Nissan GT-R

Nissan GT-R unveiled in Tokyo

The GT-R has now been officially unveiled in the metal - and we were there to get you the inside line.

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Chris Thorp

24th October 2007

One of the biggest stars of this year’s Tokyo Motor Show has been officially unveiled in the metal – the Nissan GT-R is go!

Following the unprecedented leak of the first official images last week, the firm has now lifted all sanctions on information and images, and it’s come into sharp focus just how much performance car buyers have got to look forward to.

Moving up a class from its predecessor, the new Nissan – codenamed R35 - has been designed to be a genuine supercar. With everything from a bespoke platform to a ground breaking four-wheel drive set-up the Japanese model has Porsche’s 911 Turbo in its sights.

Made from an advanced part-carbon fibre construction the GT-R is Nissan's most advanced performance model ever. Its engine is mounted just behind the front axle. Power comes from a twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 powerplant, producing 473bhp and 588Nm of torque. Official economy is recorded at 23.2mpg.

The engine feeds power to its sophisticated all-wheel drive system via a dual-clutch automated manual transmission. Shifts take 0.2 seconds and are made via steering wheel mounted paddle shifters.

While drivers can’t fully disengage the traction and stability control devices, they can adjust the GT-R’s set-up via three dash mounted switches. Selecting “R” mode for everything from the traction control to the gearchanges puts the GT-R into its most extreme track focused guise.

In this mode 0-62mph takes only 3.6 seconds. What’s more, the Nissan has recorded an impressive seven minute 38 second lap time at Germany’s top test circuit, making it one of the fastest road legal production cars ever to post a time. Interestingly, Nissan was so focussed on this test that bosses said if the car didn’t manage to get around in less then eight minutes the car would not be built! What’s more, an even more powerful version of the GT-R will be added to the line-up later.

Inside, the GT-R’s cabin has a Japanese feel with much of the switchgear borrowed from other Nissan models. The most advanced feature is accessed via the dash mounted touch screen. Using a system developed by the technical brains behind the latest Grand Turismo racing game, the driver can access realtime information on everything from turbo boost pressure to braking and acceleration graphs.

But don’t think the GT-R is going to take up the place of its predecessor in the tuning market. Nissan is so certain that its supercar cannot be improved that it has tried to make it impossible to be modified using the latest electronic and mechanical security features.

The new supercar will go on sale in the UK in March 2009. Prices and specifications are yet to be announced but the GT-R is expected to cost between £55,000 and £60,000.