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All-wheel-drive hot hatches have been on the rise lately. And it doesn’t really come as a surprise since there is a massive market for them. For instance, the 2021 Carwow Car of the Year title was awarded to the Toyota GR Yaris, an all-new all-wheel-drive 3-door hatchback based on a rally car. It’s now undeniable that the car community is serious about hot hatches—it’s almost like an obsession at this point.
Nissan Pulsar GTI-R was one of the hottest hatchbacks in the 1990s. With the Nissan Skyline GT-R known as ‘Godzilla,’ the Pulsar GTI-R was considered the ‘Baby Godzilla.’ It was a small turbocharged all-wheel-drive hatchback that was designed for rallying. But how does it cope up with its purpose of existence? Here’s the story behind this half-strength Skyline carrying Godzilla’s soul at a more affordable price.
The Pulsar started life as a regular family hatchback. It was first introduced in 1978, where the N10 and N11 model were created as a subcompact to complement the Nissan Sunny sedan. Skipping through the second generation (N12) and the third generation (N13) of Pulsar produced in 1982 and 1986 respectively, in 1990, the fourth generation of Pulsar was born with the model code N14. In Japan, the N14 was made with an extended range of selection, including six different engines, three body shapes, and two drivetrains, for a total of eighteen available variants.
In the same year as the N14 launched, Nissan wanted to enter the WRC as a manufacturer and needed to fulfill FIA Group A regulations requiring it to produce 5000 units of the road-going versions in order to be homologated. Hence, one of the variants found in the N14 was the GTI-R, made precisely for that reason. The car was about to go against the most challenging Group A opponents such as the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Lancia Delta Integrale, Toyota Celica GT-Four, Subaru Impreza WRX, and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Therefore, Nissan had to put a serious effort into making the Pulsar GTI-R a worthy opponent.
Nissan Pulsar GTI-R
The N14 Nissan Pulsar GTI-R is a 3-door hatchback that was the product of Nissan’s homologation effort to enter the WRC under Group A rules. Produced from 1990 to 1994, the car was sold in Japan as the Nissan Pulsar GTI-R with the chassis code E-RNN14 and in Europe as the Nissan Sunny GTI-R with the chassis code EGNN14.
The GTI-R is powered by a 2.0 liter SR20DET four-cylinder turbocharged engine producing 227 hp (230 PS) at 6400 rpm and 210 lb-ft (280 Nm) of torque at 4800 rpm. Mated to this engine is a five-speed manual transmission, channeling power to all four wheels through Nissan’s iconic ATTESA all-wheel-drive system (the same AWD system found in the Skyline GT-R).