I'm not a fan of the gaudy roof trash they put on there.
I'd love to see it with that removed. It just screams aerodynamic inefficient to me.

[krash]

I'm hoping the roof thing can be removed. I also agree the useless holes in the fender need to go.

Other than that, I'm liking it

[Mr. Music]

I too am sure the transmission talk was intentionally omitted. There was a close up of the fenders in the video - to make the fake over fenders worse, the "screw holes" are rectangular. There are a lot of things about the look of the Nismo concept that bug me but the cleaner lines of the Freeflow concept are much more appealing to me.

[EZcheese15]

Also keep in mind it's still a concept. I'm sure a lot of things like that will change for the production version. Like the designer in the video said, they can replicate it fairly well, but they do have to build things to meet federal regulations too. So some things might have to change a bit.

[BamaCoupe]

Also keep in mind it's still a concept. I'm sure a lot of things like that will change for the production version. Like the designer in the video said, they can replicate it fairly well, but they do have to build things to meet federal regulations too. So some things might have to change a bit.

There is a lot of things that need to change.

Where's our Photoshoppers?!

I can photoshop, but there's some things that photoshop just can't fix. Manual or not I don't care; I'll keep my boring ole fwd CVT Altima coupe any day over this ugly heap of.....