First came Viewt, then there was Cute

As is often the case when it's looking all quiet on the Japanese automotive front, those oddballs over at Mitsuoka have managed to conjure up a modicum of excitement by pulling yet another unorthodox new model out of their hat.

After 16 years in production, and the launch of two successive generations, we should by now all be familiar with the Nissan March/Micra based, Jaguar MkII emulating Viewt. However, with Mitsuoka recently announcing that production of the second generation Viewt is to end in December 2009, in preparation for a Viewt-less future, the company appears to be exploring other March-based avenues, this time in the form of the newly launched Cute. In perverse Mitsuoka fashion, the Cute isn't actually a new car at all. Instead, it is a new used car, with Mitsuoka carefully selecting a pre-loved example of the Nissan March, which is then put through a rigourous 67 point inspection before being sent down Mitsuoka's production line to commence its transfiguration into a Cute.

As is evident from the accompanying photographs, the March's mutation into the Cute sees the little Nissan titivated with the addition of the Viewt's visage, while the rear bumper and flanks are suitably embellished with chrome rubbing strips. The end product is thus essentially a Viewt, save for the absence of that vehicle's curvaceous derrière. Sadly, however, it is an absence which leaves the Cute looking a little unresolved. Indeed, would the Cute's inspiration, the Jaguar MkII, still be regarded as a design classic today if it too had been brought into this world as a hatchback?

Still, with prices starting at 1,080,000Yen, dependent on mileage, there are few cheaper ways of getting yourself into a hand-crafted Mitsuoka.

06/03/09 - Budget Classic of the Day

Model:1989 Nissan March Super Turbo
Price: 290,000 Yen

It now seems to be accepted wisdom that it was Volkswagen, with the advent of their 1.4TSI engine in 2005, who popularised the idea of bolting both a supercharger and a turbocharger to a small capacity petrol engine for added fuel economy and performance.

In actual fact though the Japanese, and in particular Nissan, have been practicing this little trick since the late '80s, and arguably to more dramatic effect.

In 1988, Nissan decided that its future lay in participation in rallying's 1600cc class, and through the workings of its own obscure logic decided that the vehicle most suitable to achieve these ends was the boxy, diminutive March (aka Micra). There was however a slight issue; at this stage in its life the March was only equipped with a scrawny 987cc engine which would have seen it duly humiliated by its better endowed 1600cc competition. Nissan's solution to this problem was to hit the March's powerplant with a little forced induction in the form of both a supercharger and a turbocharger. Confident that it had duly outwitted the competition, Nissan came up against another brick wall in the form of the rallying rule book. The rule book in the 1600cc class stipulated that any vehicle making use of forced induction was required to have its engine capacity multiplied by a factor of 1.7. Sadly for Nissan, 987 x 1.7 does not 1600cc make. Nissan was therefore forced back to the drawing board, reducing the March's displacement down to an even more trifling 930cc. The result was the birth of the 8-valve, 110bhp MA09ERT engine.

For homologation purposes this twin-charger equipped engine was bolted into a stripped out base-grade March, given the March R nomenclature, and put on sale for motorsport use. A year later in 1989 the R was dressed in a complementary body kit and graphics, equipped with such creature comforts as electric mirrors and rear seats and launched to the Japanese public as the March Super Turbo. The additional equipment pushed the Super Turbo's weight up to 770kg from the R's 740kg, but the wall of torque provided at low revs by the supercharger and at high revs by the turbo ensured that a 0-62mph time of a staggering 7.7 seconds was achievable, the car powering on to a top speed of 112mph.

With only 10,000 Super Turbos produced, and with the car now becoming a cult classic both at home and abroad, it is becoming increasingly rare to find one of these pocket rockets in the classifieds. Although this example has covered a not insubstantial 156,000km, at this price it remains sorely tempting. If only the Yen wasn't quite so strong and I hadn't been hit quite so hard in the face by the recession.