Category: Nissan

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Nissan

Nissan GT-R image gallery – Australian delivery from April 2009

R35 Nissan GT-R

Well, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you’ll be well aware of the hype and publicity created by the Nissan GT-R. Now, in an official capacity at least, the GT-R will be heading down under. The country that gave the car its Godzilla nickname (courtesy of Wheels magazine) will be in Australian Nissan showrooms in April 2009. Okay, a select few Nissan showrooms—the GT-R will be sold at just 11 Nissan High Performance Centres.

The GT-R will be available in two specifications, GT-R ($148,800) and GT-R Premium ($152,800). The Premium model doesn’t add any extra power, just a few bling items like smoked alloy wheels, better sound system and the like. There will be a choice of six colours, Super Silver, Vibrant Red, Gun Metallic, Black Obsidian, Titanium, and Ivory Pearl.

Orders will be taken at the Australian International Motor Show from 9 October. For Nissan’s full release and a massive image gallery, comprising of 30 pictures at 2000x1320px, make sure you read below…

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Nissan Top Gear

Top Gear – Series 11, Episode 5

Jeremy Clarkson couldn’t get enough of the Nissan GT-R so he kicked off Series 11, Episode 5 by showing us all why the beefy R35 is proving to be a pain in the neck for the big German bahnstormers (see above). Clarkson and James May then proved what pillocks they are by bringing London traffic to a standstill in their very own classic motors—James in a 1972 Rolls Royce (of course) Corniche and Jeremy in a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser. Quite entertaining chaps. A couple of rich blokes fanged around the track in the Lacetti, and one of them, in particular, was right on the money. Richard Hammond joined Jeremy in closing the show with a traditional fox hunt. In a Daihatsu Terios. For mine, this was a great, take it back to its roots, Top Gear episode. A shame then, that next week’s episode will be the last for Series 11.

Still, Top Gear Australia can’t be too far away. And, if nothing else, that will generate plenty of discussion.

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Audi BMW Hyundai News Nissan Porsche Renault

Hyundai introduces tamper proof identification labels

Hyundai tamper proof compliance label

In a bid to reduce the chances of vehicle re-birthing Hyundai has joined Audi, Nissan and Renault by introducing self-voiding vehicle identification labels. The labels are cheap to produce and will be rendered useless if removed from the car. The new labelling will replace the familiar aluminium compliance plates found on most other cars sold in Australia. The older style compliance plates are easily reused in a re-birthing industry that costs Australians around $250 million every year.

“Improved vehicle identification is a major focus of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council” said NRMA Insurance Head of Research Robert McDonald, “vehicle identification technology such as self-voiding labels, cost less than $2 and are one of the best defences against professional car theft.”

Hyundai’s announcement follows the release yesterday of NRMA Insurance’s annual Vehicle Theft Ratings, which measure the ability of a car to resist being broken into, stolen and re-birthed. Hyundai’s Sonata was one of the top three performers in the medium car category, whilst the Grandeur scored the highest security rating in the large car category. Although the Vehicle Theft Ratings revealed that Subaru, BMW, Audi and Porsche were the standout manufacturers in 2008, with all of their vehicles performing well.

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Nissan

How much power does the Nissan GT-R really produce?

Nissan GT-R

Just how much power does the Nissan GT-R actually have? The official Nissan figure tells us the car has 352kW (see below), or around 480bhp. Nissan’s reported 7:29 Nürburgring lap time has generated enough hype, histrionics and humdrum to whip internet forums into a lather the world over. To be honest, a lot of the criticisms of the GT-R’s Nordschleife lap time, such as the alleged misrepresentations by Nissan (different start and stop points, rolling start), were made by uneducated Americans who only started hearing about the Ring when their auto makers decided corners were actually here to stay. The published video of the GT-R’s lap follows the same start and finish conventions as any other “officially” published Nordschleife Time Attack lap, yes, even including the rolling start.

However, it seems, not all stereotypes are created equal as this article on the New York Times blog explains. Albeit, ironically, using 400m of dead straight tarmac to prove its point. A fairly basic estimate of horsepower can be calculated by using a car’s weight and its drag strip trap speed (the speed with which a car crosses the line). If we take the NYT at their word a GT-R weighs 4000lbs (1814kg) and can reach a speed of 122mph (196kph) on a traditional quarter mile drag strip (400m). Crunch the numbers and you end up with a figure of around 565bhp (420kW). That may explain why Nissan reckons the GT-R can get around the Ring faster than a Corvette Z06 (7:43), which weighs significantly less and has an official power figure above the GT-R’s.

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Nissan Targa Tasmania

R35 Nissan GT-R world competition debut at Targa Tasmania

R35 Nissan GT-R at Targa Tasmania

The 2008 Targa Tasmania event marked the international racing debut for the new R35 Nissan GT-R. Sadly, the event didn’t go entirely to plan for the big Nissan, forced to withdraw from the event on Day 2 with suspension problems.

You can read more about the car’s involvement at Targa at gtrblog.com. There are also more pics below of the car at Targa Tasmania.

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Nissan

R35 Nissan GT-R written off

Nissan GT-R write off

Spotted via CarAdvice and the NAGTROC forum was the sad news that a newly delivered R35 Nissan GT-R had met an early demise. It seems the Singaporean driver was on his way to Sepang for a few track thrills. Too much ah beng and not enough talent I guess, poor bloke. There’s more pics on the NAGTROC forum for you to have a gander at if twisted metal gets you off. I think the damage to this car is sufficient enough to declare, no, it won’t buff right out.

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Chevrolet Nissan Porsche Targa Tasmania

Three icons to make world debut at Targa Tasmania

The iconic nameplates of Porsche GT2, Nissan GT-R and Corvette Z06 will all make their worldwide tarmac rally debuts at the 2008 Targa Tasmania, held from 15-20 April. The newly launched R35 Nissan GT-R, to be driven by Tony Alford, is one of the most keenly anticipated new cars in recent years and Australia is very lucky to be having the car running in such a high profile local event.

The Corvette will be driven by Neil and Daniel Ford, and there will also be a second Z06 to be used as a support vehicle. I wonder how many spare parts will be removed from that car before the event is over!

The other big name, the Porsche GT2, will see Targa Porsche stalwarts Jim Richards and Barry Oliver in the cockpit. Expect this experienced team to be fighting for outright honours. The GT2 and GT-R will most probably be duelling in this event just as they have been trading Nürburgring Nordschleife lap times. Just another interesting sidenote to this year’s Targa.

Stay tuned for some detailed reports on the event from AUSmotive, more on that later.