Merc1

The Numbers the World Has Been Waiting for



We know you want the numbers and we're not going to waste your time. Neither is Nissan. Its 2009 GT-R hits 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, quicker than the last Dodge Viper, Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 Turbo we tested. Keep your foot pinned, and after another tap on the upshift paddle it will clear the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at more than 120 mph.

We know this because we've just returned from Japan where we tested a privately owned GT-R on an airstrip outside Tokyo. The car we tested was a Japanese-spec example with 1,500 break-in kilometers on its odometer. It's owned by Japanese journalist Jun Nishikawa and packs the same hardware the U.S. car will get: a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 that generates at least 473 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque. It had the same six-speed dual-clutch automated manual gearbox and the same adjustable dampers which, by now, you've read plenty about.

What you likely haven't heard about is this: launch control. Despite its bold 3.5-second 0-60-mph claim, Nissan has been keeping this little bit of technological wizardry a secret. Test a GT-R in the homeland, however, and the need for confidentiality is quickly overwhelmed by the need for speed.

Controlling the Launch

Activating the GT-R's launch control is a matter of configuring its transmission, dynamics control and damping adjustments properly. The transmission and damping switches must both be set to the R mode and the VDC must be switched off completely by holding the VDC-R button down for a few seconds. Then it's just a matter of pinning the brake with your left foot and wooding the throttle with your right, not unlike the technique used to produce a tire-shredding burnout in that '85 Camaro you drove in high school.

The result, however, is quite different. The computer holds the engine at 4,500 rpm and waits for you to lift your left foot off the brake pedal. When you do the GT-R produces the most crushing acceleration of virtually any production car in the world. Our test was conducted on a fairly low-grip surface that produced lots of rear wheelspin before the GT-R's sophisticated all-wheel-drive system engaged the front wheels and it thundered down the track. Its 3.3-second 0-60-mph run and 11.6 at 120.9 mph performance make the GT-R the quickest car we've ever tested.

It's even quicker than the Porsche 911 Turbo Tiptronic, but not by much. The German hits 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and blasts through the quarter-mile in 11.6 at 118.5 mph. Due to their lack of all-wheel drive, the Dodge Viper and Corvette Z06 are held back by traction limitations. Despite its 600-hp V10, the last Viper coupe we tested reached 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and finished the quarter-mile 11.8 at 125.3 mph. The Corvette Z06 isn't even close. Once impressive, its 4.1-second 0-60-mph run and 12-second quarter-mile at 121.8 mph are now well off the pace, which is why Chevy is creating the supercharged Corvette ZR1.

In an effort to preserve its drivetrain and relations with the owner, we only activated the launch control twice, but with a few more attempts to calm the violent wheelspin, the numbers would likely have been even better.

Leave the launch control off and the tranny in R mode, and the car is still sick quick. Sixty mph arrives in 4.0 seconds and the quarter-mile disappears in 12.3 seconds at 120.6 mph. All our testing was completed using manual shifting.

World-Class Braking

It requires 15-inch rotors, six-piston Brembo calipers and sticky Bridgestone Potenza RE070R rubber to bring a 3,836-pound GT-R to rest from 60 mph in only 104 feet. That's only 1 foot longer than the Porsche 911 Turbo equipped with the $8,800 ceramic composite brake package. It's also the same stopping distance as the last Dodge Viper we tested and 2 feet shorter than the Corvette Z06.

Experience tells us that the GT-R's conventional iron rotors aren't going to endure abuse as well as the 911 Turbo's ceramic brakes, but in a one-stop scenario like this, we have no reason to doubt them. With a solid, effective and intuitive pedal, braking confidence is high. Plus, we're guessing future versions of the GT-R will get brakes as advanced as the Porsche's.

Predictable, Accessible Handling

Our makeshift test facility at the AMI Airport near Tokyo didn't allow room for lateral acceleration testing on a skid pad. However, we did set up our standard slalom for comparison. Again, we were somewhat thwarted by the less-than-ideal surface, which had unavoidable painted lines crossing the course.

This served as an opportunity to witness the GT-R's striking at-the-limit composure. Blasting across the bumpy painted lines between cones, you get the sense that this is truly a special car. Its chassis remains composed and it goes exactly where it's pointed despite the ugly surface. There's none of the puckering that comes with driving a Vette or Viper this fast through a slalom. Nor is there the sense that the rear-mounted engine of a 911 Turbo is eventually going to find its way to the front.

The GT-R is versatile, with plenty of control latitude, and the difference between the limit of grip and the limit of control is huge. It's probably the most easily controlled car we've slid sideways between the cones. More importantly, its abilities are far more accessible for the average driver than those of its competition.

At 72.9 mph, it's quicker here than the Z06 and 911 Turbo but can't quite match the huge-tired Viper (74.2 mph). Still, it will be interesting to see how these numbers compare when all three cars are tested at the same place and time.

The Best Part

Perhaps more impressive than the GT-R's brain-cell-punishing acceleration or its stellar handling is its price. At just under $70,000 it's within reach of the upper middle-class enthusiast who insists on spending disproportionate amounts of his income on a car.

Plus, it will take an average driver and hurdle them into a realm of speed they couldn't buy with a 911 Turbo. It's world-class fast and relatively cheap. And that's a hard combination to beat.


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M

Bruce

Love this machine a little bit more every time I see it.

