A front-mid-engine slab-sided wedge, when parked in dappled light on our pea gravel drive, GT-R has a quiet, even peaceful presence. Until of course one notices the 20-in. RAYS alloy wheels, the fat 285/35 rear Dunlop tires, Brembo brakes bigger than dinner plates, and bodywork that sits little more than the breadth of two fingers off the tires. This is the automotive equivalent of a weapon. Purposeful, clean industrial design free of any pretense or esthetic flourish, GT-R reminds of a Remington Marine 12-gauge pump shotgun, or a finely forged Medieval battleaxe one might find in the Department of Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In short, you don’t want to pick a fight.
Because GT-R lineage traces to a mass-market sedan, there’s ample leg and shoulder room, enough for a quarterback or a tight end. The downside to its humble DNA is a curb weight of 3851 pounds. GT-R is no svelte dancer like its European rivals, tipping the scales at more than two tons with driver and passenger aboard. GT-R is all about measurables, performance metrics, its bottom-line performance achieved through brute force and considerable mechanical thrashing. Don’t expect the subjective delights of a thoroughbred exotic. European V8s, V10s and V12s are operatic, turning any drive into a Wagnerian event to stir the soul. GT-R does not care for such side benefits.
To air out GT-R as best one can on public roads, twice we aimed its blood red hatchet nose up a favorite canyon. Early afternoon, Halloween’s impending rainstorm settling against our nearby mountain range in a foggy gloom, there were few other travelers on the road to interfere with our amusements.
From a standing start, squeeze down hard on the throttle and about three seconds later GT-R hits 60 MPH. Four more seconds and the speedometer needle swings beyond 100 MPH. Acceleration is the most profound and easily demonstrated aspect of GT-R’s performance. For passengers accustomed to mainstream cars, a full-throttle launch from standstill can prove life-changing. Once you’ve been flattened against the seatback of a GT-R, no ordinary sedan or CUV ever feels the same.
Purposeful and brutal, GT-R attracts 1100 to 1200 young, prosperous buyers each year.
Sounds of the rear-mounted gearbox and transfer case, prop shaft, enormous tires chewing the pavement, and the resonating moan of a 545 HP twin-turbo V6 fill the cabin. With so much mechanical sound generated when traveling at full tilt, GT-R has an almost military character, in spite of the recent addition of noise cancellation through the Bose audio system. When toddling along a highway in traffic, GT-R is fury on a leash, but the sound is tolerable for trips of an hour or maybe two. Once the injectors start pumping vast quantities of gas into the engine and revs pass 3500 RPM, all hell breaks loose.
We should note that the customer delivery process for GT-R includes a step in which the buyer acknowledges the sound of the dual-clutch transaxle, thus preventing complaints a few weeks later. Nissan blazed a path with this car, developed in the past decade, and pays the price of leadership. GT-R’s 6-speed is not as refined as the 7-speed Getrag found in more recently engineered German cars. Stand next to GT-R at idle, and one thinks of a cement mixer with a heavy load of gravel. Understand that the gearbox is stout and durable, and only shifts with recalcitrance when fired up on a cold morning. If you want subtlety, shop elsewhere.
From a standing start, squeeze down hard on the throttle and about three seconds later GT-R hits 60 MPH. Four more seconds and the speedometer needle swings beyond 100 MPH. Acceleration is the most profound and easily demonstrated aspect of GT-R’s performance. For passengers accustomed to mainstream cars, a full-throttle launch from standstill can prove life-changing. Once you’ve been flattened against the seatback of a GT-R, no ordinary sedan or CUV ever feels the same.
Sounds of the rear-mounted gearbox and transfer case, prop shaft, enormous tires chewing the pavement, and the resonating moan of a 545 HP twin-turbo V6 fill the cabin. With so much mechanical sound generated when traveling at full tilt, GT-R has an almost military character, in spite of the recent addition of noise cancellation through the Bose audio system. When toddling along a highway in traffic, GT-R is fury on a leash, but the sound is tolerable for trips of an hour or maybe two. Once the injectors start pumping vast quantities of gas into the engine and revs pass 3500 RPM, all hell breaks loose.
We should note that the customer delivery process for GT-R includes a step in which the buyer acknowledges the sound of the dual-clutch transaxle, thus preventing complaints a few weeks later. Nissan blazed a path with this car, developed in the past decade, and pays the price of leadership. GT-R’s 6-speed is not as refined as the 7-speed Getrag found in more recently engineered German cars. Stand next to GT-R at idle, and one thinks of a cement mixer with a heavy load of gravel. Understand that the gearbox is stout and durable, and only shifts with recalcitrance when fired up on a cold morning. If you want subtlety, shop elsewhere.
It’s a proper close-ratio gearbox, too, with fifth gear a one-to-one direct drive. Only sixth gear is a pronounced overdrive, to help fuel economy ratings. First gear is super-low, explaining GT-R’s ability to outsprint almost any car in the first 60 feet. With GT-R, you will almost always have the jump on any challenger. Unlike the good old days, when launching a car aggressively at a drag strip required considerable talent balancing throttle and clutch, with a dual-clutch transmission, sidestepping the brake and tramping the throttle results in a brutal launch that almost any driver can replicate.
Except for the wearing sound of the transaxle, which Nissan should consider replacing with the aforementioned Getrag, GT-R can serve as a daily supercar for the most devout performance enthusiast, or on a long road trip. Harmonics, vibrations, road noise, yes, they are plentiful. But GT-R’s trunk is big enough to handle a week-long trip for two clothes horses. For anyone short of a fanatical street racer, though, GT-R is best as a second, third, or seventh or eighth car in the garage.
Steering is well sorted if not a lyrical experience. One feels the power shooting to the front wheels, which reinforces that military sensibility.
GT-R’s front seats are heavily bolstered, holding torso and hips in place. The door panels and center
tunnel have soft points where a driver can brace knees when cornering hard.
Many a GT-R devotee invests in a second set of wheels for gummy track tires, and fully exercises GT-R at a track day event. Which brings us to GT-R NISMO, a new offering for 2015. With 600 HP, this newly introduced $150,000 version of GT-R is a no-compromise beast that will extend the GT-R’s legend a few more years. It’s slightly quicker than the standard road-going GT-R, but sensations are more intense.
2015 GT-R NISMO has 600 HP, carbon body elements and a more aggressive character.
As with most other designs in the Playstation Gran Turismo Vision collection, the Nissan Gran Turismo 2020 hints at a future when GT-R might finally break completely free of any plebian Nissan ancestry and become a pure supercar. It’s not hard to imagine the next GT-R as a hybrid, a twin-turbo V6 supplemented with a small battery pack and a large electric motor integrated at the back of the engine or into the transaxle, providing “torque fill,” meaning the electric motor delivers instant-on thrust for a short period of time till the gasoline engine reaches full song. In short, the type of system used in LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and the Porsche 918, and similar to the powertrain expected in the upcoming Acura NSX.
Source: forbes
