What a lovely example. I like the cloverleaf detail on the air cleaner. Nice looking dashboard for 1983. Quite confusing trying to understand the differences between this, the other Cherry and the Alfa Arna.
It is exceptionally confusing. When this car was registered, Ford had the Escort and the Sierra in the family car class. Nissan had the B11 Sunny, the N12 Cherry, the Cherry Europe, the Stanza and the Bluebird in the family class, and I think some of them even still had Datsun badges!
I actually got offered it two years ago, and then stupidly didn't follow it up properly, but I am an insanely blessed man to have tried one of these for myself.
Thank you for this video. One of those cars that people thought were awful at the time but now view as a misunderstood classic and the shape of things to come. Nissan of course are now in business with another well-known European make. Now we never got this car in New Zealand but people I knew from high school drove Pulsars with this body shape - The Langley variant springs into memory! My mate crashed one...
Think I have seen the GTI version in the metal back at the Motorist in 2021 at the Hubnut Social. A excellent little review Sir of a rare car, glad you managed to drive this example sir.
Hi Joseph I found this facinating I had not seen one of these but I do remember in 1969 or1970 the Datsun Cherry a neighbour of my mum & dad had one it was in British Racing Green it was a good looking car which he cherished he washed and polished it every week he was a postman so drove to work every day I know back then most Datsuns became victoms of the tin worm and would not pass the MOT anyway I wonder if you have come across these early Datsun Cherry the one I mention lasted because he had zebarted thanks for the video best regards Andy Allen.
Yes, the Nissan Cherry Europe is an extremely rare car. I should be getting some more 1970s and 1980s Datsuns and Nissans on the channel soon, as I am in the Owners' Club, I have already done a 1973 260C and a 1976 260Z on the channel. I remember the rust...
A fascinating car Sir! And positive proof that a great car maker can’t make a credible car out of another’s platform. The other notable examples of this type of farce are the City Rover and most GM era SAABs.
The City Rover was so much worse than this, I don't know why people, who have never driven one, keep telling me how bad they are, because they really aren't.
In this case, I don’t think it was so much the execution (who wouldn’t want a car with an Alfa boxer engine in it), more that the target market was confused - potential Alfa owners wanted something with more Italian style and character than a Nissan could provide, potential Nissan owners would want cast iron reliability - something that Alfa Romeo didn’t have a great track record in the 70s and 80s. The ARNA and Cherry Europe didn’t really meet any end user group expectations - so a buyer wanting a Nissan would buy a Japanese sourced Cherry, and a buyer wanting an Alfa Romeo would buy a 33.
Thank you for this. A fascinating watch. I would love to be transported back to a Nisan dealership circa 1983/4 to see how they pitched these cars against the 'pure' Cherry. I would be interested to see a comparison of warranty claims between Cherries and Cherry Europes. I think I know which one would have come out on top! My money would have gone on a Cherry, as personally I preferred the look of them (particularly at the back). On a family holiday in 1996 in Italy I excitedly photographed what I thought was a Nissan Cherry Europe but to my dismay it was an Arna. They were quite a common sight in Italy then. I used to walk past an immaculate light blue Cherry on my way to primary school from 1987-1994, which was your classic one elderly lady driver Cherry. I wonder if the Nissan dealership tried to push a Cherry Europe on her. Thanks again, and can't wait for the Ibiza review as I have a really person connection to that.
Nissan had the Stanza, Bluebird, N12 Cherry, B11 Sunny and Cherry Europe all sale at the same time in 1983/4, whereas Ford just had the Escort and Sierra in the small and family and large family car classes, so it is no wonder people got confused! The latter three were all based on the same basic chassis (although the Cherry Europe floorpan was a bit different at the front), and the N12 Cherry and B11 Sunny even had the same engines. We are hoping to get a standard N12 Cherry for review at some point... The Italians did not get the Cherry Europe, only really the UK, Austria and Spain.
Many of my friends parents owned the N12 Nissan Cherry around 1985/86. The N12 was known for its ease of driving and its completely realible if a bit underpowered Nissan 1200 engine. My experience of the Alfa Romeo ARNA and the Nissan Cherry Europe is that they were very fast indeed compared to the equivalent N12. The Nissan Body was a bit plain but the Japanese interior was very inviting as were all Japanese interiors of the 1980s. Our Local Parish Curate owned a white Alfa Romeo ARNA 5 door and he always seemed to catch up with other traffic and spent a lot of time in the overtaking lane.
These 1.2 Arnas and Cherry Europes are not very fast. They really aren't very fast at all... The standard N12 Cherry did not have a 1.2 option, the E-Series was available in 1.0, 1.3 and 1.5 flavours. The 1.3 and 1.5 Arnas and Cherry Europes did have more power than the standard N12 Cherries, though. Thank you very much indeed for watching and commenting, sir!
Sir, I recall many years ago (probably early 90s or late 80s) my mum’s sister had a white B plate Arna. Sadly I have no record of the reg no or I’d try to find out its fate. This at a time when it was just a generic second hand car/banger as opposed to the mega rare bird it is today. I greatly enjoyed your video and it looks like you enjoyed making it!
Yes sir, they weren't necessarily very popular back in the day, as they competed with various other Nissans and Alfa Romeos for showroom space of the same size. Thank you for watching, sir!
They all had the silver paint missing on the drivers side of the grill, I think it was also the same on the GTI version but in green. My Dad bought one in October 1983 brand new silver 1.2, the dealer painted in the missing side when we pointed it out. He got it as was on 0% finance and a 5 speed box made it cheaper than the Nissan Cherry version.
You are absolutely correct, as the videos which exist on the only other Cherry Europe currently on the road in the country, a GTI, show the green stripes on the grille only on two sides, which is very, very weird. Deliveries started in August 1983, so October 1983 sounds about right. I don't think the basic 1.3 N12 Cherries would have got a five speed gearbox.
This video got me thinking, if you think about modern platform sharing (think aygo/c1/107 etc) then was this the first car where there was a collaboration/platform share because this possibly came before the rover/honda tie up
No, there were others before this (the Triumph Acclaim was released in 1981 and the agreement was signed in 1978). I think one of the first would be the Isuzu truck sold in America as the Chevrolet LUV, which was about ten years earlier.
One of my geography teachers took us in a trip in his by then rough as, battered Sunny 'sports wagon' with a similar floorpan to this car. Regardless of the condition it was very snug. Add such a car to an Alfa Romeo boxer, what's not to like?
