Nissan didn’t do things by halves with their smaller cars, did they? In the ‘60s, they bet the farm on flashy Italian styling and matched Toyota model for model. It worked well. In the ‘70s, they went all-in for the mini-Detroit style that Japanese carmakers all adopted, but with even more (or maybe too much) daring. It worked even better. In the ‘80s, turning the supertanker on a dime again, they went all FWD, sensible and square. And they refreshed their corporate identity in the process. Surprisingly, this yet again met with success.
The 1981-85 B11 Sunny, known in some markets as the Sentra, is a good example of how Datsun turned into Nissan, even on their home market. This new sensible Nissan led the company to incredible success, both at home and abroad, throughout the decade.
In many foreign markets, the period between 1980 and 1984 might be termed as the Great Nissanification of Datsun. The Japanese carmaker decided to ditch the Datsun name for good and impose a new corporate identity that better fit reality. In Japan, the Datsun moniker had never really stuck – the company was Nissan, as were the dealerships, the trucks and several of the cars. Only the smaller widely exported models, such as the Bluebird and the Sunny, were badged as Datsuns.
Just like Toyota, Nissan had devised an entirely plastic and anonymous corporate logo for itself and instead emphasized the identity of its products via specific emblems. The Cedric, the Skyline, the Fairlady Z – they all had their own little logo. The Sunny did too, our feature car has it on its grille. The Sunny logo disappeared for the same reason that the Datsun name was slowly being eradicated: Nissan started to assert their name as a marque. In late 1983, just as the fender mirrors switched from mandated to optional, the Sunny logo was discarded and the rather nondescript “Nissan” script replaced it.
Our feature car has a 1488cc mill behind that grille. Lower-spec JDM cars made do with a 1.3 and some foreign markets were even provided with a 1-litre, but the 1.5 sort of became the Sunny’s default engine from this point on. We had seen this movie before. The gradual growth of the Bluebird from a 1.0 to a 1.5 litre car in the ‘60s made room for the Sunny, which debuted in 1966. Similarly, the Sunny’s growth throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, culminating in the B11, made room for the March / Micra.
Besides the increase in displacement, the 1.5 litre (along with the 1.0 and the 1.3 litre) 4-cyl. was of the completely new E-Series variety. It was an OHC alloy head fitted to the older A-Series cast iron clock, basically. In Japan, the single carb 1.5 produced 74hp – in the US, the same engine only offered 67hp, but there were other variants, with dual carbs, EFI and even a turbocharger, for more cavalry. Another novelty was the inclusion of a 1.7 litre Diesel (54hp), though making a car named Sunny belch black clouds of particulates feels slightly oxymoronic.
Said engines sat transversely and powered the front wheels, for the first time in the Sunny’s existence. This was another major milestone and a sign that Nissan embraced modernity far more readily than many Japanese carmakers – Toyota, Isuzu or Mitsubishi were still very much in steeped in RWD technology at the time.
Nissan had first dabbled in FWD with the Cherry back in 1970, which had grown into the Pulsar by the end of the decade. The B11 Sunny shared the N12 Pulsar’s basic underpinnings and signaled that nameplate’s gradual integration in the Sunny family, though it did survive in Japan for a while and still bore notable differences with the Sunny at this stage. The Cherry name, still used in Europe instead of Pulsar, was also folded into the Sunny range. There were other names – Langley, Laurel Spirit and Turbo Leprix – used in Japan so that Nissan’s dealer networks could all sell sporty and/or luxurious B11 derivatives. This, along the Sentra name used in North America, made for a very confusing family tree. The cars were good but the marketing was still a mess over at Nissan (formerly Datsun)…
The Nissan (-Datsun) B11 extended family
Body styles were equally numerous and ever so slightly headache-inducing. The Japanese market got most B11 variants of course: a four-door sedan, a 3-door hatchback Pulsar clone as distinct from the fastback coupé and a two families of wagons: the deluxe coupé-based California (with optional woodgrain, California-style) and the far more workmanlike and upright AD van (in five- or three-door guise, with or without panels), which would have a long life. The two-door notchback, though exported to several markets, was not part of the JDM lineup, for some reason. Oh, and of course, the B11 was the basis for the groundbreaking Prairie MPV, so let’s include him here. However, we’ll forego the remnants of the RWD Sunny ranges that still clung on here and there, such as the B120 pickup, otherwise some heads might explode (mine for a start).
I’m sure the interior was deemed as perfectly adequate back in the early ‘80s. The amount of passenger space, now that the transmission hump had been dispensed with, must have seemed like a revelation for those folks who had a Sunny of the previous generations. But in terms of style, I can’t say that this festival of grey plastics is very inspiring.
Just like the rest of the car, really. Nissan gave up the whacky ‘70s shapes and went for square pegs in square holes. To be fair, the previous generation sort of gave us a foretaste of the austere B11, but those still had a little touch of the old Datsun weirdness. By the time the FWD Sunny burst on the scene in late 1981, all traces of the previous decades’ excesses were eliminated.
So in a way, they very much did do things by halves at Nissan. This rational attitude on the part of Nissan’s engineers and designers did not extend to the marketing department and the executive suite. Indeed, the rot at the top was so firmly entrenched that it almost killed the company outright in the late ‘90s. The blame for that certainly cannot be laid at the feet of the Sunny, which fulfilled its job as Nissan’s sensible family car perfectly from the ‘70s onwards, but also became Nissan’s top seller in Japan in the ‘80s. For that to happen despite the company tripping over itself on so many fronts, it must have been more than halfway decent. Pity this one’s just sitting there gathering dust.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1985 Nissan Sentra (B11) – A Fish Out Of Rodeo Drive, by PN
Curbside Recycling: 1986 Nissan Sentra (B11) – Full Circle, by Jim Klein
In the 80s I had a boss that had one of these Sentras only his was a stripper 2 door that had the diesel engine. It seemed a bit incongruous in the middle of Texas. He wasn’t a ” car person ” and that is the kind of car that you would expect to be driven by someone who was only interested in fuel efficient A to B transportation.
