Curbside Outtake: 1997-99 Cadillac Deville, 2001-10 Nissan President, and 2001-10 Daihatsu Copen – The Three (White) Musketeers

I recently came across this trio at a house near ours in suburban Tokyo.  It’s certainly an eclectic bunch – two luxury models from two continents and a minicar that could fit in the trunk of the other two.  Let’s take a look at what we have…

The Cadillac appears to be a 1997-99 Deville – a base version, and not the upmarket and more powerful Concours model as it lacks the Cadillac crest in the center of the grille.

These base versions came with the LD8 version of the Northstar V8, good for 275 hp and 300 ft lbs of torque.  Fairly pricey to fill up here in Japan where a gallon of gas is around $4.24.  At 209 inches in length, it’s 10 inches longer than its stablemate, the President.

The President is a real find – these were sold mostly to government or corporate fleets similar to the Toyota Century.  This third generation shared its platform with another JDM model – the Nissan Cima.  The Cima was also the basis for the 2002-06 US Infiniti Q45.

President

JDM Cima

They came with Nissan’s strong 4.5 L VK45DE V8, pushing out 276 hp (though unofficially closer to 300) and 333 ft lbs of twist.  The US Q45 version had 340 hp.

This cute little Daihatsu Copen “kei jidosha” coupe is a first gen model and given the collection of leaves and water stains on top, looks like it hasn’t been on the road in a while.

It has the 659 cc JB-DET twin-scroll turbo four cylinder, with a government mandated max 64 hp.

The owner obviously is fairly well-to-do – having just one of the larger cars would be a pretty expensive proposition here in Japan, given gas prices, road taxes and other fees, etc., which all go up as the exterior dimensions and engine size increase.

Hope he or she soon gives that Copen a much needed wash…