INDIANAPOLIS — My favorite magazines as a kid were Car and Driver issues from the late ‘80s with all of the glossy concept cars.  The 1986 Buick Wildcat, 1986 Pontiac Trans Sport, and 1988 Pontiac Banshee had the sleekest next-century style.  The Wildcat even flashed a flatscreen instrument cluster while the Trans Sport ported a laptop in its dash.  They predicted today’s rides, but none fully match the 2023 Nissan Ariya electric crossover.

INDIANAPOLIS — The original Pathfinder was a pretty hard-core off-roader based on Nissan’s rugged hardbody compact pickup.  First available with only two doors, but later four, it helped lead America away from station wagons and into family-friendly SUVs.  Subsequent generations became ever softer, eventually looking like a pudgy blimp only the Brady Bunch would love.  That is behind us as the current generation is still pretty plush, but returns style and capability to its roots.

INDIANAPOLIS — Too many automakers have tried to update classic designs with a retro flair to put an amber light on their boring product line.  That’s not the case with the 2023 Nissan Z.  While design references the original 1970 Z, and the chassis dates to the last Z, absolutely nothing about the driving experience or technology within seems outdated.  It’s as if a little bit of Greg Brady blended with George Jetson and this is what we got.

PHOENIX — For 16 years the Nisan Frontier has remained largely unchanged and in automotive speak a rolling fossil where new Oldsmobiles were still in dealer showrooms.  For reference, there wasn’t even such a thing as the iPhone. Yet while it was well past its freshness date the popular mid-size pickup still sold in respectable numbers. That’s not surprising, the old Frontier still looks good, it did most things extremely well and not everyone gets overly excited with the latest high tech and digital stuff they’ll never figure out how to use or even want to know.

HERNDON, Va. — If, like me, you were licensed in the late ‘60s and car shopping in the ‘70s, you’d have great memories of Nissan’s creative output. First up – again, for me – was the Datsun 2000, a Japanese riff on the British sports car (think MGB) some 20 years before Mazda did its own riff, the Miata, on the British sports car. Before most had time to take note of the 2000, Datsun introduced its 240Z.