Junkyard Find: 1988 Nissan Pulsar NX
The second-generation Nissan Pulsar NX (known as the Nissan EXA outside of North America) was a cheap, mildly sporty two-seater that never sold as well as the Honda CRX or even the Ford EXP. In this series, we’ve seen this Colorado ’87 and this California ’89, and now we have a rusty ’88 in the weeds at the edge of a Wisconsin yard.
This taillight treatment was recreated by many masking-tape-and-rattle-can-wielding owners of Mercury Topazes and Hyundai Scoupes during the 1990s.
The 1.8-liter four-cylinder in this car made 125 horsepower, 20 more than the 1988 CRX Si. Of course, the NISMO sticker adds another 50 hp.
Japanese cars of this era didn’t last long in the Upper Midwest, where the Rust Monster devoured these cars quickly. This one managed to evade the junkyard for nearly 30 years, which is quite an accomplishment.
Swappable rear body panels, described by a breathless Japanese woman. I have yet to find a “Sportbak” wagon body on one of these cars in a junkyard, but I keep hoping.
In Australia, waitresses could not resist the appeal of the ever-changing EXA (prounounced “ECKS-suh”).
Along with the 300ZX and 200SX, Nissan offered three kinds of heat with the Pulsar NX.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
More by Murilee Martin
Comments
Join the conversation
As I recall the Nissan Pulsar NX and the Toyota Corolla Sport were both a bit more expensive than the plain Honda CRX, so I went and bought a plain CRX. Another weird thing was that if you bought the wagon back, the whole wagon back lifted up to get to the rear storage compartment. It seems to me like it would have been better to have had a flip-up rear window instead.
I think a better competitor for the Pulsar NX would have the Honda 'Lude, not the CRX.