I Have Taken The Plunge

[70RTY]

Hi all,

After much research and deliberation I took the plunge and purchased a 2008 JDM GTR.

The car was for sale in Melbourne, so I took a day to fly down from Brisbane and inspect it.

After hours of travelling in planes, trains and taxis, I was relieved to find the car in exactly the condition described by the seller i.e. brand new with 109km on the clock.

Over the course of the following week a deal was struck on the purchase price and I was soon on a plane back to Melbourne to pick the car up. Before handing over the bank cheque, a test drive was in order to ensure everything was in perfect working order and once I was satisfied, the transaction was completed.

I then organised a permit from VicRoads which would allow me to drive this unregistered car to Brisbane. This was a surprisingly pain free process completed over the phone in minutes and I was soon on my way.

Below is a picture of the car just before I drove it away from the car dealership Note the Jade R34 GTR V-Spec II Nur that is also in the pic.

Another picture:

I then drove out of the car yard to embark on the 1900km journey back to Bris Vegas. I had a good mate of mine along with me for the trip during which we took turns at the wheel.

My first real impressions of the car were driving through mid afternoon traffic. The car is very easy to drive, especially if you leave it in auto mode. Very docile. We spent most of our time playing with the multi function display and trying to figure out all of the buttons, a few of which are in Japanese.

We then reached the point when it was time to merge onto the highway. I was keeping the gearbox in auto mode in a bid to keep the revs under 3500 to run in the engine, but even on fractional throttle the car slingshot us onto the Hume Highway with both of us grinning like idiots.

The rest of the day was spent on the highway, where overtaking semi trailers was all too easy. Someone once described this car as being like a 'mini-Veyron' and I think they are spot on.

After a stop over in Dubbo we continued 'jetting' on towards Brisbane. As the car is from Japan, we could not pickup FM radio, however I brought a CF card with me that contained 25 hours worth of music and set it to random. The GTR is an effortless car in which to travel long distances. Much is made of the 'harsh' ride but I found it to be completely acceptable, especially when the suspension is set to comfort mode.

The car certainly attracts plenty of attention. I am going to need a very dark window tint! Each time I stopped for fuel someone questioned me about the car. The weirdest question I received was in Warwick when a bloke asked me, 'Is that a real one?'

Once in Brisbane, I took the GTR to J&S Autocare to get a Safety Certificate so I could register the car in Qld. Here are a few pics:

While I was at J&S Autocare a guy with a tidy R34 GTT pulled in just to say hello - got to love the Skyline community!

After an agonising week and a half away at work, I finally got the time to register the car yesterday and have been driving it all day today. A few other impressions I have of the GTR are:

• it accelerates like nothing else. It is as if your are teleported into the distance!
  
• visibility out the back when reversing isn't great. I may resort to a reverse camera but I'll see if I get accustomed to it.
  
• it is a big, heavy car and it likes to drink
  
• I think manual mode will take awhile to get used to. I have come from a manual car and am used to changing down and skipping gears e.g. from 4th to 2nd. At this stage, it is sometimes hard to know what gear you are in without looking at the display. I much prefer the gearbox in 'R' mode as the shifts are much more responsive. I quite like the throttle blips on downshifts.
  
• the handling can be quite communicative and playful. I have managed to slip the rear a little bit on a couple of occaisions accelerating out of corners.
  
• the car is a bit quiet. I am looking at mid pipe options.
  
• the sound system isn't great, although I don't have the premium Bose sytem - this isn't why I bought the car
  
• I am not sure Nissan should have bothered with the rear seats, they are fairly useless. Maybe Nissan should hve left them out and reduced the weight. The boot however is very useful - it swallowed two large suitcases with ease.
  
• the GTR travels at high speeds so effortlessly that I have grave fears for my license.
  

Anyway, here are a few more pics of the car after its first wash:

I can't wait to get this car out on the track. I plan on a Cobb tune and a mid pipe. Some aftermarket transmission oil will probably be required for track days.

I will keep you guys posted on my experience with this car.

[30three]

*jealous* enjoy the car man

[ashneel]

congrats on the buy man.

question: how did it do on fuel on the long run? what did you manage to get out of a full tank?

[70RTY]

congrats on the buy man.

question: how did it do on fuel on the long run? what did you manage to get out of a full tank?

On the freeway it was actually pretty good on fuel. The computer would indicate a range of about 500km after each fill during freeway driving. Because I was travelling through fairly remote areas, I would fill up early with 98 RON at most opportunities for fear of having to put in a lower grade fuel if I ran low.

Around town, the car can be quite economical if left in auto mode and driven very sedately. This is boring. Accelerating quickly is lots of fun and uses lots of fuel!

[(OO)SKYLINE(OO)]

Farken love it buddy!

White in particular too.

Hows the JDM GPS? Is it pointing you out somewhere in the middle of the ocean? Hehe!!

LOL! @ "Is it a real one?" There are still not that many around, so ppl will ask.

