Nissan Laurel
Nissan
Nissan Laurel: The RB-Powered Executive Sedan Drifters Discovered
The Nissan Laurel is a rear-wheel-drive Japanese executive sedan whose C33 and C34 generations offered turbocharged RB engines and a multi-link rear end, making them cheap and capable drift platforms.
Nissan built the Laurel from 1968 to 2002 across eight generations, positioning it as a comfortable rear-drive sedan for buyers who wanted a Skyline chassis without the Skyline image. It shared platforms and engines with the Skyline and the Cefiro throughout much of its life.
The generations enthusiasts hunt are the C33 (1988 to 1993) and the C34 (1993 to 1997). Both could be had with RB-series inline-sixes, including the turbocharged 2.0-liter RB20DET and the 2.5-liter RB25DET, and both use the same rear multi-link suspension family as the contemporary Skyline. That means Skyline parts, Skyline knowledge, and Skyline tuning paths all transfer over.
Because the Laurel was sold as a sensible executive car, it stayed cheap long after the Skyline did not. Japanese drifters noticed. Through the 2000s the C33 in particular became a common entry-level drift chassis, and as more of them cross the 25-year import line into the United States, the same appeal is playing out there.
