linuxpro

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The best 911 ever made was the Porsche 993. I don't believe that the GT-R is half the car that the 993 is. They still haven't beat the track time posted by the CTR2 (Yellowbird 993) on the 'Ring (6:59), and that car had 100 less horsepower than the GT-R. It's worth noting that the 993 platform holds a ton of racing records and titles, more than Nissan has ever won in the history of their company.

And, the TT993 absolutely kills a 997-based GT3 on the track, so I'd hardly say the GT-R beating up on a bloated 997-GT3 equates to it being better than *any* 911. That's like saying that because a 1987 Toyota Celica is faster than a Mustang II, than a 1987 Toyota Celica is faster than *any* Mustang ever made.

Also, all the speculation about the current GT-R is nonsense, since nobody in the world has seen a release version yet. Nissan hasn't built one. It's hilarious when car shows compare a prototype given to them by Nissan's engineering crew (tuned just for that day's track event) to a completely stock and shipped 911. How is that a fair comparison? Let's wait until the GT-R actually hits the market and is released, and then compare actual stock production cars for the US market. If you're going to say it has to be stock vs. stock to be fair, than so be it - let's see them race a few stock production cars, not prototype engineering units that have been tuned just for the day's event. You give me one hour to tune that 997, and I guarantee that race isn't nearly the same.

Ikarus

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Dude, what are you talking about? The new GT-R has been shipping in Japan for over half a year now.

I'm not going to argue with you about what Porsche was the best ever built. You know when a car company is about to get in trouble when they start bringing up past merits in order to maintain their status. This is in fact why I'm rooting for the Nissan GT-R and the Audi R8 to succeed in the market. Porsche, BMW and MB have been way too complacent in this segment in recent years. That's especially true for Porsche, who are clearly in the business of trying to milk their 911 cash cow to death. Let's not even talk about how every 911 ever produced looks essentially the same. Just look at how they're treating the Boxster/Cayman platform, a clearly superior design. As if in-house competition were the only thing they need to be worried about, they keep it at a safe distance to the 911, in order not to cannibalize its sales. That's why I say, go GT-R! Make Porsche and the others get off their lazy butts!

UK-C200

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So I'm not a big Porsche fan, but that's just me. I do, however, love the fact that Nissan is making a car that will compete off the lot with everything that Mercedes is pushing out of the AMG stable, most of the Ferrari's short of the Enzo, most of the Porsche's, and everything BMW has to offer. Whilst getting 16/22, and retailing for less than all of the above. And managing a top end of 198.

If nothing else it sure as hell throws down the gauntlet, and personally, I think Porsche, Mercedes AMG, and BMW all need some competition - honestly didn't think it would be a 6 cylinder Datsun, but hey - whatever it takes! :-)

bjohnson

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I'm driving an SLK350 now but I have a GT-R R35 (Black edition, gunmetal grey) arriving next April, so I will have to decide which one to keep. At the moment I plan to keep the GT-R for a couple of months, then sell it, but who knows what I will decide after I have driven it.

cousjcc

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For me it's not just about a car's performance, or even primarily. I prefer a car that I like the styling of, then after that has been found I start looking through performance numbers to see if I can live with it. In my own opinion, the GTR is disgustingly ugly. It's like someone over at nissan said "hey, lets take a look at the charger, mustang, and 2010 camaro and make a car that looks almost exactly the same as those 3 only uglier". I'll take an SLK 350 ANY day over the GT-R. But hey, it's an opinion and that's all. To anyone who prefers the GT-R to other cars, more power to them. I do wish I could spare the extra cash to buy one, garage it, then turn around and sell it a couple months later for a tidy profit. The demand for them is apparently pretty high and could be some potential easy money. I'd just never drive one, yick.

Hell, I even sacrificed my primary color choice - caspian blue - and waited for the 2009 SLK to come out because I prefer its subtle styling changes to the 2008 model. And they even increased the BHP and fuel economy. It was a win-win for me, with only a minor draw back of the capri blue since caspian was discontinued. Styling is everything!

SLKpower

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nissan ......please!

Ikarus

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Yeah, can you imagine the embarrassment? You take that oh so superior ride of yours to the track and get blown into the weeds by a lowly Datsun.

linuxpro

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The current GT-R that is being tested is an engineering PROTOTYPE, it is NOT a production model. Again, Nissan has NEVER released an American-market Skyline. The older Skylines (R33, etc) do not meet USA emissions or safety requirements, and the current GT-R has not been submitted for safety and emissions testing yet. The US-market GT-R is still in development and hasn't made it past prototype yet.

We saw the same hype with the TT-Supra and the NSX. Before they were released to the US market, Motor Trend and the other mags were given prototypes to play with, which put out insane numbers and made everyone say the TT-Supra was going to dominate everything on the market. It was the exact same hype you're hearing now about the GT-R.

And then what happened? Well, they had to make that prototype into a street-legal car for the US market. When it was released, Road & Track and Motor Trend (and the others) went silent about the TT-Supra, and only the fanboy high-school ricer kids still believed it was so dominant. Meanwhile, it was getting destroyed by all the 911s and Ferraris on track-day, the same cars that Toyota claimed it would humiliate. You talk to anyone who's driven a TT-Supra on a track and ask them what they think of it. Funny how that works.

That's my problem with the Japanese. Every 10 years, they rush a few prototypes out to the car mags and claim ungodly numbers that will crush the Italians and Germans for half the price. But they NEVER live up to the hype.

