New Gtr Breaks Covers

[f-wolf]

I am wavering on getting the GTR.

All is not well !

" On rutted roads, it's wise to keep both hands on the steering wheel to better control violent tramlining. Driveline shunt (jerkiness) is evident at low speeds when changing gears manually, and although it's much smoother in auto you can hear the transmission at the rear performing its mechanical operations. Depending on your perspective, this either detracts from refinement or adds to the aural drama. "

http://www.theage.com.au/artcles/2007/12/0...ge#contentSwap1

[f-wolf]

In case the link don't works.

December 5, 2007

Nissan GT-R

"Godzilla" is docile, its 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 sounding near-dormant as the car ambles through a Japanese village at 60km/h. There is no hint of the terror about to be unleashed on the open road.

Press the throttle into the footwell carpet, though, and the new Nissan GT-R's acceleration is brutally, effortlessly quick. Cruise at 200km/h in sixth gear, and the new supercar entrant responds instantly, eager to sprint towards its claimed top speed of 310km/h.

In just the first couple of kilometres of our 150km first drive, the most expensive Nissan in the world is already showing signs that it can match the company's hype that it is "the 21st-century supercar for anyone, anywhere, anytime''.

Taking on the car currently regarded as the world's most user-friendly, all-weather supercar, Porsche's 911 Turbo, is a bold move for a car maker better known for affordable, high-volume vehicles such as the Tiida small car and X-Trail compact 4WD. Nissan's had plenty of time, however, to perfect what will not only be the first GT-R to ditch the famous `Skyline' name but also the first to be officially sold in Australia since the early '90s when just 100 examples of the original model were imported.

Nissan has been developing the car since it was previewed by a concept at the 2001 Tokyo motor show. Step into the GT-R and the interior feels solidly crafted with plenty of stitched leather that tries to reflect the fact this is the world's most expensive Nissan. Some of the dash buttons, however, wouldn't look out of place in a Tiida.

It's also immediately obvious the driver is a priority. A sporty driving position can also be a comfortable one for people of various sizes. The leather/suede driver's seat is well bolstered and has electric adjustment that offers generous fore/aft travel.

The steering wheel adjusts for height and reach. Cleverly, the steering column and instrument panel are incorporated into one moveable section, so however high or low the wheel is positioned the driver has an unimpeded view of the speedo and rev counter.

Great performance cars are not just about ergonomics but also tactility _ making the driver feel at one with the machine. On the road, the GT-R doesn't disappoint. The steering is ideally weighted, precise, and through the driver's fingertips provides a good sense of the surface underneath. The large brakes from stopping specialist Brembo are progressive and strong.

They need to be, because the GT-R reaches high speeds in ridiculously quick time. Drive performed standing-start tests in the GT-R that proved Nissan isn't fibbing about its 0-100km/h claim of 3.6 seconds _ a time that's a tenth quicker than the 911 Turbo.

The 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V6 is a mighty engine, complete with a 353kW power output that's not coincidentally identical to the Porsche. Tractable from down low, the GT-R _ again like the 911 Turbo _ starts to do its supercar thing from 3000rpm. Peak power arrives at 6400rpm but the engine doesn't let up before its 7000rpm redline.

Gearshifts are super-quick and seamless courtesy of a new dual-clutch transmission that mimics Volkswagen's highly regarded DSG system. One clutch adopts three odd gears, the second clutch three even gears. When one gear is engaged, the other clutch has the next gear pre-selected.

The driver can change gears semi-manually using paddleshift levers and enjoy the rev rush in each ratio, or leave it in auto mode where the transmission upshifts rapidly into higher gears to keep the GT-R riding on a wave of torque that peaks at 588Nm between 3200 and 5200rpm. The GT-R isn't bereft of criticisms, though.

On rutted roads, it's wise to keep both hands on the steering wheel to better control violent tramlining. Driveline shunt (jerkiness) is evident at low speeds when changing gears manually, and although it's much smoother in auto you can hear the transmission at the rear performing its mechanical operations. Depending on your perspective, this either detracts from refinement or adds to the aural drama.

