THE FORBIDDEN

A rarity in the UK, the JDM-only Nissan 200ZR faces the Japanese 2-litre turbo coupé that did come to Europe, the Mitsubishi Starion EX 

- CHARLIE CALDERWOOD 

The Z31-generation Nissan coupé, sold in most of the world as the 300ZX, is seen by many as the low-point of the Z-car canon. Powered by a 3-litre V6, it's regarded as too squishy and too American. But here we have something that is a rare sight in the West: a Fairlady 200ZR, which features a turbocharged - and much lighter - 2-litre straight-six. Could it be that Japan saved the best Z31 for itself?

Whatever enthusiasts might think of the 300ZX decades later, there's no doubt that Nissan knew its market when it made the car comfier, heavier and less sporting. In the USA, by far the world's largest market for this sort of mid-range coupé, the Nissan Z-series consistently posted annual sales of around 70,000 from its launch in 1969 well into the 1980s. Those are figures to which the Mazda RX-7 and Toyota Supra, now much-vaunted by coupé cognoscenti, never came close.

In Europe, however, the transatlantic influences in 1975's 280ZX and then the 300ZX of 1983 had created a car that many felt was too orientated towards comfort compared to its rivals. In the UK, the 300ZX never reached the dominant position it did in the USA, instead looking pricey in a market full of lithe coupés better suited to the twisty roads of the old world - cars such as the Mitsubishi Starion EX.