Tested: 1981 Datsun 280ZX Turbo
22 comments
·November 29, 2025chasebank
sleepybrett
My dad had a 240Z, finally sold it off a few years ago. He had a hard time keeping that car running, always something wrong with it. Guy who bought it lives near me and he fully rebuilt it. Ran into him a few months ago, said it's still a work in progress.
OldSchool
This was an era of some pretty awful American cars. A mid-size family sedan would have a v6 with a carburetor and 110-125 hp and still weigh 1.5 tons or more. An automatic transmission with a lockup torque converter was probably a pretty new improvement at the time, and ABS brakes were still 5+ years away in high-end cars.
WaltPurvis
I can't imagine why this article link is on HN, but I'm glad it is. The 280ZX was the first car I remember actively lusting for.
EdwardDiego
I still do - good quality Datto Fairladys (as they were sold in my country) attract very good resale prices here. They're just so gorgeous, and they do fang it nicely.
brudgers
I can't imagine why this article link is on HN, but I'm glad it is.
Perhaps one way in which HN is HN.
null
jacquesm
What really struck me, besides the nice car is the quality of the text of the article.
Terretta
Csaba Csere was always a pleasure to read.
He joined Car and Driver in 1980, became Editor-in-Chief by 1993, retired in 2008. His byline would get me to read an article even if I didn't think I'd like the car.
ljnelson
This was the absolute golden age of Car and Driver. David E. Davis Jr. was the editor; he later departed to found Automobile magazine.
jerrysievert
when I became old enough to drive, my parents decided (in the family tradition) to purchase me a car. apparently, the options that my father chose from were a 1982 Honda, or a 1978 datsun f10. he settled on the less reliable f10. it was a wonder-car, it was a 5 speed that started at reverse:
R 2 4
1 3 5
it was a hell car, but I'm still nostalgic for it, likely more than I would have been for the honda that would probably have been much more reliable.
I still have an affinity for Japanese small cars, and am glad it was in my life.
datsun, I miss you.
baggy_trough
If you have nostalgia for the Z cars of the 1970s, this master mechanic is restoring a 240Z to museum quality.
RickJWagner
Sometimes we focus on what’s not perfect today. In doing so, we might forget just how good we have it.
TLDR: The review says the car is lightning fast and fuel efficient. By today’s standards, the car is turtle slow and horribly inefficient.
ehnto
I often say this even as a Nissan diehard, all our hero cars are slow as snails by todays standards.
I've had the pleasure of driving a lot of these cars in factory form, like the Nissan Silvia, various years of Skyline, Supras and such. They are connected, more raw than todays cars, and that is their killer feature. But they would get gapped by a 2025 Toyota Camry.
EdwardDiego
I too am a Nissan diehard, I just bought a P10 Primera eGT, the British built one, and regret very much selling my previous 4WD P10 (to be honest though, the dicky idle valve was very annoying), but that 4WD was amazing.
And yeah, driving my current P10, the steering feeling is so much more... real, my son owns a P12, and it feels far more disconnected from the road.
(I also drive a 350XV Fuga, and gosh darn, that VQ35DE(NEO) engine is a rather lovely V6).
CraigRo
You can get a Nissan Pathfinder or a Honda Odyssey minivan with automatic 6 cylinder engines, faster performance, better gas mileage, and room for an entire family
brudgers
What you won't get is the haptic experience of a sports car.
Nor the potential aesthetic experience...potential because people have different aesthetic values.
But the haptic experience of a sports car can't be replicated in a mini-van or SUV because the suspension, driving position, acoustic and mechanical output, etc. are all vastly different from a sports car. And of course curb weight, suspension rates, and center of gravity.
To be clear, I am not saying there is anything wrong with SUV's and/or minivans. Only that the map is not the territory.
parpfish
When I was a youngster getting into cars, I obsessed over the quantifiables. Which car had better horsepower, 1/4 mile, or skid pad scores. I couldn’t drive, much less afford, any of the cars so it’s the best I could do to form an opinion.
Now that I’m a grownup, I’m capable of doing qualitative assessments on cars because I can drive them and judge their intangibles.
Lots of cars have sub-par specs, especially compared to modern engineering, but it overlooks that they are just fun. The top speed doesn’t matter because you’re rarely going to touch it. But how does it feel when you downshifting into 2nd to pass somebody? Or take a windy corner a little faster than you should? Does it make you grin? Because that’s a good car.
cebert
This should have (1981) in the title to make it clear it’s not a recently published article.
fuzzfactor
Today the test would be how much a mint example would bring at an auction :)
EdwardDiego
A lot.
There is a Swiss restoration youtube channel, my mechanics, that's restoring a 1973 Datsun 240Z. It's quite a project and worth watching if you're into that sort of thing. He's incredibly talented and loads of other restoration projects that are super interesting. Easily my favorite youtube channel!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B13vXFj37RI&list=PLN0SuqPcbL...