One time I went to put in petrol in my R32, after I paid, there was an old fella staring at my car in an "OMG" phase, swaying left and right wondering what the hell car is it.

[70RTY]

Yeah, on a couple of occaisions old blokes in the towns I stopped at asked 'What is that?'

So far the response from people has been positive. I have to say I am quite shocked at the attention it receives, even though I was warned about this. It is my daily driver and I am quite concerned about leaving it parked anywhere.

[Sammy-qld]

Nice man congrats, looks sweet in white. They sure are an amazing car to drive, fun as hell to drive, the accelleration is insane. I agree the visabiliy is bad out the back, although my tinks are so dark nothing can see in including me seeing out lol. but yeah alot of looks requires a very dark tink. i'll be looking at a JDM rear camera soon too the JDM's come prewired.

I had the almost EXACT journey. Saw online, flew to Melb bought the car, drove it back to the Gold Coast. about 4 months ago.

The car is great on the long drives and after a 900km drive from Sydney to GC I wasn't tired or sore. Harsh hard ride in reviews is rubbish the car is nice and comfy, city at slower speeds its a little bumpy but not uncomfortable.

I had a Cobb accessport on mine when I bought it also a JDM 08. You'll love the extra power the cobb gives and it plugs in real easy. I'm planning on a Y-pipe later in the year too.

Unfortunately my JDM had one of those annoying transmission problems at 6000km's with a clutch seal pressure thingy cracking inside transmission, gears just stopped changing smoothly after giving it a hard take off (never launched ever just an aggressive hit on the throttle in R mode) and turns out a seal cracked that controlled the oil pressure on the clutch plates (or something like that). Transmission was shipped to Willall Racing in Adelaide and Mitch and the guys there have fixed it up and machined a better part than the crappy faulty Nissan seal. Luckily we have good workshops like Willall Racing pushing the aftermarket repair's on the R35's in a big way. makes life alot easier for us JDM owners and for ADM owners who mod there cars. I dunno if this is a 2007/2008 JDM type issue but i've read of a few 07/08 JDM's in NZ,Bangkok, Singapore, OZ & mine with small transmission problems like these, most repairable. Not sure if it was the early model years or if its cause these cars dont' have warrenties that we hear about them more than the USA, EU,AU ones who have warranties. Take good care of your transmission, they sure as hell are NOT bulletproof. Not having a Nissan Warranty means a long wait if repairs are needed to transmissions like this.

Certainly look into Willall's Tranny oil (haven't yet tried it but will find out in 1-2 weeks time when I get my car back and will post on here how it drives, its meant to be smoother, hopefully it drives as well as the standard stuff, the race teams seem to like it. My garage Eurotune on the GC highly recommend the Willall Racing transmission cooler from there experience with these type of transmissions in other cars they say they can cook pretty easy (and it gets hot up here in QLD and I like to drive it hard LOL). If your taking it to the track I think that would be a wise investment to look into.

BTW since the JDM R35's cant generally get access to a Consult 3 as Nissan Australia just won't touch the JDM's, the other advantage of the Cobaccess port is it lets you clear error codes in the car and also find error codes that are displaying. You can download the R35 USA mechanic manual for the car on the forums around the place too (nagtroc forums). Might help giving it to your local garage for servicing/repairs. I read on a forum last week Willall Racing saying they have a Consult III now which is good to know at least someone in aftermarket has one in OZ now if something super tech breaks in the beast.

Congrats on the purchase, don't mean to scare you on the transmission stuff, you'll probably have no troubles I was probably just unlucky. Just wanted to let you know the stuff i've learnt from owning a JDM 08 and places to service it and repair it if you do encounter any problems. There's peace of mind knowing anything can be repaired in OZ now. Before I found out about Willall Racing ability to fix transmissions in the R35 I thought I'd have to fly out a tech from Singapore or ship the car back to Japan if something big broke.... um like the transmission LOL.

Cheers

Edited July 1, 2009 by Sammy-qld

[Psymon]

Haha I wish i'd known you were gonna drive through Dubbo, i would have sat on the side of the road and watched! Don't see many imports around here, let alone an R35!

[70RTY]

Thanks for the advice Matt. Before I made the decision to buy the car I did a lot of research and contacted quite a few different people for advice (including yourself!).

I also came to the conclusion that there is a strong enough community in Oz now to look after any problems that may arise with the car. I was always considering Cobb, mid pipe, track days, TM oil etc. and decided that the warranty that Nissan provided wasn't worth as much to me as it may be to others.

I also like to drive cars fast (in the approprate environment) but always drive with a great degree of 'mechanical sympathy'. I hope this will help prevent any transmission complications. It appears that you drive in a sinilar fashion (no launch etc.) so I hope I will be luckier than you!

Let's hope that a Consult III becomes available for use in Qld soon - I have heard that one may be available soon.

Thanks again for the useful advice.

