1999–2002 NISSAN SILVIA (S15)

Come 1999, Japan saw a new (and, as it turned out, final) version of the Silvia introduced. The S15 dropped the picture-card models in favour of simplification. Buyers were offered two models: ‘Spec S’, which was fitted with a 121kW non-turbo SR20DE, and the ‘Spec R’, which boasted a 164kW SR20DET thanks to a slightly upgraded version of the previous T28, as well as a change in the ECU.

The Spec R featured the first six-speed manual box of the lineage, four-pot calipers, a larger brake booster, and increased body and suspension rigidity. Also for the first time, instead of a viscous LSD, the S15 offered a more effective helical LSD, with HICAS four-wheel steering as an option. Meanwhile, as you’d expect from a base model, the Spec S was available with either a fourspeed auto or five-speed manual, with many of the additional support structures omitted, two-pot calipers, and a carried-over viscous LSD.

Nissan would eventually expand the line to include a luxury and upgrade options package for both variations. Most notably, Autech, Nissan’s special-car division, offered several tuned versions of the S15 that included a higher compression Spec S with more aggressive cams and a betterflowing intake-and-exhaust combo, tuned ECU, and chassis and suspension upgrades. An extra option for this version was an upgrade to the sixspeed box and other upgrades normally found on the Spec R only. Autech went on to offer a convertible variant of the S15, called the ‘Varietta’, which featured a folding hardtop — a first for Japanese manufacturers.

Nissan closed the curtain on the Silvia in August of 2002 amid efforts to downsize the scale of models on offer.