Cars I have owned - No 9: Datsun Stanza 1.6GL

A young Sam Rayner at the wheel of the Stanza

 I thought I'd made it when I moved onto the top car grade at Sharman Newspapers. Looking back now, I think I must have had a screw loose, but owning a brand new car, with a 1.6-litre engine and all the extras - it seemed like I had realised my motoring ambitions.

I went from a Vauxhall Cavalier 1.3L to a Datsun Stanza 1.6GL and I thought I'd got a limousine.

It had that bigger engine, although it was a bit slower and less agile than the Cavalier. Seats were soft, the steering (no power assistance) was really heavy, but it did have a cassette/radio, upholstered head-restraints, tinted glass, electric windows and velour seats.

A vinyl roof might have been the must-have accessory of the 1970s, velour seats were what counted in the '80s.

The Stanza has seemed like my dream car, but it was all show - the basic design was pretty poor. It was heavy, the engine wasn't powerful enough, it wasn't economical and it was awful to drive. Slow, sluggish performance and really bad handling. The Cavalier might have understeered, but you could feel what it was up to; the Stanza gave virtually no feedback at all.

The boot was smaller, although the hatckback design should have been better, and there was less room in the backseats.

Mine was Y-reg, but the same colour as this one.

You can read more about the Stanza here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Violet. The Violet was the saloon version and Datsun/Nissan was still having trouble naming its cars. Vehicles called Cherry, Sunny, Bluebird and Violet still sold despite their name badges.

The Stanza was introduced in 1981 — the first front-wheel drive Datsun. After 1982, Nissan tried to standardize the Stanza name in its export markets — in addition to phasing out the Datsun marque in favour of Nissan. You could also buy a Stanza in the US and it took the title Semperit Car of the Year in Ireland.

The Stanza was the only Nissan in the US market that was rated as more reliable than Toyota. It held the title from 1983 to 1986, but since 1987, has lost its ranking to Toyota and Honda.

We clocked up a few miles in the Stanza, including a trip to Dorset to stay with Margaret’s brother Philip, who was stationed in Weymouth. Because of its weight and lack of power, you spent quite a lot of your time at the wheel with your foot hard down which meant fule consumption didn’t pass 30mpg except on a long run.

I had a chance to have a fuel-economy device fitted for a newspaper feature, so the Stanza had this thing called a Gefarator fitted. This was a weird valve tapped into the inlet manifold which allowed extra air in (but not out). I guess the plan was to convert it to lean-burn. It made a funny noise and I did record a slightly better consumption figure, but I think that was probably because I was conscious of the device being there and moderated my driving a little. Gefarators never caught on, but there are some references to them online, see: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.rec.cars.classic/SgBn-UIDyXk

I didn't hate the Stanza, but I wasn't sorry to see it go, especially as my next car was a Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6.

Also see:

Ford Popular - click

Bedford HA Van - click

Morris Mini - click

Vauxhall Viva HC - click

Citroen GS Club - click

Morris Marina 1.3GL - click

Talbot Horizon 1.1 LS - click

Vauxhall Cavalier 1.3L - click