Tell me about the 200sx!!!

Phate

Phate

Phate

Caporegime
Joined
1 Nov 2003
Posts
35,700
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Hello all,

seen a few 200sx's around and they've caught my attention, from the looks of it you can pick up a nice one for £4k....ish

Can people who know more of these tell me more about them? :)

What are they like for reliability? performance? what to and not look for? common faults? likes and dislikes?


Thanks all :)

EDIT: Prefer the looks of the S14a...
 
Last edited:
Do you have much NCB as theyre group 17 IIRC. I was looking at one but the manuals are fairly hard to find in good colour combos with low miles so I bought a Skoda instead!

Most are autos.

The interiors are a bit dull.

Performance as standard, 200bhp, RWD and also around 7 seconds to 60 so fairly brisk.
 
Liverpool-Lad said:
Do you have much NCB as theyre group 17 IIRC. I was looking at one but the manuals are fairly hard to find in good colour combos with low miles so I bought a Skoda instead!

Most are autos.

The interiors are a bit dull.

Performance as standard, 200bhp, RWD and also around 7 seconds to 60 so fairly brisk.
Click to expand...

My current car is group 17....I have a bad history, 19 and 1ncb, so I pay through the nose for most things....:D

Interiors don't really bother me personally, exterior looks do bother me and to me the S14a looks lurvely....:cool:
 
200sx's are cool, but a lot are ruined with poor modifications.

The best choice is a later S14a (better shape than s14) uk model with the desireable Cream Leather interior and air conditioning.

I would go for the cream as the black leather makes it really dark and plain inside.

uk cars will be cheaper to insure than an imported car but will tend to have higher mileage.

Engines- easy to modify as their are a lot of parts readily avalible. they come from the factory at about 200bhp but a simple exhaust and filter should see 230bhp easily and the world is your oyster after that.

Engines have VVT and this normally rattles but isnt a real problem and normally goes after you start going.

check for smoke from exhaust as could be signs of the turbo on its way out.

Body - a few of the older ones will start getting rust, check the sills and arches, usual places really.

they handle reasonably being a mid sized RWD coupe and obv fun can be had taking advantage of this.

i recently helped my friend buy one, he ended up with a 55k W reg green 200sx with cream leather and AC for 5k - its in pretty good condition but you can still get nice ones for a bit less than this.
 
theDude said:
200sx's are cool, but a lot are ruined with poor modifications.

The best choice is a later S14a (better shape than s14) uk model with the desireable Cream Leather interior and air conditioning.

I would go for the cream as the black leather makes it really dark and plain inside.

uk cars will be cheaper to insure than an imported car but will tend to have higher mileage.

Engines- easy to modify as their are a lot of parts readily avalible. they come from the factory at about 200bhp but a simple exhaust and filter should see 230bhp easily and the world is your oyster after that.

Engines have VVT and this normally rattles but isnt a real problem and normally goes after you start going.

check for smoke from exhaust as could be signs of the turbo on its way out.

Body - a few of the older ones will start getting rust, check the sills and arches, usual places really.

they handle reasonably being a mid sized RWD coupe and obv fun can be had taking advantage of this.

i recently helped my friend buy one, he ended up with a 55k W reg green 200sx with cream leather and AC for 5k - its in pretty good condition but you can still get nice ones for a bit less than this.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info dude :) appreciate it.
Ah didn't know you could get these with leather interior and air conditioning, will look out for that :) - Just checking insurance, the insurance is about 2k cheaper to insure than a scooby will be for me, so that's a plus, it'd be strickly a weekend car when the weather is good, until I get more used to the RWD ofcourse...plus I don't really drive during the week anyway.

Silly question but I'm guessing these guzzle fuel like it's going out of fashion?

You say the handling is reasonable, could this be helped with better suspension etc?

Thanks again :)
 
[TW]Fox;10305457 said:
No it isn't, its Group 13. If you pay lots to insure a Group 13 car you can more or less forget a 200SX.
Click to expand...

I was gonna say I thought there was no way his car was group 17!
 
i mean the handling is more than reasonable as standard i gues, he recently upgraded to Tein Super Street as he wanted somthing a little more precise.

they are pretty good on fuel he gets about 32mpg although it depends how much you kain the turbo, it can drop to low 20's if gunning it around all day.

For me, the car is a little plain for a weekend car as to me it would be a nice upgrade for a comfortable cruiser, but i gues i am coming from the train of thought where a weekend car doesnt have a roof, rear seats or any comfort at all.
 
IIRC all cars have AC apart from possibly non-tourings (less than 10% arent touring spec)

most of the cars are manual not auto, that is incorrect. more of the later cars tend to be autos than earlier cars, but manuals still outweigh the autos at any age.

getting one with low mileage will be tricky as the newest are still 6 yrs + old. although one thing you can take from the high mileage of most of the cars is that they can take it.

i have had 3 and one of them was bought on around 100k and someone drove in the back of it at around 110k. no problems with it at all. they are reliable if modded sensibly.

www.sxoc.com is best for info.
 
theDude said:
200sx's are cool, but a lot are ruined with poor modifications.

The best choice is a later S14a (better shape than s14) uk model with the desireable Cream Leather interior and air conditioning.

