Sarumatix

Lacuna operor non planto vos callidus To a person without google this means nothing, similarly the use of newtons x meters is of little use to most people who are interested in cars, let alone those who aren't (excluding anyone who actually does need to know the amount of torque of something precisely). Language is a tool of understanding, necessity is the requirement to be precise, Clarkson walks the tight rope rather well compared to the majority of car reviewers in this and past decades. He is rich and successful because of the information he provides and the information he doesn't provide. But yeah, tiff gets overwhelmed by his enthusiasm to the point that he forgets to demonstrate where the enthusiasm really comes from (ergo.. wow this car is just great, it's so good, it does things I like, wow you should have one). Clarkson shows exactly where his enthusiasm comes from with anecdote, estimation, and interesting demonstrations (ergo.. watch what happens when I do this! WOOOW! If I do this, that falls off! What a heap of junk.. etc etc etc). If I was betting on a race I'd pick Tiff, if I was betting on who presents the most information about cars to the most people I'd pick Clarkson.

Wow, that seems like a strangely rash statement to make Roy. While modern cars cannot teach people about the true pleasure of learning to control a 'dependent' car, these new 'independent' cars are not without a lot of merit. This is one of the reasons why modern car journalism have to use much more holistic (general/broad) ways of testing cars. From the reviews I have seen, the gadgets appear to detract, but _SURPRISINGLY_ little, from the pure driving experience. While Clarkson can't drive, he can really show people about what aspects of cars are exciting and which are lacking. I would be extremely surprised if he didn't suggest the GTR over the R8 in most cases. I guess each to their own though.

A contact of mine is looking to work for Nissan's design team in the near future. He happens to know the guy who drew that concept and you can see more of his work here: http://www.stehrenbergerdesign.com/ Anyway he says this was almost certainly done for a magazine and is likely to have no connection to Nissan what so ever. That does however change little about the rumor itself.

I remember having this discussion with someone once around when exactly a car stops being a 'x' and becomes something else. Engine? drive train? chassis? The answer it seems is.. who gives a crap? I paid 12k for a 4 door with complete GTR running gear and after enjoying the car for 4 years, do you think I honestly give a crap what you think? Like I said, if the difference between my car and a 'real' GTR is the same as the difference between that concept car and the 'real' R35 GTR, I know which car i'll be choosing when it comes time to pick. heh 'import beasts'

Gotta say I really enjoyed this review, thanks for putting it up.

nm

well sure I have 2 extra doors, different tail lights, a different shaped boot.. ra ra ra ra... If these are the only differences in the R35-like 4-door, sign me up .

Erm, if you replace every drive train component over to GTR, what real difference is there? Because that is why my car has. Anyway, there were 4-door GTRs, released by Autech.

Hmm not sure what you are all whinging about, I really like the idea . Then again, I am driving a 4-door 32 GTR.

< owch

well the R35 was hanging with the MCR R34.. and the MCR is faster than a z-tune IIRC. So...

ya a V35 in the top 10? not unless they did a hell of an engine swap and a lot of otherwork . Specially when R35 seems to be unlikely .

THere is a car over here in the east with exactly the same spoiler (yellow R34 GT-t). When I first saw it I did a double take heh, does not become .

Very interesting idea, I don't see any problem with it.

Don't know about that snowman, the car seems quite capable of shaming some "on paper" far superior cars. I agree top 10 is not likely however . I am fairly confident that it will place a lot better than many cars with "similar" specs.

Enjoyed that review a lot . There is a lot more to presenting details on a car that cold hard numbers. Top gear understand this very well.

i'm no engine engineer , but from what I gather there is no way to balance a V6 without using balance shafts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_balance Have a look down the bottom for the lists of engines with inherent advantages and disadvantages of balance. but as I was trying to say, balance is only part of the problem. Infact it is compactness which has pushed inline engines out of the mainstream. If you look back through time you will find massive inline engines (i've heard of an inline 16 engine) however as cars have become more and more compact these engines just can't work. That appears to also occur in 'performance' cars now too, where the balance of the engine position is more important than the some aspects of the power output.

Nice photochop, straight to the desktop for me .

Just a quick note you might be interested in. This may indeed be part of the reason why the GTR performs so well. Overall weight (sprung weight) _IS NOT_ as important as the weight of the wheels and suspension and other bits (unsprung weight). This wiki article highlights what it means http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsprung_weight however the effects are potentially more important than those indicated in the article. Thus putting led wheels on is likely to have a much large effect than putting those same wheels in the boot .

theory basically goes like this from what I understand V6 = compact, not perfectly balanced, easily mounted in the dimensions of a car's engine bay I6 = LONG, perfectly balanced, difficult to mount thus most companies are opting for V engines because they are much easier to build , with larger capacities that can meet emisions and better safety outcomes. It is far more complicated than this (for example I engines have problems with the length of the crankshaft) but is a pretty good summary I think. I6 engines make heaps of torque, but they are typically compared with much larger capacity engines because of the relative size of the blocks (2.6 litre vs 3.8 litre).

I don't think sloutch ever managed to get the engine past 3000rpm .

Wow yes it boggles the mind how they are getting lap times like that with base stats as above. Just goes to show that the past thinking of minimum weight etc isn't the whole story.

Change your signature.

I didn't really think the GTR faded that fast (the old GTRs faded much faster IIRC). Anyone wanna paste the change in lap times? I think most of the race was battling through traffic, so the long term aspects weren't really covered well (I think the fastest lap was the last?). No doubt the brakes will be an issue though you are quite right.

I imported my car through prestige, good company. I know a few others who have followed me and they have all been pleased. Know people who have gone with J-spec, similar stories. Know someone who went with SSV, car wasn't quite as good as they made out but none the less he is happy with his car. My personal opinion would be to aim to import yourself as you have a much larger supply to select from.