RE: Tell me I'm wrong: Nissan Skyline GT-R R34

[DanDC5]

What sort of costs are you looking at to run an R33? I need to be told so it stops me looking at them and wondering...

[danwhite]

One of my best friends owned a Bayside blue R34 GTR , at the time i owned a MK4 Supra TT and even though i loved the R34 to bits I found it a lot harder to get along with than my Supra .
Its a great car just hard to get into a groove with (other friends disagree with me), I have since owned the R33 and loved it and driven the R35 GTR on a circuit or two and thought it was epic such an easy car to drive fast and one I now aspire to own one day .

[davidcharles]

DanDC5 said:

What sort of costs are you looking at to run an R33? I need to be told so it stops me looking at them and wondering...

i'm only an "average joe" and ran an R33 for 7years easily..ok so i didn't do huge mileage (about 5k a year)but its not as outrageous as you would think (so long as you keep off tracks and dragstrips).

£400 fully comp insurance for me, always used vpower, got approx 15-20mpg, 1 set of ferrodo pads in 7 years £200 (for front and back), falken tyres approx £100 each, i had a new excedy clutch after 1 year and it was still fine 6 years later (£600 inc fitting). Most servicable parts are basic Nissan stuff (oil filter, fuel filter etc). The only thing i would suggest is every other year take it Abbeymotorsport/Middlehurst/ RB motorsport for a check over....simples....

[pistonpie]

i didn't realise that they were that old...has aged really, really well IMO

[foxhounduk]

best looking skyline in my opinion. a close second is the r32 and lastly the r33.
there's just something about that r33 GTR though that screams criminality. where i went to school all the drug dealers used to ride one. its an utter brute, with a tremendous reputation. i love it.

it doesn't matter what you have, a ferrari, porsche or an aston. you say the words 'skyline' and people begin to take you seriously...

[Adam-MGTF]

I don't know what it is about the word "skyline" but it seems to gain respect from non petrol heads...

I've got a 2.0T engine swapped rover25 sleeper And a MG-TF with a civic type r engine in as my daily... Both have a much stronger power to weight ratio (especially the stripped out 750kg/240bhp rover) than my GTS-T but everyone wants a ride in the skyline?

Somehow there just cool, I don't think it matters to anyone other than a die hard petrol head wether it's a 32.33 or 34, there is just something about a skyline......

[Repent]

I think the Gran Turismo generation has a lot to do with it, the Skyline was the daddy on those games. Easily one of the main 'poster cars', like the Countach of the 90's on a moving screen.

[Dagnut]

I think it's widely acknowledged in the GTR community that the 34 is far superior to the 33...in one sentence you're admitting you didn't know how to drive and in the other blaming the car?

[Skater12]

I'm one of the lucky sods whose been fortunate enough to drive GTR's from 32 to 35, and yet never owned one.
I have to say I agree that the 34 was the worst of a very good bunch.
On the road it felt uninvolved to drive, but would then supprise you at how poor your own driving skills at the time may be by being a bit useless in the corners.
Show it a wet or damp road and it'll take it on like Jack Russell on a frozen lake, having a blast but genrally not getting from point to point as quickly as possible.
The 32, 33 and now the 35 are better to drive in varied conditions and environments while still retaining their own specific personal;ities.

32 = Fast, light, and makes you feel a like you're piloting a Group B car to Tesco's.
33 = A beast, plain and simple. Silly amounts of power available combined with better driver aids than were around in the years of the 32.
34 = To quote Clarkson "the difficult 3rd album". Never lived up to the hype, yet still demands huge prices.
35 = If Godzilla, and Steve Jobs had a love child with 4 wheels, this would be it.
Game changing, while still being able to scare the crap out of you.

[anything fast]

Dagnut said:

I think it's widely acknowledged in the GTR community that the 34 is far superior to the 33...in one sentence you're admitting you didn't know how to drive and in the other blaming the car?

