The Best Car of 2008

I must admit I don’t think it’s very pretty but, according to both Motor Trend and Automobile magazine, Nissan’s Nurburgring bomb seems to be automobile of the year.

The GT-R, with it’s double blown 3.8 liter V-6 (VR38DETT in Nissan talk) making 480 hp and 430 lb-ft of tarmac slinging churn, has been dubbed as the Porsche 911 turbo killer.  $77,840 is Nissan’s asking price and nothing you can buy in or around that price is faster.  The 505hp Corvette Z06 at $73,225  is the only auto that comes close and even it gets left gasping for air trying to keep up with the GT-R.

Since the 997 Porsche 911 Turbo was Nissan’s benchmark when designing the GT-R let’s do a quick comparison.

Engine: 3.6L Twin Turbocharged flat-6 (turbo), 3.8L Twin Turbocharged V-6 (GT-R)

0-60: 3.2 sec (turbo), 3.2 sec (GT-R)

1/4: 11.7 sec (turbo), 11.6 sec (GT-R)

HP: 480 (turbo), 480 (GT-R)

TRQ: 460-505 ft-lb (turbo), 430 ft-lb (GT-R)

Top Speed: 193 mph (turbo), 195 mph (GT-R)

Price: $126,200 (turbo), $77,840 (GT-R)

According to those numbers I would definitely say Nissan has met their goal.  Though, there is one number that I didn’t mention that has caused and eruption in Stuttgart.  The time a car can put down on Germany’s Nurburgring has become somewhat of a staple for performance cars.  There, Nissan gave Porsche a bit of a lesson.  Running a time of 7:29.0, the GT-R makes the Turbo look slightly human only lapping in 7:38.0.  OHHH NEIN!!

Not every car is perfect though and the GT-R is no exception.  With all of the electronic gizmogadgets, some say it leaves the driver feeling like nothing more than a prop.  The ATTESA E-TS AWD system can send as much as 50% of the torque to the front wheels or all of it to the rear wheels.  The system determines when and where it needs to shift the torque based on a number of factors.  Sensors monitor vehicle speed, yaw rate, steering angle, traction, lateral acceleration and transverse acceleration.  Most of this information, along with tons of other stuff you will probably never be able to look at while pulling the g’s, can be displayed through the customizable multifunction display.  The display is intergrated into the dash and was co-developed with Polyphony Digital (Gran Turismo Video Games).

The all new V-6 and six-speed double-clutch GR6 auto tranny are hand built by a single lad in a climate controlled hermetically sealed room.  The entire trans-axle is mounted in the rear.  A first for an AWD car.  If you find yourself ticking around 190 mph and in need of a swift decline in momentum, the 15 inch vented and drilled Brembos mounted at all four corners will be more than happy to assist.  The Porsche eater will go from 60-0 mph in a chest crushing 102 feet.  That is beyond incredible when you consider the GT-R weighs 3891 lbs.  Porsche would need to put James Harrison along with a healthy American Pitbull Terrier in the passenger seat, in order to slow the same amount of weight.

If I were to sum up the GT-R I would say that it is a big heavy electronic box that nothing in or double it’s price range can fuck with.  It fits four people, gets 21 mpg hwy and will melt your face off.  Mission accomplished.

-X