For its legion of fans all over the world it’s the latest incarnation of ‘Godzilla’ – a four-wheeled monster that spits fire through its four exhausts and gobbles supercars for breakfast. It’s also seen as the David of the car world, capable of slaying Goliaths such as Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari. All this has given it cult status amongst a tribe of enthusiasts who value a car’s brains and brawn more than its badge. But in India, its primary task is to spin a halo around the struggling Nissan brand and to tell you that the same company, which makes the Micras and the Sunnys, can also produce something sensational like the Nissan GT-R.
And to drive home that statement the GT-R was made the star of the Nissan stand at the Delhi Auto Expo held last February. But that was the older car. Headed to a Nissan dealership only in Delhi (there will be just one GT-R outlet in the country to start with) this September, will be the revamped 2017 version.
After nine years, you would have expected an all-new model, but instead Nissan has given the ‘R35’ generation a massive facelift with an upgrade to every bit of the car, both inside and out. If you’ve seen any of the of grey market cars or the handful of officially imported GT-Rs you’ll notice that the new car’s signature V-Motion grille is now wider and looks more aggressive. There’s a new bumper and a more pronounced chin spoiler, which add to the GT-R’s arresting looks. The wider side sills and the large diffuser under the rear bumper are functional tweaks to improve airflow.
There are a raft of changes under the skin as well. The body is now stiffer and the suspension too has been beefed up. Unfortunately, there haven’t been any weight savings with the GT-R weighing a substantial 1,752kg. To move that mass, there’s the GT-R’s proven twin-turbo 3.8 V6 with a bump up in power to 570hp and torque to 634Nm. This nominal increase of 20hp and 6Nm, may sound puny, especially in a car that’s traditionally thrived on being modified to insane horsepower figures. However, Nissan says it not about how much power but how the power is produced that makes the difference, and to make all those horses even more accessible, the engine has been completely retuned. The GT-R retains the six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, as the car’s body cannot accommodate a bigger seven-speed gearbox.
The cabin is a big leap ahead of the previous car, which was littered with cheap-looking plastics and fiddly buttons. In the new GT-R, the dashboard top and door pads are wrapped in double-stitched leather, there’s carbonfibre treatment on the transmission tunnel and the round, Micra-like air vents are thankfully replaced with a smarter rotary design on the sides and slim, rectangular ones in the centre console. The touchscreen infotainment screen is now larger and can also be controlled via a new rotating jog dialer.
The steering wheel feels good to grip and the paddle shifters have been moved from the steering column to the wheel to make gearshifts easier while tackling corners. While quality levels are a huge step up from the older car, it’s still no match for the tactile feel you get in an equivalent German supercar. The cabin still feels more functional than luxurious.
As for driving impressions, the transmission in Normal mode is impressively smooth for a dual-clutch unit. It juggles ratios fairly seamlessly at low speeds, which is a big plus for everyday usability. Ride comfort too has improved and what’s absolutely phenomenal is the straight-line stability which is useful when holding speeds above 220kph. All-round visibility is fantastic too.
The steering on the GT-R is hard to fault. It doesn’t feel twitchy at high speeds and weights up in a delightfully progressive way. The secret? It’s an old-school, hydraulically assisted unit. Nissan believes that the feel and feedback of electrically assisted steering systems still aren’t good enough for this subliminal supercar.
Acceleration is, as expected, pretty brutal for a car that’s capable of hitting 100kph from rest in around 3 seconds. The GT-R can easily outrun lesser sportscars, but in terms of ultimate performance, the heavy kerb weight doesn’t make it feel manically fast like say a Porsche Turbo.
That said, the handling is so predictable that it makes novice drivers feel like heroes, and that’s thanks to the prodigious amounts of grip that the GT-R has at its disposal.
The engine soundtrack is more a throaty growl than a high-pitched howl and it’s now less of an assault on your eardrums, thanks to a Bose active noise cancellation system and an acoustic shield in the windscreen that mutes the din by a good 10 decibels.
Nissan has indicated that the car will cost close to a ludicrous Rs 2.5 crore (ex-showroom, Delhi) which instantly begs the question: Would anyone pay a Porsche 911 or Audi R8 money for a Nissan? The truth is not many would, which is why Nissan doesn’t expect to sell more than a handful of GT-Rs every year. But if you’re someone who isn’t interested in brand appeal but wants a machine that is easy to drive, astonishingly quickly in all conditions, few cars come close to the GT-R's wide breadth of talents. It’s not everybody’s supercar but is certainly an everyday supercar.
