This FAQ describes the function and structure of the site and is NOT an FAQ for the cars themselves! The site grew out of the surprisingly successful www.maxima.org.uk site, and you can find out more about this in the site history page.
This site aims to provide a central resource for owners of all the large Nissan saloons that were released in the UK badged as Nissans. These include:
There are other Nissans that are bigger than these cars (like the Urvan!) and there are other Nissans with as big (or bigger) engines, like the 300ZX. What we are about here is the luxury saloons that made up the top of their respective passenger car ranges. One thing that all the cars have in common is that they have six cylinder engines and four doors. You can take that as a benchmark!
Funny things happen in international markets. What some people in Canada think is a good name, people in Hong Kong might not and so to avoid confusion for the parts sellers each model is given a model identification code. Nissan (and Datsun) have used these for a very long time, and they are sensible and successful. The untrained observer would not be laughed at for thinking that the Australian Maxima, the British QX and the Japanese Cefiro were all completely different cars. The common A32 chassis code, however, reveals them to be doppelgängers.
The site is essentially seven different websites all under the umbrella of 'bignissans'. There is one section devoted to each of the models already mentioned and another catering for the overseas exotica that sometimes works its way into the UK.
Each section has an appointed section manager who has responsibility for the content of that section. Any articles to be submitted or ideas for that section should be brought to the attention of the section owner. There are also some common parts to the whole site. These include this page, the site history and updates, the discussion forum, and a few other pages.
As you enter your model section by clicking on the picture bar at the top, the menu on the left hand bar will change, allowing you to access the model subsection information. If you want to return to the common pages then just click the link at the bottom of the menu, or click on the 'bignissans' banner at the top, to leave the section and the menu will revert back to the one you see now.
We are not a club, at least not yet. To me a club means subscription fees, newsletters, secretaries, treasurers etc. This is something we may move to in the future, but not yet! What we do have is an owners' registry. This is a list showing what models owners have and what part of the country they live in. This allows owners to talk to each other! If you are an owner and not on the registry then I would be very grateful if you clicked on the registry link and filled in the very simple form.
If you do feel the urge to join an owners' club then you might like to approach the Datsun Owners Club, via their website, Datsunworld. The DOC are a very broad church and will welcome you even if you do drive one of those new fangled Nissan things.
You don't. You log off and go elsewhere.
People like you we can do with more of! If you have any articles, information or suggestions - ranging from "You really need to change the colour of the menu" to "I'd like to be a section manager please" then please drop us an e-mail and we'll talk!.
We are Pete and Steve and we both currently own J30 Maximas. Sharing a common car and common geography we both found out what a great support it is to be able to talk to another owner. We work on this site (and it's predecessor) because we love big Nissan saloons and everything about them. We don't make any money out of it (in fact it costs us) but as 'enthusiasts' (God, how I hate that!) we think it's worth it.