There are three suspension settings courtesy of the electronically controlled Bilstein dampers, although even in Comfort mode the ride lacks compliance on poorly surfaced roads. Nissan Australia won't get its hands on the GT-R until early 2009, and it might be advised to use that time to request a revised suspension that's better suited to our bumpy local roads.

The GT-R's super-stiff chassis pays off on good, winding roads as well as the racetrack. Its predecessors established a reputation for spectacular all-wheel-drive handling, and the new model is no different despite its portly 1740kg kerb weight. The GT-R turns into corners with immediacy and sits remarkably flat, displaying an aversion to both body roll and understeer.

The chassis is also wonderfully adjustable via either steering or throttle. In normal driving, 100 per cent of torque is actually sent to the rear wheels, but up to 50 per cent is delivered to the fronts to aid cornering traction as well as improving grip on low-grip surfaces.

It means you can apply the throttle earlier in a corner than normal because the AWD system maintains the ideal front/rear torque distribution by continuously calculating speed, steering angle, car angle (yaw rate) and g-force. It's virtually idiot-proof handling.

In fact, the new-generation Godzilla will be most intimidating for the likes of Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini when they compare its capabilities with its price tag.

Specifications

Nissan GT-R

Price: $150,000 (est.)

On sale: early 2009

Body: coupe

Seating: 2+2

Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6

Power: 353kW at 6400rpm

Torque: 588Nm at 3200-5200rpm

Maximum engine speed: 7000rpm

Weight: 1740kg

Fuel consumption: 12.2L/100km (Japanese figure)

Wheels: 20-inch alloys

[senna_T]

I think the tramlining is a small price to pay for the overall package - it is running on 20's after all, I'd still buy one...........zap...........

[f-wolf]

Nissan plots Godzilla's Bathurst comeback 06/12/07

The Japanese sports car thrown out of Australian touring car racing in the 90s for being too quick - the Nissan GT-R - could return to Bathurst in 2009.

The Japanese sports car banned from Australian motorsport for being too quick is planning a return to Bathurst in 2009.

In Japan Nissan has just launched the fourth-generation version of the Skyline GT-R that was dubbed Godzilla locally in the early '90s after it thrashed V8-powered Holdens and Fords in Australia's touring car championship.

A limited production run of only 12,000 cars a year means Nissan Australia must wait until early 2009 to import the new 353kW GT-R, but the company is already considering its motor racing options for the most powerful production car to yet come out of Japan.

Nissan will get back into some form of motorsport [in Australia] to show the capabilities of this vehicle [the GT-R], says Ross Booth, marketing manager for Nissan Australia.

One of the problems with Australian motorsport is a lack of a showcase for this type of vehicle [GT-R]. The organisers of V8 Supercars wouldn't let us race in 1993 and I can guarantee they're not going to let us race in 2008. It's not a taxi as you know.

It's a matter of what's the right [motorsport] program for it, and when we do it bearing in mind the car doesn't go on sale here until early 2009, says Booth.

One of the most obvious options is the Targa [Tasmania] rally. And whether we can enter it into the Bathurst 12-hour depends on the rules. At the moment there's a $125,000 [price tag] cut-off limit.

The new Nissan GT-R is expected to cost about $150,000 when it finally arrives in Australia.

Booth says Nissan has mixed feelings about the Australian touring car organisers decision to ban the original Skyline GT-R after it won successive touring car titles from 1990 to 1992.

At the time Nissan was quite upset at the decision and quite rightly so, says Booth, who worked for Ford at the time. The GT-R was a very formidable opponent, and to take it out of the number one Australian motorsport category was very controversial.

[but] it probably helped create a bit of legend around the GT-R. Basically it added some mystique. It was a great way to get the vehicle known, because it was absolutely killing the opposition for a number of years. The GT-R was for the time an exceptionally engineered car.

