Excellent column. Bravo. I wonder if Mr. Palmer has a relative named Fred?nissangirl74 wrote:It has to happen if Nissan wants to compete. That's all there is to it.
that's Bill Engval's line....Jeff's is "You Might Be A Redneck If"s13drifter88 wrote:Jeff Foxworthy would say, "Here's your sign".
WDRacing wrote:It doesn't matter if they decide to build an S16 or not, they probably won't release it in America. Nissan isn't on my list of "want to own" vehicles and hasn't been in quite some time. It would be nice if Nissan made an affordable sports car, but they are behind the power curve in a big way. To the point that I feel they are seriously losing any type of brand loyalty they used to have. Too many other manufacturers are providing better options. It's almost like Nissan has been asleep at the wheel.
What have they built as of late that can make people think, wow, that's a sweet ride? The 370Z is indeed a beautiful car, but for $32,000 it had better be.
Sad really. How many cries have there been for an S-Chassis? Not that it matters I suppose, for they are falling upon deaf ears.
The SR wasn't an efficient engine.. it wouldn't meet emissions guidelines or fuel economy desires for the US market.Chaotic_Warlord wrote:The problem with the S Chassis in America is that Nissan opted to put the KA in it instead of the SR despite there being a butt load of turbo charged 4 bangers on the market, had they brought it here with the SR I'm pretty sure more people would have bought it new. Then again Toyota made the same mistake by not putting the 3S-GTE in the MR2 and not bringing the ST205 Celica All-Trac. Even if the SR had just been an option on all ne S13/S14's both the NA and Turbo versions I'm sure more would have sold. But the problem with the S Chassis stateside is that it's like Nissan's red headed step child, meaning that the Z was their flagship sports coupe and if the S Chassis had come with the SR it would have stolen sales from the Z, after all why buy a Z when you can get the same thrills and excitement (if not more) from a cheaper turbo S Chassis. But hey what do I know. If you put a brand new turbo S Chassis in front of me for $25K or the NA 370Z for $37K I'd be stupid to take the Z even if it has more HP, The S Chassis would be lighter and have a higher power:weight ratio and once full boost kicks in the butt dyno will have more fun.
a v6 mustang is $22-25k car. the V8 is $26-28k car. both of those represent buying the car in its simplest form. while I do agree that for the power and gas mileage you could get off of these, the competitors like Hyundai and Subaru/Scion simply blow the competition away with the amount of car and features you get for the same price.WDRacing wrote:The key is affordable. Look at how many brand new Mustangs are being sold. People are buying sports cars, they just need them to be affordable.
SRs will pass some state emissions. California's emissions testing is another beast entirely. All Nissan would have to do is what Honda did with a lot of their line, a slight change in fuel mapping that would sacrifice a few whp for meeting emissions standards.Eikon wrote:The SR wasn't an efficient engine.. it wouldn't meet emissions guidelines or fuel economy desires for the US market.Chaotic_Warlord wrote:The problem with the S Chassis in America is that Nissan opted to put the KA in it instead of the SR despite there being a butt load of turbo charged 4 bangers on the market, had they brought it here with the SR I'm pretty sure more people would have bought it new. Then again Toyota made the same mistake by not putting the 3S-GTE in the MR2 and not bringing the ST205 Celica All-Trac. Even if the SR had just been an option on all ne S13/S14's both the NA and Turbo versions I'm sure more would have sold. But the problem with the S Chassis stateside is that it's like Nissan's red headed step child, meaning that the Z was their flagship sports coupe and if the S Chassis had come with the SR it would have stolen sales from the Z, after all why buy a Z when you can get the same thrills and excitement (if not more) from a cheaper turbo S Chassis. But hey what do I know. If you put a brand new turbo S Chassis in front of me for $25K or the NA 370Z for $37K I'd be stupid to take the Z even if it has more HP, The S Chassis would be lighter and have a higher power:weight ratio and once full boost kicks in the butt dyno will have more fun.
The real problem with the S Chassis in the end was that the S14 was simply too expensive.. $19k to $24k range for MSRP. $24k in 1998 is equivalent to almost $34k in today's money.. It was just too expensive
All manufacturers work at targeting specific demographics with product lines. It's the way of business and the automotive industry is no different. Do you think GM is going to target young Gen Y to buy corvettes? No. They want to target the people with money to buy it, hence why you normally see people hitting their mid-life crisis driving brand new 'vettes.s13drifter88 wrote:Trying to target an age demographic is one of the stupidest things in automotive marketing Ive ever heard of.
That was my point, look at how many people are buying the new Mustangs. Nissan could easily build a comparable car for that money, and there's an obvious market for it.orangeNblue wrote:a v6 mustang is $22-25k car. the V8 is $26-28k car. both of those represent buying the car in its simplest form. while I do agree that for the power and gas mileage you could get off of these, the competitors like Hyundai and Subaru/Scion simply blow the competition away with the amount of car and features you get for the same price.WDRacing wrote:The key is affordable. Look at how many brand new Mustangs are being sold. People are buying sports cars, they just need them to be affordable.
^This.PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:Nissan needs to do something. Hell I work for them and I have no intentions of buying anything from their current lineup. Competitors on the other hand...
No way a remapped SR would pass today's emission, I'm pretty sure the new 5.0 pollutes WAY less than a stock SR. There's a lot more to meeting emissions than remapping the fuel and ignition. Combustion chamber design plays a huge role.Hijacker wrote:
SRs will pass some state emissions. California's emissions testing is another beast entirely. All Nissan would have to do is what Honda did with a lot of their line, a slight change in fuel mapping that would sacrifice a few whp for meeting emissions standards.
As for the price issue, 240s have ALWAYS been expensive. My car had a sticker of $24k in late '91, a standard coupe SE stickered for low $20k. Nissan's trend at the time was to bloat the price of their cars. The Z was the same way. $45k for a brand new Z in the mid 90s was a lot when you could spend the same or less on a Corvette and get twice the performance.
Chaotic hit the nail on the head for what I've been saying about Nissan trying to prevent cross-platform competition with the Z.