Interesting R35 Australia Update

[Snowman]

I went to the MMS last night and they had some guy from Syd down to do a regular "talk"about the GT-R during the night. Some of the things he was announcing however came as a bit of a suprise so I had a further chat to him and got some more infomation. Some of the key points he told me were:

1. Nissan have had to reconsider their pricing structures and it's now confirmed that the GT-R will be retailing for between $120-150K. Final pricing details will be revealed later in the year at the Sydney Motorshow.

2. It is unlikely we will be getting the complete Japanese spec however. I'd heard rumours of things like brake downgrades and de-tuned engines but he either didn't know or wouldn't say anything other than "we don't know the final specification details on the Australian delivered cars yet" Again - Sydney Motorshow for those.

3. Cars will start to arrive in the 1st 1/4 of 2009. At this stage however it still isn't known if it will be under high or low volume imports. They have applied for high volume but they don't know if they are going to be allocated more than the low volume numbers simply due to world wide demands. Basically it was indicated that we are lucky to be getting any at all at this stage.

4. I think this was already known but the major Capital cities are being given 2 locations only for buying the GT-R's. In Melbourne for anyone that is interested Blackburn "will most likely be one of those locations". Not sure of the second one however.

That was all of the key points. And boy is it a good looking car in the flesh.

[Duncan]

good update thanks snowy. it is very "nissan-aus" to despec a car when it comes here, not sure how much it saves them having to engineer, test and document different bits?

[Beer Baron]

that is pretty gay. de-spec the car and it's worth 8/10ths of bugger all really. The whole appeal of this car is it's performance. are nissan aus going to go back to the nurburger and say, well our GTR laps in 8min 10 second, but hey at least it's cheap.... if people wanted a cheap car they'd buy a fcking micra.

[Snowman]

We'll you can't just say it's Nissan. Think of the NSX, EVO and STi's as well....

But it was funny because he was doing the big talk on the microphone saying "Well we don't know the specs of the Aussie car - but the Japanese version does 0-100 in 3.6s, Nurburgring in blah blah blah". It was almost like he was trying to slip the 1st sentence in un-noticed. lol It was one of the main reasons I went and had a chat to him!

[ausgtr]

We'll you can't just say it's Nissan. Think of the NSX, EVO and STi's as well....

But it was funny because he was doing the big talk on the microphone saying "Well we don't know the specs of the Aussie car - but the Japanese version does 0-100 in 3.6s, Nurburgring in blah blah blah". It was almost like he was trying to slip the 1st sentence in un-noticed. lol It was one of the main reasons I went and had a chat to him!

It would be very disappointing if Nissan Australia detunes the car but I can't see Nissan Japan allowing a detuned version of the GT-R, it would really hurt the cars reputation as a GLOBAL supercar..... The UK are getting the full spec and so is canada/USA (and they have worse fuel then us), I can't see it happening. Maybe he is referring to the suspension specs? I know that the USA are getting a revised version to be more 'user friendly'.

[R32zilla]

Correction - US is getting 450BHP to run on 91 RON

[Beer Baron]

allowing a detuned version of the GT-R, it would really hurt the cars reputation as a GLOBAL supercar.....

no it wont. no one much outside of australia cares what happens in australia. we are a tiny market and are also geographically isolated from the rest of the world. selling a de-tuned version here wont mean bugger all to all their customers in US, UK and Asia. I agree it will be very dissapointing if it happens, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.

[D_I_F]

That's really ghay..

[YLD-CHLD]

Who said where the LUCKY country!!

[Bliksem]

Dissapointing, but most of us know we'll spec it up, or if not above the Japanese spec with aftermarket parts anyway...

[rb30gtr]

Dissapointing, but most of us know we'll spec it up, or if not above the Japanese spec with aftermarket parts anyway...

From ebay?

[t01-100]

Reality is GTR is cheap in comparison to 911 GT2/3/turbo and competitive priced at $150k plus on-road to compete with Audi S4 and BMW M3... I think most people would agree that what does $20k in purchase price matter if your spending $100k+ on a new car anyway.

[nickcorr]

As a minimum the engine will need to be re-tuned for consistant 98 RON fuel and also be able to cope with the odd tank of 95, or god forbid, 91, without messing itself, so we should expect to see some "official" power loss.

But to change brakes etc. couldn't be cost effective.. Maybe US spec suspension, but VW had that problem with the early R32 Golfs.. they were very tippy toey.

It would make sense for Australia/NZ/UK and South Africa to get the same cars... An "English" insturmentation RHD model, designed for 97/98 Octane fuel.

[ausgtr]

no it wont. no one much outside of australia cares what happens in australia. we are a tiny market and are also geographically isolated from the rest of the world. selling a de-tuned version here wont mean bugger all to all their customers in US, UK and Asia. I agree it will be very dissapointing if it happens, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.

Nissan has said the 911T is it's main rival and has benchmarked it against the GT-R the whole way through it's development. How is it meant to compete with said car if it's detuned???

I can't see nissan advertising it as a 911T beater with a disclaimer saying (only in japan, not the rest of the world).

It doesn't make sense.

[FineLine]

So not much has changed at Nissan. They chop its balls off and send it to Australia. they have managed to down grade damn near every car they ever sent here.

No wonder they stink more than a wheelie bin full of maggots to main stream Oz.

[Beer Baron]

Nissan has said the 911T is it's main rival and has benchmarked it against the GT-R the whole way through it's development. How is it meant to compete with said car if it's detuned???

I can't see nissan advertising it as a 911T beater with a disclaimer saying (only in japan, not the rest of the world).

It doesn't make sense.

australia is not the 'rest of the world' we are but one tiny, tiny market. by all accounts the UK, EU and US cars will be very close to the japanese domestic market cars in performance, that is what matters to the world market. australia doesn't even rate a mention.

[nickcorr]

Whilst Australians, in general not us Skyline owners obviously....., continue to accept the crappy 91 octane muck that "the masses want" then our hands are tied and we will get de-tuned Japanese cars...

Once 91 Octane has gone, end of the decade fingers crossed, 95 will be the norm. We will then still have 98 octane premium and hopefully 100 octane super premium!!

In order to make room in the engine management system for the low octane "emergency" maps they have to delete the high octane, big power, maps.... Get rid of the low octane maps, and the importers have to handle the warranty claims when the engine grenades.....

It continues to amaze me that people with $ 100,000+ BMW's and Merc's won't fill them with either of the premium unleaded grades. Even the Holden V8's stipulate 98 octane for optimum performance....

[Mud]

Nissan has said the 911T is it's main rival and has benchmarked it against the GT-R the whole way through it's development. How is it meant to compete with said car if it's detuned???

I can't see nissan advertising it as a 911T beater with a disclaimer saying (only in japan, not the rest of the world).

It doesn't make sense.

is the 911 detuned in Australia compared to Euro or Jap version???

[hungry6]

No.

[R34]

So not much has changed at Nissan. They chop its balls off and send it to Australia. they have managed to down grade damn near every car they ever sent here.

No wonder they stink more than a wheelie bin full of maggots to main stream Oz.

Funny how the most popular (or close to it)Nissan road car here hasn't been sold in Australia by Nissan Aust for over 15 years