It was only beaten by the [touring car] organiser basically reacting to the mob, says Booth, referring to the infamous 1992 Bathurst 1000 podium outburst by victorious GT-R driver Jim Richards.

Richards responded to booing Expensive Daewoo and Ford fans by calling them a pack of arseholes.

Nissan Japan has already announced that a race car version of the new GT-R will compete in the GT500 class of Japan's 2008 Super GT Series.

The company has also not ruled out entering the world's most famous GT race, the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Edited 10/12/07 01:44 AM by f-wolf

[f-wolf]

Stationary engines

A cadre of just 12 technicians (takumi in Nissan-speak) hand build the engines for the GT-R, assembling a total of 25 per shift. Each engine takes around 300 minutes. Nissan is in the process of training more takumi and will double shift the Yokohama plant's VR38-specific clean room to double the production.

Despite what you may have read elsewhere, only the core engine is assembled in the hermetically-controlled environment by the sole operators. Once the short engine is bolted together and tested for correct torques, etc, the engines come out of the clean room and all the ancillaries and inlet and exhaust hardware are bolted on.

Then it's time for full load testing -- a process that involves 35-45 minutes on the dyno for every engine.

Nissan is proud of the fact the engine test dynos are plugged into the plant's grid. In braking the engine to perform the test cycle, the dynos generate electricity. Surely, this makes the VR38DETT the most exotic stationary engine in the world -- at least temporarily.

Tighter tolerances

Nissan claims the tolerances to which the GT-R's engine is built are twice as tight as normal production engines. Comparable to race engines, says the carmaker. As such it also claims the variances in output are equally tight -- there should be no Monday or Friday engines in the world of GT-R. The dyno testing procedure quantifies each engine's output and any engine that doesn't come up is reworked. Nissan's GT-R engine production head says (so far) less than one per cent of engines have required rework.

Edited 10/12/07 02:01 AM by f-wolf

[senna_T]

the R34 Z-tune engine was built basically the same way, one single takumi built the entire engine, and they told him "take your time, so it is perfect" that's how an engine should be built!

[SHOWDOWN]

the R34 Z-tune engine was built basically the same way, one single takumi built the entire engine, and they told him "take your time, so it is perfect" that's how an engine should be built!

I wish Ford took a leaf out of Japans car manufacturing book. Passion leads to quality... With the Falcons it seems that anything I touch has a tendacy to break or come of easily. My Brother in law has a brand new Calais V series which has been back to Expensive Daewoo 8 times in the last 3 months.

Only problem with Jap cars is availablity of parts.

Looking forward to the pics of Pat in a GTR. I got into an FTO once and almost dislocated my knee... and I hit my head on the way out, and I'm a shortarse compared to you giants...

Ozzie

[senna_T]

LOL - you're looking forward to the photos of me in one, ozzie - how do you think I feel! :w00t2:

[nang3]

I am wavering on getting the GTR.

My brother who lives in Japan checked one out for me and said there is no way I would fit in it and be able to use it as a daily driver.

He knows that I would also track the car, and that it would be impossible to drive it with a helmet on. I am 195cm and 130kg, so I think Nissan has not takein into account the larger drivers.

I will keep the order in as I am one of the first 10 people who placed an order, so I might be able to sell my slot or buy the car and onsell it for a tidy profit. I still live in hope they will release the GTR BB for us Big Bastards, but I do not like my chances

mate for a car this hot surely you can get your legs shortened mwaha

[f-wolf]

Just found this. I hope it wasn't posted b4.

COMPETITORS

The main competitors for the GT-R are the Porsche 911, the Porsche 911 and, err... The Porsche 911. At almost every opportunity, in every measure, Nissan compares the GT-R to the Germanic icon in its various forms.

The GT-R significantly outguns the standard 911 in terms of horsepower and it takes the $327,000 all-wheel-drive 911 Turbo to match the Nissan's 353kW. In fact, the Porsche time-machine claims the same kW as the GT-R output but produces better than 620Nm of torque.

