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.

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!

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.

Can Sat Nav now be installed for both JDM and ADM cars?

I found this on another forum. Are the ADM cars set up like this? Non-Sat NAV has GPS! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, so i was tinkering with the MFD system. Found out that you can enter a hidden menu by doing the following: 1. Ensure the audio is off. 2. hold down settings. 3. turn the volume knob for 20 clicks (or more) You can then browse the diagnostic menu. You can also enter a further "detailed" diagnostic menu by repeating the procedure above. If you browse the detailed diagnostic menus, you will find "Navigation"-> "Sensor information" If you select this option, you can see that GPS is indeed installed and functioning on the car! That means that someone should be able to figure out a software upgrade to install fully integrated sat nav on the "non sat nav" cars! If this turns out to be true, the non-sat nav cars are an absolute bargain! I can't understand why Nissan would release a car with all the sat nav hardware installed but not provide software to utilise it! I'm getting brave this weekend and will be pulling the entire system out to get the harddrive image for analysis. I'm also guessing that if the bluetooth hardware supports A2DP, then we should be able to integrate the software from the US models.

Don't worry you can get them for your GTR too!

Thanks Beer Baron, I think you have summed up the sitation quite well. However I don't think you have made the decision any easier!

I think a test drive is probably on the cards. I am the type of person who often goes for a drive just for fun. It may be that in these circumstances on winding, country roads that the GTR would more than make up for any lack of thrill from driving around town.

Thanks Gibbo, I imagine you might be lucky to keep your licence intact!

Don't you just hate when the curling tongs get jammed under the brake pedal! (they don't come off my back seat though because there isn't one) It's sooo annoying! I don't entirely disagree with your point about the Getz. I would use the Golf GTi as an example of a car that is by no means fast but is a very rewarding car to drive at road legal speeds.

Sounds like the car is providing you with plenty of thrills! I have no problem with the aggressive ride, tight seats or low stance - these are traits of my current car and are a worthy trade off for the perfromance side of things. I agree that Sat Nav and rear parking sensors are not really necessary but I think they could be very useful. It' great to hear that you are thouroughly enjoying your GTR!

Thanks for the honest opinion!

I'd like more than a shot at just the letters page...

There is no disputing that the new GTR is fast. Really fast. There is also little doubt that pushing the GTR to it's limits (or your own, which would probably come first) would be highly entertaining as it accelerates, brakes and corners like nothing else for the money. I have seen the new GTR lap Queensland Raceway at a recent track day and was astounded not only by its performance but also by the unique jet-like sound trumpeted by the car as it thrusted down the straights. After reading all of the hype and witnessing this spectacle on the track, I was 95% sure that I would be heading to Moorooka or Southport Nissan to order one immediately. My current car is a BMW Z4 M Coupe. I attend about 6-8 track days in addition to other club events (skid pan, driver training etc.) per year. This car never fails to put a massive smile on my face at each event. The performance is really more than adequate for my ability, if I am honest, but I can only imagine how thrilling a GTR in the same environment must be. However, there is that 5% inside of me that doubts how much enjoyment could be gained from the GTR at road legal speeds. After all, I would spend 99.9% of my time driving the car on surburban streets. With such immense ability, it would appear that the GTR is too capable and all the fun would be over in a couple of seconds. In my current car, I love the feel and sound of the M-Power straight six as it revs through to 8,000 rpm. I can do this while accelerating towards 100km/h . I savour dropping down a couple gears in the six speed manual gearbox to power through corners or to overtake a truck. I find it satisfying to rev-match when I change down gears. This can all be done at or close to road legal speeds and as you can imagine serves to make every drive entertaining. What I really want to know is if the GTR is fun to drive on the road or if normal daily driving all too easy for the GTR. I would appreciate to hear from current owners about their driving experience and how involving they find the car to drive. I am sure all of the techno guages and the paddle shift are fun to play with but is it fun to drive?