Think about your first car. No matter how bad it was, like yesterday’s pizza, it’s still pretty good. Well my first slice o pepperoni was a 1985 Nissan Gazelle notchback.
In its time it made hairdressers all over Australia blush. And god is this car eighties. So why the hell did I buy one?
Well see in Japan it was a pretty respectable piece of kit, where the Silvia is revered as a ‘young persons’ car and needs a bit of oomph to back it up. Their model got Nissan’s FJ20T turbocharged motor (arguably one of Nissan’s better fours and still heavily in demand from Aussie speed freaks). Power was above/around the 150kw mark. Not bad for 1985 hey?
So what about the Australian version. Well um, brace yourself, the Dandenong boys turned their nose up at the FJ20T and brought in the Pintara/Bluebird CA20 engine. This engine is a twin sparker that has absolutely no tuning or modification potential and is barely even reliable. The twin spark plugs means it has to be tuned like a V8 (and costs as much)
While the engine can easily be swapped for the Nissan SSS SR20 or the Japanese FJ20T, it gets worse. The brakes were drums at the back and little discs at the front.
In the first four weeks I had the car, I managed to completely destroy the brake master cylinder, front brake pads, did massive damage to the rear drums and the whole system needed to be flushed and replaced. The car had virtually no brakes left whatsoever.
Those boys in Dandy must of made the entire drive train of porcelan and chewing gum. The clutch lasted less than 6 weeks. By the time I sold the car it had 10 percent of it’s engine compression left - and amazingly still drove!
So technically the Aussie Gazelle was a true minger. But there are perks. I had the notchback sedan version and for an eighties car, it had absolutely everything. 3 way sunroof, power windows and all that.
Assuming you can live with the heavily eigthies influeneced tweed fabric styling on the seats, that’s a good thing. For a p-plater on an under 5K budget it’s as good as it gets.
Yes the styling hasn’t aged gracefully (kind of like fairy bread at a brewery picnic on a hot day) and And there certainly isn’t any feeling on earth like hanging out of a sunroof at 160kph - not that I endorse that kind of behaviour. You can modify the Gazelle to your hearts content, but it’s like waking up to George Michael and Wham! everyday (Wake me up, before ya go, go. . . ).
So if you truly want something different that no one else has done, get yourself a Gazelle. Get about $5,000-10,000 large to put proper wheels on it, all wheel discs from a Skyline and i’d recommend an FJ20T engine transplant which will suck up most of the cash.
Oh yeah and don’t like the wheels? You wont find wheels that will fit the Gazelle off the shelf anywhere! Don’t even think about it. . .
But remember this and you have been warned. The suspension setup is pretty lame, the notchback sedan parts are starting to get very rare (go the hatch) and even the well modded ones in Australia haven’t gone that well, because the Aussie spec was and still is still is at the end of the day, a soft car.
Driver feedback wise, it steers like an AU Falcon, reading heavily power assisted and the feeling like you’re Captain of Thames River barge. And that aint never good when driving at the limit.
The money I saved on fixing this relic I ended up driving around a much cooler Pulsar SSS. Unless it was a bona fide import from Japan with the proper fast bits, don’t sell yourself short. You will be dissapointed and you can do better.
Seems every time you hear Z3 mentioned it’s usually catastrophe and far from climax. I say bollocks to that. Call me a hairdresser, or even easily amused. But to me, a weekend in the Z3 was a weekend with a muse.
Apart from the fact they label, traction control ‘DSC’ (all you Kraut lovers, please explain. I am still trying to work that sucker out) and that you can’t get the convertible roof down on a barmy 30 degree Melbourne day (when they do come around) without your foot on the brake and the transmission in neutral, it’s my kinda ride.
Admittedly when these things were released in the mid-nineties and everyone suddenly had a kraut fetish, I loathed them. But it wasn’t until one fateful weekend when I had forsaken the rental AU Falcon for the pricey Hertz ‘K class’ rental number the Z3.
The choice between the Mustang, Volvo V70 and a Z3 wasn’t hard. God bless Hertz. They give the man the chance for something grand for a weekend and return it with a big smile on their faces, and believe me, I am one of those geezers. And god bless them.
Now before we get to the car itself, I have a beef with motoring journalists. They obviously park their arse on too much classy leather and pimp rides to know the difference between different grades of caviar and Champagne. As much as I enjoy their readings, I’d be buggered if I’d say what I drove was ‘bollocks’ and not the dog’s bollocks. They must be too spoilt for choice.
What did the journos say about the Z3? Firstly based on the ancient 80’s E36 platform or something like that. Anyway the old eighties 3 series chassis. Poor chassis dynamics, you know. . . that whole chestnut. Well maybe my ‘Wheels car of the year’ N14 Pulsar SSS didn’t quite handle as well as the Z3 and that’s my only rational base for comparison. And if that’s the worst BMW have to offer, I’m still impressed. Very impressed.
Chasing a MY99 WRX down the Mountain Highway in Melbourne’s Mount Dandenongs was a riot. And that little hairdresser unit had no trouble keeping up whatsoever. Poor chassis and handling? Not in my book.
What is phenomenal about the car is the brakes. Get all the way down the mountain and not a hint of brake fade, no brake dust on the rims and enough brake pad left to get home. And geez, I’m not that easily impressed. This ride is goooood.
How does it ride. Frankly I like sitting that low in a small car to the ground, and will trade it for any family car based sports car whre you’re perked right up in the seat any day.
Whilst I couldn’t really tell you if it oversteered or understeered (it was a rental and my humble budget can’t afford to replace a Beamer), it did everything the way you’d expect it to and at no point did it lack anticipation or disappoint. But then again I guess I couldn’t find the traction control switch. The Germans have a lot to learn about usability. But even with the switch on (and trying to spin the tyres all bloody day to no avail mind you) it was a nice ride through the twisties.
Now to the heart of the matter. I had the 2.2 litre. Sounds gutless, but still enough to have some dang good fun in the hills. Inside, it fits like a glove. Slung low down to the road, I’d absolutely love to try the M series version. Surely not comparable to a M3, but nowhere near a bad enough apple to spoil the whole damn bunch.
If you had the money I could see how you could get bored with a Z3. The same way you’d get bored with fish and chips and go for sushi. But there’s more than enough fish and chip shops in St Kilda and Port Melbourne to suggest the contrary. And I say bollocks to the mockers that think this is a crap car. I like sushi and I like fish and chips too. This car is fun, nimble, fast and wicked. More than enough for me. Beer battered sushi anyone?