God_speed

Spotted a red R33 GT-R lowered with R34 GT-R wheels and no. plate ND 576 on Epping Rd tonight at Marsfield. Looked nice except what caught my attention which was LED-type rear tail lights that appeared to have faded completely and lit up white.

Great info Jeff. $3-4K is not as bad as I would have expected although the excess through Just Car is pretty extreme. Being a factory-imported car, I reckon all Nissan Australia dealerships should be assisting their customers with getting the best price on insurance, and that's if they don't provide insurance in-house, which I reckon they should (but probably can't). As you would know Jeff - BMW have insurance plans available in-house when you buy a car through the dealership. Although these insurance costs (together with servicing costs) are all speculation on the ADM cars so far, I would have thought Nissan Aus would be working harder for your dollars, those of you who are lucky enough to buy one. I'd like to think that Nissan will provide owners with absolute first-class service, akin to that of Lexus.

Looks good and tough in its own right... plus with all that $$ under the bonnet it's probably faster than a lot of stuff that will be there on the day

Guess we will find out for sure once the deliveries actually start taking place. What about the servicing experiences of overseas owners who have had their R35s for up to a year now? If they have been getting theirs serviced from a main dealer, surely the costs must be similar there too, otherwise Nissan Aus is just profiteering? Some of the measures described here are just crazy. At the end of the day it is still a road car that is intended for road use isnt' it? Does Nissan want R35 owners to treat their cars like old 512BB Ferraris, only taken out on sunny weekends and wrapped in cotton wool every other day for fear of breaking some precious part? I can't help but feel that Nissan could have scaled back some of the engineering on the R35 and while that might have meant it would lose 5% of its performance potential, it would cost 20-30% less to maintain. Maybe it's just the japanese (could even say German) way, being that meticulous and engineering everything to that nth degree, and I love that attention to detail and engineering that pushes the envelope, but on a mainstream car? I'm not sure if the ZR-1 with its apparently very basic engineering, yet comparable on-track performance, needs such a high degree of attention either at production stage or via maintenance...

Yeah, got that from Andy Butler's GT-R book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1844251055/ref=s9_qpick_c2_t2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=158YWH5XSZ87VVHDFS3V&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938131&pf_rd_i=507846) I think. Don't think I knew about the synchros... You learn something new every day eh

You should be able to find out more through the Skyline-specific area of the forum to get a better answer, but basically as follows, the S3 is the most different Series 1: Single airbag (I think dual was an option) Grey interior trim with blue detailing Slightly rounded-shape four-spoke steering wheel Flat dashboard Series 2: Dual airbag Grey interior trim with blue detailing Flatter four-spoke steering wheel Raised dashboard finish Slightly recessed rear "SKYLINE" plastic garnish between the reversing lights Series 3: As for Series 2, PLUS Grey interior trim with RED detailing Upgraded ABS computer Xenon headlamps and different design headlamp cluster Deeper chin spoiler Rear fog light (replaces one of the reverse lights) All three were available as regular GT-R or GT-R V-Spec and power output is meant to be identical between them.

I'm not 100% on these older Skylines but his username is KGC10 which I think means a coupe version of the C10 body; the GT-R has the 'P' in it so either KPGC10 for the coupe hardtop or PGC10 for the sedan... Either way it would be awesome to have it along!

Don't think it's actually a GT-R. But it is very welcome to attend KPGC10: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/post-a202611- Cmon Terry you know I was joking, you drive twice as fast as I do most of the time

Just make sure you are following Terry's car. He drives sooo sloow... Seriously though in an attempt to control that sort of behaviour I think that we will be getting the lead car of each group to take the speed down quite a bit once we turn into the access road that leads into Mount Wilson. As you are hinting at, the roads (while they are sealed and absent of any craters or significant potholes) are not exactly first-class blacktop when going into Mt Wilson so people should be keeping their speed in check. When entering the picnic area at Cathedral Reserve in particular, drivers should take note of the dirt surfaces, as well as families / kids playing in the area (or women that happen to be crossing the road with dogs).

If those are 18"s on that red 35 they don't look quite as stupid as I thought they would. Obviously the effect would be minimised by having black wheels instead of silver ones. FWIW I also bought my Volks from mxfly and they are RE30s 18x 9.5, I weighed them without tyres at just over 8 kilos each (about 8.4kg from memory). I'm not sure about the new R35 wheel without tyres but according to this site they are 30kg with the stock tyre. http://www.2009gtr.com/2008/02/r35-gt-r-re...eel-weight.html

That's interesting fellas, thanks.

Seems as though the gearbox should be fine if you don't use the "Snow / loose surface function" or whatever, AKA launch control (not officially called that by Nissan) all the time? From what I've read the car is only a couple of tenths slower to 100km/h by just nailing the throttle from idle anyway. I suppose a good comparison might be with people who own a 911 Turbo; I'd say few would put them on a track. I am aware though that GTR drivers are more likely to be enthusiasts than Porsche drivers since such a huge contingent of Porsche drivers are just posers and wealthy executives (the remainder are true Porsche enthusiasts). I know this is slightly OT, but has anyone who has an ADM R35 on order got a quote on comprehensive insurance? Is Shannons keen? Would they cover you on a race track?