Performance is comparable on paper, though those who have driven both are still giving the German car the nod. It'll take a direct comparison on the same ground, at the same time, to settle that argument.

ON THE ROAD and TRACK

Take a challenging hillside track with significant elevation changes, a number of complex corner combinations, almost zero run-off and straights long enough to see around 200km/h... Now add a sharp, 350kW-plus turbo car; and you have? The potential for things to go pear-shaped quickly!

With such a combination you'd forgive a manufacturer for imposing speed limits, installing chicanes or perhaps even limiting the test 'drive' to a place in the passenger seat -- all have happened in the past. It's a measure of Nissan's confidence in the GT-R, however, that none of the above took place. Indeed, save for the fact that our time on the track was relatively limited (around eight laps all up) it was 'go your hardest, lads'!

Nissan also include an on-road test loop of around 80km for the GT-R, turning the Sendai soiree into a most un-Japanese of launch programs.

But where to start?

It almost goes without saying the GT-R's straightline performance is spectacular. Nissan has used comparatively low boost (0.75 bar) so the GT-R's VR38DETT twin-turbo V6 'rolls' into its powerband between 2000-2800rpm with surprising civility. Sure, the urgent off-idle response of the 911 Turbo isn't replicated, but once the abovementioned revs are reached, the engine transforms into a linear powerhouse with power to burn and a bombproof feel that belies its relatively modest displacement.

And overall is a much more refined powerplant than GT-Rs of old and remarkably quiet. Maybe too quiet -- some might accuse the engine of hiding its outright performance with good manners.

Were that we could say the same of the dual-clutch gearbox. From a 'normal' standing start the gearbox is jerky -- even in auto mode. Moving away from a standstill requires some finesse and there's also some histrionics if you're required to crawl along -- as we were on the test loop at roadworks.

While we're picking faults, the gearbox also provided us with some 'fingernails down the blackboard' moments when coming to a stop. Rolling up to a set of traffic lights, it clunks, grinds and crunches its way back through the lower gears. Such is the lot of DSG-style boxes, it seems.

At normal road speeds, however, there's little to complain about. Left to its own devices the gearbox does a reasonable job of approximating an auto, changing up early if the throttle openings are modest and holding gears to just short of the redline if you're in serious 'go fast' mode.

There's no option to change gears manually via the stubby centre console lever. Nissan instead chose paddles -- left for downchanges, right for up.

You can select manual or auto modes at the console but touch one of the paddles on the move and you're back into manual mode.

Unlike most DSG-style transmissions, it will not then default back to auto after a time. Mind you, it's a quasi manual in this instance -- unless you also select R mode on the three-function control panel, the transmission will upshift at redline. In contrast full manual is just that...

The gearshift paddles are mounted on the steering column -- not on the wheel as we'd prefer. Mizuno-san says this is to save confusion in tight corners with lock on where the driver may forget which paddle does which. We don't agree, and on a track like Sendai where it pays to short shift through some of the corner complexes we found we needed to take our right hand off the wheel to get to the upshift paddle.

Aside from this glitch, the gearbox is a tour de force on the racetrack. No chance of fluffing a shift -- up or down. On the way up there's barely a split second interruption to the power and when it came to braking late and hard and banging down two gears at the end of Sendai's two straights we could use all our concentration on hitting the braking mark and the next apex just so.

Turn-in under that hard braking was also quiet stunning. Whether the GT-R creator's concept of neutralizing, or at least minimizing, the affect of weight transfer works or not is a moot point -- this car hides its weight at the track. It really feels like a much smaller vehicle. At lower speeds on the road it's hard to pick that it's any different from any well sorted conventional sporty, but under extremis on the track it was marked.

That means it's a lively drive, however. Into corners, the GT-R moves around under brakes and once into the corner it responds eagerly to throttle. It will tighten its line with appropriate applications of power and on the way out it's easy to induce power oversteer. Indeed, with the VDC-R set to R mode, it's possible to induce what the clichéd might term 'lurid oversteer'...

