Remember your Grandad's rust bucket? Well Datsun's back!

Larbre34

New range of super-cheap Nissans to be badged Datsun in emerging markets. At least low life expectancy in the Third World means they wont remember them the first time around........

http://www.datsun.com/

dedocdude

they look like Daewoo's

which is a shame for the classic jap coupe's like the 240z

jimgoose

The old Datsuns were a great wee yoke, IIRC. Like the old Corolla K30s, the bodywork basically evaporated after a while and left you Fred Flintstoning away with little more than the engine and wheels, but who cares about that stuff when you're 17!

Matt Simis

dedocdude wrote: »

they look like Daewoo's

which is a shame for the classic jap coupe's like the 240z

Their lineage is in the 350z and 370z though, the brand name is just a rehash.

Wibbs

Whoever wrote the copy on the website has a very shaky grasp of english. It's near comical in places.

justsomebloke

OSI wrote: »

Doesn't even have a radio :-/

Ah here for €5,000 they are going to have to cut some 'luxuries' out

wesf

Matt Simis wrote: »

Their lineage is in the 350z and 370z though, the brand name is just a rehash.

Those should not be even mentioned in the same sentence as the 240z, horrible cars

jimgoose

justsomebloke wrote: »

Ah here for €5,000 they are going to have to cut some 'luxuries' out

Mmm. I think maybe the idea is that the built-in radio is a waste of space and not really needed, given that it'll dock with your iThingy? Tidy little runabout, I think. I like the gearshift position, like a van.

coylemj

The history behind the brand names is interesting. When Datsun cars came to Ireland, car watchers like me knew that the parent company was called Nissan but that company name was virtually unknown in this part of the world. Legend has it that the boss of Nissan came to London in an attempt to raise capital for the expansion of the group but he met a lot of closed doors because the people that mattered wouldn't give him a hearing,never having heard of his company. The same problem befell the heads of the Matsu****a Corporation whose products were well known in Europe under the 'National Panasonic' brand.

The Nissan boss went back to Japan with his tail between his legs and ordered that the Datsun brand be phased out and the cars in future sold as Nissan so for a period of about three years, the cars had both Datsun and Nissan badges, gradually the Datsun badge got smaller and the Nissan badge got bigger until eventually Datsun disappeared altogether.

Edit: the boards cleansing engine has doctored the name of the Panasonic company name above as it contains a naughty string of characters!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic

kupus

I always thought the name change to nissain was due to datsuns rusting away and being a general POS of a car, so they rebooted the brand with the name Nissan and made major changes.

Matt Simis

wesf wrote: »

Those should not be even mentioned in the same sentence as the 240z, horrible cars

No they arent.
:rolleyes:

wesf

Matt Simis wrote: »

No they arent.
:rolleyes:

Oh i'm afraid so! Big tax, big insurance and big fuel costs for feck all in return! A lot of nicer cars out there with a lot more bang for your buck! Over-rated and not nice to look at unless you're female or a hairdresser.

Matt Simis

wesf wrote: »

Oh i'm afraid so! Big tax, big insurance and big fuel costs for feck all in return! A lot of nicer cars out there with a lot more bang for your buck! Over-rated and not nice to look at unless you're female or a hairdresser.

And if you arent an Irish peasent in an impoverished land? Such concerns dont make for a bad car, they make for challenging choice in this crap hole, which isnt the Z-car's fault or problem. This "logic" is why our youth think they are the $hit in their D4D Avensis and TDI VAGs, its tragic, lost forever they are.

wesf

Matt Simis wrote: »

And if you arent an Irish peasent in an impoverished land? Such concerns dont make for a bad car, they make for challenging choice in this crap hole, which isnt the Z-car's fault or problem.

You miss the point, why pay all that when you can get better looking, more powerful cars which are cheaper on the pocket. It is far too under powered and as i said, a womans car imo. Anyway we'll agree to disagree, back on topic!

ps i agree with you on those bora driving idiots. they are not genuine enthusiasts and are a stain on the motoring world.

Matt Simis

wesf wrote: »

You miss the point, why pay all that when you can get better looking, more powerful cars which are cheaper on the pocket. It is far too under powered and as i said, a womans car imo. Anyway we'll agree to disagree, back on topic!

I dont miss the point, Im just helping you clarify your "points" only exist here, in a country that is disconnected with the reality of motoring that those cars were designed for. Because something isnt cheap (as cheap) as something else here does not make the core product bad.

A 240/260/280Z is (outside of vintage tax and insurance) just as tax expensive, thirsty and insurance unfriendly as a 350/370z. They are cut from the same cloth; Natually Aspirated, big CC, 6pot GT cars.


Have you ever even driven one (350/370z)?

wesf

I imported a 350z for a lad, drove it for a day or 2, not my thing at all. Much prefer the s15 i had.

jimgoose

wesf wrote: »

Oh i'm afraid so! Big tax, big insurance and big fuel costs for feck all in return! A lot of nicer cars out there with a lot more bang for your buck! Over-rated and not nice to look at unless you're female or a hairdresser.

Have you any idea what I would do for a 1967 Dodge Charger 426 Hemi? In fact the next time I see one of these diesel Volkswagen **** with their boot-boy shaven heads and bigger tits than their skank girlfriends I'll ram the cunt amidships with my Jaguar. Aaaaarrrrr!!! :cool:

wesf

jimgoose wrote: »

Have you any idea what I would do for a 1967 Dodge Charger 426 Hemi? In fact the next time I see one of these diesel Volkswagen **** with their boot-boy shaven heads and bigger tits than their skank girlfriends I'll ram the cunt amidships with my Jaguar. Aaaaarrrrr!!! :cool:

I'd probably do something similar and don't get me started on that boo noise

holdmybeer

That Datsun Go reminds me of that City Rover they released a while back.

The Real B-man

holdmybeer wrote: »

That Datsun Go reminds me of that City Rover they released a while back.

Feature wish yes, Looks basically like a Micra to me