Nissan’s former reputation for sportiness, dating back to its days peddling Datsuns, is all but gone today. The Maxima died in 2023, but the manufacturer still maintains a well-rounded lineup of sedans with the Versa, Sentra, and Altima, albeit with most traces of sportiness removed.
Now the top dog by default, the current Altima took over from the Stanza as Nissan’s mid-sized model back in 1993. If the state of 5-year-old Altimas around me is any indication, this segment of cars tends to get ridden hard and put away wet by many of its owners. Without the reputation or resale value of, say a Toyota or Honda, to stave off repair bills equaling the value of the car, a mainstream Nissan sedan showing up in a junkyard in such excellent condition 37 years after it rolled off the assembly line is genuinely remarkable.
The Stanza began as an export version of Nissan’s Violet line of cars. It arrived in the United States under various model names, initially under the Datsun nameplate. Confusing “Datsun by Nissan” badging was slapped on the previous generation which began the Stanza naming scheme.
This particular Stanza is from the fourth generation’s second year, still based on the JDM Violet. For just 1990-1992, a stopgap generation would be based on the Bluebird before the equally Bluebird-based ’93 Stanza Altima muddied the waters of the naming scheme –yet again. Since the Stanza name never meant much here, it was not a great loss when Nissan’s intermediate became firmly entrenched under the Altima name.
If we move over to this side of the car, this Stanza’s main cosmetic flaw –the peeling paint– appears less significant. Such extremely asymmetrical clearcoat failure is typically only seen on cars that have spent long periods of time parked outdoors. Yet, otherwise, this vehicle looks like it was taken off the roads yesterday.
If we examine an identically colored Maxima from the same period in similar junkyard surroundings, the smaller Stanza certainly starts to look more aspirational. The family resemblance to the sporty high-tech Maxima certainly helped the Stanza’s image. They are noticeably differently sized and proportioned vehicles, but their similarly clean and rational boxy appearance did some heavy lifting in helping them compete against their perpetually stodgy Toyota cross-town competitors.
However, if we were to flashback to a different Stanza I spotted parked on the street, the more compact proportions do evidence themselves. The poor state of this Stanza’s paint makes our shining maroon example all the more remarkable.
Surprisingly, the Stanza boasted quite a stylish and comfortable interior. The maroon velour driver’s seat looks great and likely feels incredible in addition to holding you in place in the corners. For a car that cost $10,999 in 1987, or $31,187 today, it’s remarkably upscale. Admittedly, this is the fancy GXE model that forgoes the rental-spec hard cloth seats of the base model for these Maxima-ish thrones. In fact, the entire interior design down to the dashboard is nearly identical to that of the Maxima shown earlier in the post.
Yet, if you look closely, you’ll spot the 5-speed manual instead of the expected automatic. It’s unusual to see a manual on a high-trim car such as this one.
Surely, with so little wear on the seat, this is a low-mileage car?
In the junkyard, I became convinced this was a 439,950 mile car. However, if you look closely, you can see this is actually 139,950 miles –somehow, the ‘1’ character picked up a horizontal scar that made it look nearly identical to a ‘4.’
While we’re here, let’s contemplate the stylish graph paper gauge backgrounds. Nissan really did have a great eye for adding stylish touches to its mainstream and basic cars during this period. Unfortunately, this talent does seem to have been lost sometime in the intervening 37 years.
With 97 horsepower from a 2.0 NA inline four, this Stanza wouldn’t have been exactly quick, but it was respectable performance for its time. It weighed 2,800 lbs, so it was comparatively light by modern standards. A modern Nissan Sentra has an additional 250 lbs. to lug around with 50 extra horsepower and it’s considered quite pokey today.
I would consider this junked Stanza to be a truly remarkable survivor. Aside from a bit of clearcoat peel, it’s a real-time capsule. Whether or not you wish to relive the experience of driving a Stanza, it’s emblematic of a bygone era in mainstream sedans. Sadly, this car must have been turned into Chinese washing machines by now, likely without donating a single part. There can’t be many Stanza owners to raid this complete car for its unobtainium parts.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1986 Nissan Stanza Wagon (Prairie/Multi) – The First Modern Mini-Van
Curbside Classic: 1989-1992 Nissan Stanza (Bluebird U12): The Shrinking Violet
Getting some incompetent henchmen vibes here.
