Chalk One More Up For The Frindge Dwellers

[Nightcrawler]

^^^ awesome advice there from Martin - who definitely knows what he is talking about, since he owns the 1st road registered R35GTR in Australia, and has been pulling it apart and putting it back together again for some months now.

Willall Racing is the place to take your R35GTRs guys - groundbreaking performance, upgrades, and reliability.

Having seen Martin's ECU unlocked (and tuned) GTR out on the track at Mallala, I can assure you he is at the top of the rung when it comes to knowledge and quality.

As most of you will have read in the November Wheels mag, his R35GTR did 1:14.7 around Mallala, which is not only 1.6 seconds faster than a Porcsche 911 GT2, which is almost 3 times the price ($447,500), but beat the Mallala Improved Production car record set by Adam Allan (Datsun) of 01:16.2 22/08/1998. And this from a relatively stock GTR is simply amazing.

[LTSJayce]

Nightcrawler: "At that price point people would be stupid to buy a GTR over a 911. I think the number of people with that much money wouldn't dream of buying a GTR in favour of a Porsche, if the price was the same. Sure there will be a few, but I think Nissan will be pushing crap uphill to sell them...."

I must be one of the stupid ones then.....but then i have actually owned 6 Porsches before the GTR, including an extremely quick 911 biturbo.

First of all, the A$ has devalued not just against the Yen but against almost every major currency in the world. It has dropped 30% against the Euro over the past few months, about the same % drop against the Yen. That means your showroom 911 is going to have a similar price hike.

Secondly, regardless of whether Nissan Australia hedged their forex position on the 1st batch of GTR's, it doesnt oblige them to sell it at a price based on the value of the A$ 6-9 months prior to the drop in value of the A$. They may well book this "windfall" as a separate profit. Many companies do that. It will also make it untenable for them to sell the 1st batch at say A$157,000 and subsequent shipments at over A$200,000. Over the last couple of years when the A$ appreciated massively against the US$ and virtually every major currency (from A$1=US$0.50 to the high of A$1=US$0.985), did Nissan or other importers pass on the "savings" . Not that i noticed and i was living in Australia until mid last year. My bet is that the car will not be sold at A$150,000+ and if it does then Nissan Aus has decided to subsidise the early bird buyers and you should count yourself very lucky.

Thirdly, why compare the GTR to a base 911? There is simply no comparison. The GTR runs rings around a naturally aspirated 911 Carrera under any situation. In every comparison i've read in magazines/road tests etc, the GTR has always been pitted against Porsche's finest, namely either the GT3RS or the Turbo, and in some cases even the GT2. Even Porsche themselves got into a fluff recently over the Nurburgring time for the GTR against the GT2 which is the pinnacle of 911 engineering. Obviously guys like Nightcrawler find it hard to look beyond the Nissan badge and appreciate the car for its engineering.

Finally, if you can get a grey GTR, for $150+ or thereabouts in today's market (with today's A$ value), its a bargain. And on the topic of warranty, if you are going to drive the GTR on the street, even very enthusiastically (hard to do in Oz cos there are cops and speed traps everywhere), nothing is going to break. If you are fixated on trying to break the 11 sec 1/4 mile or get a thrill out of doing donuts then something will break and no manufacturer will honour warranty on an abused car. If you are going to modify it (which every R35 owner i know has, and we are talking about dozens of them) there is no warranty anyway. The GTR being the tuner car that it is, you will likely do something to it. I know i have. If you are losing sleep over the warranty issue then dont buy the car.

And lastly for the record, stop griping about the price of the R35 Downunder. You guys are getting it cheap. I paid over A$300,000 for mine (in today's A$ value....in Singapore)...with virtually no warranty to speak of as it is a grey import. Its every bit as good as a Porsche 911 Turbo which costs almost twice the price. Having owned a number of Porsche's before, I wouldnt even consider a naturally aspirated 911 again.

Thankyou for the response I feel was warranted here, re: Porkas, pricing and warranties. It seems there are many keyboard warriors keen for the "you'd be mad to buy a XXX over a ZZZ, as the ZZZ is obviously a better car" argument. At least you've owned a reference point (or six!).

I would expect a higher percentage of R35 owners will modify their cars; it's only natural! I'm curious to see which way cars get done. The Americans seem keen on 'blinging' them out with heavier 'chromies' and garish body kits, the Japanese will always do their thing, and it seems us lot will go down the performance first path, albeit cautiously. I shudder to think what will happen as the 35 becomes more affordable to the masses and the candy paintjobs, 24" rim, slammed to the ground, doof doof crowd start laying their hands on them. (I never thought I'd say that sentence). I hope natural selection takes over, and the deserving keep their supercars whilst those that aren't up to it go back to $100K+ Commondore-come-taxis.

[handbrake]

Good to see some sensible posts coming through in this thread from both the ADM and JDM guys out there.

Seriously, if you listened to all the BS and were buying either Nissan Aus or imported GTR R35's you could be forgiven for wanting to slash your wrists or filing for bankruptcy!