2009 Nissan GT-R

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By  Paul Eisenstein, Executive Editor

2009 Nissan GT-R
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by Ken Zino

Nissan’s 2009 GT-R has been revealed — and it’s coming to the States in mid-2008.

The GT-R is arguably most serious performance-engineering project to emerge from Japan since the Acura NSX of more than a decade ago, at least on paper. Nissan claims that GT-R can lap the Nuerburgring in Germany in less than eight minutes, besting cars such as the Porsche 911 turbo, Ford GT, and Ferrari 430F1, among others.

This new generation GT-R will be the first version of the cult classic available in the U.S. starting in mid-2008 for less than $80,000.

Styling is virtually identical to the show car unveiled here two years ago. “GT-R is not following the design vocabulary of western sports cars. And it might look a little weird to some people,” according to Shiro Nakamura, chief creative officer of Nissan. “It is more important to be unique.”

As in the 350Z, the distinctive shape is in the upper body — the pillars and roofline. Moreover, it pays tribute to the heritage of the previous R34 Skyline GT-R, one of the more boxy sports cars. (That’s a compliment to Nakamura.) However, he says this car is global in appeal since buyers for such a small volume car have the same design values no matter where they reside.

Underneath the angular design with sharp creases and solid surfaces, is what Nissan calls its Premium Midship platform. PM, says Nissan, is an advanced version Front Midship platform used on current Nissan and Infiniti cars. So PM will be used on future Nissan and Infiniti products, including the next Z-car. However, where past versions of the GT-R shared sheetmetal with the Skyline, the new model has unique exterior, the Skyline name is dropped, and GT-R will have global sales for the first time, with the U.S. second in the rollout that starts in Japan this December.

The GT-R is a straightforward unit-body design with large front and rear sub-frames, each with six-point mounts for rigidity. The front-mounted V-6 engine supplies power to the unusual longitudinally-mounted rear transaxle via a carbon-fiber reinforced driveshaft. A second driveshaft sends power to the front wheels. A six-speed automatic transmission is shifted via paddles on the steering wheel. The electronic all-wheel-drive system can split torque distribution from a normal 50/50 percent to 2/98 percent, front/rear, during hard acceleration.

The twin turbocharged, twin intercooled 3.8-liter “VR38” V-6 provides 473 horsepower (353 kW) at 6400 rpm. Torque is 412 pound-feet from 3200-5200 rpm. Both the engine and transmission are built by a single craftsman in a clean room. With a curb weight of 3800 pounds, that’s an excellent power-to-weight ratio of 8:1. Top speed is 186 mph (300 kph), claimed.

A Cd of 0.27 is also claimed — excellent for a production car, and more importantly for stability and handling, down force is generated both front and rear. Aero tweaks include a flat bottom that takes compressed air from under the front grille, and routes it rearward. Engine cooling air runs over the engine and through the prop shaft tunnel to cool the rear transaxle.

Developed under the positioning theme of “Anyone, Anywhere, Any time,” unusual attention has also been devoted to making the sports car easy to drive under urban or adverse conditions such as rain and snow by an “average driver.” Video footage at the preview showed the car driving, accelerating, and stopping in the wet and snow. A “Set-up” switch in the middle of the instrument panel lets the driver select three settings — Normal , Comfort, or R — that changes transaxle shift points, Bilstein damping rates, and the vehicle dynamic control.

If you haven’t guessed, R is for racing. Choose your venue carefully. One look at  the  huge, 20-inch Bridgestone RE070 Potenza tires 255/40ZR front, and 285/35 ZR rear, or the Brembo mono-block disk calipers behind the one-piece forged alloy wheels hints at racing-level capabilities. NISMO parts are under development including a roll cage and a suspension kit that will improve lap times at the expense of the comfort set-up. 

There is also an after-sale maintenance program that provides free adjustments at Nissan High Performance Centers at 600 miles and 12-, 24-, and 36-month intervals. Specially trained technicians will monitor the engine, transmission, and suspension to make sure the car is within specification. The data recorder will also note if non-factory tweaking has been performed.

Each car is also to be driven at the Tochigi, Japan , factory to loosen the engine, burnish the brakes, and work the suspension before final alignment settings. Autographs of the test driver and powertrain assembler are provided with each car.

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