Early sub-2k Infinitis?

Hey all, I was reading some archived posts and I saw some interesting comments on J30 or G20s or something? Sounded like a fun sleeper with a decent aftermarket that no one knows about? Can anyone share?

G20 = Nissan Primera everywhere else. I considered these and think they are a used car bargain. You can find them with manual gearboxes and they have...what?...a 240SX engine or something? Nissan guys will know.

Thanks so much, you guys are an absolute wealth of information. Just found a G20 with a 5-speed for 1k. 190k miles, though, but cool little cars I never even knew about...

I owned a '92 G up until 5 years ago. The thing you have to watch out for an nearly all of Nissan's FWD sr20 equipped cars is a transmission that "pops" out of 5th gear, and sometimes also 4th. Nissan "claims" they fixed this problem on the later/latest cars....I'm not convinced. The other Achilles heel of this engine is the oil pump. I didn't get to put quite as many miles as is usually needed to have the pump in mine go bad...got up to about 125K.

BTW, in European markets, this car (as someone else already said,was/ is called the Primera) was available in 3 bodystyles and with several other engines. There was a station wagon and a 5 door hatch that is almost indistinguishable from the 4 door. Also, AWD was an option and one of the optional engines was a diesel. I'm not sure this particular combo was produced, but THE Primera to own would probably be an AWD, diesel powered, wagon.

my brother has a 92 G20 A/T it's a joy to drive at times.
I personally have an I30t A/T that I picked up for sub $2k. I have seen a few m/t G20s for sale around here for $500 or so. not sure if they are still available as I don't look when they are M/T.

I'm certainly going to be keeping my eyes open.

And integraguy, you and I are on the same page, I can't imagine there is a single one in the US but an AWD diesel-powered wagon would be an absolute gem.

5-speed with that combo would be nice, also...

The wagons, the 5 door hatch AND diesel....were all available in markets OUTSIDE North America. Canada gets cars and trucks the U.S. doesn't get, but I doubt they got the G20/Primera with other than 4 doors. Mexico? I don't know.

I looked at my back issues of CAR and EVO last night, and Nissan has discontinued the Primera. Just as the U.S. lost out on any sports cars/coupes from Nissan after '98 (except for the current Z car) Europe is "losing" Nissan sedans to their SUVs and "crossovers".

If it was way over your budget, someone on here had a Nissan Sunny Turbo (perhaps the only one in the U.S.) on the classified list last week. The turbo-charged Sunny is sort of a Sentra with the "Gremlin" treatment and it featured a turbo'ed G20....can't remember if it had AWD or not.

G20 = Running gear from Sentra SE-R, sort of stretched and tarted-up Sentra. I like them. 5 speeds are somewhat rare.

J30 = Running gear from 300zx for a straight 6 and RWD. All were automatics but some have claimed to do 5 speed swaps.

I30 = Maxima with better leather leather and better caperting. I am not sure about 5 speeds. All I see are autos (but the Maxima came in 5 speed.)

M30 = RWD 6 cyl coupe. Slightly bigger than a 240sx but it shares nothing with it. Also came in a convertable version.

Q45 = Infiniti's big V8 made to compete with Lexus

M45 same V8 but expected to be a little more of a sporty image

jrw1621 wrote: G20 = Running gear from Sentra SE-R, sort of stretched and tarted-up Sentra. I like them. 5 speeds are somewhat rare.

There were a relatively high percentage of 5sp ones around here. At least 1 in 3, maybe more. Are you sure they're stretched? They look the same size to me.

jrw1621 wrote: J30 = Running gear from 300zx for a straight 6 and RWD. All were automatics but some have claimed to do 5 speed swaps.

straight 6? VG30DE iirc.

The I30 was available with both a 5 speed and automatic in it's first few years. By the time the I became an I35 the manual was gone.

The M30....I've seen a couple in this area, over the years, many with mileage UNDER 100K. This earlier M had a version of the same year 300ZX V6 and only an automatic in the U.S. market. I'm told that headroom is a real problem in this car, so unless you are under 6 ft tall, reconsider.

The J30 used the engine from the 300ZX and was therefore a DOHC V6 powered car. The J appeared just about the time Nissan "pulled the plug" on the '90s ZX.

I forget about the G20, but pretty much every other model of Infinit needs premium....something to think about.

Yeah, the SR20DE in the G20 is a nice engine. If you can find a 5spd it's a great sleeper and fun daily driver. The SR20DE revs safely up to 7500. I'm looking for one for myself right now, but I keep finding autos in my price range... There were lots of turbo versions of the SR20DE so you can find used manifolds/turbos cheap from folks who are upgrading if you want more power.

What about the chassis, any suspension aftermarket to speak of?

I guess requiring premium is a big downside worth mentioning. I don't believe for a minute gas will remain this cheap, not with OPEC's latest announcement.

The G20 does not require premium, SR20DEs run great on 87. Or you can bump the timing up to 17-18 and use 89 for a few extra horsies. One nice thing about these is that while they are pretty rare here, they are common as dirt in Japan and Europe, so they actually have a pretty healthy aftermarket. Tein makes a good coilover kit for them. And yes, putting together a turbo kit from used parts for a few hundred bucks is nat hard at all.

That's very nice to hear. My Lightning was the farthest I'll ever go to that side of the gas-guzzling range.

www.G20.net Datsun1500, It'd be a wonderful thing if you'd let the thousands and thousands of SR20 owners in on the 225hp for 500$ secret. Not so sure you can even do a turbo for 500$ without scratching real deep for deals. Making a NA 225hp would be VERY tough for even 1500$ using normal market values on parts. Factory engine hp is rated at 140, and pulling 2800lbs for the early models, later ones got a bit puffy at real close or a touch over 3000lbs. Weights generally run a couple hundred more than the Sentra's, mostly from the upgrades, i.e. power everything, plusher int., etc. The wheelbase is a bit longer than the comparable year Sentra, but it's also got multi-link/dual arm front suspension and multi-link rear on the early P10 chassis, beam style on the later P11's. Very nice handling. We own 3 P10's at the moment. The wife is looking at a pretty sweet P11 for herself but it looks like with the big C day coming it'll have to wait till Jan. or after.