The Nissan GT-R has a varied history. Although it has always had a strong following, some models to wear the GT-R badge haven’t always made the grade. But when Nissan do it well, they do it very, very well. Back in 1969, the 2.0-litre Skyline saloon was the first Nissan to wear a GT-R badge.
A coupé followed in 1971 and a replacement model, with production limited to 197 units, in 1973. And that was the end of the GT-R until a Skyline more like the one we know appeared in 1990, with a twin-turbo straight six.
When we tested the 473bhp grey-imported GT-R it caused quite a stir; it demolished pretty much every challenge we laid before it, including being crowned the winner of our annual Best Driver’s Car shootout. The official 523bhp version of the car turns the GT-R into a super supercar.Homologated to let Nissan go racing, the R32 was claimed to have 280bhp, as were the R33 (1994) and R34 (1999) successors. GT-R buyers in the UK should beware – there are plenty of imported GT-Rs floating around on the used market of greatly varying quality. We’d prefer to stick to the cars brought across by Nissan itself, and that’s what our test is based on.
The GT-R has always had price on its side. It’s not a cheap car: it’s better value for money than cars that are seemingly as fast, and it can outperform cars of a similar price. Seems too good to be true. So is it?
Design
Design
Certainly there’s no mistaking it for something else and, because this is the first GT-R not based on a mass-market vehicle (hence the absence of the Skyline tag), it has been designed with more freedom than previous GT-Rs.
Hiroshi Hasegawa, Nissan’s chief product designer, says “it is clearly not an Italian, German or American car” and that “it’s very mechanical, almost like an animated robot”, and is “obviously made from metal”, thanks to its big shoulders and hefty muscularity. Those features help place this wide car and contribute to an excellent drag coefficient of 0.27.
There are also cues from previous GT-Rs. The round rear lights are a continuation of the lineage and the front grille is reminiscent of the most recent model, the R34.
To most observers it is not a car that elicits 'oohs' and 'aahs' of admiration for its beauty, but there is no doubting in anyone's mind that, on laying eyes on the GT-R, everyone will know that it is a car with very special levels of performance on tap.
For those wishing to fully exploit this performance in a suitable environment, Nissan introduced the Track Pack option for the GT-R in 2012. For another £10,000 over the standard car, the Track Pack features firmer springs, lighter Nismo wheels and improved brake cooling.
Nissan has also removed the rear seats, saving a total of 20kg when combined with the new alloys. The drivetrain is carried over to the Track Pack unchanged.
0 comments:
Post a Comment