Surely there is an onus on the Dealers to make apparent to any prospective customers the full schedule and cost of servicing the R35 GT-R. There will be a number of people who are not so loaded to the hilt with cash who will still enter a Nissan dealership and whilst expecting the maintenance cost of an R35 to be substantially higher than an ordinary Nissan, still find it hard to put out of mind that same association - that it is a Nissan. This is despite the fact that these extraordinarily high maintenance costs may be justified to an point by the degree of engineering that has gone into the car. Even though I won't be in the market for a $170,000 car (once on roads are factored in), doesn't it seem that the more shrewd business move would be to absorb more of the dealership setup cost internally, lowering the cost to the consumer, thus making the car less of a turn-off to potential customers and hence increasing sales, thus increasing economies of scale and therefore covering the cost of their dealership setup outlay, etc etc? I've had to approve a front brake pad replacement for my boss's Aston Martin DB7 Vantage which, while it was only pads and the car would not have brakes the size or with the technology of the R35, at almost $2,500 seemed expensive; $10K for the R35 (with rotors) is galactic. The car is cheap to begin with, relative to its competition, but the servicing costs are scarcely believable when you factor in that very same initial purchase price. Every time you service the car you are forking out 6% of the car's original purchase price. With depreciation of the value of the car, but presumably brake servicing (for the sake of this example) costs staying relatively the same (perhaps decreasing slightly as the R35 becomes more popular), main-dealer servicing for a second-hand R35 is going to be a huge turn off for the used market. What about residuals? Is there also then the matter of the plasma-sprayed bores that needs an engine-tear down at 100,000km? I absolutely love the R35 as a car and a technical achievement, but Ghosn's "anyone, anytime, anywhere" car is seeming more like a white elephant. Having said that, anyone who owns an R35 is still a lucky bugger, the servicing costs don't change that

I've seen maybe a few 240s or 260s in Unique Cars. They're going for around $40K for a neat stocker right? Does anyone know if the original 240Z got its design inspiration from the 1960s E-type Jag (like maybe the Toyota 2000GT)? The proportions look similar.

Happy Bday for yesterday Nick

Fantastic photos Terry and great work on the conversions Beau. I had no idea you could get output that highly detailed from such a small slide. The architecture of the buildings there is amazing. It's interesting being taken back in time like that. Gotta love those threads of yours too

Hey guys, I've seen these little pixel cars that you guys have done a great job on and I thought it would be awesome to have one, so I had a go. Thanks to Jenno / Excess for uploading the base cars. Here's my actual car... and here's both the original R33 GT-R and the one I've made up. I changed the colour to the dark grey pearl of my car, added xenons, tints, clear lenses, my formula silver volk RE30s, exhaust (thanks to NISM Ø), and also turned the brake lights on What do you guys think? Matt

Yeah Jamie, I did. And I take your point. Pretty hard not to be biased when you own a Skyline, I know, but that's just how I figure. I love cars of all types and I thought the analogy would be interesting even if it was fantastical.

It's looking very good... That avenue will be looking pretty nice in a few weeks when the trees start to change colour.

I saw this on TMR - Tragic. Totally agree with Richard; he had at least two 'moments' before his off, that is plenty of warning to back off, he was out of his depth. Can you imagine if that rock wall was less solid? It looked like a mountain pass pretty high up; probably a sheer drop on the other side. And the pic of the evo at the end was just ghey.

Maybe they are stuck collecting dust in some grandpa's shed on a farm somewhere...? Seriously though I assume they were all eventually sold; I found this FS post from a while back. $55K... http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Au...32-t197728.html

The analogy that immediately came to mind is that an R34 GT-R is to the new 370Z what the 1987 Ferrari F40 is to the Ferrari F430. The F430 is undoubtedly more modern, a fresher shape that isn't as familiar. And the F430 is probably just as quick around Fiorano as the F40. But the F40 is a supercar, with the legend and street cred to back it up. To me it's also a more raw, aggressive design (which to my mind is also more cohesive and all of a piece with less fussy detailing). You'll also see many more F430s around than F40s. You don't have to be a true enthusiast to own a 370Z (although undoubtedly, there will be some), but if you own an R34 GT-R I don't think there's any doubt.

I like the colour - sets it apart from the others. Good job

Yeah go the R33 GT-R!! I still have that Wheels mag at home! It's a great article too, they basically said the GTR wins it hands-down performance wise but could be a bit too raw for a long term prospect - and the M3 is better suited for that. I love the M3 as well but the GT-R (especially R33 with its longer wheelbase) is still a perfect daily drive that can fit all the shopping, your golf bats and two passengers comfortably in the back seat while going from 0-100 in 5 seconds flat. I've owned mine for nearly 4 years, hardly a short term affair. It would be great to own an Aussie delivered one, can't believe they struggled to sell the last third of the 100. I still remember being 9 years old and lusting after a Tamiya model R32 GT-R.

Thanks for that djr, I read the article where wheels does a send-off for the R32 GT-R and compares it to the Winfield race car with Jim Richards. It was a great read. http://www.wheelsmag.com.au/Features/Goodb...fullarticle=yes