Two things seem to be almost completely absent from the US auto market these days: manual transmissions, and two-door versions of four-door sedans. They used to be everywhere, though, and I for one miss them. So today, we’re going to check out a couple of them, one that’s kinda sporty, and one that’s more economy-minded.
On Friday, I showed you two cars with a gossamer-thin connection between them: both were red, and both had soft tops. The Nissan 240SX won in a landslide, with quite a few of you grumbling about the Citroën Méhari’s price. So few of them come up for sale that it’s hard to establish a baseline value, but I don’t think it’s outrageous, considering what 2CVs often go for. It may not be worth that much to you, but I have no doubt that someone will buy it for that price.
The Nissan is the one that felt overpriced to me, but I have very little interest in it. If I wanted an automatic convertible, I’d rather just look for a Mustang or a Sebring and save a bunch of money. But that Mehari is exactly the kind of dumb thing I’d buy if I were ridiculously wealthy. I’d keep it at my villa in the Caribbean, and drive it down into town to the local bar on karaoke night.
Looking back at all the cars I’ve owned, a whole lot of them have had two doors, and a whole lot of them have had manual transmissions. I guess I have an automotive “type,” and it’s one that’s hard to find new unless you turn to sports cars or muscle cars, and even some of them don’t offer manuals anymore. Luckily, new cars aren’t my type either. Three grand is pretty much my limit. Both of today’s choices come in well under that, and both have more pedals than doors. Let’s check them out.
1995 Oldsmobile Achieva S – $2,450
Engine/drivetrain: 2.3-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Longwood, FL
Odometer reading: 190,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
For a while in the 1980s, Oldsmobile had three different cars called the Cutlass: the A-body Cutlass Ciera, the W-body Cutlass Supreme, and the N-body Cutlass Calais. If you just said you had a “Cutlass,” nobody knew what the hell kind of car you drove. To eliminate some of the confusion, when the second-generation N-body came along in 1992, Olds changed the name of the Cutlass Calais to the Achieva. It wasn’t a great name, and it was sort of a lackluster car; the nickname “Underachieva” seemed inevitable.
But if you ticked the right boxes on the option sheet, you could make the Achieva a lot more entertaining to drive. This one is powered by Oldsmobile’s Quad 4 engine, which powers the front wheels through a Getrag 282 five-speed manual transmission. I had a Calais with this same Quad 4/five-speed combination, and it was tremendous fun, more so than you’d expect from anything with an Oldsmobile badge. There isn’t a whole lot of information about this one’s condition; the seller says it’s “nice” and the air conditioner works. You’d have to test drive it to find out more.
Inside, it’s standard-issue GM gray, but it’s not in bad shape. It’s an S model, with manual windows but power locks, if I’m seeing things right. You used to be able to pick and choose options like that, instead of springing for a “Preferred Equipment Package” or something and getting a bunch of stuff you don’t want just to get the one thing you do want.
The outside looks nice and shiny, and though the photos in the ad aren’t great, I don’t see any damage other than a scrape on the front bumper. Of course, it’s sometimes hard to tell on a black car. It has aftermarket wheels that you may or may not like; I think they look pretty good on there.
1994 Nissan Sentra – $2,900
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Odometer reading: 164,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
There aren’t a lot of inexpensive cars left on the market. But I am happy to see that the humble Nissan Sentra is still hanging in there. It has never been a great car, but it has been a very good, inexpensive, and reliable car for decades. What we have here is the very last two-door Sentra that Nissan offered. The seller has it listed as a 1995 model, but the ’95 was a different design, and four-door only, meaning this must be a ’94 – or a Mexican-market model. This bodystyle stayed in production in Mexico for many years after it disappeared from the American market.
This generation of Sentra is powered by a 1.6 liter GA16DE four-cylinder engine, in this case backed by a five-speed manual transmission. It’s not all that powerful, but it is reliable. This ad is very terse as well; the seller just says it will take you anywhere. That’s as good an endorsement as any, I suppose.
Another thing that makes me think it’s not a US model is the lack of an airbag, combined with the door-mounted seat belts. US-market 1990-94 Sentras had motorized belts, and 1995 models had an airbag. It’s a very plain model, with no power options inside, and nothing but a speedometer, fuel gauge, and temperature gauge in the instrument panel. It’s everything you need, if not everything you might want, and it is in good condition.
It’s in good condition outside too, a little faded, but straight. The gray plastic bumper covers are another throwback; none of the few remaining economy cars on the market have such bare-bones finishes. I like it. It’s honest. This car has aftermarket wheels on it as well, but they look like the stock size, or close to it.
The terse descriptions of these cars make it harder for me to tell you about them, and harder for you to assess their condition, but from the sounds of it, you could hop in either one and drive off without much trouble. But which one would you hop in? Would it be the uncommonly fun-to-drive Oldsmobile, or the possibly south-of-the-border Nissan?
Achieva always makes me thing it should be a medication for Gout or something.
Dispite this, I’m still going with it for the Quad4 and the stick which was actually a fun combination to hoon around. My brother had a Grand Am with this combo years ago and it was a hoot to drive. Also, I’m an an age where the aforementiond medication might be appropriate soon anyway.
Went for the Achieva, Quad 4! And a GM coupe so those doors will be nice and hefty in case of being t-boned.
The illusion of safety can be comforting.
But if a 4,000lb minivan or RAV4 comes through the intersection at 40mph I think I’d be just as dead in either of these. Maybe even at 25mph.
I always thought it was a bit unfair of GM marketing to dump such a name that reeked so much of excessive bland focus-group testing and motivational poster/marketing-speak inspiration on the Achieva. The name was kind of laughable, but the car was solid and fun when properly equipped. The styling is clean and attractive still today, and the Achieva has one of the nicest instrument panels of the 90’s N-body cars.
