Back when the Skyline R35 made landfall on American shores as the Nissan GT-R it quickly became clear that this car was a game changer. Packing all-wheel-drive, twin turbos, a dual clutch gearbox, and sophisticated electronic enhancements, the GT-R offered legitimate supercar performance for well under $100K.
Ride along with us as we take some laps around Mid Ohio Sports Car Course with Scott Francis in his 2013 Nissan GT-R, outfitted with 19″ Forgestar wheels, Pirelli slicks, Alcon J-hook rotors and Carbotech brake pads.
This week we have the keys to something particularly special, courtesy of our friends at Smokey’s Dyno & Performance. While the Nissan GT-R is certainly no slouch straight off the showroom floor, there’s still those among us who yearn for even more performance. That’s where the folks at Switzer Performance come in.
While The Stones sang that “You can’t always get what you want”, they added that “If you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need”. With Nissan’s unveiling of the GTR-LM (during the Super Bowl, interestingly) WEC LMP1 endurance racing may indeed get what it needs.
It’s been seven years since the R35 Skyline first made landfall in the US, and in that time, year-over-year changes to Godzilla have been largely incremental. But while none of GT-R’s updates have been revolutionary, with each revision of Nissan’s supercar it has gotten consistently faster and, theoretically, easier to live with. We decided to get behind the wheel of a 2015 model, here coated in the new-for-2015 Gold Flake Red Pearl pant, to see what Nissan’s engineers have come up with to face the recent onslaught of new contenders for the budget supercar crown.
When we reported that the Challenger SRT Hellcat was officially the most powerful production muscle car ever made, we all knew the performance numbers were likely to be impressive. Still, given the Challenger’s mass, there were some reservations about just much sporting prowess 707 horsepower could provide to a car that is expected to weigh in north of 4200 pounds. Well, Dodge continues to exceed our expectations – the Hellcat is a 10 second car. But there’s a catch.
On Monday, June 23rd, I found myself flying out to Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the 92nd running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. I was fresh off a pair of wins at Road America in our Hawk Performance Audi R8 Ultra, but it was time to transition into Rookie Mode. There were lots of unknowns for us at this new event, but some of my team members had beaten me there with our Hawk Performance Nissan GT-R and were getting everything ready to go.
Currently holding the production car lap time record around the Nurburgring by a wide margin with a time of 7.08.679, it’s clear Nismo’s engineers have created a machine which is very much at home on a road course. Without question, it’s the most track-focused version of the R35 road car we’ve yet seen. But what’s it like to actually drive?
Nissan’s uproarious GT-R is getting refreshed one last time this cycle for the 2015 model year, with a tweaked suspension, slight design updates, and more interior options.
Nissan has revealed the 2015 Nissan GT-R Nismo, along with the announcement that the race-inspired car has lapped the Nürburgring Nordscleife in 7:08.679.
This is the Master Landing Page for the Nissan GT-R Nismo. From now on, as we further review this car, we will be updating this page with whatever fresh content we create. Future drive reviews, updated specifications, videos, and other relevant information will all be found right here, in one convenient spot.
Curious about how the new 991 Porsche 911 GT3 drives? Now you can hear about one driver’s (Jethro Bovingdon’s) impressions—as well as see and hear the car in action in the Austrian Alps—in this video review from Evo.
Nissan will sell a GT-R Special Edition in limited quantities in the US, with a hand-painted Midnight Opal paintjob.
The Stingray is capable of hitting 60 miles per hour in just 3.8 seconds, covering the quarter mile in 12 seconds at 119 mph, pulling 1.03G on a skid pad, and lapping the Grand Course at Virginia International Raceway in 2:51.78.
Want the ultimate Nissan GT-R? Then get ready to shell out quite a bit of cash. Nissan has just announced pricing for the 2014 GT-R range, with the base model starting at $99,590. The Black Edition adds $9710 on to that, for a total of $109,300. Finally, the GT-R Track starts at $115,710.
The CLS, Gran Coupe, and A7 run the gamut, with base models retailing for well under six figures, while the AMG, M, and RS versions easily creep past $100,000. If the rumors from British rag Auto Express are any indication, Germany’s entries could see some serious, high-end competition from none other than Bentley.
The Nissan GT-R in its current form has been with us for six years now and with every refresh, Nissan bestows ever more performance and power on its flagship car. Recent rumors had Nissan potentially cancelling the GT-R, but fortunately, those turned out to be untrue. Now, we know that 2018 will bring a major update to the GT-R, and the 2014 model seen here—courtesy of the spy shooters at GMotors—should quell our lust for a more powerful Godzilla nicely.
The basic reason that many enthusiasts will have trouble with the FR-S and BRZ is that many sports car buyers still accept the logic of “faster is better” and the related meme “more power is faster.” I propose here that these ideas will be less of an issue to greenformance buyers, and therefore that the FR-S and BRZ might be the car(s) you’ve been waiting for. If not those cars, there are others that fit a similar model of driving pleasure.
Nissan unveiled its revised, 2013 370Z before tomorrow’s Chicago Auto Show press day begins. The 2013 Z is a refresh of the sixth-generation Z that debuted in 2009, meaning that the guts of the beloved Z are the same (3.7-liter V-6, with a six-speed stick or seven-speed auto). That means 332 horsepower as standard, while the hotter Nismo Z comes to market with a solid 350 horsepower.
Don’t misunderstand the title of this list; when we say “scary” we mean it in a generally positive way. After all, when you judge each vehicle you drive based largely on involvement, getting a little scared is par for the course
A car that you can drive to work, drive to dinner, and drive on the track on a Saturday. That is, in essence, a brief for very high performance sports cars which automakers have been trying to make good on since the very beginning of motoring. We think that we’ve found three modern cars that do a very good job filling the needs of the road/track set, but at three very different price points.