A heavy, 2100 lb car...

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 01/19/2016 at 01:32 • Filed to: None

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For some reason, probably because my family got one as a rental every time we went to Hawaii way back when, I have a soft spot in my heart for the little B11 Sentra wagon. If I had some spare cash I would even consider picking one up should there be any left on the face of the planet that haven’t rusted into oblivion.

Whilst poking around on Google, I found an article from C&D from when this car was new that really shows how things have changed over the last 30+ years: “Since at 2100 pounds the Sentra is not especially light (despite the use of 169 pounds of weight-saving high-strength steel), much of the credit for this efficiency must go to its E-series en­gine”. 2100 lbs. Not especially light. 2100 lbs. Yeah, I know it would probably not fare well in a collision with a Smart ForTwo, but it really shows how much the weight has gone up over these past several decades.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/19/2016 at 01:44

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lots of people would kill to get their cars that weight. thats insane.

Bytemite > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/19/2016 at 01:48

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Great...now I have even more desire to shave weight off my not especially light 2,100 lb Miata.

I want it to be less than 900 kg, so I need to lose 300 lbs.

Berang > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/19/2016 at 02:10

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The first generation Tercel was only 2030lbs though. And the preceding Datsun F-10 was 1910lbs. On the other hand a Porsche 911 was like 2500lbs, so the comment about it not being particularly light may have been tongue in cheek.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Berang 01/19/2016 at 02:32

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I don’t think it was said in jest. Many econoboxes back then were under a ton, and I think that there was a psychological barrier at the 2,000 lb mark, with anything crossing over that line being viewed as a porker. I know when I wanted to build my water-cooled VW rocketship I intentionally looked at curb weights to find the lightest weight version I could find, settling on a Rabbit Pickup. I couldn’t make it handle worth a damn (it was a pickup, after all), but man, in a straight line that thing was scary fast.

duurtlang > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/19/2016 at 03:38

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Very different era. My mk2 Golf, Peugeot 205 GTI and 205 CTI (GTI convertible) are all well under 2100 lbs.

Leon711 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/19/2016 at 05:11

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To be fair only half of the cars I’ve owned have weighed more than 2100lbs

That's gonna leave a mark! > Bytemite 01/19/2016 at 06:20

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Go on a diet. Empty out that spare change in the cup holder, Throw out that tarp,shovel and roll of duct tape in the trunk. Find all those old CD cases rattling around under the seats and throw them out. Same with the empty Starbucks cups stacking up on the back seat floors. Take the beaded seat cover off.

There, your half way home.

Wacko > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/19/2016 at 07:20

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My first car was a manual 1985 Sentra wagon.

I would drive that thing everywhere, even jeep trails.

sdwarf36 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/19/2016 at 07:25

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I had a few of these. 29 mpg. Better than the Subbie that replaced it. Only problem was they ate distributors. The heat from being attached to the cylinder head + driven by the cam would cook the modules. I would keep a rag on water in a plastic container-if the car died, I would wrap a wet rag around the dist. until it would start.

Burn-Spaz1966-Burn > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/19/2016 at 09:49

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Off topic but which Island? I was on Oahu for three years back in the 1990's

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Burn-Spaz1966-Burn 01/19/2016 at 10:53

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Back in the early ‘80s we’d hit Oahu first and then go to another island for the second week. One year it would be Maui, the next Kauai, Molokai, etc. Eventually we just rented a condo on Maui for the full duration, and I’d take day trips to other islands for photo shoots.

My last trip was in ‘97 with a girl from work, for a week on Maui. In ‘98 I had the opportunity to transfer to Oahu for a few years, but some rearrangements in my department, instigated by me and a co-worker, wound up with us getting laid off, and the twits we had transferred remaining employed. It was just bad timing, not retaliation; sort of a palace coup that went wrong. Our new corporate overlords at Raytheon outsourced all of the IT to a third party, and those of us running the department got the ax. Life was so much better when we were employed by Hughes Aircraft Company.

My folks still head over to the big island every year or two. I just hope that when I retire I can live that sort of comfortable life.

Bytemite > That's gonna leave a mark! 01/19/2016 at 12:26

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If only any of those applied to me. Im at close to 140 lbs, and apparently that is 110 lbs lighter than a lot of Miata owners. No CDs, no change, nothing is left in the Miata.