What's it like to own a GTR - i.e. GTR mythbusted!

Nissan GTR ownership reality

I have just finished watching yet another Youtube video of GTR vs. whatever and the nonsense comments from both sides of the barricade have forced me to create this post. It is also my first post on CarThrottle so apologies if it is not made well enough. ;-)

In our family, we are lucky enough to own the Nissan GTR. It is a car that came in the first batch of cars to Europe and we got it late 2009 (with a year delay due to the poor Nissan importer in the Czech Republic). Since then, the car has done over 130 000 km (approx 80 000 miles), most of which (100k) in the first 2 years of its life. It was used as a daily driver by my mum (don’t ask me, she’s a petrolhead) both in summer and winter. We ran through few sets of tires (both winter and summer) and drove it around some wonderful race tracks.

• First, let’s establish the GTR’s road-going abilities.

1. It is mighty fast.
   Actually it is so fast, that we both (me and my mum) managed to lose our driving licences because of it. The speed just doesn’t get translated to you in this car. You are inevitably going to do waaay over the speed limit and when you get stopped by a cop be genuinely surprised. Because you were breathing on the throttle pedal…to avoid speeding. Well, joke’s on you.

2. It is hideously uncomfortable.
   There it is, I said it. This is the truth. All the bollocks from the road tests where they praise the GTR for its daily usability are…well bollocks. I am 192 cm tall and around 115 kg. So quite big. The car is…quite big. I cannot fit in it. When I sit in the driver’s seat, my head is nearly touching the roof (almost impossible to fit in with a helmet) and instead of being in the seat, I am on the seat; meaning the edges of the lumbar support are pushing against my back, rather than cocoon my side. Furthermore, the bottom of the seat is too short and kills the blood flow to your right leg…which is kinda bad as in this car that is the ONLY foot you need. The passenger side is even worse as you have nothing else to do but think about all these little, yet annoying, things. I drove this car across Europe and let me tell you, the only cure to these problems (especially on a loong drive) is to drive it like you stole it…but then, be prepared to lose your licence. :-D Now, truth be told, my mum, who is considerably smaller than me (luckily) does not experience any of these issues. So I guess I have to end this with obligatory : " It’s a Japanese car, designed by Japanese for Japanese." (no my mum is not Japanese). Although I struggle to understand how they managed to make a car that is so big on the outside and so small on the inside. I could fit more comfortably in my Carrera (RIP) with bucket seats or even Z4 coupe which is tiny.

3. Ride quality = near to – because a racecar.
   As a driver, it is not that bad as for some placebo reason, the ride does not seem to be that harsh but as soon as you switch seats, book a chiropractic. And do not be fooled by the Bilstein Adaptive Shocks. I devised a little test on one of our famously broken highways going over concrete blocks. I set the cruise control to a reasonable speed going over the blocks which were positioned in a set interval with approximately equal ferocity. Then I started flipping the damper switch. Yep, you guessed it, NOTHING happened when going to Comfort. In Race, the car felt a bit tighter. So the green light acknowledging the Comfort mode is to simply increase the ambient lighting quality of the interior. BUT When you start pushing it on A or B roads, you instantly forget all this. The car is very planted, on rails (cliche but true). The steering feel is surprisingly good as is the weighting and directiveness. This leads me to:

4. Road handling.
   Now, here is when you get your money’s worth. I have driven number of cars but none feels like the GTR on a public road. The car turns instantly, brakes are good enough to scare unprepared passengers to death and traction is pretty much endless (provided you are not a moron and keep the traction system on..well even so, it is very good ;-) ). It inhales corners and exhales speed on straights…and this is the most important part..IT IS FUN!! GREAT FUN!! Too many times I heard: " Oh, the GTR is boring, like a playstation blah blah blah…". Well I will bet you any money that when those people actually drive the car they will speak otherwise. Fun in the GTR is not mad oversteer or bonkers engine sound or changing gears. It is the speed you discover hidden in every corner. The pure sense of: “Holy F*ck, I just went 170 kph through that series of corners.”. It is the g-forces that you fell exerted on your body, especially the day after. Plus the realization that you have just done that in car with number plates that will comfortably seat 4 Japanese or 2 average sized Europeans and all their luggage. This brings me nicely to:

5. Daily usage, running costs
   Ok, so far we have established that if you are average sized person and you live in a country with normal roads you could in theory use GTR as a daily driver. Well we did and here are a few observations. Car has badly accessible big boot that gets very, very hot due to the tranny, diff and exhausts so never ever put a living thing inside that boot. You will hear it complain over that V6 rumble (btw it was an injured cat we found by the side of a road which was soon placed in the cabin). It has brutal air-con. That’s brutal in every single meaning of that word. It is either Siberia or Vesuvius mode; hurricane or dying mouse’s cough. The iPod shuffle programme must have some in-built Easter-egg in it…I have over 12 000 songs on it and it only seems to play classical music or Rammstein. The Bose system is great but you cannot setup the mids and over 160 kph you have to have it screaming over the road noise. Yes, the road noise…wind noise= minimal; tyre noise=WHAT, I CAN’T HEAR YOU??. To be fair, it only happens over 200 kph…but that is the speed you are going to be doing in this car…deal with it. While we are at noises…the car makes some pornographically good noises, well at least in my opinion, and these come from the turbos, gearbox and diffs. They can be quite scary when you do not know what is going on but once you get used to them you would not wanna have it any other way. It is very raw and gives the car great mechanical feel. Engine noise is non-existent. It just hums. But it is a good, comforting hum.

Back to running costs.
Tyres=expensive; limited choice
Oil change interval is too short to have it done at dealer – which you will in order not to lose the warranty- 10 000 km for engine oil, 30 000 km for gearbox. Engine oil is fine but gearbox oil is expensive.
Brakes can be very expensive, depends how you drive.

Now the Achilles heel of every GTR…GEARBOX
* This is hugely applicable to the early cars but also applies to the newer ones with upgraded box. They can and do fail. New one from Nissan=£15 000. Ours failed twice. Luckily, both times repairable. First time it was one of the selector mechanisms in the gearbox got misplaced and gears would not go in properly. Second time, the gear selector arm of 1-3-5 gears broke and both clutches were gone. After that, we had the car fixed and stopped using it as a daily as it was getting ridiculously expensive; 30 000 km later gearbox works as a charm although there are a few tips for fellow owners:
1. Be slow and gentle, take your time
I know this rule applies to many areas of life and GTR gearbox is no exception. If you get in the car, grab the lever and yank it all the way down she is going to be moody. In the end, she is gonna lose it and break down. Always put it in Neutral first and then Drive, i.e. one step at a time. Also, let her warm up so the oil flows better. Sometimes you will find out that after reverse the box will not put 1st gear but 2nd . That’s because you are going too fast. Go back to reverse and try again.
2. Never curse at her
I know this is getting a bit silly now but what I mean by that is do not let your emotions get the better of you. The box can be quite hesitant sometimes, especially in a traffic jam situation…it is a dual clutch NOT automatic so it can also be rather jerky. Do not let that upset you as cursing at her proved to backfire…at least for me.

Ok, I realize this is quite long and most of you must be getting bored by now so I am just going to stop right here. I will add another post about the Race track performance should you guys wish it. If not and you read it all the way here, thank you for your time anyway. I hope this helps to clarify and mythbust what GTR really is.

If in doubt, flat out!