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Ever wondered what those tweaked-out Hondas doing the street drag circuits are pretending to be?
Word from the wise says it's the Nissan Skyline GT-R, prominently featured in the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious as lead star Paul Walker's main ride. Regarded as the undisputed king of Japanese performance vehicles, it is nothing short of iconic.
Released in January of 1999, the "GranTurismo -Racer" R34 featured a straight-six engine and unbeatable chassis that quickly became the darling of many motoring publications. Early fans included the highly-respected Wheels magazine which dubbed it "Godzilla," a label that has stuck with the vehicle to this day. It is one of the hardest-accelerating production vehicles ever made and handily rivals, even surpasses, many of the most expensive sports cars in handling, cornering and stopping power.
At an estimated price of $80000 to $95000, it has been the best performance car in its price range for a long time now.
Features
Forever trapped in a sedan's body, the GT-R is more than its looks might hint at.
It's engine is an RB26DETT 2.6-liter, double-overhead-cam 24-valve with listed usable power of 276 bhp at 6800 rpm, equipped with twin Garrett ceramic turbo-chargers. Tests, however, have shown that the engine actually generates somewhere on the 330 bhp mark and can be easily tweaked to provide higher powers of up to 600 bhp but would break most existing emission laws in Japan.
Weighing 3439 lbs, it registers top speeds of 266 kph and accelerates from 0 to 100 kph in a little under 5 seconds.
The vehicle comes equipped with 6-speed manual transmission, ATTESA E-TS Pro all wheel drive system, and Nissan's Super HICAS four wheel steering system. The all-wheel drive system is capable of varying torque distribution from all in the rear to 50/50 in both rear and front.
This four-door racer only comes as a right-wheel drive, with plenty of cabin space and a bucket-type seats. It carries an on-board computer, accessible from a 5.8" LCD screen in the center of the dashboard, can give statistics on your driving performance, lap times, acceleration figures and many more.
Performance
Designed to be an everyday-use supercar, the GT-R provides high-levels of handling comfort for regular road driving. The grip is fantastic, steering is near-perfect, on-board controls are straightforward and visibility both from the front and rear are impressive.
It is also one of the most popular vehicles for tuning enthusiasts and the car has built a large part of its reputation in the streets, despite its stellar performance in the race tracks. The engine has been deemed as simply unburstable by many tuners, including a few who have cranked the power output to a mad 1000 bhp.
Future Plans
A new Skyline GT-R is coming out in 2008 with details and configurations still tended tight under wraps. In an interview with a Nissan executive, they indicated that one of the goals is to produce a ride that will compete with the driver appeal and speed of a Porsche 911 Turbo.
From the design prototypes, the look of the new GT-R takes a large leap from its predecessor, flaunting bold lines and aggressive styling. While it may take design cues from its predecessor, the design will likely be a radical departure.
Test runs have been known to already happen in the North Loop of Germany's famed Nrburgring, indicating production may be coming soon. Sources indicate that the engine will be a heavily-revised 3.5 liter twin-turbo charged V 6, expected to crank near to 500 bhp of power and maximum torque of around 680 Nm.