So frankly, I'm not buying the hype this time. I bought it with the TT-300ZX, TT-Supra, and NSX. And not one of those cars ever came close to competing with Firebirds, Camaros, 911s, Ferraris, Lambos, or any other car they claimed it would. The Japanese are only good at two things; talking about sports-cars and building econoboxes. They've yet to produce a sports car that could compete with Europe. They just talk about it, get everyone excited, and then release some lame duck that not only fails to meet the hype, but leaves everyone feeling like they just got duped.

Porsche tried to kill the 911 platform many times, and brought it back due to HUGE customer demand. I won't go too far into it, but perhaps you would benefit from a quick google on the 911 and its history. The reason the body hasn't changed is because Porsche focuses on engine design, suspension design, materials, etc... you know, the things that actually make a car a true sports car. Then they release ground-breaking technology that the rest of the world tries to copy. The design stasis is on purpose. It is part of their engineering ethic (Don't change what isn't broken... instead focus on making everything better, to the point of perfection).

I agree that the Cayman is an awesome platform, and have heard rumors from various Porsche engineers that they may be planning to finally retire the rear-engine layout of the 911 after the Cayman has been on the market for a while. Saying Porsche has gotten lazy is ignoring the Cayman, Boxster, Cayenne and Panamera. And those cars now make up the majority of their sales, and offer mind-boggling performance and value for their price, with no real competitors on the market - and with the Cayenne and Boxster, you could argue they actually redefined the market.

I also found it ironic that you think BMW will challenge Porsche to get off their "lazy butts." BMW has been cashing in (on the 3-series) and riding the gravy train of their reputation for years now, at least the last 20 years. And the quality of their product line has really dropped off in the last 10 years. With the exception of Bangle, I can't really think of many changes at all at BMW. They're not driving the market anymore, like Porsche has started to. For instance, I can't remember the last time they released a product like the Cayenne which challenged the entire industry to rethink a whole segment and redefine what it can do. Their last "revolutionary" car was the 2002 and that was built what... 30-35 years ago? The M1 will definitely be interesting, but it's about the only product in their lineup which truly takes BMW in a new and exciting direction.

If you're looking for a German auto mfr to challenge Porsche, I think your best hope would be Mercedes-Benz. I see good things in the future, since they finally dropped the Chrysler ball-and-chain, and appear to be focusing on quality and rebuilding their brand reputation. They're doing very exciting things with the Bluetec and diesel technology, and were the only auto mfr to drive hydrogen-cell technology in consumer cars. Their work on the Smart was ground-breaking and exciting, and has real potential as far as fuel-efficient alternatives to traditional car design (unlike the Mini, built by BMW, which gets the same gas mileage as my SLK).

linuxpro

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It might be wise to keep the smack-talking to a minimum until Nissan can actually release a track-worthy car. They have yet to do so in the entire history of their company. Frankly, I doubt they ever will. The Japanese are incapable of building track-worthy sports cars, or at least, they haven't been able to yet.

Ikarus

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Here's an interesting, brand-new read involving the GT-R and a Porsche GT2 amongst others. In the final tally, the GT-R is bested only by the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR.

Linuxpro, I never said "BMW will challenge Porsche". I agree with you that they have become as complacent and lazy recently. They are twins in the sense of having been spoilt by their own success. I've been putting my bets on Audi and Nissan, but with Porsche's recent acquisition plans for VW, Audi's prospects are severely hampered. Regarding how much of the GT-R has made it into the US version - we'll soon find out. The first US customer has just recently taken delivery of his.

kenkenclub

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hum. ..i rememver R32 is so fast, Group A and N racing have to change
rule, so R32 can not join...they are not track worth so just kick them out.

kenkenclub

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originally, I want to trade in my 55, but i didn't. I did get my GTR tho,
almost last one, i got it from Santa Clarita nissan, for 76k, just 5k markup, not bad.

there is 3 miles moutain climb to my house, i know my 55 can average 55mph,(35zone), 997 can do 65mph, but GT_R can do 70, and i felt it will go faster
without me. cause everytime i am asking myslef did i enter this corner too fast, the
car will answer "No." this car, you have to defeat your own fear.

on the highway, 997 pull harder than gt-r. slk look better than gt-r. gt-r belong to track.
not drag, but willow spring, lagua seca

DansSlk

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Don't understand this sorry.

Why am i so reminded of the Bugatti Veyron? Give it perhaps a year and this will be yet another car, also as a few of us have said we need car to car races to draw any conclusion.

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dsb

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Let's see some pics!

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kenkenclub

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At the 1990 Macau Grand Prix Guia touring car race, the factory backed R32 driven by Masahiro Hasemi led the race from the start to the finishing line which caused a wave of protests by the European entrants. The following year, the car was forced to carry a weight penalty of 140 kg (309 lb) and was up against the more competitive DTM BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II. A disgruntled Hasemi was forced to settle for fourth place. For the following and final year the weight penalty was reduced and works backed Hasemi returned with another privateer R32 that crashed in the race, while Hasemi would retire with engine failure.

kenkenclub

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in the annual 1,000 km race at the Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, Australia, where the winner in 1991 and 1992 was a GT-R (despite receiving additional 100 kg (220 lb) in weight penalties and a turbo pop off valve in 1992)

kenkenclub

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I am no GTR fans, my point is nissan did build track worth car. that's all.

kenkenclub

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