scathing

"Should" is arguable. The counterfeiters don't have to pay a designer to come up with an original idea, and that's what costs money. If the clothing is well made, someone had to come up with how it's made and what materials are used to provide that quality. The counterfeiters also don't have to pay for all that marketing dross to "position the brand" where it is. These are all costs that add up for the OEM, but not something a counterfeiter needs to worry about while still benefiting from the expenditure. I've also noticed that counterfeit goods tend to be low quality. Counterfeit stuff tends to fall apart, since it's all the show but without any of that aforementioned stitching / materials choice. Lets face it, it doesn't cost Nissan 8 million yen in materials and manufacturing labour to make a GT-R. But if they hadn't spent money on wind tunnel research, test mules, shipping teams to Germany to go driving around a specific tollway in the mountains, etc the GT-R wouldn't be as good as it is. Imagine if someone bought a GT-R, pulled it apart and measured everything to find out how it was made, and then made practically the same car but with shitter parts and sold it for half the price. They'd use aluminium instead of carbon, and steel instead of aluminium. They'd put it on Nankangs instead of Bridgestones. The multi-function display would be coded by Wipro or Satam instead of Polyphony. The aero might generate massive turbulence at speed because it wasn't copied just right. It'd still look and sound like an R35, and for people who don't care about what makes the GT-R so good but only care bout being seen in one then they'd all flock to it. To people who'll only cruise George St / Chapel St in it, it's as good as Nissan's so why bother buying it. Since that style-over-substance attitude is quite prevalent these days, it might bury the genuine vehicle because it devalues the reputation of the car as well as letting wankers who might have bought one anyway to show off to get a knock-off. However, in the interest of parity I will include this article on why piracy in the fashion industry is a good thing which I thought was quite interesting. The gist is that it basically spurs innovation. However, it's not entirely applicable to the car industry since the business model for developing cars is to have a several year model cycle, where as fashion seasons are annual and so pricing is engineered to recoup costs within a relatively short period.

For a 2003-2005 model with the 206kW engine, on a good day you'll see around 180rwkW (depending on the dyno). Mine pulled 195rwkW on CRD's dyno here in Sydney with practically the mods you've listed, but on APS' dyno in Melbourne I'd be lucky to see 180rwkW. When my car was making 185rwkW on CRD's dyno, it was pulling around 170rwkW at APS. I've seen stock V35s pull higher numbers than stock Z33s, but at the same time it's a case of "different dynos, different operators" so it's hard to say. The engine delivers power like a passenger car. As you can see, my torque curve is flat as a tack. It's great in the midrange, but until you do all those breathing mods it'll feel a bit choked up top. It depends on what you want with the car. I've driven a 350Z with a 221kW engine and it's far nicer. The engine revs cleanly all the way to the limiter stock, where a 206kW engine will start to strain from around 1000-1500RPM from redline. The loss of 10Nm in the midrange can barely be felt, but how much smoother it feels in the top third of the rev range makes it a much nicer experience.

Stock, the car sounds boring. But then, if the Infiniti G37 / V36 Skyline 370GT that the 370Z shares its platform is anything to go by, the 370Z isn't going to sound much better. With a (noise legal) catback, the 350Z gets the note it should have had from the factory...but then that's true for almost every affordable car on the market.

I'm going to guesstimate that those who are using them as road cars are going to want a warranty and dealer support if they're putting down $150K. Maybe they've never been to a Nissan stealership, and realised how little you're actually getting from them. People who are able to pay the asking price, and then modify / race them, pretty much already have done so. I dunno about that. Nissan didn't have them ready for local sale when the Aussie dollar was doing a roaring trade against the Yen, which would have been the perfect time to bring in a car this expensive. I'm not sure if they're "leaving it late", or just procrastinating because they're lazy, or some other reason.

But if the car "doesn't have LC", then it's never going to be the case.

You might want to see if Just Jap will sell their spare R35 wheels.

They can't void your warranty for using something that doesn't exist. "You used launch control on the car when you broke the box so your warranty is void." "What launch control? " "Errr......" I'm still not understanding why VDC off is potentially going to void your warranty, from a technical standpoint. It's not like not having VDC is going to inherently put wear on a car...or other prior Nissan AWD auto would have had issues by now.

Why would you want to? You've got a GT-R.

Ugly, but if it goes faster it's OK.

It's not murder. It's an accident.

Wanna sell the rims?

Ah, I thought they were all GT-R shots. It does look really tough on those wheels.

Can I get the pic of these rims on the Z33?

Lucky you're in Melbourne, with your bad back. If you had to drive on Sydney roads you probably would have bought a 4WD by now. The stock suspension in the V35 is really compliant, while still retaining good body control. If you do decide to upgrade, there are options out there that let you retain a decent ride. Thankfully the platform this car is built on isn't JDM-only, so plenty of aftermarket options exist out there for people who know that stiff suspension does not automatically equate to good suspension.

You could accidentally kill them during your citizen's arrest to achieve your vigilante justice.......

Back when racing was racing.

When are you getting it? Come to the BBQ this weekend

That's f**king bullshit. I always like to take photos at accidents now, to avoid claims or people moving the cars' relative positions before cops show up. Also, with details it's good to ask for proof. I always ask to see a driver's license. If they refuse to show it, block them off and call the cops telling them that someone without a license just hit your car. If they produce a license when the cops get there, you still get the info you want. Can you proceed without assistance from the police? Civil action or something?

With the only cars you're not going to smash, it'll all be settled by reaction time rather than the vehicle's actual acceleration.

The car's registration must be in the state where it spends most of its time. Same with the driver's license. I've seen people busted for this in the past.

Isn't this in approximately the same area where that woman got blinded by someone throwing rocks off a bridge onto the freeway? What is wrong with the people down there? Why can't they just go masturbate into a jar instead?

But Brian's R34 beat Suki's S2000!

CVT only comes in the sedans. The coupe just comes with a regular slusho. Like I said, if you want a luxo GT you get the V35. It doesn't have edges, it's got cuddly rounded curves. Unless you really want RWD and you're willing to modify the buggery out of it (twin turbos, interior stripping) the car will feel boring in comparison.

This didn't happen to me but a mate of mine. It's not damaging a car either, it's far worse. It does fit your "caught in the act while doing something stupid" topic, though: