The Day With Nissan Silvia - Day 2

The Competition
It's a wee bit difficult comparing the JDM Evolution Silvia to anything on the market. Most buyers looking into a U.S.-legal Silvia won't be looking at just any vehicle. Sure, we can compare it to the Acura RSX (just in price), Honda S2000, Mazda RX-8, Nissan 350Z and even the Motorex-legalized R32 Skyline GT-R (also based on price).

The Silvia is a front-engine, rear-wheel drive platform just like the S2000, Mazda RX-8 and Nissan 350Z--even though Mazda and Nissan consider the latter both mid-engine, whatever.

There's going to be a learning curve for any U.S. driver who has never tried the world of right-hand drive. Aside from simple things we take for granted like shifting gears and turn signals, driving a RHD car in a LHD world has some downsides to it.

We're introduced into a world of blind spots and logistical issues we never thought of. Think about going through your local drive-thru with the Silvia, let alone trying to everyday left turns.

But driving on the "wrong side" of the car also has its benefits. First, it's the never-ending setup for jokes ending with the punchline, "Actually, I'm driving on the right side." Second, it's a very easy way to get attention. Just in our second day with the beautiful silver Silvia we've been asked to roll down the window over a dozen times and counting.

Aside from the novelty factor, the last reason might be the best one, being on the right side of the car makes it easy to hit on women driving left-hand drive cars. Oh yeah, there's some definite pimp factor here.

Performance
Nissan rates its retired yet mighty 2.0L turbocharged powerplant 250 metric horsepower. To Americans that translates to 247 hp @ 6,600 rpm and 246 lb-ft torque @ 4,800 rpm. To the body that translates to a whole lotta fun. And to think that this power is achieved from an engine that has a maximum boost of about 8lbs. In contrast, the previous generation Silvia only made roughly 217 horsepower using a similar turbocharger and less free-flowing injectors.

Twist on the Silvia is almost a perfect 1:1 match to the horsepower making the car as fun from the get-go as it is on high speed runs. While other higher revving cars like the Toyota Celica GT-S and Honda S2000 need to hit about 5,000 rpm to really wake up the low-boosting Nissan engine feels strong as early as 2,500 rpm.

All that tasty power in the last generation Silvia wouldn't be any good if it was mated to a lackluster drivetrain. Good thing that Nissan decided not to cut any corners add mated the four-cylinder to a close-ratio, six-speed manual transmission versus the five-speed used in the preceding generation.

In a way, first gear is fairly useless for everyday street driving. Top speed on this gear is no more than about 20 mph, but what we give up in that gear we gain in devilishly quick standstill acceleration. The remaining gears all feel just right and each consecutive throw is accompanying with that "I'm sinking into my seat" sensation.

No traction control is offered on the Silvia and we wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah, the car can definitely get squirrely, but this is, after all, the car of choice for Japanese drifters. A slight front weight-bias makes kicking out the ass end under heavy lateral acceleration easy, very easy.

Precise steering makes it almost as easy to bring it all back, smoothly. Of course, the Helical-type limited slip differential does its part to give a helping hand.