2008 saw the introduction of special edition called Niseko. The name comes from a popular Ski resort region in Japan. Niseko brought with it a unique new colour called Icy Blue Metallic, it's a sort of baby blue pastel colour and was said to appeal more to female buyers. Of course if that isn't your thing you could always choose the Sunlight Silver option instead. The German market did rather better colour wise, as they had a choice of five.
Niseko was available as a 1.8 soft top or 2.0 litre electric retractable hardtop coupe model. Both the 1.8 and 2.0 were 5-speed and based on the entry level cars. This means there is no Bilstein suspension or 6-speed gearbox, though the 2.0 does have the Super LSD. The 1.8 soft top model was priced at £17,995 and the 2.0 coupe £19,995, the Niseko extras were valued at £2000. So what did you get for your money? Special exterior features included unique design 17" alloy wheels, colour coded roll bar trim, front fog lights, chrome trim for the door handles, chrome trim headlights, chrome trim on the clear side repeaters, chrome front grille trim, and chrome fog lights. The 1.8 models have a dark brown premium cloth soft top. Inside there were dark brown heated leather seats with matching door trim and icy blue contrast stitching. The dark brown leather theme continues on the steering wheel, gearknob and handbrake. The dashboard decoration panel is the silver version, and stainless-steel scuff plates are included. Niseko branded carpet mats and a nice shiny "Niseko" badge on each of the front wings just above the side repeater are also standard features. These badges were fitted by dealers so position can vary. There were 800 Niseko editions for the UK market, 240 1.8 models and 560 2.0 models. In the brochure extract below you can read the full specification, and see how the German version was available in more colours. |
