Well, given I owned my Nissan Primera GT for 21 months and now it's gone, I thought I'd give a review of this car.

The basics about these cars before I start being subjective; they're either 5 door hatches or 4 door saloons, mine was a 5 door hatch, and they all came with the same 147bhp 2.0 all-alloy twin cam petrol engine. Although this isn't a massive power output, the low weight (mine was 1220kg without me in it but with a full tank of fuel) means that they're capable of mid-8s to 60mph and on to a 135mph top speed.

These cars are getting on a bit, being made between 1997 and 1999, so the interior standards are fairly typical for late 90's Japanese cars in that they're robust and generally creak-free, but not exactly ergonomic or aesthetically pleasing. The controls are all well thought out though, everything is in reach and the laid out in a logical manner. The seats in this car are fantastic, I think they're possibly recaro copies(?), they're extremely snug and hold you really well when driving enthusiastically. The stock head unit isn't great, but the stock speaker system is pretty good for a car of this age, so with a reasonable head unit the sound quality is pleasantly surprising.

This brings me onto the driving . . . this car has very precise steering offering plenty of feedback, which combined with an adjustable back end made this car a hoot to drive on twisty roads. Entering a corner the lack of body roll is very noticeable. Some people (car enthusiasts) have remarked how firm the ride is for a stock suspension setup, however I've had more remarks from others about how comfortable it is too, so I'd describe the suspension as sporty but still good at providing a comfortable ride. Understeer is quite a rare event in this car, especially so when burying the throttle out of a corner, an area where a lot of fwd cars seem to then plough on in a straight line. Not so in the GT, it seems to stay on track quite nicely, despite the absence of an LSD. The chassis seems to be set for the enthusiastic driver with a relatively neutral bias, so greasy roads and/or shoddy tyres can see the back end running wild if you're not paying attention, but this means that the car is fantastically adjustable when you want it to be.

The engine is a rather excellent one IMHO. The SR20DE unit is pretty old hat now really, but has been in many cars both with and without turbochargers over the years. The version employed in the GT likes revs to get the power, so flicking it around to the 7000rpm redline is the order of the day when pressing on. Despite this, I still found it had sufficient torque to change gear at 2500rpm during normal driving without straining the engine. The engine makes quite a nice noise, especially if an Apexi induction kit is fitted, in which case it really roars! The engine responds quite well to tuning, the best single modification is a stainless steel manifold and downpipe. This can be had for about £125 if you look about and will see power increases of about 10bhp. If you want to spend the money, hot cams, fuelling system from a Skyline and an uprated exhaust will see you knocking on 185 to 190bhp, but this is at a cost. There is at least one example of a UK Primera with a retrofitted turbocharger too (with about 230bhp) but this is getting into silly money and the GT's drivetrain isn't really up to the task of that sort of power.

Despite being a fairly large 2.0L petrol car, the GT is quite good on fuel. Mine averaged about 34mpg, with 40+ mpg easily achievable on a 70mph run. The seats also make the car a pleasure to drive long distances too.

If you think about buying one, there are three main issues to be aware of:

1) Oil changes - the engine uses a timing chain, which is great for long-term servicing costs . . . but only if the oil changes have been done regularly (9k miles being the interval). Poorly serviced engines are likely to see excessive chain wear, which is difficult to diagnose, and cam-chain changes are very expensive indeed (considerably more than cambelt changes on the 4-cylinder VAG cars).

2) Driveshafts - this is the Primera's Achilles heel. The shafts have balancing weights on them (which apparently do very little), these weights trap water which gradually corrodes away the shaft until it snaps. The damage is invisible unless the weights are removed and a shaft will snap without any warning, leaving you stranded. New shafts should be about £150 each fitted at a good independant garage.

3) Rust - the Primera is pretty good on the whole for this as the body was galvanised, however the boot spoiler is a major weakpoint. Unchecked corrosion here will make holes in the boot, although it isn't a structural part of the car and can be replaced if needs be (be aware that there is more than one shade of silver for Primeras though).

Overall, the Primera GT is an excellent car to drive and still manages to be practical and comfortable. The styling has aged quite gracefully and they are rare enough to feel slightly special. I will miss mine . . .

I was thinking the one I had for a week was awful, then realised it was the next model.

I was thinking the one I had for a week was awful, then realised it was the next model.

A P12? The odd looking ones . . . . the P10 was considered to be the best handling, followed by the P11 and then the P11-144 (made until 2001/2002 I think), then there is a vast chasm of difference before you get to the appalling Renault-influenced P12. The P11 was the last generation to see a reasonably serious attempt at a sporty model, which was the GT I have just reviewed.

This is a P12 by the way:

Edited 5 March, 201016 yr by yashicamat

Yep it was one of those hideous things.

when they were "current" the GT always had one of the best write ups for handling, apparently it was top of the class, so it still impresses today I would have had that car had swmbo had a bit more money to spend when we bought the honda ah well, we still have a revvy jap

My dad had a primera gt for a while going back a few years now, i got to drive it on a 4hr journey and loved it!! Seats are really comfortable no back pains after a long drive which i normally get and it handle really nicely! It seemed to pull well and loved the high revs too, over all a great car and one of the best journeys i have done in a car!

i had a 2L 144 sport and loved it!

I used to sell Nissans for a living and always enjoyed driving them. The GT and the older eGT handle much better than the vRS does. The SR20DE engine was as you mentioned in my old 1996 200sx, but with a T on the end. Again a great handling car. Bought back some memories reading this...... Good review by the way.

PX my 1997 SE Primera SE for my vRS Octy last year only got £300 for it. Had the primera car for 10years.....a hand-me-down from my brother in law (Company Car 70K). It had all the toys including sun roof and AC which was very rare..leathers ...god know how may electric motors ..wing mirror (heated), sun roof, electric moving seats etc etc. The car never let me down once, not even a repair needed in 10years...... did all my servicing........everything working on it when I traded it in with 190K on the clock........hmm miss it...oh well just have to go for a drive now to get over it

really brings back some memories. I used to have a red 5 door GT with all the extras including leather seats. I loved that car and was gutted when it got written off. By the way the were bullet proof mine was wrote off when I got side swiped by a 38 tonne artic. I survived with relatively little injuries (just evere whiplash and cuts/bruises).

At the time I was doing over 1,000 miles a week and it never missed a beat. I never had any major problems with it either. Only thing that was a minor fault was it didnt age too well. Awsome car for the money

p11 and almera gti! outstading cars! owned loads flat every where great handling top motor's for pocket money!

The Primera was one of the cars Ford aimed to beat in handling when developing the Mondeo.

Ive owned a 94 egt & a 96 sri & a 99 gt & they all were excellent cars,the gt was the best,mine was a 4dr in the metalic bronze(orange) a friend of mine had the one that changed colour as you walked round it,he had that one for 199k then sold it to another friend! there wasnt a better handling car around for the money.