By our estimation it'd be a bit of handful in the wet and Mizuno-san says that his team is working on tuning in "more stability" -- in part in their quest for an even faster lap time at the Nurburgring. By this we understood he wanted the car to feel more 'planted.'

Sendai's Highland Raceway has played host to GT-R since the early days of its development. Mizuno-san says the production car is already matching the best times of racing R34 Skylines at the circuit and that the difference between the new car's fastest wet and dry times is a scant six seconds. Further he claims GT-R is faster round the track in the wet than the 911 Turbo is in the dry! He's very clearly a proud father?

We drove GT-R on the track first, enjoyed its lively feel and marveled at its overall manners -- very little body roll or pitching, and sharp, crisp directional changes. Within 150m of driving the car on the road loop (indeed we hadn't even left the confines of the circuit access road), however, we knew why the car had performed so well on the track.

On the street the GT-R rides like a racecar -- not ifs or buts. The kindest thing we can say is that, as it stands, it is not well suited to Australian roads.

Response to bumps is sharp and noisy and the overall ride is hard most of the time and 'jiggly' at best. And choosing the comfort mode on the Bilstein electronically-adjustable dampers did little to improve the situation. Tyre roar was also pronounced -- the noisest part of the car on the road in fact.

This was on Japan's well-tended bitumen. On a road like Bucket's Way, north of the Hunter Valley, Melbourne's Reefton Spur or a Tassie Targa stage this car would be a handful. Around Sydney's poorly tended suburban streets it'd be a backbreaker.

Mizuno says his team only locked away the current settings for the GT-R in September. With similar feedback reportedly coming from the UK contingent, let's hope there's some revision of the settings before the car makes it to Oz. As a package, the GT-R deserves better.

At least the steering felt better at the lower pace of the road. A touch dead straight ahead and bordering on too light on the track, on the road the weighting felt close to right. We'd probably argue for more feel in both environments, but given the front end needs to cope with feeding upwards of 170kW and 280Nm to the ground at times it's a pretty fair effort.

For their stellar performance at the track, the brakes were also marvelously linear and predictable on the road. Nissan claims that the cars we tested at Sendai were fitted with standard brake pads and had already coped with two days of abuse. As there were none of the telltale squealing that race pads tend to exhibit, we have no reason to doubt the claim.

Taller drivers among the test group found the GT-R's cabin a touch tight, but bare in mind they were wearing helmets. The reception on the flush-fitting twin-action Aston-style door handles were mixed, though we noted nobody had trouble getting into the car when their drive session was called.

One thing we should praise is the latent streetability of the car. Suspension aside (once again let's hope there's a rethink on 'Comfort' settings), the GT-R is quite traffic friendly. The A-pillars are much slimmer than a cooking-model Commodore's for instance and while rear three-quarter vision is restricted it's no worse than a 'normal' coupe. Out the back window there's little if any obstruction via the rear wing and the car would be easy to park in normal confines.

Even the ride height seems practical. We tackle a couple of gutters and came away without a scrape.

Few GT-R buyers are interested in fuel figures but via the multifunction display we can attest that in normal extra-urban driving the car will return figures around 14-16L/100km. Open the taps and... Well, you can't make 500hp with a thimble full of fuel.

The stats most will be really interested in are 0-100km/h and quarter mile times, however

Thanks to our colleagues at MOTOR magazine we can confirm that a) GT-R has launch control and b) it works! Using it to good effect on the complex's deserted dragstrip, in the failing light at the end of the Sendai session, MOTOR's David Morley punched out an even 4.0sec for the 0-100km/h sprint and 12.1sec for the standing 400m.

While in 'normal' conditions the 4.0sec will be hard to trim, the 400m time has a bit to go... You see, 'our' street GT-R was a Japanese model and ran into an artificial speed limited 'wall' at around 180km/h. With this happening well before we reached the 400m mark, there's no doubt there's an 11sec quarter in this beauty.