The Day With Nissan Silvia - Day 1

In 1998 Motorex began the grueling process of legalizing the now-legendary Skyline GT-R. Now, anyone can order a Skyline GT-R and legally drive it on public streets. Five years later, JDM Evolution has repeated history.

The Orange County, California-based registered importer plans to legalize the Skyline's sexier little sister, theNissan Silvia. Some readers make recognize the name, not only is most of the IGN staff in love with the damn car, we've done our best to turn our U.S.-spec 240SX into a Silvia or, in our case, a Sxilvia.

A little history lesson for the uninitiated. The 240SX started life in Japan as the Silvia back in the late '80s. It appeared shortly thereafter as the highly-detuned American 240SX.

Save for the 2.4L truck engine underneath the hood it was the same as its Japanese counterpart with multi-link rear suspension, 50:50 weight distribution (in some models) and a rear-wheel drivetrain. In short, we were assed out in power and potential. That's why so many enthusiasts have spent tons making their cars less SX and far more Silvia.

Nissan produced and sold in the 240SX until 1998; that was the last year this front-engine, rear-wheel drive two-door was available to U.S. buyers. In Japan it lived on with a new body and increased performance.

The last generation Nissan Silvia appeared in January of 1999. It was produced and sold until August of 2002. You may recall our tribute story, Good Bye Skyline, Silvia and RX-7 detailing info about the three sports cars.

Styling
Out with it, the styling on this last gen Silvia represents the ultimate in pre-Ghosn Nissan design. Forget the heavy-duty, ultra-wide Skyline GT-R, the Silvia's sleek looks and stylish, wedge-shaped design have a sort of finesse the Skyline never attained. In comparison to the previous chassis, this revised design is worlds apart and looks like a far more expensive ride.

Subtle design makes for a car that has an extremely pleasing exterior. From a front three-quarter view we can see the Silvia's downward-sloping character line that also wraps around the rear window. A secondary character line might not work on other cars, creating a busy profile, but seems to work well here.

Revised headlight design is similar in some ways to the model it replaces, but looks so much better as a single-piece deal and has the Silvia logo emblazed within the housing, nice touch. Some readers have related the Silvia's corner-centric taillights akin to a Grand Am. We disagree with this generalization. That's like saying 350Z headlights look like Celica GT-S headlights simply because they're both project-based, triangular, pulled-back designs.

On the inside the new S15 Silvia really kicks the crap out of the 1995-1998 Nissan 240SX. This looks like 40K+ car, not a $20K me-too, two-door like the 240SX. It's not just the classier, cooler-looking dash either; the new Silvia uses higher-quality materials and just simply better design overall.