During this era, at least in the US, Nissan was considered almost as good as a Toyota, for a few dollars less. Nissan really squandered that reputation here (I think largely based on their less-than-stellar CVT) and now if you want something almost as good as a Toyota, but for a few bucks less, you buy a Hyundai or KIA. I rarely even see new Nissan cars anymore.
Néw Nissans are very thick on the ground here in North Jersey. I see at least a dozen or more every morning on my commute. Many are Rogues. A better overall deal than a CRV. Yup
When Nissan’s market share started to plummet, they dumped thousands of cars like their Sentra/Sunny into auto rental companies. So, I remember them as nicely sorted out cars that weren’t as good as a Toyota, or a Honda, but better than the domestics. As an also-ran Japanese car, they weren’t bad.
Nissan just wasn’t meeting buyer expectations. They succeeded in the shadow of Toyota and had been popular as the car you bought when you couldn’t get a Toyota or a Honda. Boomers were so hooked on Japanese cars, it seemed anything brought over got top dollar, even Mitsubishi and old narrow 4WD Subarus. Within a decade, the jig was up and the Japanese seller’s market ended.
What I found frustrating about the Nissan Sentra was how poorly they did on economy compared to their competition. They had “blah” generic styling that wasn’t as ugly as they used to be, (aka F-10, 200 SX), but not exciting either. They got their mojo back a decade later – then put transmission into their cars that were a shame. My cousin has been working at a Nissan dealer since 1980, and he’s not recommending them anymore.
I often see masks hanging from the (interior) rearview mirror but I have never seen one on a fender-mounted mirror. At least it is on the driver’s side.
Why did japanese automakers shun column shfters for automatics? Its such a better design and more spacially efficent. Flat open floor, no shifter. Its just better but the japanese who are always the best and obsessed at spacial efficency shunned it. Donno why.
Yes and no. There were (and still are) more column shift automatics in Japan than in Europe. By and large, they’re put on strictly JDM cars, such as the Toyota Comfort or certain kei cars.
The reason is LHD exports mean you’d need to design and manufacture a mirror image of the shifter & column, which is far more expensive than a central floor shift. On Sunny-sized cars, the space saving would also be negligible — bench seats on cars of this size were long gone by the 80s — except for kei cars, which is where you’ll find most column shifters nowadays. (One of the few exceptions is Rolls-Royce, but their shifter is on the right, no matter if the car is RHD or LHD.)
American cars are not usually made in RHD, so they don’t factor those costs in their designs quite as much as the European and Japanese automakers.
I’m surprised to see a car this old in Japan sitting and gathering dust.
My impression was vehicle owners had to dispense with their cars after only a few years because of strict government vehicle inspection rules. Thus, the reason people would get a new vehicle after a few years and pampered used vehicles were exported elsewhere.
Perhaps the owner of this Sunny can’t afford to run the car because of inspection/insurance costs and is just holding on to it?
Pampered used JDM cars? no they arent, neglected would be more accurate
The cars are clean beyond belief and look great, but servicing is often ignored, that works ok on Japanese brands but theres a reason ex JDM BMWs and Audis are such common lawn ornaments here those brands thrive on regular visits to the dealership for maintenance.
Interesting viewpoint you provide kiwibryce. Perhaps its best not to consider buying something from a JDM importer out here.
It’s interesting to see the (bright yellow!) woodgrain-paneled station wagon. I assume as with the Honda Civic (gen 2) Country it was the hallmark of a special model package in Japan, and a dealer-installed accessory in America? I remember seeing one or two of each so equipped but it was by no means popular.
A childhood friend’s parents had the wagon version of this. Years later I drove Isuzu trucks and was transported back to the 80s.
They both had that inherent feel of being tinny and crappy. Just a sad, sad place to be.
I can’t think of a car I ever disliked more. And we had a Polski Fiat 126 with black vinyl seats which gave me 3rd degree burns.
These Natsuns were imposed on Oz in various blowaway versions, in fact, they even found some huge unused rolls of foil and actually made an outbreak of them only about 20ks from where I sit. Commonsense determined that they did not offend consumer laws by naming them Sunny here, as even a short sit in a parked one would not bring light and life to anyone. Natsun Cloudy, more like, if not the Nissan Downright Pissing-Down Miserable.
Sure, we got a turbo one that was a bit of fun in its day, it handled a bit and could fly, but like a fly, its day was usually just that. Not too robust in the gizzards, those. Ate a lot of turbos, them vomited the engine up too.
Which removed the only point of their existence otherwise, which was that even though the body was as strong as eyelashes and weighed about the same, they used little petrol and few mechanics; those poor blokes died off before the cars did. Despite fervent wishes of decent manly men, and like so many Datssans until the modern era, death refused to become them. I guarantee the one in the pics above needs only a swift kick in the bum and it’ll start immediately.
It might be halfway named, but certainly isn’t halfway decent, not in that way you can have a flawed nun or a nice thug. It’s wholly awful, so I suppose I must begrudgingly give some points for honesty.
The B11 Sunny, N12 Pulsar and T11 Stanza models were at the forefront at Datsun’s re-branding into Nissan – an exercise that took place just as quality and engineering woes beset the company.
The consequence of this was that Nissan as a brand was rated very lowly while people had fond memories of Datsun by the time the mid 1980s happened.
Further to this, Nissan lagged behind its lead rivals, Toyota and Honda in adopting multivalve engines and the perception of dated engineering and poor quality stuck.