Introduction
    The Nissan S13 (non-convertable) is made up of 3 versions in Japan. The Silvia, the 180sx and the Sil-eighty, which has a silvia front end and a 180sx rear end. North American versions are the 240sx coupe (nick-named "One-Via") and 240sx hatchback. The Japanese S13's initially used the CA18 engines. High revving in both NA and  Turbo versions, this engine was soon to be replaced by the impressive SR20 series. American versions got a very tame KA24, which can be found in the Altima. The KA24E was replaced by the DOHC version the KA24DE which was a 15 HP increase and raised power to 155HP in the 1991 model. While this was not very impressive compared to the SR20DET, it does, however, have enough torque to spin the tires.

The Car
    Classic FR chassis, front struts, and rear multi link suspension, and inline engine is a familiar formula for Nissan sports cars. The S13 was the successor of many Silvia models from years passed. First introduced as Datsun's luxury sports coupe in the mid 60's the Silvia then evolved in to it's entry level sports car. The popular S13 became the favorite of drifters and is still widely used today. Affordability, availability, potential, and rear wheel drive are hard to over look when choosing a car for sports driving.
    The design was a departure of the very squared look of the S12 that it replaced. More rounded and aerodynamic the styling still looks very up to date. In fact  the S13 180sx were still produced well after the S14 was introduced.  Along with 300ZX Fairlady and Skyline GTR R32, the Silvia S13 introduced a new era of performance for Nissan. With three sports car models, Nissan look foward to dominating the Japanese sports car market. With such awesome technology and design, who could of predicted that they would soon be bankrupt.

Driving
    When you first step into the S13, the feeling is that you are actually sitting very deep in the seat. There is a slight feeling of being enclosed by steel, certainly not the airy visibility of a mid-engined car. Visibility is some what lacking and takes some time to know where your front tires are on the road. It's quite easy to get accustomed to the interior. All controls are intuitive and so is driving the car. To tuck the nose in you can lift off the throttle or for a little more rotation, just trail brake. The rear end steps out progressively and is easy to catch with the throttle. The suspension is overly soft and can be a real problem when trying to exit some corners. The shifter travel is very long, sometimes it feels more like a truck than a sports car. Most short comings are easily correctable. The engine has a heavy feeling and while it feels good at low RPM, it feels like it is running out of air above 5500 rpm. The after market support for the KA24 is not great. The best traditional support, the Japanese, have little parts for the KA24, simply because it is not used in performance applications in Japan. Anything short of a turbo charger does not yield a substantial gain.

Opinion
    For FR cars, the S13 is arguably an ideal car. Excellent availability, relatively inexpensive parts, good braking power (4 wheel disc), and the handling of a rwd car. It's chassis is not the stiffest, nor it's handling the sharpest. But it is not difficult to modify and SR20DETs can be very inexpensive to obtain. The rear wheels are easy to break loose and the result is usually a satisfying amount of oversteer, as demonstrated by drifters all over the world. If you are in North America, you will definitely feel the short comings of the American S13. Most notably the soft suspension and low rev engine. But, the potential of the chassis is there. With so many drifters using it, it's hard to wrong a S13.