Quote:
Originally Posted by UNKNOWN_370
(Post 3579303)
LMAO.... How many REDBULLS was that????
|
All of them :rofl2:
Seriously though - I'm pretty spun up on it because I was counting on them to come through with this particular car. I'm very involved in the world of Nissan on another site, and a lot of us have been waiting for them to show us something that can be affordable and fun. We have seen competitors left and right toss out fun cars over the last 5-7 years and Nissan has been notably absent.
They've been content to ram crossovers down our throats for over a decade. The next gen Z has languished in what is obviously an identity crisis from a product planning standpoint - the biggest hint we've gotten is the GripZ, which is them turning the philosophy of what the Z has been for 40 years and implementing it into a crossover. The most they've experimented with any vehicle has been the Juke - there's no amount of flavorings you cannot have that car in. I'm convinced that they kept the power down on the Sentra to position it below the Juke - think about it. The Juke can be had with nearly 215hp and a helical LSD while this Sentra sits at 188hp and open diff, for example.
The B13 SE-R - there was so little, if anything, like it on the market at the time. Same with the S13. Same with the Z32 (until the pricing killed it along with the rise of the SUV). The modern implementations of those vehicles DO NOT COMPETE at the price point. Sure there are justifications for why one would buy a 370Z over a Camaro SS, or why one would buy a Sentra NISMO over a Focus ST, but the overwhelming majority of buyers in these markets wants to stretch their dollar to the extreme in fun factor that they can.
Nissan has been absent here, and they've gotten too big as a company to adequately respond to changes in the market landscape and competitors within that landscape for anything except a crossover. Look at the Titan - a fantastic offering even 5 years ago, but now that it's finally come to market, it's barely competitive when you stack it up to Ford and Chevy. In fact, I feel the XD version of the truck was an absolute hail mary to force a niche into one of the most ruthless markets in the North American automotive landscape. I feel it wouldn't otherwise garner any attention if they just showed up with the new 5.6L half ton truck. They're pasting an extended bumper-to-bumper warranty on it to put up a shred of a fight, but equipment for equipment, truck for truck, it's another also-ran from a company that's been also-running for 10+ years.
The site I work for was founded out of enthusiasts that were attracted to Nissan's bang-for-the-buck and well rounded products that offered fun, performance, and usability in a well-priced package. The overwhelming majority of Nissan's products are uninspiring, underwhelming, and paint a bleak picture for the future of volume cars that illustrates soulless, uninvolving, and uninspiring driving experiences. It preaches utility and convenience. It shows a culture of building machines as appliances rather than enhancements to life experience like they used to be.
NISMO was supposed to be the exception to all of those things. I understand a business has to make money, but at the level they're selling Altimas to rental car companies and Rogues to Star Wars fans, they can afford to have a niche performance marque that doesn't forget about the people that drive as a means of having fun. Nissan seems to think you shouldn't do that unless you have a cool $100k burning a hole in your pocket for a GT-R.
TL;DR - Nissan is boring as **** when it used to be exciting. They're like a volume Subaru - put out a sweet concept and when it hits production it turns into vanilla.
