Two hours after Nissan's press conference ended, the turntable which displayed the 2009 Nissan GT-R was still mobbed. That is, until Carlos Ghosn returned to the stand. Like a parting of the Red Sea, the highly diverse crowd (I swear I saw Snoop Dogg) fell back and Ghosn posed with the car (again).
Finally I was in position to get a clear blog shot of the 473-hp GT-R supercar on American soil...
As if on cue, my camera battery died. I cursed (almost) silently and sulked back to the media room to post this lame photo instead. -- Kelly Toepke, News Editor
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Why anyone would get the base model is beyond me. $2K to get the full package is a DUH option.
Ok, I guess I'm out of sync as I do not understand all the press frenzy going on over this car. What makes it so superior to the Corvette or existing sport cars out there? Or is it simply this car has unbelievable cachet?
If there are any definitive links that shed light without heat, please post one or two of them here?
Kurt, it lapped the Nurburgring faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo - by two seconds and the track was wet. That's what impresses people. It'll put a Vette to shame and it won't carry with it the stigma of mid-life crisis car.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=123066
kurt, it's a 4 seater, it would be akin to the Panamera or the 612 Scaglietti.
It's got a nice all leather interior. Better interior over the Corvette, subjectively.
Plus the Corvette's been available forever, so less oohs and ahs for something that always is and was.
The GT-R, this is the first time in the USA.
Compared to other cars besides the Corvette, the GT-R is ludicrously cheap. A competing 911 Turbo is $140,000. A competing Ferrari is $180,000. BMW builds no cars with this performance. The GT-R costs $72,000.
And the GT-R is designed as an all weather daily driver.
The same oohs and ahs are given to all-new Ferraris, all-new Porsches, all-new Corvettes, so this frenzy is not particularly out of scale.
The other companies just haven't made anything all-new in a long time.
New variants aren't that exciting.
Blue Devil, whoop, new suspension and new engine that you can't see. Same exterior and interior. The C6 is 2 years old.
The Lamborghini whatever the heck variants, oh dear, the Murcielago was introduced in 2001! That car is 6 years old!
Ferrari's been trying to spin a bunch of different variants off the same Modenas. That car is 8 years old!
You didn't see much press frenzy when the Honda Accord Value Package trim was introduced either. Even the great Honda Accord!!!
Thinking that this GT-R doesn't deserve this attention is the same narcissistic internal conflict an old brother deals with when a younger brother is born.
$70,000 for 192 mph that is hand made, can be driven in the winter, is a low emission vehicle, that is as fast as a porsche 911 turbo, that has a nice interior, that has newly introduced technology, etc...
but pretty much, this car has existing for 40+ years and this is the first time Nissan has brought it over here
The main reasons for are the buzz are these: we have been hearing about the incredible performance of the Skyline GT-R for YEARS; they've been dominant in the high-tech Japan GT racing series forever; it was an all-wheel drive performance well before it was fashionable; it has never been imported to the USA; a few grey-market, right-hand drive cars show up from time-to-time, and; every GOOD racing simulator video game has had Skyline GT-Rs in it for YEARS.
Fast + racing history + unobtainable = legendary.
The new Skyline is sexy. Too bad the upcoming 2008 911 GT2 already set a record of 7:33 beating out the Skyline GTR's record of 7:38 which supposedly beated the older 911 GT2 by a few seconds. Nevertheless the new Skyline GTR is still hell of a bargain and I'm sure will kick some Corvette ass easily with its refinement and speed.
If markups are curbed, this GTR will be a true Robin Hood for American auto enthusiasts. I hope snobs instinctively avoid this Nissan so that mid-income auto fans can finally have something truely amazing!
Suddenly, the eternally unchallenged image of supercars like Porsche's GT3/911T, and Ferrari's F360/&F430; don't seem as invincible anymore. Even before hitting the streets, Nissan's GTR has dented the above supercar's seemmingly untouchable prowess. That achievement alone is something no other road car has ever achieved.
spartanic, did you just mention the $191,700 Porsche 911 GT2 is faster than the GT-R?
mmmm... buy one for me, one for my wife, one for my kid... or just get one for me...
Im about sick of hearing this Nurburgring stuff. Do people realize that there are a lot of variables when it comes to lap times there? Weather, traffic, track conditions, ETC ETC.
Im VERY positive that juat about EVERY automobile publication will do a comparision test involving the GT-R and the 911T so we will have to wait untill we get some real test results to see if the GT-R can live up to all this hype.
honda, even if the GTR loses out to the 911 turbo in half the publications (publications run by people who are influenced by far more than test results), it's a 70k car v. a 130k car. 70k is attainable by at least joe upper-middle-class. 130k is pretty much reserved for people fall into a much higher tax bracket.
If Porsche could get better than a 7:40, they would publish it. The 911 Turbo is kinda important in the 911 lineage and for Porsche's image. :)
The main reason for the appeal is that up until now, you couldn't get one here. People want what they can't have.
You've seen a few gray market ones here, probably, imagine what that cost the owners.
Ateixeira - Roughly $20K plus the original price of the car. That's actually considerably cheaper than they used to be. I remember when I first inquired about import Skylines, it was a whopping $55K surcharge for shipping, emissions, and TT&L above the price of the car.
http://www.motorex.net/pricing.html