Monday 2nd September 2013

NISMO GT-R due in 2014

What, you expected Nissan to sit back and congratulate Porsche on the new Turbo?

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Despite appearances, last week's Nissan 360 event wasn't simply an excuse for hacks to sun it up in LA and drive a few cars. Honest. We've even got some news to report.

'Pure motorsports flavour' promised by NISMO

Now whilst Datsun's expansion plans and Nissan's vision of urban mobility won't interest PH, there was one little snippet of info that certainly was on our radar; the GT-R NISMO will go on sale next year.

Unfortunately, Nissan was much keener to divulge details of Juke NISMO sales than tell us much more than was already known. On the GT-R NISMO, we were told 'development is on track in Japan'. A bit of extra detail was provided by Hiroshi Tamura, the GT-R and NISMO Chief Product Specialist. "The Nissan GT-R Nismo is the GT-R with which we pursue pure performance," he said. Begging the question that if so what does that make the regular GT-R? He also added that "It is for people who search for true performance with pure motorsports flavour."

So we've not been told much new, but it does get us pretty excited about a mega-R35. And a few key details can probably be assumed right now. More power is nearly guaranteed given the tweakable nature of the GT-R's 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6. Surely more than 600hp can't be more than some upped boost pressure plus a new exhaust away?

Weight saving will need to be more than cosmetic

Taking the V-Spec and Track Pack GT-Rs as a guide, lighter wheels and upgraded brakes will probably feature too. Carbon-ceramic brakes would of course further reduce unsprung mass...

With the standard GT-R a near-1,800kg car, a weight reduction would further benefit its dynamic abilities. Given Tamura mentioned 'pure performance', could something with a significantly lower kerbweight be in development?

Then there's the 991 Turbo issue. With a Turbo S now at £140,000, the potential is there for NISMO to both boost the GT-R's price and performance without compromising its perceived value. With a standard GT-R currently £80K, it probably isn't unreasonable to expect a six-figure price tag for a NISMO car. This could actually place it directly against its GT3 namesake...

[VonSenger]

should be blistering and perhaps add some feel to the car.....

[High Roller]

... or another Nismo Juke / 370Z-style rehash. A few extra HP, maybe a small weight reduction (although I doubt it) and a smart new bodykit. I hope I'm wrong but don't get your hopes up.

[GroundEffect]

Well look at the SpecV. That wasn't very good.

[toppstuff]

Given how epic the standard car is, this bodes well.

I have been pretty disappointed / annoyed by Nissans treatment of NISMO of late. This is their chance to make amends and get it right.

I am sure many people have fond memories of bayside blue GTR's and millenium jade coloured Skylines on their playstation. There is a large body of support for the idea of a truly kick-ass GTR.

Agree that there is room to push the GTR upmarket. It has the kudos to achieve it IMO.

I have to admit that I have never driven a car that can punch out of corners like a GTR. Face-twisting grunt and traction.

Would be even more amazing if they made it little lighter.

[gofasterrosssco]

Would be interesting to see a Z-Tune equivalent:

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/5635...

[405dogvan]

A Nissan which costs £80K may as well get more expensive because it's clearly only selling to people who don't care much about the pricetag.

Has any car in history ever gotten so much more expensive, so quickly - in 5 years it's gone up by almost 50% (from low 50s to just under 80K?)

Should be good news for earlier buyers - tho the obsession with tuning these things makes it hard to judge values but the cheapest 'stock-ish' 2008 GT-R on here is £34K (dealer so the buyer lost about 50% of his money - in 5 years, that's not bad).

Hard to see this year's £80K model doing that??

Edited by 405dogvan on Monday 2nd September 13:09

[405dogvan]

toppstuff said:

Agree that there is room to push the GTR upmarket. It has the kudos to achieve it IMO.

Kudos has fk-all to do with it - simple fact is that any business with sense targets the higher end of the market because - unlike everywhere else - it's not dropped-off the face of a cliff since 2008.

For eons people talked of the F-Type as being a Boxster rival and look what happened there - no point in aiming at the people who were fked by the rich - just aim at the rich and be done with it (see also Ferrari pricing, Porsche pricing and so on).

Not sure how much Playstation Kudos works with the 'diamond encrusted everything' crowd

[LaurasOtherHalf]

interesting about the weight of the car, i seem to remember that the designer of the car when launched had a specific weight in mind & said that the gtr was exactly the weight they wanted it & wouldn't be lightening it as it didn't need to be any lighter for it to perform any better.

[LooneyTunes]

PH article said:

With the standard GT-R a near-1,800kg car, a weight reduction would further benefit its dynamic abilities. Given Tamura mentioned 'pure performance', could something with a significantly lower kerbweight be in development?

Eh? Haven't people been constantly told that the GT-R needs to be heavy???

[anonymous-user]

Six figures for a Nissan GTR? Lot of choice at that price point.