I will always vote for the N body, I loved my ’93 Grand AM GT with the HO Quad 4/5speed. A hoot to drive, until it ate a head gasket lol.
I went with Nissan. Winter beater/rallycross standard answer.
Same thought here, and if I ever got to a stage rally, the Sentra could be competitive in a 1.6L class, but the Achieva would be way out of its depth at 2.0L+
The Nissan is a bit cleaner and looks to be better shape but the olds to me looks cooler and is cheaper and has a bigger engine so I voted that.
SE-R swap the Sentra! Oh wait, can’t find those parts anymore. Oh well, K-swap the Sentra and make a sleeper SE-R knock off!
These cars stack up pretty evenly for me, so I chose the Sentra because it doesn’t have a 30 year old airbag to kill me. Other than that, it would just be a question of which is closer to me.
I can’t believe I’m voting for an Olds with 190k on the clock, but I’m doing it.
This could have used a both button. Not that I need either, but they’re both good enough to buy.
If the Achieva were an SCX I’d consider it. Since it isn’t, the Sentra (it’s an E) is the hands-down winner. As a 33-year-owner of an SE-R, I’m biased, but the chassis in any trim was fun to drive. I recall that it was the hands-down fun-to-drive winner when C&D did an econocar shootout.
Also, this is a US model, not a Mexican model. Mexican and Canadian cars had normal seat belts – only US cars had passive restraints. Only the four-door cars had the two-piece motorized front belts – two-door cars had the door-mounted belts you see here, which are the same type seen on the Achieva. Airbags were optional in 1993-94. (Also, Mexican cars did not have reflectors in the bumpers.)
After high school I had an 87 quad 4 Grand Am coupe. That thing was far more fun than it had any reason to be in that era of GM. Achieva gets it from me.
Would Mexican-market cars have a speedometer in MPH? Or is the Nissan so slow that they only bothered to mark it up to 120 km/hr?
Either way the Olds is cheaper, better equipped, and looks better, so it’s my easy choice today.
Probably would have had one in kph originally, but with cars this old you never know. I had a JDM Celica once that someone had taken the time to convert to mph, which was really unfortunate because then it became mileage unknown and by all accounts it appears it was incredibly low miles, but no one knows after they’ve messed with it.
I’ve always had a soft spot for 90s crappy GM cars. And I learned to drive on a 90s Cutlass! Mine was a Supreme, but still. Olds for the win today, despite the fact that the Sentra is probably better in every way.
I’m an Oldsmobile guy so I kinda have to give the Olds some love, but that tint is definitely illegal in most states, so a lot of annoying sticky peeling is inevitable. As others have pointed out, the Sentra may not be so easy to register, too. Either of these would be super fun, though. 90’s GM cars usually couldn’t survive past 90K miles, so I always get a little scared by that, but what the heck. Live a little.
In reality I’d buy the Sentra — super basic car that probably has a lot of life left in it. Now that “life” is not terribly exciting, but it should keep going as a commuter for a long time to come.
But that’s too rational. Quad 4 it is — lots of power from that buzzbox and the achieva supposedly isn’t too bad of a chassis either.
I’ll take the manual, Quad 4 Achieva. Points to the Sentra for the ziggurat shifter.
I’d not mind the Sentra – I had a 200SX with this engine and it wasn’t too bad – but that potential gray market status makes me worry about how I’d register it in IL without it getting flagged. It’s not like that Olds is a bad shout, anyway. Going Olds for DMV easiness.
I voted Olds for the same reasons. And the Quad 4.
It’s old and it’s been titled here already most likely, getting it registered wouldn’t be different than any other car. Especially since as a Mexican model it should still have the 17 character VIN.
It’ll depend on your state and how honest the previous owner was as well. This could be a late model Tsuru posing as a ’95. We’ve already determined that there’s a possibility the seller isn’t being entirely honest, so transferring the title could be a nightmare, not to mention the constant threat of having it revoked. If I’m going to risk that, it’d better be something cooler. Or at least JDM.
Fair, but with a standard length VIN it’s much less likely to ever get flagged anywhere.
I always thought the Achieva was a stupid name on an ugly car. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a 2 door model and a manual is surprising. My pathological dislike for GM is strong, so I’m going with the Nissan.
Quad 4 and a 5-speed? That’s the Ova Achieva! So I picked it. Plus, I can’t tell from the pics if that Sentra has AC.
Sir, I see you are interested in the Achieva. It’s a fine and sporting automobile. In addition to selecting the Tru Coat, you have a very important decision. The standard trim level is the Unda. Can we interest you in stepping up to the Ova?
That Sentra is a perfect recipe for a cockroach daily. No options means nothing to break, and maintenance would be cheap as hell. Probably gets bangin fuel economy as well.
I chose the Tsusu/Sentra.
Because the seller made the effort to vacuum the carpets.
Had a 4dr Achieva, so I’m partial to the Olds. Was the Achieva a great car? Not exactly, but it wasn’t crap, either. It did the job for me and didn’t have a bad engine.
That said I’m going for the Nissan. That Olds is in decent shape but I have a feeling there’s less to do in piddly fixes.
The Sentra is probably a Mexican Tsuru, which means it could be a ’95, since they made those forever.
Always liked the Achieva back then – the design is pretty sharp as it manages to channel the aero mojo of the decade while avoiding the outright blobiness that afflicted many others. I saw a sedan on the road last month and was impressed with how the design has held up. And Quad4 and a manual is just straight up fun.
As an S model, this likely has basically the same bereft gauge package though…sigh.