[Sammy-qld]

Thanks for the advice Matt. Before I made the decision to buy the car I did a lot of research and contacted quite a few different people for advice (including yourself!).

I also came to the conclusion that there is a strong enough community in Oz now to look after any problems that may arise with the car. I was always considering Cobb, mid pipe, track days, TM oil etc. and decided that the warranty that Nissan provided wasn't worth as much to me as it may be to others.

I also like to drive cars fast (in the approprate environment) but always drive with a great degree of 'mechanical sympathy'. I hope this will help prevent any transmission complications. It appears that you drive in a sinilar fashion (no launch etc.) so I hope I will be luckier than you!

Let's hope that a Consult III becomes available for use in Qld soon - I have heard that one may be available soon.

Thanks again for the useful advice.

My pleasure bro, yeah thought it might of been you from the PM Sorry about my rather pessimistic view on the JDM's in my PM reply weeks back, you got me on a bad day when I was missing my R35 I think a bit more than usual. I drive a Mirage with no air con while my baby sits without a drivetrain in a workshop all by herself, and doh the wife gets dips on the 350z go figuire haha.

Looks like you've done your research, and yeah the community in OZ has certainly grown in the past few months a great deal.

A Consult 3 in QLD would be a very welcome addition, lets hope it happens at some point.

[Benzino33]

Love the car.. Im sure you dont and wont regret it

[kralster]

Jeeze it looks good. They are really growing on me. Enjoy.

[Silvia GTR]

Oooo JDM spec, I'd kill for one of them things enjoy it dont smash it!

Edited July 2, 2009 by Silvia GTR

[ab7]

Wow, great write up.

Do you mind if I ask where did you get it from in Melbourne?

Im wondering when people purchase JDM GTR, how much cheaper compared with ADM GTR?

[Joe_89]

Will do sexual favours for a ride in your car! haha

Didnt like them when they first came out, thought they looked a bit ott, but now as the first line will point out, ive warmed to them rather alot

Congrats on the purchase mate, enjoy

[70RTY]

I bought the car from Luxury and Performance Vehicles in Bayswater. It was the only R35 they had in stock.

I'm not comfortable saying exactly how much I paid but it was a very significant saving over an ADM car. Given that I am planning to put in Willall transmission fluid, participate in track days, change the mid pipe etc. the warranty issues with ADM cars made the JDM more attractive. Also JDM has CF card slot and a few other minor items I liked.

[martz]

the warranty issues with ADM cars made the JDM more attractive.

warranty issues?? The JDM doesn't have any warranty at all!

[GTR-N1]

Congratulations all you Thirtyfivers! I've enjoyed your posts!

Pretty soon, there'll be enough chatter on one thread to make up a footy team #!

[70RTY]

warranty issues?? The JDM doesn't have any warranty at all!

You are quite right - I didn't pay for a warranty, and I don't have to worry about voiding any warranty with minor mods or track days. I realise I have taken a risk here but it is a somewhat calculated one.

[Martin Donnon]

Unfortunately my JDM had one of those annoying transmission problems at 6000km's with a clutch seal pressure thingy cracking inside transmission, gears just stopped changing smoothly after giving it a hard take off (never launched ever just an aggressive hit on the throttle in R mode) and turns out a seal cracked that controlled the oil pressure on the clutch plates (or something like that). Transmission was shipped to Willall Racing in Adelaide and Mitch and the guys there have fixed it up and machined a better part than the crappy faulty Nissan seal. Luckily we have good workshops like Willall Racing pushing the aftermarket repair's on the R35's in a big way. makes life alot easier for us JDM owners and for ADM owners who mod there cars. I dunno if this is a 2007/2008 JDM type issue but i've read of a few 07/08 JDM's in NZ,Bangkok, Singapore, OZ & mine with small transmission problems like these, most repairable. Not sure if it was the early model years or if its cause these cars dont' have warrenties that we hear about them more than the USA, EU,AU ones who have warranties. Take good care of your transmission, they sure as hell are NOT bulletproof. Not having a Nissan Warranty means a long wait if repairs are needed to transmissions like this.

Sammy here is some more information on your transmission

The first picture is of the damaged seal in the Clutch Basket. This seal effectively holds the required shift pressure in the clutch pack, and when it fails (notice the tear in the outside of the seal?) the driving experience will be like driving a conventional manual with the clutch half depressed the whole time. This is not solely an early model issue, as the very same seal is used even in the current version of the GR6 transmission, and over time they will suffer these same kinds of issues. Failure is related to the manufacture of the seal itself and possibly the abrasive nature of the high zinc content GR6 factory transmission fluid.

Our replacement seal system (we have a full set for the GR6) uses a different engineering approach to achieve a very high precision and high durability seal that uses field proven high pressure technology to ensure a more effective long term and temperature resistant sealing process across many years. The Willall GR6 performance seal has a stiffer structure and more positive engagement combined with a long life cycle to provide the best performance