With its 4WD and B-pillar-less mega-door openings, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Stanza has some really cool features. Let’s see what we think it should rightfully cost in cold hard cash.
It took five minutes and nine votes before anyone had a positive opinion on yesterday’s $38,500 2015 Chevy Tahoe HPE500, at that point turning the results from a glorious red giant sun into an ersatz Pacman. Now, over a day later, that outcome hasn’t changed all that much, giving the hotted-up SUV a cold-shouldered 79 percent No Dice loss.
Have you ever been in a work meeting and made a suggestion that was dismissed only to have someone else make the same suggestion moments later garnering great acclaim and flying Champagne corks? Frustrating, isn’t it?
I imagine that’s somewhat how Nissan employees felt when Chrysler was touted as having invented the minivan in 1984 seeing as Nissan (then Datsun in the U.S.) had been selling the Prairie minivan in Japan and Europe since 1981. Seeing as it didn’t arrive in the U.S. until the 1986 model year, we can cut Chrysler some slack.
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When it did arrive here, Nissan’s clever MPV changed its name to Stanza, joining the company’s mid-size sedan of the same name on dealer lots and going up against competitors like the Honda Civic Space Wagon and Dodge Colt Vista. However, none of its Japanese-sourced competitors could tout the Stanza wagon’s cool sliding doors, nor the pillar-less opening afforded when all four were open.
Opening those cool doors is just one of the party tricks this 1988 Nissan Stanza plays. It also sports a five-speed stick and the optional part-time 4WD to go along with its 97 horsepower CA20E fuel-injected 2-liter four.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about this Stanza is its condition. According to the seller, and backed up by a picture of the odometer, there are only 29,122.9 miles on the clock. Not only that, but this 34-year-old MPV looks like a new car. There appear to be no flaws in either bodywork or paint and both the cool ‘80s rocker decals and the plastic wheel covers are still intact.
The cabin presents similarly, without even any obvious wear on the pedals or shift knob. The seller claims it to be all original down to the AM/FM/cassette stereo (check out the cool ceiling speakers in the back) and says that the A/C still works without complaint.
No mention is made of the maintenance history or even if the car is rolling on original brake pads or other consumables. Still, seeing as it’s built out of a bunch of pretty common mechanical bits, those shouldn’t be too hard to find if they are needed. All the model-specific parts and those awesome decals would be much harder to replicate or replace, so points should be given to those being in sound condition.
The title is clean and the seller claims:
If you are looking for an ultra cool and very unusual 80’s vintage ride, THIS IS IT!
For anyone seeking such a ride, the asking price is $13,500 which, as we recently learned, could buy you a much newer and hotter—but far jankier—Audi S4 Avant. I’d wager that this Stanza is a bit cooler than that Audi, at least in the ‘nerdy girl in glasses and a ponytail’ kind of coolness. The question is, would that warrant laying down $13,500 to be seen with it?
What do you say, is this time and space capsule Stanza worth that kind of cash? Or, for that much is this an MPV that’s just not an MVP?