I would go for the cream as the black leather makes it really dark and plain inside.

uk cars will be cheaper to insure than an imported car but will tend to have higher mileage.

Engines- easy to modify as their are a lot of parts readily avalible. they come from the factory at about 200bhp but a simple exhaust and filter should see 230bhp easily and the world is your oyster after that.

Engines have VVT and this normally rattles but isnt a real problem and normally goes after you start going.

check for smoke from exhaust as could be signs of the turbo on its way out.

Body - a few of the older ones will start getting rust, check the sills and arches, usual places really.

they handle reasonably being a mid sized RWD coupe and obv fun can be had taking advantage of this.

i recently helped my friend buy one, he ended up with a 55k W reg green 200sx with cream leather and AC for 5k - its in pretty good condition but you can still get nice ones for a bit less than this.
Click to expand...


agreed - S14a's look much nicer. cream comes as standard on later cars, change over from black to cream was around 99 T plate. some owners may have upgraded from black to cream leather. it is brighter inside with the cream and still wears quite well.

as said VVT rattle on startup is normal and not a worry.

supension is a bit soggy as standard but plenty of options there, best compromise i found was KYB dampers and eibach springs, found the coilovers too hard for day to day and actually made it twitchy on the limit or over bump roads.:)
 
[TW]Fox;10305457 said:
No it isn't, its Group 13. If you pay lots to insure a Group 13 car you can more or less forget a 200SX.
Click to expand...

Ah, thought it was 17 for some reason, cheers for pointing that out :)

well I'm doing some quotes now, getting quotes for £2500 fully comp, not that sad considering my history and age

That's a 1999 S14a up for sale at 5k.
 
theDude said:
i mean the handling is more than reasonable as standard i gues, he recently upgraded to Tein Super Street as he wanted somthing a little more precise.

they are pretty good on fuel he gets about 32mpg although it depends how much you kain the turbo, it can drop to low 20's if gunning it around all day.
Click to expand...

ah nice one, cheers mate :)

Same kind of fuel consumption as my car really, I get about 30 at and about and drops to 19ish when I kain it.
 
TomO said:
IIRC all cars have AC apart from possibly non-tourings (less than 10% arent touring spec)

most of the cars are manual not auto, that is incorrect. more of the later cars tend to be autos than earlier cars, but manuals still outweigh the autos at any age.

getting one with low mileage will be tricky as the newest are still 6 yrs + old. although one thing you can take from the high mileage of most of the cars is that they can take it.

i have had 3 and one of them was bought on around 100k and someone drove in the back of it at around 110k. no problems with it at all. they are reliable if modded sensibly.

www.sxoc.com is best for info.
Click to expand...

thanks for your help dude! :) may end up adding you to msn to pester you, but i'll check that forum out. Many Thanks :)
 
there are some dogs around, well worth looking at the ones that are for sale on sxoc.
iirc, quite a few people on there have done auto to manual conversions and generally are happy to pass on auto boxes after the swap, so if you get an auto you know that there is the chance to get another box cheap / free should yours blow.

black ones seem very rare where as the green ones seem common, mate in work has a blue one which looks great.

cheap to mod as well, can easily get 300bhp for little outlay :D
 
Morba said:
black ones seem very rare where as the green ones seem common, mate in work has a blue one which looks great.
Click to expand...


Cheers fella :)

There was another nice blue one but that was written off (someone drove into the back of him on the A3.....

Awesome cars, I've had mine 2.5 years now and still enjoy it. I've not done any mods and it still puts a smile on my face. I've also been in various modded ones ranging from 250BHP all the way through to caged 390bhp ones (was extremely tempted to buy!!)

Mines currently at 86K miles and still going strong, touch wood the only things I've had to replace so far are consumables (oil recommended every 3-4K to prolong engine / turbo, brakes + tyres).

As TomO says, auto's are only common on 51 plates and they stopped making them in 1999/2000 so not worth paying a premium for 51 plate as it's just sat around somewhere. Touring cars have leather and sideskirts, rare to find many non tourings.

www.sxoc.com/vbb/ is your best bet, some very good FAQ's, very friendly bunch (met some very cool people + they organise some cracking events)

Keep an eye on there for cars, as well as pistonheads, autotrader etc.

Black with low miles are rare but there have been a lot more sold this summer than normal.

If I had my time again I'd get a pre modded one, however be extremely careful if this is your first RWD car, they're not twitchy but you do have to respect them in the wet / snow else it will bite you. Without fail every winter there are at least a handful written off. So far we've lost 2 this "winter", one rolled!

Best of luck with the hunt, they're awesome cars for the money.
 
Morf - Thanks for the reply :) Would you mind if I added you to msn? would love to have a chat with you without spamming up the forums :)
 
Phate said:
Morf - Thanks for the reply :) Would you mind if I added you to msn? would love to have a chat with you without spamming up the forums :)
Click to expand...
I've added you on, an*******[email protected]

Not sure how much I'll be online until Monday, likely to spend Saturday warming up for the rugby!!

Morba: No excuses for not upgrading your motor once the new pay rolls in! 335D or 535D surely if you can whack it on PCP, I image 40P mile soon pays for itself!!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom