A week ago, after my visit to the motor show, I have the opportunity to check out one of the first privately imported Nissan GTR in Australia. I was pretty excited to finally get up close to the car and have a sit inside because the GTR they have at the Australian motor show was completely fenced off.
The company which owns this car allowed me to check out the car for as long as I want, and I got to sit inside and play around with it. Sadly I was not allowed to drive it, and I don't think I will want to anyway.
The car has this unique dark cubanite silver like colour, it isn't the best colour for the car, but the car still look fantastic. It is also very low, as low as the Porsche GT2 I saw at the Top Gear studio.
http://imageshack.us
It is a lot better to see the car under natural lighting because all the styling details, edges and lines on the car have become far more visible. I was looking at it for about 20 min and I never got bored.
I had a chat with one of the engineer from the company while we were sitting inside the car. The 1st question I asked was how much power does their GTR produce at the dyno. He said the power at the wheels was 300kW, which suggests that the engine produced the claimed 350kW, and not 380kW as suggested by some magazines.
The 2nd question I asked was how much power have they been able to extract from their own ecu, and they said they were able to get 400kW out of the engine, with no mechanical issues at all. They said the gearbox held up quite well, with no dramas.
Pretty much everyone I have spoken to within the company has driven the car, and they were allowed to drive it home
!! One guy told me people nearly crashed into the car as they tried to get as close to the car as possible, while taking photos of it on their phone. Another guy, who owns an Evo 9 said the GTR "completely trashes the EVO'' and makes his EVO feels like a "sh*tbox)
While I was inside the car, I went though the in car computer. Since the car is a standard Japanese spec, the buttons were largely in japanese, and all the instructions were in japanese, however I have managed to find the answer to that mysterious "Carwing'' button. My japanese is extremely limited, but I can accurately say that "carwing'' button is for traffic update information and weather information, I have no idea why it says Carwing, but here is my answer.
The car feels very solid inside, it feels very well engineered. All the buttons have a quality feel to them. There isn't that much leg room inside, I have the front seat set all the way back so I can sit comfortably. There isn't a lot of headroom as well, and there is absolutely no room for the rear passenger. They will struggle to fit in, even if they don't have legs. The front seats are comfortable and it provides enough support at all the right places. I can't really see much of the bonnet, and rear vision is extremely poor.
The interior quality is extremely good, the fit and finish is faultless. The leather feels expensive, the plastics nicely textured and they are soft to touch. All the silver trims are made from actual metal, not cheap painted plastics.
Overall I am very impressed, and I do really want this car.
http://imageshack.us
The company which owns this car allowed me to check out the car for as long as I want, and I got to sit inside and play around with it. Sadly I was not allowed to drive it, and I don't think I will want to anyway.
The car has this unique dark cubanite silver like colour, it isn't the best colour for the car, but the car still look fantastic. It is also very low, as low as the Porsche GT2 I saw at the Top Gear studio.
http://imageshack.us
It is a lot better to see the car under natural lighting because all the styling details, edges and lines on the car have become far more visible. I was looking at it for about 20 min and I never got bored.
I had a chat with one of the engineer from the company while we were sitting inside the car. The 1st question I asked was how much power does their GTR produce at the dyno. He said the power at the wheels was 300kW, which suggests that the engine produced the claimed 350kW, and not 380kW as suggested by some magazines.
The 2nd question I asked was how much power have they been able to extract from their own ecu, and they said they were able to get 400kW out of the engine, with no mechanical issues at all. They said the gearbox held up quite well, with no dramas.
Pretty much everyone I have spoken to within the company has driven the car, and they were allowed to drive it home
!! One guy told me people nearly crashed into the car as they tried to get as close to the car as possible, while taking photos of it on their phone. Another guy, who owns an Evo 9 said the GTR "completely trashes the EVO'' and makes his EVO feels like a "sh*tbox) While I was inside the car, I went though the in car computer. Since the car is a standard Japanese spec, the buttons were largely in japanese, and all the instructions were in japanese, however I have managed to find the answer to that mysterious "Carwing'' button. My japanese is extremely limited, but I can accurately say that "carwing'' button is for traffic update information and weather information, I have no idea why it says Carwing, but here is my answer.
The car feels very solid inside, it feels very well engineered. All the buttons have a quality feel to them. There isn't that much leg room inside, I have the front seat set all the way back so I can sit comfortably. There isn't a lot of headroom as well, and there is absolutely no room for the rear passenger. They will struggle to fit in, even if they don't have legs. The front seats are comfortable and it provides enough support at all the right places. I can't really see much of the bonnet, and rear vision is extremely poor.
The interior quality is extremely good, the fit and finish is faultless. The leather feels expensive, the plastics nicely textured and they are soft to touch. All the silver trims are made from actual metal, not cheap painted plastics.
Overall I am very impressed, and I do really want this car.
http://imageshack.us
