Twins vs S15 Spec R
 

Now that they're finally legal in Canada, I'm itching to import one.

250 bhp
203ftlb of torque
2734lb kerb weight
RWD

It's basically a more powerful and lighter S2K with the practicality of a twin being a coupe :drool:

I don't think an s15 is a more powerful and lighter s2k

If anything it's a more powerful and stiffer s14.

I love S15s but hate that they are only RHD! Same thing with the Skylines R34/33/32s.

Goodluck getting an S15 spec R for less than a used S2K or a twin.

get a S15, it's so exclusive in canada

DO IT! Then give us a detailed comparison! please

I own an S14 and an S2K. The S13/S14/S15 are not really like an S2K at all other than having similar weight and being FR. The S2K is slightly heavier, much stiffer, has much more sophisticated suspension (double wishbones) & a shorter wheelbase, and the engine is placed further back (front-mid engine). The S2K is more agile, with more crisp/tight turn-in, faster to change directions... but also easier to spin.

That being said, they are still all great. The FR-S is like a stiffer, more refined (due to being more modern), longer wheelbase NA S15.

I'd love to own an S15, but the S14 is much more cost effective in the U.S....

Basically you are taking your money and setting it on fire. That car will be expensive and difficult to maintain and have no resale value. Small price to pay for some props at car meets?

I'll take the new car and platform anyday of the week!

how do you get to this conclusion?

Well um, I dunno. Maybe because it has more power, is lighter and is a coupe is how I came to that conclusion?

So what your saying is the S15 is a more powerful, larger and heavier Miata with the benefit of being a coupe. Or a lighter, more powerful Impreza with fewer doors and no AWD. All cleared up now.

You know what, bad wording by me. I shouldn't have said the S15 IS A x and y S2K. Let's just take the S2K out of the question since it is Twins Vs. forum anyway.


Let me rephrase it to this; the S15 Spec R has more torque/hp while simultaneously being lighter than the twins. That's pretty amazing and props to Nissan engineering. That being said, I think these two cars would be interesting to compare, since my fantasy is an FRS with stock 200whp.

^ this

im not so sure if its a props to nissan engineering. its more an indication of the safety standards of global cars vs specific regions. when nissan makes a car today that sells in america that has the power and weight of the s15 ill be impressed. power and weight are very small parts of the equation in my book. the feel of the brz is really good. the feel of the silvias i have driven isnt.

bolded as a thank you

lol. Get real, guys. Driving your neighbor's 20 year old 240 with KA24DE, rotted bushings all around, and cheap chinese/korean coilovers is not the same thing as driving one properly setup.

Sure, the steering feel isn't as great as on the FR-S, but it isn't on an NSX or FD RX7 either... still great handling cars and over all much higher performing.

What would it cost, roughly, to get one to your door? I wouldn't mind an S15, but it would depend on the cost. Of course we can't have them here in the U.S. except for a track-only or show vehicle.

They're about 15-20k for a good one

For a clean stock s15 Spec-R you're looking to spend ~$22-$26k + whatever it takes to make it legal, which is possible (as most things with money are). I have wanted one bad and it will always be a dream car of mine due to the style and looks of it but as far as performance goes... The 86 can out-perform it in almost all aspects, if not all. It's more of a "I'm going to buy this because I love it" car.

If it can't the money you put into making an S15 legal could easily FI the twins and beat said s15... love the s15 myself as well but dollar per dollar, i'd take the twin my $0.02.

Do it! Get the said S15 then post here. :drool:

It will probably be expensive but it won't be difficult to maintain at all.

As far as resell, it will have more than the twins ever will. Stateside and Canadia anyway.

Why not just get an S13 or S14 and build it? It's not an S15 but it's close and still has very high potential while being much, much cheaper.

Yeah, the car was only made for Japan for 3 years from 99-02. I'm sure it'll be a joy maintaining a 13-16 year old car that was only made in limited numbers in Japan. I'm not even going to touch the resell comment. If this is done, it'll be a labor of love. I don't know how else you justify wasting so much money on a car nobody except JDM car nerds care about. It's not even that great of a performance car. Seems strange now but I remember driving one when I lived in Japan and I ended up buying a wrx which felt MUCH faster and less loose. Something about those 97 wrxs.

I'm not sure what the length of time it was produced has to do with maintaining it.

I had a 89 RPS13 in 2009 and that wasn't difficult to maintain. This would be much younger and would have benefited from a decades worth of refinement, that should make it better.

Resell, you're not going to be selling this to some bloke cross shopping a Camry. Of course you're going to sell it to an enthusiast, and enthusiast will pay. I'll put it this way, I'm not into baseball cards so a $100k card is worthless to me, but my value of it doesn't affect the value of it to those who are into that sort of thing.

The amount of time produced shows it wasn't around long. The s15 never left the jdm in any form. Your s13 was imported here. That's truely apples and oranges. What happens when some random bits break? You can't roll over to nissan/autozone/junk yards and grab a replacement. You have to special order everything or start fabbing/tinkering. Sounds like a pain to me unless you are a professional auto mechanic.

People will pay what they will pay, that's true. Is the s15 a classic? I highly doubt it. I don't really know. If I'm paying for some imported pain in the ass nissan, it better say GT-R or I'm going to pass. Importing a s15 seems like importing a gts-t skyline to me...why bother?

And New Zealand and Australia.

And clearly you aren't familiar with Under Suzuki's Scorch Racing S15, currently one of the all-out fastest production-based cars in the world... and it's not the only s-chassis out there at the top of the pack.

