KevinC
Autocross Champion
- Car(s)
- '19 Golf R, '21 M2c
Keep an eye on Bring-a-Trailer. Some really nice ones have been coming up for auction there recently.
7
What Did You Drive Before You Drove A MKVII Golf, GTI or R?
- Thread starter EXEA189
- Start date
Keep an eye on Bring-a-Trailer. Some really nice ones have been coming up for auction there recently.
Manual, tight suspension, and a front wet clutch limited slip. It rode like a Cadillac, handled like a contemporary BMW (FWD, but the same road feel), was incredibly comfortable, and the revs dropped like a lead balloon.
Now, you weren't actually going anywhere in a great hurry from a power perspective, but what it had... It used. All 145 horsepower. You could feel every last flea on that hide.
You can easily buy a "better" car, no doubt. Hell, I have better cars, but what you can't buy is that total package. Ask around your circles sometime, there will be someone that owned a G20t... The forgotten brilliant automobile.
Even with that piddly power and Titanic turning radius, you could get the thing obscenely close to 90 degrees and pull it back with one hand while having a smoke. Even the interior held up to modern inspection. Now, it's not a Miata, it's not an S2000; it's a quick sedan with a touch of luxury, but it makes every drive special.
It did everything incredibly well. That was the stupidest $1,000 I've ever collected; but on the same token, now I have an excuse to find a nice one.
It's a criminally underrated car. The community is pretty much dead now, unfortunately. There weren't really enough of them, nobody in that market was ready for FWD, Infiniti wasn't a big name here yet and was marketed to the wrong crowds, and so on.
If you ever see one that's in decent shape and cheap enough for an impulse buy... Go for it. Drive it into the ground.
P11. It's a give and take between the models, but the P11 holds up more in the "it's still just as nice as it was" category.
Like I said, it wasn't the prettiest example, but it still had it where it counted.
KevinC
Autocross Champion
- Car(s)
- '19 Golf R, '21 M2c
I bought a new '93 Sentra SE-R back in the day. What an incredible car.
jimlloyd40
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Phoenix
- Car(s)
- 2018 SE DSG
I've never seen the 93 Sentra SE-R described as incredible before.
car2fast4you
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- Lindenhurst, Illinois
- Car(s)
- 2019 GTI 6MT
One of Car & Driver's 10 Best at the time. I test drove one & it was a great car. I ended up buying a Mercury Tracer LTS instead ... Another of the 10 Best.
Sparky589
Drag Racing Champion
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Sucks to hear about your E46, getting a clean example of one of those is absolutely on my automotive bucket list.
Slammed on 18x10/13.5 ccw's, headers, titanium section 3. I'd just ordered a carbon airbox when the car got hit
Alpine white on Cinnamon.These come from a time when Nissan was still half crazy, and about three quarters too humble. It bit them in the ass eventually; as well as a complete and total misinterpretation of the US market. We're talking about a company that took a pint-sized car you can autograph a track with, wrapped it in leather, and tried to sell it as a near-luxury car to up and coming yuppies with only 145bhp to brag about. Understeer? You can hand someone the keys and convince them it's RWD.
Despite my frustrations with the Golf GTI, it's not a bad comparison with the actual G20T. They have a lot in common in many ways, but one's Kirk and the other is Picard. I've compared it to an S3 from the same period before, actually; but tighter and livelier. I will say if they were still made today, there would probably be threads here arguing which one was better for the same price.
At that time, they were a bit like Mercedes is in 2020, and now they're like Mercedes was in 2004.
Nissan/Infiniti up to 2002 is some of the cheapest fun that won't cause herpes. Everyone just plain forgot about them. It's always... "Oh, hell! I had one of those... Forgot all about it. Never should have sold the thing."
It's a shame, but hopefully they'll be rediscovered and polished up eventually. Not everything is saved, though. Some things stay forgotten.
jimlloyd40
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Phoenix
- Car(s)
- 2018 SE DSG
These come from a time when Nissan was still half crazy, and about three quarters too humble. It bit them in the ass eventually; as well as a complete and total misinterpretation of the US market. We're talking about a company that took a pint-sized car you can autograph a track with, wrapped it in leather, and tried to sell it as a near-luxury car to up and coming yuppies with only 145bhp to brag about. Understeer? You can hand someone the keys and convince them it's RWD.
Despite my frustrations with the Golf GTI, it's not a bad comparison with the actual G20T. They have a lot in common in many ways, but one's Kirk and the other is Picard. I've compared it to an S3 from the same period before, actually; but tighter and livelier. I will say if they were still made today, there would probably be threads here arguing which one was better for the same price.
At that time, they were a bit like Mercedes is in 2020, and now they're like Mercedes was in 2004.
Nissan/Infiniti up to 2002 is some of the cheapest fun that won't cause herpes. Everyone just plain forgot about them. It's always... "Oh, hell! I had one of those... Forgot all about it. Never should have sold the thing."
It's a shame, but hopefully they'll be rediscovered and polished up eventually. Not everything is saved, though. Some things stay forgotten.
Had a 99 Nissan Maxima that I supercharged. One of the most fun cars I've had. 325 WHP, manual trans. It only weighed 2950 lbs.
jimlloyd40
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Phoenix
- Car(s)
- 2018 SE DSG
I guess that's a car in the distant future.
Somewhere, there's a Warhammer player who can tell you precisely what happens that year...
jimlloyd40
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Phoenix
- Car(s)
- 2018 SE DSG
If , and it's a big if, the earth is habitable then. Extremely doubtful.