Tag: Nissan

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Nissan

Nissan 370Z shows a need for speed

2009 Nissan 370Z

Nissan has jumped the gun a little by pre-releasing three official images of the upcoming 370Z. From what you can see here the more organic approach, compared to the angular 350Z, gives the updated car a stronger connection to earlier Z models, most notably the 240Z. Nice! Only a very short message was released with the images, which confirmed the 370Z will make its public debut at the LA Motor Show on 19 November.

What Nissan have been more forthcoming with is their deal with Electronic Arts’ new console game Need for Speed: Undercover, which will enable gamers to beat reality by one day. Need for Speed: Undercover goes on sale in the US on 18 November. Nissan’s Vice-President of Marketing in the US, Christian Meunier, is pretty happy about the match too,  “By launching the all-new 2009 Nissan Z first through Need for Speed: Undercover, we also gain the spirit and energy that EA gamers experience so strongly. Together with EA, we have truly integrated the all-new 370Z in the overall game experience in a meaningful, multi-layered and profound way.”

More images and full press statements after the jump.

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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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Porsche Volkswagen

Porsche accuses Nissan of cheating at the Nürburgring

Nissan GT-R laps Nurburgring in 7 minutes 29 seconds

A few days ago a Porsche official made the extraordinary public claim that Nissan cheated when setting the GT-R’s amazing lap of 7 minute 29 seconds around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. And now Nissan is fighting back defending its honour. Read the story in full at AUSringers.com.

Or you can watch the lap below and decide for yourself…

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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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Top Gear

Top Gear – Series 11, Episode 4

This week’s episode of Top Gear saw Jeremy Clarkson make a bold claim. He reckons the Alfa Romeo 8C is “the best looking car ever made”. I disagree. Sure, the side profile is stunning, but I just can’t see much to like about that front end. It’s all a bit of a mish mash. Enjoy the YouTube clip above and judge for yourself. A couple of pretty tidy newsreaders from the BBC were this week’s Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car. Fiona Bruce fared quite well, but Kate Silverton’s time, in such shocking weather, was actually damn impressive. Of course, the main feature of this episode was the first big Top Gear race since the Veyron first appeared in Series 7. This time the crew was off to Japan and it was Jeremy in the Nürburgring taming Nissan GT-R taking on Richard and James aboard a 200mph bullet train. Exectuve Producer Andy Wilman claimed in his blog that the Veyron race was “too big and overblown” and that the GT-R provided an opportunity to bring the big races back to our screens. Well, I’m disagreeing with another TG heavy as I reckon the Veyron film was one of their best. The cinematography was superb. The GT-R film is very enjoyable, of course, but, for mine, not one of their best. Still can’t wait for Episode 5!

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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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