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SCMP Reporter

NISSAN has made a name for itself with weird and wonderful cars such as the 1950s-style Figaro and the snail-shaped S-Cargo.

  Car buyers have come to see Nissan as the most imaginative and daring of the Japanese car manufacturers, offering a product that is distinctive and unrestrained by the usual Japanese conservatism.

  The Leopard J. Ferie is another Nissan that is distinctly weird but, nevertheless, wonderful.

  If the customer can swallow the strange name (the car is known as the Infiniti J.30 in the United States, and will be known as the Nissan J. Ferie in Hongkong), there is much to recommend the J. Ferie.

  To begin with, there is the oddball styling.

  The J. Ferie driver is guaranteed not to meet any remotely similar motor car while driving around Hongkong.

  This shape is different.

  There is a little of the ''Flash Gordon'' or ''Dan Dare'' about the style, which was penned in a Californian design studio.

  The shape could have come straight from the pages of the Eagle comic as the ''car of the future''.

  It looks as slippery and aerodynamic as any rocket ship that was pictured skimming across the super highways of post-2000 earth.

  The rounded radiator grill and cats-eye projector headlights are unusual.

  The rear lights, which slot into a wedge hole that looks as though it was cut with a cheese-wire, are rare.

  But the style is neat and smooth and the car carries itself well.

   It will not look out of place parked among Mercedes and BMWs.

  Beneath the skin purrs the 24-valve VG30GE engine that powers other executive Nissan cars.

  Unfortunately, Hongkong will not be supplied with the V-8 engine that the Americans enjoy in their version of the car.

  Perhaps the J. Ferie engine is not the rocket turbine or gravity reverser that would go with the Dan Dare image, but the three-litre V-6 produces an easy and unhurried 200 brake horsepower at 6,400 rpm, with hardly a tingle reaching the cabin.

  The motor is tuned more for unruffled and gentlemanly driving than racing away from traffic lights.

  Power is always available, no matter what the revs, but the V-6 accelerates without the tuneful roar that distinguishes Alfa's similar 164 engine.

  A four-speed electronically controlled automatic gearbox slips through the shifts as smooth as a warm knife through butter.

  But the sporting driver will revel in the firm and well-damped suspension.

  The double isolated multi-link rear end and coil springs with stabiliser bar at the front give the J. Ferie superb handling for such a large car.

  Fast, sweeping curves and narrow, twisting lanes are devoured with real enthusiasm, the J. Ferie crouching low and refusing to roll or slide.

  Only the steering spoils the sporting package, being a little overly light and vague in comparison with the remarkable chassis.

  A little more feedback through the steering wheel rim would make this a very quick car.

  This sporting ability has not been achieved at the cost of ride comfort.

   This car is as smooth as any other in its class: it is simply more fun to drive quickly.

  Safety has not been forgotten, either.

  The J. Ferie is equipped with inflatable SRS airbags for both the passenger and the driver (and, for once, the airbag is hidden within an attractive steering wheel).

  The standard ABS anti-lock brakes work with precision and assurance.

  There is only a limited supply of Nissan J. Feries coming to the territory to celebrate Nissan's 60 years in business, so buyers must move quickly to secure this weird and wonderful car.



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