Sunny lightens week-end

Press, 5 November 1979, Page 14

Sunny lightens week-end

By WAYNE JONES Normally when shoehorning into anything but large cars. I need the telephone number of my chiropractor close at hand

It was therefore with some trepidation that I eased my 181 cm (6ft 6in» frame into the driving seat of the Datsun Sunny Automatic lent to me for Labour Day week-end. But access to the driver’s seat of the Sunny is excellent. for an "economy” sized car and quite comparable with models of the 2 litre range, which J have driven recently. The seats are vinyl with wide cloth

panels. Front belts are of the inertia reel type, and the three rear belts are static.

Travelling down Auckland’s Southern Motorway in buffeting 70km crosswinds and Friday evening, traffic. I was immediately impressed by the visibility and handiness of the controls and the car's stability. The car was- almost brand new so although not pushing neckbreaking progress, I was well able to keep up with the traffic, which was battling to head off the 7.00 p.m. petrol deadline.

ine light. I ran my eye ever the Datsun's assembly standard. As an independent insurance assessor, I take a keen interest in panel gaps and paint, finish. The Sunny was fairly well put. together, and I was pleased that the underseal had been well applied. During the week-end a variety nf driving and driving conditions showed the 1171 cu cm Sunny to be 'very easy to drive economical and quiet. My wife took over and loved the ease of manoeuvring. and the automatic transmission. especially

Our need of the demister and ventilation system was not great, but the standard rear window demister was a good feature at night, and the two-speed wipers coped well. A full load of four adults and some luggage tn the boot showed up no faults in the ride or handling. Even with this load the ■Sunny pulled away easily from a standstill on steep hills. ;

Fuel consumption from the time we took over the car and using the odometer, gave an average of 7.4 litres per 100 km (38.2