Nissan Sani 3.0 V6 M.K. 1

The Nissan Sani 3.0 v6 is really the rough mans car, the type of man who wakes up and combs his beard with a porcupine. The car is simple, crude but most off all indestructible, well fairly. Reason I say this is because the clutch failed on me as I was crossing a freeway intersection. The fluid leaked out of a broken seal. The engine has lost a lot of its power over the years and the front drive shafts need replacing. However this car isn’t next year’s model either and the rest of it seems indestructible. This car was taken to Mozambique with four people and luggage and supplies in the back. There was a 14km section of complete off road driving where the old battered Sani left X5’s and their high tech gadgetry in the mud behind it. A really rugged car then, that is more than capable off road.

 

However on the road, it is too long, jumps around over the smallest deviation in the road, which breaks your back, and there is a lot of road noise from the big off road tires. This is certainly not the car to drive anywhere near a tarred surface let alone on it. The steering wheel can be turned 20 degrees from top dead centre to the left or right and the car keeps going straight. Not to mention the cheap plastic leather stuff that covers the seats that will suck all the sweat out of your body even in winter. 

But after all this being said, when I drive it and find a bit of sand road, or my neighbors pretty garden patch this car makes sense. As I sit there at 4000 Rpm doing 5 km/h while the meaty tires rip up rose petals and gardeners, tear lawn like paper, and create dust clouds that makes everyone in my community sick for a week. This car just gives you the impression that it wants to kill and destroy anything that comes into its path. It has the attitude of a Nelspruit farmers attack Boerbull. It gives you the impression that you could blow it up but it would come tearing out of the explosion ripping up expensive foliage and creating a bigger dust cloud than the explosion.

This car really does have a character and no matter what you do to it, it will keep on going. Sure it’s not fast, its badly built has the fuel economy of a small truck and uncomfortable as hell, but there’s something about it that you love. It’s a real character. From the big bull bar at the front to the off road tires, to the uncomfortable interior and no headroom in the back, everything about this car seems to be made this way, just so it would piss you off, and the car would be happy about it.    

Pros:
Character
Go anywhere attitude

Cons:
Styling
Comfort
Power

Ewen Cameron