New Nissan S16 Silvia, Oh We Hope Not!
MotoIQ Staff Report
The gist of this story comes from Autoguide.com who in turn got much of the information from InsideLine. Rumor has it that Nissan is working on a Silvia replacement. When we first got this news we were ecstatic, an economically priced lightweight FR sports coupe, yeah! Then we saw the pictures….
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| The nose gets its styling elements from the Nissan corporate sedan parts bin. This looks too formal for this target market. The high hoodline and blunt nose don't suggest sportiness or performance, rather heft and bulk. |
It is rumored that the new S16 Silvia will be front engine and rear drive which is good but it will be powered by a 1.8 liter turbocharged engine with a class trailing power output of 200 hp. Come on Nissan, with a turbo you gotta do better than that. It has been our contention that Nissan has forgotten how to build a proper 4 cylinder engine ever since the demise of the SR20DE and its variants. Nissan, don't save money using some crappy Renault based POS 4-cylinder like the disgustingly lame MR series motor that you put in the Sentra that we bet this new turbo motor is based on, it's false economy and doesn't ring true for your target customer. Maybe you should just buy the Mitsubishi 4B11 for this car. Ghosn might just go for that.
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| The fender vents and greenhouse suggest Aston Martin but without the sexiness. The high beltline continue a theme of heft and bulk. These cues also make the car look stubby. Sporty it is not. |
The chassis is supposedly a shortened version of the FR-L chassis that is used by the 370Z and the G37 Sedan. Let's hope Nissan doesn't cheap out and somehow ruin that with lame stuff like McPherson struts or, gasp, beam axles. The target weight is 2800 lbs which is nice if Nissan can reach this goal.
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| Suicide doors didn't work for the RX-8 and Saturn. Don't copy them Nissan! |
The aspect that we find most disappointing is the styling. The styling is supposed to be loosely based on the Foria Concept car which to us is very ugly with the charm of the new Ford Focus or maybe the loser second generation Q45. We hope the styling is VERY LOOSELY based on this car. Come on Nissan the reason why the RX-8 isn't selling very well is its somewhat avant garde styling. Don't one up Mazda in weirdness. Look toward the Z or the old Silvia for inspiration and lineage DNA.
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| The back has elements of the uber ugly J30 Infiniti that sold poorly. Don't go anywhere near that Nissan! |
With the taut sheetmetal that the upcoming Toyota FT-86 and the Honda CR-Z will be sporting you are going to be in trouble. Is this the same design team that penned the horrible B16 Sentra that is so ugly the rental fleets won't buy it?
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| Our parents might have liked this interior. That's bad for a sporty car Nissan. |
Nissan if you are listening, give us a small car, front engine, rear drive 2+2 hatchback with a 2 liter I-4 turbo making around 260 hp. Give it a tight coupe styling, you know how, you make the G37 and 370Z. Price it in the low 20k range and watch them fly out the showroom door.
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| Nissan, Ignore the artsy fartsy people at NDI and give us a modern version of this, the S15 in case you forgot. It will sell in droves if its priced right! |
A few Nissan product planning folks read MotoIQ. Readers, comment below and tell them what you want! Save the Silvia.
