Jay Leno drives Nissan’s IDx Nismo Concept, urges Japanese automaker to build it

By Joe Mahan Published March 13, 2014

With the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S sales not where they want to be, it looks like Nissan has snuggly wedged itself into the small sportscar marketplace.

The IDx Nismo and Freeflow concepts debuted at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show last year had a pretty unexpected following. Everyone seems to be beaming over that fact that Nissan is finally bringing back its pretty bluebird and making automotive purists sing again, but for good reason.

The IDx concept does look tantalizingly production ready. There have been several hints from Nissan that it is indeed getting the green light. Jay Leno has further moved this idea along by taking the IDx Nismo concept for a good old ride and review. Jay seems pretty excited that Nissan is taking the reigns on creating something simple and easy to drive. Just like the good old days.

Everything looks set to go on the model. As always, though, it will come down to the essential question: “How well will it sell?”

The IDx concept would likely sit right below the 370Z in Nissan’s lineup, effectively replacing the old 240sx. The idea behind the IDx is a light, front engine, rear-wheel drive coupe with a peppy four-cylinder.

I suspect the 1.6-liter turbo from the Nissan Juke RS will be a perfect fit for the new IDx, and the car should be fitted with a no-mess five speed. The turbo IDx could easily rival the BRZ and FR-S, but that is all up to Nissan.

It would be nice to finally see a rivalry between the cars. Buyers would then have more of a reason to buy a hopefully more affordable, small, rear-wheel drive, and awesome sports car.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Joe Mahan is an intern at Digital Trends working in the Cars section. He is currently a Junior at the University of Portland…

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