Vehicle Driven: Nissan NP200 SE 1.6 Petrol
Now I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s had their dads tell them about their old faithful Nissan 1400? No…
Well, my dad has told me time and time again how he’s owned so many of them and how he’s loved them and, and, and…
Needless to say, he always ended the story with, “I’m going to buy you one.”
I realise that there are people out there who would give anything for a Nissan 1400, but I wasn’t one of them. I had images of fast hatchbacks zooming through my head when I thought ‘first car’, just like every other teenager…right?
Then one day, this old Nissan 1400 spluttered up our driveway, and to my utter horror my dad climbed out the driver’s side to open the gate! My dream of driving a car that everyone would envy shattered as the reality of what I was staring at started to sink in. My dad did as he had promised, he’d bought me a Nissan 1400…
In fact it got worse, it was a Datsun, and it was a whole 25 years old. First impressions weren’t good. There was rust all over the place, the steering wheel was half the size of the interior and there was a hole around the gearstick where you could see straight through to the road. My dad told me it was for extra ventilation…funny.
My sister then decided to call it Spuddy – a combination of Buddy and Spade (long story).
What I am trying to get at is, while we owned Spuddy, I managed to destroy a gearbox, melt all the wiring, and loose the entire exhaust system. Spuddy left me on the side of the road more times then I care to count, and honestly, I fell in love. No matter what went wrong, once the problem was sorted, Spuddy gave you the impression he was sorry, and promised not to do it again.
Nissan have brought out the NP200 in three different guises, namely the Base, which has a 1.6 liter 8 valve petrol engine producing 64 kW and 128 Nm. Then there is a Mid Spec called the ‘S’ and shares the same 1.6 liter petrol found in the ‘SE’ model. There is also a diesel engine available in the Base and ‘SE’ models, and produces 63 kW and 200 Nm.
The base, as you can guess is the plain Jane. The ‘S’ model comes with colour coded bumpers, air con, radio/CD player, a driver airbag and a few more bells.
Then there’s SE version I drove which is powered by a 1.6 liter 16 valve petrol engine and produces 77 kW and 148 Nm. The SE has a bunch of frills like alloy wheels, driver and passenger airbags, electric windows, air con, central locking, fog lamps, ABS, a roll bar and so on.
Probably the greatest thing about the NP200 though, is its drive. It drives just like a car. What I’m trying to get at is normally bakkies are renowned to be ‘wallowy’ things, that sort of flop into corners. The NP200 is squat, and lower to the road…just like a car, and this means that when you go into a corner a little faster than your mother would, it grips, and there is so little body roll. Granted, chuck it in like a complete idiot, and you fill find under steer, but that’s because it’s a front wheel drive bakkie.
But this is my pitch on this vehicle, I am the type of person who carts a cellphone, a camera and bits of scrap paper around. What if you bought the NP200 because you actually needed a bakkie? Mmm, well you’re in luck, the NP200 has a payload of 800kg, which is claimed to be the highest in its class.
I loved my Spuddy, and the NP200 isn’t just a replacement, but more of a complete reincarnation.
Who knows, maybe we too will one day be telling our children about these awesome little Nissans we once drove…
Now I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s had their dads tell them about their old faithful Nissan 1400? No…
Well, my dad has told me time and time again how he’s owned so many of them and how he’s loved them and, and, and…
Needless to say, he always ended the story with, “I’m going to buy you one.”
I realise that there are people out there who would give anything for a Nissan 1400, but I wasn’t one of them. I had images of fast hatchbacks zooming through my head when I thought ‘first car’, just like every other teenager…right?
Then one day, this old Nissan 1400 spluttered up our driveway, and to my utter horror my dad climbed out the driver’s side to open the gate! My dream of driving a car that everyone would envy shattered as the reality of what I was staring at started to sink in. My dad did as he had promised, he’d bought me a Nissan 1400…
In fact it got worse, it was a Datsun, and it was a whole 25 years old. First impressions weren’t good. There was rust all over the place, the steering wheel was half the size of the interior and there was a hole around the gearstick where you could see straight through to the road. My dad told me it was for extra ventilation…funny.
My sister then decided to call it Spuddy – a combination of Buddy and Spade (long story).
What I am trying to get at is, while we owned Spuddy, I managed to destroy a gearbox, melt all the wiring, and loose the entire exhaust system. Spuddy left me on the side of the road more times then I care to count, and honestly, I fell in love. No matter what went wrong, once the problem was sorted, Spuddy gave you the impression he was sorry, and promised not to do it again.
Nissan have brought out the NP200 in three different guises, namely the Base, which has a 1.6 liter 8 valve petrol engine producing 64 kW and 128 Nm. Then there is a Mid Spec called the ‘S’ and shares the same 1.6 liter petrol found in the ‘SE’ model. There is also a diesel engine available in the Base and ‘SE’ models, and produces 63 kW and 200 Nm.
The base, as you can guess is the plain Jane. The ‘S’ model comes with colour coded bumpers, air con, radio/CD player, a driver airbag and a few more bells.
Then there’s SE version I drove which is powered by a 1.6 liter 16 valve petrol engine and produces 77 kW and 148 Nm. The SE has a bunch of frills like alloy wheels, driver and passenger airbags, electric windows, air con, central locking, fog lamps, ABS, a roll bar and so on.Probably the greatest thing about the NP200 though, is its drive. It drives just like a car. What I’m trying to get at is normally bakkies are renowned to be ‘wallowy’ things, that sort of flop into corners. The NP200 is squat, and lower to the road…just like a car, and this means that when you go into a corner a little faster than your mother would, it grips, and there is so little body roll. Granted, chuck it in like a complete idiot, and you fill find under steer, but that’s because it’s a front wheel drive bakkie.
But this is my pitch on this vehicle, I am the type of person who carts a cellphone, a camera and bits of scrap paper around. What if you bought the NP200 because you actually needed a bakkie? Mmm, well you’re in luck, the NP200 has a payload of 800kg, which is claimed to be the highest in its class.
I loved my Spuddy, and the NP200 isn’t just a replacement, but more of a complete reincarnation.
Who knows, maybe we too will one day be telling our children about these awesome little Nissans we once drove…
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