For the first time in my life, I got to drive the Nissan Sunny(Pulsar) GTI-R for an extended period of time. I drove the car for about 800 km on all kind of roads. I am committed to Mazda vehicles, and I have 2 Mazda 323 GT-R's myself (one is a daily driver), and of course the Sunny had to be measured up to "the best car in the world". So please read my "non biased" (yeah, right?) impressions of the Sunny GTI-R.

"What meets the eye"

The Sunny I drove is a black one. It looks are "killa" from the front, with a bulgy bonnet, with lots of vents. The reason for this is mostly the intercooler being placed on top of the engine. This position is not ideal when it comes to street cars, but on a rally car, I would agree it's a favourable position. You can smash up the front real good, before you'll have to worry about a busted cooler, and the space made up, has been used to give the Sunny real short overhangs. The view from the side is less intimidating. The Wheels are 14'', and the
brakes look smallish. The wheel arches have trimmings on them, but looks wider on the panel portions as well compared to a normal Sunny(?). The rear is topped out with a pretty large spoiler. It could have been on the movie "fast and the furious", but is actually stock. Looks cool compared to the mellow stock GT-R one. Inside, the car looks like any Japs from this era. There's lots of plastic
! I love the 3 gauges in the centre dash. (oil temp, oil pressure and boost pressure), and ask myself why we couldn't have anything similar in the GT-R?
The seats are more "bucketed" than the GT-R. They are OK, but I feel the GTR seats are better for those long drives. (then again, I favour the GTX seats for even longer drives, so I might be getting old..).

"Get in behind the wheel !"

The Sunny has 220 HP in Euro form, and I thought I was up for a real blast compared to the GTR. 35 hp more over the GTR must be felt, right? Well, the Truth is that the engine lacks the same things like the Mazda engine; It feels very restrictive. It doesn't really open up anywhere in the range. It must be just choked for air, and pooping trough a pinhole (exhaust), compared to what the engine is really built for. This is just like the GTR in stock form. The engine is a full 2-litre displacement, and that's 160 cc over the
Mazda. It can be felt. The Sunny feels more "meaty", especially in the mid range. But on top, the Mazda really shines in comparison, with its lower displacement.

The car was driven on dry pavement, snowy highways, and icy mountain roads. How was it? Well, It feels very effective. That's not so much fun, but effective. The thing I really liked, was the ability it had to stick to a line in corners on good grip surfaces. You can drive very fast with the Sunny, without loosing the rear end. This also makes for "not so funny", when it comes to sliding wide, just for fun. You really have to make the rear hang out in slides, vs. the Mazda is more of a "think and do" (you are thinking' about getting sideways, and the car does it).

The suspension is not very stiff, somewhere between the GTX and the GT-R. It soaks up bumps really good, but in turns it rolls more than a GT-R. The feel of the car is a bit more solid than the GTR, but it also feels more lumpy (fat). If you ever drove an Audi, you know what I mean. The Sunny is a bit more "Audi-feeling" compared to the GTR that is far from it.

"And the winner is....."

After the first few kms in the Sunny, I thought "what a dog". The car felt heavy, not at all as powerful as I had imagined, and the torque split felt weird when I wanted to slide it sideways. Luckily(-for the Sunny), I had to drive the sucker for the whole weekend, and learned to know the car a little better. The smile came slowly, but surely to my face again. The introduction to iced mountain roads with wide corners, was a fun experience. Not as much fun as a GTR, but you can feel the Sunny being more of a locomotive out of turns. The drivetrain and suspension keep the wheels from spinning as much as on the GTR, and it doesn't go as wide in and out of turns. This is very effective on the clock, but is boring compared to a Mazda. It feels like the Mazda is lighter and more nimble, but at a cost of stability and rigidness.

The winner is Mazda 323 GT-R.......no, not really. It's not possible to judge from this testdrive. I feel like it's choosing between Banana and
Strawberry shakes. They are both good, but have different flavour. Just like the Sunny and the GT-R. Both good cars, that can be great with minor adjustment, and jap-rockets built to win rallies. Now they are here for all us enthusiasts to enjoy. So go out and get one, if you don't have one.
The Sunny is for sale btw.....(mail me, I'll pass on the mail to the owner).