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I'm looking to buy an R33 GTR and so on the weekend I went to a car yard in Melbourne and test drove one, stock apart from exhaust.

To say I wasn't impressed was an understatement, I currently have a stock standard 98 WRX and it would have killed this GTR.

Am I expecting too much from a stock GTR? Do they need a few mods to get some good power? or maybe there is something wrong with this particular car.

What sort of performance should I expect? better than a stock WRX I would have thought.

Appreciate any comments.

Tim

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I think you'll find that although it might feel slower, it's not. It's similar the way they deliver power in stock form, there's no huge feeling of boost coming in like you get in the WRX.

Considering they're a low 13 / high 12 second car, there was either something wrong with the one you test drove, or it was a case of what I described above. Did you take it through corners? The GTR is a lot more fun to drive through them than a WRX IMO.

  • 2 months later...

Hi Tim,

I suggest that you try several cars before you buy...

The guy that bought my R33 GTR looked for 13 months before settled on my purple one.

Even a V8 Club Sport was quicker over the first 12 metres but when the Skyline spooled up, Rexs (except STis) and V8s soon appeared in the rear vision mirror

Mine was standard except for 3" Nismo exhaust and cat.

Check all services are done (+ logs)

Try 3 in a row within the one day and you'll get the idea.

Clutches can be very different in character; so if launch is what you're on about, then the way the clutch operates, how you use it and the revs you start from all count a lot too.

Enjoy your R33. It's a real pretty design once you ignore the number of GTsTs around

Once you get it, PM me and you can have a dvd of Kurosawa going around Nurburgring in 8'02" preceded by a test run!

Cheers,

Terry

With any performance car the two biggies are gross mass and engine capacity , I can't remember off hand what an R33GTR weighs but its north of 1400Kg and the engine capacity is ~ 2568cc's .

RB26's were designed to rev and breath so they need a few revs on board and a bit of boost to get the heavy chassis going .

An Impreza (assumes GC8 ?) is a fair amount smaller and lighter than the R33GTR and in std form most find boost before zilla does . People sometimes find the Impreza nippier and lets face it in tight bends they have less weight to make change direction brake and accelerate . On public roads it's possible to argue that the Impreza WRX can seem more entertaining because its possible to "have a go" without doing escape velocity , many GTR drivers seem to need to go "balls to the wall" to have a bit of fun .

Some people like to say that the GTR's on demand AWD is a good thing but really the most honest opinion is that it feels like the most conventional (RWD sports car wise) 4wd , many others including the Impreza's are 2wd come AWD and this is not without its compromises .

This is IMO take it or leave it . The Skyline GTR's were designed to be GT cars - Grand Tourers not drag strip slingshots and where they seem to shine is on open roads not traffic light suburbia .

You may think these are fighting words but if you want something that was a bit of a classic in the Rally world you may consider a Evolution 6 Lancer because they have many goodies out of the box , there's lots of good bits available and there is a following here in Australia . A clean Evo 6 has some presence on the road and they really can be make exciting to drive at sub light speeds .

Much as though they have a good looking spec sheet I will never own a GTR , very expensive and difficult to work on .

I think that which made the R32GTR a good race platform brings it undone in road going form . Its a PITA to have to rev a road car to make it go but it had to be that way in this case because race cars aren't driven at pedestrian revs and Nissan wanted to win in competition .

History went on to show the knuckle dragging pie eating beer swilling hoons that their 2WD V8's could be beaten . The truth is that a toned down 5 liter V8 is nearly always going to feel better at low revs than a turbo 2570cc engine . Its torque at lowish revs that feels strong , when you have to wait till 3500-4000 revs to get some torque from boost it leaves some feeling a bit cold . Possibly Nissan could have done worse than to offer a 3.5 to 4L alloy V8 in the GTR , 209Kw but with torque from lower revs .

Your call with GTR's , if it were me and I liked them I'd buy it if I really liked it . There is nothing to prove with a GTR , the R32 succeeded in what it set out to do but its dated now and can be beaten by later thinking and technology .

Just don't let one financially ruin you , cheers A .

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