Nissan Sunny 2.0 GTi 16V Review

Overall Rating

Very fast,
Can be made to look like a GTI-R'
It's a Sunny but not as we know it.

The name Sunny
Not a Gti-r,
Not great on the old mpg,
Maybe handling could be better.

The Nissan Sunny GTI is a Very Fast car, light weight and 141 BHP in standard form so can beat almost all other hot hatches that are in standard form, if you are a skilled driver that is as maybe the handling of the Sunny Gti is not as good as others, I tend to find mine follows the road contours and the brakes tend to fade fast under braking, also its hard to get all of its power down from a stand still without spining the wheels, having said that mine has been chipped and a full Janspeed exhaust system fitted and finished off with a custom induction filter kit so it sees 195bhp on a rolling road, so maybe the standard car handles its power better. Does 0 to 60 in just less that 6.5secs, looks good with nice alloys and with better [stiffer] suspension that is low starts to look the part. My car likes to eat Astra 2.0L 16v GTEs, any Golf Gti, Honda v-tech CRXs,Toyota MR2s,And many more hot hatches with less than 200bhp Fact. Would love to own a GTI-R 4wd well over 200bhp can get them over 300bhp easy, rally proven giant killer.

Members' Comments onTwinCam's Review

• JACKEL1 on 11th Apr 2004

  I agree with a lot that your saying about the sunny, I'm looking for another one as we speak and selling my GT4 cs. I had a sunny 2yrs ago and wish i'd never got rid. But what you say about the handling I definitely dont agree with. ive never had a better handling car and thats on factory suspension and ive had 205s rs turbos and various jap cars 4x4 and all and nothings handled nearly as well.

• fradaja on 25th Sep 2004

  Why are you racing standard motors with your non standard motor? Lets say an alfa 156 v6 or an imp turbo or a nissan 200 sx would be more of a race ya bully!

• TwinCam on 30th Oct 2004

  Sorry my review of this car was maybe a little wrong, I feel that I can now review it better so for an updated review look at my review in the modded car section. Also some info in this review was vague about the mods, I won't go into it as it would take all night, and the BHP info was wrong it was about 175bhp, to get 195bhp I would of had to have cams and a few other small tweaks as well. Also my view on the cars handeling has changed as it got a lot better when I had the suspension set up better, got new tyres and found out I had a broken ball joint, so it's a lot better than before not as on edge and a bit more grip.

• aka1coffee on 26th Nov 2004

  I had a Sunny Gti 2.0e for 6yrs and it only Broke down Twice with a flat battery and a wornout Clutch . I think I was lucky because my mate's Sunny had loads of problems lol . You probaly think I didnt use 2 drive the motor much. Well I used to go to most of the Mod Shows and was a Regular at the Track in Brum and also never turned down a Race what ever the Car was - from Astra GSI to any thing with a Turbo, including Cossies belive me, it depends on the driver.
  
  It had 45,000 on the clock when I bought it but when I sold it, It had wait 4 it (165,000) and still runing good as ever, only reason I sold it was because of the high miles but still got a good price on it. I also had it lowerd, JANSPEED Exhaust system, KnN induction Kit, fly wheel skimed, As for getting parts i'm quite lucky in Birmingham there's a few Jap specialists around. Thats all I had done to the Engine I tink I had about 150 bhp.
  
  As for the exterior I fitted some DTM Corner/centre Spliter's and a DTM 1 Rear spoiler which sat on top of a standard spoiler. I also fitted some heavy duty Mud flaps. I had 2 change the wheels - there to small so fitted some 16inch Zender 5 spoke twin blades which I got polished to look like crome. By the way my SUNNY was the same colour as yours BLACK they look best in BLACK I think. Also had a load of ICE 2000 WATTS Rms which I still got. I had to change door interior panels so I could fit my JBLs in.
  
  I would have loved to put those VERTICAL DOORs on if they were out when I had the SUNNY. You will see my SUNNY problay around in Wales in ABERISWORTH.

• GTI DRIVER on 14th Jan 2005

  Hello to the sub 6.5 nissan sunny 2.0e gti.
  I own a sunny 2.0e gti and would very much like to get it o-60 sub 7secs. At the moment with standard engine but k&n cone air filter I see 0-60 in a long sleepy 9 seconds. I know she can do more.
  
  What mods did you do on yours? Was the janspeed exhaust complete with 4 to 1 manifold downpipes?
  