[David87]

Apparently Williams are doing some work with the engine. I might hold off with that 991 order.

[chelme]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

interesting about the weight of the car, i seem to remember that the designer of the car when launched had a specific weight in mind & said that the gtr was exactly the weight they wanted it & wouldn't be lightening it as it didn't need to be any lighter for it to perform any better.

True. The Car was built with weight playing a key role in its performance. Taking 100s of kilos of weight off could upset the 'equilibrium' they achieved, unless perhaps, they can substitute this with increasing down-force,(but then this would only come into play at higher speeds).

[Mr Whippy]

LooneyTunes said:

PH article said:

With the standard GT-R a near-1,800kg car, a weight reduction would further benefit its dynamic abilities. Given Tamura mentioned 'pure performance', could something with a significantly lower kerbweight be in development?

Eh? Haven't people been constantly told that the GT-R needs to be heavy???

Yeah it seems so. All that tech talk stuff was marketing bks. The end result was good but it seems they felt they had to argue that every 'feature' was designed on purpose and it was a 'perfect' design yadda yadda, including the high weight!

Just marketing people talking arse, as usual.

Dave

[Wadeski]

I'm not sure how PH are inferring from the phrase "pure performance" that inevitably it will be much lighter?

I'd expect a few carbon bits and bobs and a bit more power.

[toppstuff]

David87 said:

Apparently Williams are doing some work with the engine. I might hold off with that 991 order.

I think much of Williams' work will be on the next generation R36, probably another 3-5 years from now. Expect hybrid electric KERS and stuff..

[GranCab]

405dogvan said:

A Nissan which costs £80K may as well get more expensive because it's clearly only selling to people who don't care much about the pricetag.

Has any car in history ever gotten so much more expensive, so quickly - in 5 years it's gone up by almost 50% (from low 50s to just under 80K?)

Should be good news for earlier buyers - tho the obsession with tuning these things makes it hard to judge values but the cheapest 'stock-ish' 2008 GT-R on here is £34K (dealer so the buyer lost about 50% of his money - in 5 years, that's not bad).

Hard to see this year's £80K model doing that??

Edited by 405dogvan on Monday 2nd September 13:09

When the R35 was first available in the UK in 2009 V.A.T. was (temporarily) down to 15%.

It is now 20% - this does account for a fair chunk of the increase over the last 4 years.... the true increase is approx. 30%.

p.s. The current list inc. VED, first regn. fee etc. is £76.610

Edited by GranCab on Monday 2nd September 15:13

Edited by GranCab on Monday 2nd September 15:21

[epom]

Has anyone even seen let alone driven the last one ?? Wasn't too well received if i recall correctly ?

[Nikko 40691]

Mr Whippy said:

LooneyTunes said:

PH article said:

With the standard GT-R a near-1,800kg car, a weight reduction would further benefit its dynamic abilities. Given Tamura mentioned 'pure performance', could something with a significantly lower kerbweight be in development?

Eh? Haven't people been constantly told that the GT-R needs to be heavy???

Yeah it seems so. All that tech talk stuff was marketing bks. The end result was good but it seems they felt they had to argue that every 'feature' was designed on purpose and it was a 'perfect' design yadda yadda, including the high weight!

Just marketing people talking arse, as usual.

Dave

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=20819

Question 1.

[LooneyTunes]

Nikko 40691 said:

Mr Whippy said:

LooneyTunes said:

PH article said:

With the standard GT-R a near-1,800kg car, a weight reduction would further benefit its dynamic abilities. Given Tamura mentioned 'pure performance', could something with a significantly lower kerbweight be in development?

Eh? Haven't people been constantly told that the GT-R needs to be heavy???

Yeah it seems so. All that tech talk stuff was marketing bks. The end result was good but it seems they felt they had to argue that every 'feature' was designed on purpose and it was a 'perfect' design yadda yadda, including the high weight!

Just marketing people talking arse, as usual.

Dave

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=20819

Question 1.

...which is why it's going to be interesting to hear the explanations if the Nismo turns out to be significantly lighter.

[Mr Whippy]

Nikko 40691 said:

Mr Whippy said:

LooneyTunes said:

PH article said:

With the standard GT-R a near-1,800kg car, a weight reduction would further benefit its dynamic abilities. Given Tamura mentioned 'pure performance', could something with a significantly lower kerbweight be in development?

Eh? Haven't people been constantly told that the GT-R needs to be heavy???

Yeah it seems so. All that tech talk stuff was marketing bks. The end result was good but it seems they felt they had to argue that every 'feature' was designed on purpose and it was a 'perfect' design yadda yadda, including the high weight!

Just marketing people talking arse, as usual.

Dave

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=20819

Question 1.

Yep, saw these when they came out and commented appropriately there too.

Do people think anything like this isn't filtered through marketing to the Nth degree to make sure it all tells the right product story?

Dave