DeDe

2nd that This is really brutal, can't wait for AMS and Sport Auto tests!!!

Yannis

Very nice car indeed.

NarutoRamen

I'm with you Bruce. Every time I see this car or read about it, I love it even more. I've always stated this (before this car came out) that as much as I love the M3, that given the chance I'd own the Skyline GT-R (R34). Even though the new M3 is badass, my opinion still stands. I'd still take the GT-R (R35) over the M3 (E92) any day...and as you all know, I'm a hardcore M3 fan, probably the biggest one here.

Yannis

Nissan GT-R : World's 1st Full Test:



0-60mph in 3.3s !!!

Yannis

The Making of a Mass-Produced Supercar


Given its limited production numbers and stunning performance, you might think the 2009 Nissan GT-R would get its very own assembly line, a place where a small group of technicians work in near silence, slowly piecing together individual cars like craftsmen in a hot-rod shop.

That thought goes out the window the second you walk into the assembly area at Nissan's assembly plant in Tochigi, Japan, about 60 miles outside Tokyo. There, on various racks and conveyor belts, are GT-Rs all right, but they're mixed in among Infiniti G37 coupes and G35 sedans just like any other Nissan. They're all headed down the same production line and assembled by the same technicians.

So it's not what you might expect, but this doesn't tell the whole story of the 2009 Nissan GT-R's assembly process. There are areas where the GT-R does get special attention from dedicated technicians, but you have to take a few steps back in the build process to find them.

Yokohama's Finest

Nissan's Yokohama engine factory is where the GT-R gets the bulk of its special attention. It's here that a special clean room has been created to assemble the GT-R's twin-turbo V6, referred to internally as the VR38DETT.

This is the most powerful production engine Nissan has ever built, so each V6's assembly is overseen by a single technician who guides the process from start to finish. Watching these men at work, it's clear that the often frantic nature of an assembly line does not exist in this clean room. The techs are never in a hurry. They work quickly and efficiently in a room where both the air pressure and air temperature are precisely controlled to avoid contamination of the parts, the kind of environment usually seen only in the assembly of racing engines.

From start to finish, the entire build process takes 200 minutes. This works out to roughly 27 engines a day at the plant's current staffing level. Eventually there will be 20 technicians working on two shifts to meet the full production goal of 12,000 GT-Rs a year. If there's demand for more, additional workers will be added, but the allotted time to build the engine will not change, Nissan tells us.

When each engine is completed, it's test-fired and checked for power and torque on a dynamometer before heading to the Tochigi assembly plant where the whole GT-R comes together.

Smooth and Straight at 186 MPH

At Tochigi, the assembly of the GT-R's rear suspension surprisingly gets nearly as much attention as the engine. It's done by a small group of technicians away from the main line, and the centerpiece of the process is the hand-assembled Borg-Warner transaxle. Once complete, the entire setup is placed in a laser-equipped alignment rack to check all the tolerances.

Through an interpreter, one technician notes that the new suspension allows for adjustments that make it "a third more precise" than conventional setups. So either the 350Zs made here are hopelessly vague or the GT-R is extremely precise. Bet on the latter, as the GT-R is meant to deliver maximum stability and smoothness even at 186 mph.

Not Just Another Infiniti

Most of the body structure assembly and painting is done in areas of the plant Nissan doesn't want to show off. We suspect there are secret processes involved in joining together the GT-R's exotic mix of steel, aluminum and carbon-fiber parts, so it's no wonder Nissan isn't exactly forthcoming.

The tail end of the build process is much less guarded. It's here that the GT-R squeezes in among dozens of Infiniti G35s and G37s, and all receive the same level of attention. According to the line workers, installing the engine is the hardest part. The big V6 goes in from the bottom on a hydraulic lift and there's not much room for error. Once it's bolted down, they quickly assemble and connect all the various wiring harnesses. It looks like a haphazard rush of activity, but the workers don't look fazed. They could do it in their sleep, and probably have.

Toward the end of the line, each car is driven onto rollers where it's fired up and taken up to roughly 75 mph to make sure everything feels right. Then it's moved into a tunnel lit by fluorescent light, where each GT-R is given a thorough once-over, making sure there are no uneven panel gaps, scratches in the paint, or anything else that might suggest a less-than-perfect build.

From there it's on to the giant oval test track that surrounds the Tochigi plant, where a dedicated team of test-drivers gives each new GT-R a shakedown run. In addition to basic road tests, there's also a procedure for bedding in the brake pads of the GT-R's giant brakes. The test-drivers accelerate up to 3rd gear, and then get hard on the brakes while keeping varying levels of pressure on the gas pedal. It's the same process that you'd go through bedding in new pads (whether for the street or the racetrack), so the GT-R will deliver maximum brakeforce from Day One — probably a good idea in a 186-mph car.

Building GT-Rs for Fun and Profit

Though the 2009 Nissan GT-R provides a kind of halo for the entire Nissan product line, it still needs to be profitable. If not, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has promised to kill it as if it were just a slow-selling minivan. It's the necessity for economic viability that goes a long way toward explaining the mix of craftsmanship and mass production that goes into the GT-R.

Sure, the GT-R might be the closest thing to a Japanese-brand Ferrari, but its sticker price means there are compromises. You want a hand-stitched leather dashboard? Save up for the Ferrari. You want one of the fastest cars in the world for $70,000? This is how it's done


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Initially Posted by Merc1 in GCZ