  Thanks for your help
  
  gti_driver

• TwinCam on 24th Jan 2005

  To GTI DRIVER, when the car was at it's best it had a hotshot gen 5 header [manifold] then from the cat back a janspeed system. Hotshot make very good headers [if not the best] for the sr20de engine. And Janspeed make very good cat back systems.

• TwinCam on 24th Jan 2005

  Also to GTI DRIVER, a standard sunny gti should get 0-60 in around 7.5 not 9 secs, in good conditions. My final mods were ,custom made CAI, cams, pully kit, light weight flywheel, uprated clutch kit, the ECU was also chipped but i'm not sure as to the details on it [last owner had it fitted], but JWT make good ecus for the sr20 engine, and the semi custom exhaust which I mentioned in the last post. I have now sold the car, but I took all the good stuff off, bar the ecu and sold the other parts. I am now looking for a GTIR.

• GTI DRIVER on 26th Jan 2005

  TWIN CAM
  
  Thanks very much.
  I thought that 7.5 seconds was more in line with manufaturer's specs. Maybe I am getting 9sec because I wheel spin on the start off. Can't get all the power down. Otherwise I guess I will have to check my compression. What was your best time 0-60? at its best?

• TwinCam on 27th Jan 2005

  To GTI driver
  When I had all my interior in and sound system installed, which was very heavy, I could get to 0-60 in about 6.8 secs in very good conditions, light wind etc. when I stripped the car interior, seats, sound system, the lot, I could do it in around 6.4 secs in good conditions. I know it could have gone faster but I had a hard time trying to get a good launch as it would spin its wheels a lot more after weight reduction, I also felt that the weight reduction helped more than some of the parts that I installed as I could take corners better and stop better, so if I did it all again and wanted some free speed I would of stripped it out first then bought the aftermarket bits.

• GTI DRIVER on 28th Jan 2005

  BTW
  
  who is JWT?
  
  GTI DRIVER

• fradaja on 31st Jan 2005

  With regards to wheelspinning during 0-60 time trials,why dont yo do a rolling start say trundling along in 1st with no feet touching controls, this will give you a 0-62 time or 2-62 time to be more accurate. no clutch slipping and in the dry with a car with fwd with sub 180 bhp should be nearly no wheelspin. a far more accurate measure of acceleration as championed by just about every car manufacturer.

• TwinCam on 1st Feb 2005

  JWT is a very good Tuning company, this is there website www.jimwolftechnology.com

• Sunnyboy on 7th Apr 2005

  Hello,
  
  Please can you tell me where you purchased your janspeed exhaust and also what the tail pipe size was. Was it really noisy? Comfirm what you mean by 'complete' exhaust system.
  
  many thanks
  
  SM

• GTI DRIVER on 24th Apr 2005

  Hello Again,
  
  I am now thinking of upgradding exhaust. Have enquired about the janspeed one with 3;5inch exit pipe and straight through back box.
  
  Is it really loud? And very noisy in the car when driving?
  
  Could you tell me what the reference of the JWT chip was so that I can order form them. Is it difficult to install your self.
  
  thanks
  and happy mototring
  
  GTI DRIVER

• tomo1984 on 30th May 2006

  Hi i have a nissan sunny GTIe with a full GTI-R kit on her but she is not running right, she runs fine and goes like hell but then when she's cold the revs go up and down when driving her but then i will go to work then come back to her at night then she will not start. Can you help me? thanks michael.

• TwinCam on 31st May 2006

  Well sold the GTI a bit ago, was sad to let it go. But really wish i kept it, now too poor to own a fast car [starting a family]. Anyway to tomo1984, a really good website that will help you out with your prob is sr20deforum.com sr20de is the engine in sunny gti's. Post it on there and i bet they can help you.

• tomfowler12 on 10th Jul 2006

  Hi, I've been looking for a sunny for a for a few weeks now - any ideas where the best place to look for one is, cheers Tom.

• tomo1984 on 9th Aug 2006

  hi mate i am selling my GTI GTI-R Rep, were you from? if you are intrested, drop me a e-mail on maxpower_2@msn.com and we will chat and i will send you pic's and full spec of my GTI Tomo.

• calincash on 12th May 2009

  hy there everyone, I"ve got a nissan sunny 2.0, gti, twin cam, 16 V, can I get a manual from the net or from some site, I"d really want to know more about this car, or if could someone tell me if this car has any Euro? as in pollution, Thx all