Last week, we saw a 1990s Japanese car that was sold for just a single model year in the United States, and now we’re going to follow it up with another. Meet an incredibly rare US-market Nissan Axxess, now residing in a self-service car graveyard between Denver and Cheyenne.
The Axxess was the second-generation Nissan Prairie. The first-generation Prairie had been sold in North America as the Stanza Wagon, and it competed for sales here against the likes of the Honda Civic Wagovan, the Toyota Tercel wagon, and the (Mitsubishi-built) Dodge/Plymouth Colt Vista.
The Axxess was the sort of Japanese mini-MPV that proved to be incredibly well-suited to its homeland but not so much in the United States, with its long-distance driving on high-speed interstates.
In Canada, the Axxess was sold all the way through 1995, but the United States got it for just the single model year. After that, American car shoppers seeking a Nissan van had to settle for either the Ford-built Quest or the Nissan Van (nearly every example of which got recalled, bought back and crushed in 1994, due to engine fires).
This one has the base five-speed manual transmission.
It traveled nearly 200,000 miles during its 35-year career.
It appears to have begun its life on the road in Florida.
I couldn’t find this van in any of the Nationwide Productions videos.
It appears that its final drive was an exciting one.
The hatch glass has been replaced with a plastic sheet bolted in place. Where would you get a factory replacement? Japan, of course.
The engine is the 2.4-liter KA24E, same as the one used in the 1990-1992 Nissan Stanza in the US.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
1990 Nissan Axxess in Colorado wrecking yard.
[Images: The Author]
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