Power-to-weight potential, rear wheel drive, and very good handling when upgraded with quality suspension parts. It's that simple, buddy. That's why the s-chassis cars are so popular.

It really amazes me how many FR-S/BRZ owners there are out there who don't know much about the s-chassis, how good it can really be, and where the inspiration for their own cars actually comes from.

^you shouldn't be surprised, this is not an asian/aussy forum in first place.

+ most ppl brought this car for looks.

It was grey market to Nz and aus. A handful of cars being sold there does not make it easier to maintain a car in North America. I only lived in Japan from 97-01 and drove plenty of Silvia's including various s15s. Please tell me more jackass. I know all about Under Suzuki. Good stuff but one insane car and driver does not make a car model a legend. His s15 isn't anywhere this side of $200,000 close to stock...

Being that I've been into JDM cars for a while now, I do admit I've tossed the idea of an S15 back and forth, but for the money spent, as @industrial said, there's far better options. Only a true enthusiast could appreciate a car like the S15, unless of course you're going all out on the build, but for me, I prefer the OEM+ look. No one would give a shit about an S15 with a drop, wheels and mild engine work. Everyone who has seen any FAst and Furious movie would go buck wild over a Skyline, and the resale on unmolested ones in good shape is astronomical.

Rhd? Have fun with insurance and the amount of Vaseline they'll be using on you- that's if you can even find insurance. Was close to buying a rhd 93 Supra TT 6mt until the news of everybody dropping rhd insurance here in Ontario. Your only option is to go to high risk facility coverage = rape. Got the FRS instead!

Speaking of high risk insurance, my friend was quoted 28k per year on a Chevy Impala because of all his tickets. Fuck that shit.

With my spotless driving record and 25+ age and married, facility was still $320 a month on the rhd Supra alone!!! That's more than insuring my sw20, FRS, and my wife's Lexus HS combined. It would be a much smarter idea finding something with a proper VIN and paying the extra cash for something legit and LHD rather than putting my monies into some clapped out rhd sportcar with dead end resources. It would cost a lot more in the end owning something rhd than LHD. Especially Skylines or anything exclusively rhd like the s15 Silvia turbo with extremely limited resources to maintain and insure it.

It'd have to be a show only or a track and trailer type car. Plus rhd in our LHD country is just disastrous.

You clearly don't know as much about them as you are claiming. S15s were grey market throughout Europe, but they were NOT grey market in NZ or AUS. The car was produced for Japan, New Zealand, and Australia, all of which are right-hand drive countries, and it is extremely popular in ALL of these countries.

And of course Under Suzuki's car is HIGHLY modified with a boatload of money dumped into it, but it's still an S15. It's the same platform competing with ANY/ALL other platforms, all of which are also highly modified and have boatloads of money dumped into them. It shows the potential of what the platform can actually do and how it compares to other platforms... and it's not just S15s. Look at MCA Suspension's Hammerhead S13. That's an OLD ass S13 coupe with much less money dumped into it than a LOT of the cars it's up against. Frankly, it's utter bullshit to shrug off Silvias as being hugely inferior to the FR-S/BRZ/GT86, as they really aren't. The chassis isn't as rigid and the steering not as fast or good feeling, but that's mostly just due to the cars being produced in 2 different eras, and those issues aren't things that can't be fixed... and it's pretty debatable whether or not the FA20 is actually all that much better of an engine, to be honest.

Definately didn't say all youre trying to imply I said. I'm saying that given the time, money and effort required to get a s15 into North America and actually drive it, you would be MUCH better off with a r32-34 GTR if you want that JDM exclusivity. Otherwise, there are much better options here such as the twins, or rx7s, supras, corvettes, Mustangs just to name a few. It's kind of funny how some enthusiasts in NA flip out over something as bleh as a s15. Silvias are like a japanese mustang. They were everywhere(mostly s13s and 14s) when I was there. You could go off base and buy a turbo s13 for $3000. Most locals didn't even deem them worthy to pay for the jci. I mean, they are cool cars but I just don't see the big deal.

Oh, I totally agree that it's not worth it to import an S15 and pay all that it would cost to do so, but I don't agree with some of the people here who disregard the S13/S14/S15 as junk in general. They are great cars, and the FRS is a direct descendant of them (in spirit). This is why I asked why not just build an S13 or S14 instead? THAT idea is very much worth it if you are going to highly modify them anyway, because you can get them CHEAP and they really aren't that far behind the S15 in terms of potential.

Something random like what? The wiring harness? You might be in a bit of a bind there, but for everything else there is aftermarket. The S15 also shares a lot of its mechanical bits with other Nissan cars, including the other S-chassis which is why I mentioned the S13.

I'd rather a GT-R over an S15, but if the S15 can be had cheaper and the OP can afford it, I'd definitely go with the S15 over a twin.

In 5 years or so most people will look at the twins like the do the 350Z, but an S15 will still get as much respect then as it does today.

That is crazy cost prohibitive. Unless you're rolling in the deep I wouldn't even consider anything RHD.

Here's my one I sold to buy my 86.

http://iforce.co.nz/i/dfndhx3b.pod.jpg

Completely unmodified and owned it from new with 230,000km on the clock when I sold it.

15 year old technology now compared with new technology. I wouldn't go back.

Owned an S15 for 230,000km and never at least upgraded the (admittedly poor) stock suspension yet bought every single TRD (overpriced and inferior to many things available in the aftermarket) thing available for the 86?! You are a strange one, sir. :P