I wouldnt be so harsh.. but I have to agree, the R34 is something to behold. I have never driven one, but late one night on trip to Birmingham my mate who lives and breathes jap metal showed me how this car can corner and almost defy physics (glad the cops were not hanging around B/HAM city centre ringroad!). Nothing short of amazing. Even now still more capable than many so called supercars. End of.

[Skater12]

anything fast said:

Dagnut said:

I think it's widely acknowledged in the GTR community that the 34 is far superior to the 33...in one sentence you're admitting you didn't know how to drive and in the other blaming the car?

I wouldnt be so harsh.. but I have to agree, the R34 is something to behold. I have never driven one, but late one night on trip to Birmingham my mate who lives and breathes jap metal showed me how this car can corner and almost defy physics (glad the cops were not hanging around B/HAM city centre ringroad!). Nothing short of amazing. Even now still more capable than many so called supercars. End of.

This is going to be an ongoing debate as to which model is best.
I can only base my opinion on my driving, and i'm no racing driver.
I'd admit, a decent driver or someone who knows their car well, may well prove that the 34 is technically more able, but for mere mortals i'd still say the 32 and 33 were better all rounders.

[NISR227]

Harris hasn't driven a R32 GTR? Wtf! while he's at it drive its young brother too, the Pulsar gti-r, had one for 8 years and loved the nissan scene. Old cars now both of them but early nineties jap beasts.

[Skater12]

NISR227 said:

Harris hasn't driven a R32 GTR? Wtf! while he's at it drive its young brother too, the Pulsar gti-r, had one for 8 years and loved the nissan scene. Old cars now both of them but early nineties jap beasts.

Ahh the Pulsar! Like dwarf with a bazooka. Small, but it'll ruin your day!

I loved them, and still keep my eye out.

I agree, Harris needs to do a back to back / side by side comparison with all the cars including the DR30-RS Turbo!

[F1GTRUeno]

I was brought up on Gran Turismo so find it impossible to say a bad word about any of the 32, 33 or 34.

I'll probably never get to drive them IRL but virtually they were monsters.

Finding completely standard variants of these and other 90's Jap sportscars will be a never-ending obsession for me I think.

[rhinochopig]

Objectively I like them, but I looked at one before I bought an Evo and it was just too big in every respect for a b road toy. They all need to be about 20% smaller in all respects IMO.

[vxmatt]

The R34 is one of my dream cars, especially in Bayside Blue. I think gran turismo is to blame. Sadly I don't think I would ever be able to afford one without selling body parts.

[Trommel]

Skater12 said:

33 = A beast, plain and simple. Silly amounts of power available combined with better driver aids than were around in the years of the 32.

Driver aids - the only big difference between the standard BNR32 and standard BCNR33 was a faster-acting front/rear torque split. The A-LSD option (standard on the V Spec) could split torque across the rear axle too and the V Spec 4WD ECU also took information from additional sensors to decide where and when to send it.

They're all fairly similar under the skin, I wonder if a lot of criticism the BNR34 received over here was because the UK cars were rock-hard V Specs (as well as being basically a decade old under the skin and not very quick as standard).

[Skater12]

[mgv8]

I think to make a car grate you need to know its is, but at the same time you do not have to explain it to your GF. The R34 should be part of car history but I will never lust after more than a quick go...!

[Dagnut]

anything fast said:

I wouldnt be so harsh.. but I have to agree, the R34 is something to behold. I have never driven one, but late one night on trip to Birmingham my mate who lives and breathes jap metal showed me how this car can corner and almost defy physics (glad the cops were not hanging around B/HAM city centre ringroad!). Nothing short of amazing. Even now still more capable than many so called supercars. End of.

I don't think its harsh at all..he does these article without even having the courtesy to drive them back to back..instead he's going on a 12 year old memory of driving a car he was afraid of without the skill to do so...on the a fearsome wet race track as a driving noob?