Nissan Presea

A mostly JDM (Japanese Domestic Model) vehicle, the forward looking Nissan Presea was exported to South East Asia and New Zealand. (Some examples also made their way to Russia) from 1990 to 2000.

Design

The original R10 Presea was based on the B13 Nissan Sentra/Sunny platform. It shared many attributes with its sibling model, however, body panels and interior were done to a much higher specification. Interior fabrics matched those on the Bluebird (a class higher than the Nissan Sentra/Sunny), with standard features including automatic headlights, lighted keyslot, rear-illuminated instrument cluster, integrated sound-system, automatic climate control, digital temperature control, adjustable shoulder height seat-belts, 4-way adjustments and lumbar support for the driver's seat, windscreen wipers with adjustable intermittent timings, remotely-controlled wing mirrors that folded close and most importantly, frameless windows that mimiced the NX Coupe and Silvia. In fact, so feature-full and advanced was the car that many units had 4-disc brakes with ABS and a rear windscreen wiper.

The A-pillar was slightly thinner than most compact cars, and the B-Pillar was practically non-existent from the outside, and on the inside, it was just wide enough to accommodate the seat-belt assembly. The C-pillar created a wrap-around rear windscreen. All these design features allowed for a more than 300-degree of vision for the driver, much like that of a fighter pilot. The rounded exterior left no visible straight edge on the car, and the grill-less front end gave the car a very sleek and futuristic look.

Dimensions

Compared to most "compact cars of that time", the Nissan Presea was quite long. The R10 stood at 4420mm, 15 centimetres longer than the Sentra. It was also pretty low for sedan at 1320mm; with passengers often feeling the need to stoop to get into the car. At 1690mm wide, it was as wide as it needed to be for 2 adults (and possibly a child) in the rear seats. The slightly longer wheelbase (compared to the Sentra/Sunny) at 2500mm was class leading for that era of compact cars. All these dimensions added up to a comfortable (albeit low) car with decent comfort and presence. The boot space was more than adequete, at over 300L in capacity. Due to the way the backseats lean back (which in turn gave the rear passengers a lot more comfort) objects over 1000mm in length and 1200mm in width could fit. The boot height of over 400mm also allowed for a competent handling of most purchases during shopping sprees. However the narrow aperture height limited its usability