Doug’s gonna kill him.
No doubt still runs perfect, but totaled by the insurance co
There was no body damage on the car at all. The identically colored Maxima I cut to in the article did have a bit of damage though. They do look surprisingly similar.
I’d love to have trees surrounding my local Pick-A-Part junkyards but I also like the trade off of Concrete floors as they’re safer and easier to work on/with .
I see crash damage to the R/F of this car…….
-Nate
There was crash damage on the Maxima I compared the Stanza to. The Stanza was totally pristine aside from some small driver side dents.
If my memory is working correctly, this model sold in Canada was very slow. The next version announced I think in ’89 created a bit of excitement in Nissan sales outlets as they were powered with the 2.4 similar to that in the “Hardbody” pickups, and performance was much improved.
Wow this makes me feel extra old.
In 1987 I had a business trip to Washington State; I actually flew from Texas to Pennsylvania (to visit relatives including my parents who also flew from Texas) but instead of flying home to Texas I flew to Seattle. It sounds odd, but even though I and a co-worker were going to the same destination, we rented separate cars. I got one of these, and my co-worker got a Corsica. I’d never previously seen a Corsica, but as a former Datsun owner enjoyed the Stanza, especially since it fit in the middle of the Nissan lineup much like my first car, a ’74 Datsun 710 did.
One thing that was popular back then; I’m not sure why, was that graph paper motif on the instrument panel. In ’88 I rented a Cavalier which similarly had that on its instrument panel….what purpose other than decoration it served I had no idea, to me it was a bit of an affectation but I guess that’s true of most fads. Anyhow, in the intervening weekend (I was there a couple weeks) I took the Stanza to Mt Rannier, it took quite some time to get there and i saw another road on my map that lead back towards Seattle, but it turned out to be a logging road…by the time I realized it I’d gone quite a ways and there really wasn’t anyplace to turn around. I got through, but it ended up being anything but a shortcut in terms of time, since I had to drive slowly and carefully. Guess I should have known better; I’ve never lived in the Northwest but have lived up north. About 5 years later I made a similar “mistake” in southern Oregon, taking a windy narrow road (this time in a rental Toyota Tercel). Maybe I should have consulted with a local before taking what looked on the map as a reasonable road, it was fun but nerve racking ride. But the Stanza was a trooper, (not an Isuzu), it handled things fine.
Never bought another Nissan but between my 2 youngest sisters they’ve had 4 of them, all of them pretty much the same (similar) model….200SX or 240SX…my surviving younger sister still has her ’97 bought new. Youngest sister sadly passed away of Ovarian cancer at age 37, almost 17 years ago. My Dad had a ’76 Subaru and other sister a Toyota Tercel, but other than those, only Japanese car in our family has been Datsun/Nissan.
Yes it’s been almost 40 years but to see one of these that I’ve driven when it was new makes me realize how long ago that was.
This brings back some memories. I had one of these as my first car, a 1988 model. This one is either a 1987 or 1988, as the 1989 model had different taillights. This one is probably a 1987, as the 1987 was an extended model year making them more common.
Mine was dark blue with a blue interior. Like this example, it was also a GXE and pretty well optioned but had the 5-speed manual. Mine even had a power moonroof which this one lacks. After almost 7 years of ownership I sold it for $400 with a bit over 200,000 miles on the odometer. Being a northern car in the salt belt it had some serious rust issues at that point, but the paint still looked good where the rust hadn’t taken hold yet other than peeling off on the plastic bumper covers.
These definitely weren’t quick cars, with quite a bit of weight for that 97 HP motor to move around. I can only imagine how much slower the automatic must have been. But on the other hand, having an underpowered car as a first car may not have been a bad thing either.
It’s a bit sad to see this example in the scrapyard, given these cars weren’t that common to begin with and it’s been easily a decade since I’ve seen one on the road.
In the UK that car started as the Datsun Bluebird, and it pissed rings around just about everything made here, and some of Europe.
In fact you would have to go to a BMW (E30) 3 Series to get a better car for the spec & money.
Always remember my Uncle’s, while we had a piss poor, Morris Marina 1.7 in Snapdragon Yellow !
The Bluebird was so quiet, well equipped with a Radio that didn’t crackle.