Nissan GT-R Black Edition

Well, I say GT-R Black Edition, simply because that’s the top of the tree, and we’ve got one arriving in July. But really, it doesn’t matter which Nissan GT-R we’re talking about, the second we hang the Nissan GT-R For Sale sign on the door we will be very busy boys & girls. Why? Simple – it really is phenomenal.

The Skylines have been big sellers for years, and rightly so. They are a Porsche-bashing supercar from the Land of the Rising Sun, but sadly they never really made it here. But Nissan have decided that the top of the tree should now be a model in its own right, so we have the mouth-watering prospect of UK spec GT-Rs to salivate over. And it really is worth salivating.

The GT-R has caused such a fuss that the world is clamouring for them. But Nissan are wise to this, and they have put a bit of a fly in the ointment. The usual route to a Japanese special is the import route direct from Japan. Lots of Nissan dealers here can cope with the servicing, and warranty shouldn’t be too much of an issue. But with the GT-R Nissan has allegedly told their UK dealers not to service any imported GT-Rs and not to address any warranty issues. It’s not going to stop a few from coming in, but it does make it less appealing. So it probably makes sense to wait until the first proper UK cars get here in the Summer of 2009 (ours comes in July and yes, it can be made available!).

So what’s so special about the GT-R? Well, it has its down-side. The interior doesn’t feel all that special, and it has a Nissan badge. But that’s nit-picking. It is truly a supercar, by any measure. The spec sheet says 480bhp and 0-60 in 4 seconds. But the lucky guys out there who’ve had them on test seem to be finding that there’s more like 520bhp and 0-60 in around 3.3 seconds. There is precious little on the road that can match that time. And the GT-R now holds the lap record for the Nurburgring, which really puts its performance in to perspective.

As we’ve become used to with the Japanese cars (think Evo and Impreza) the electronic gizmos are everywhere. They are so good that even a leaden-footed, cack-handed moron can throw these cars around and look like Mr Schumacher. But the GT-R isn’t just a 4-wheeld bumble-bee that couldn’t get round the corner without its computer. It is a thoroughly sorted top-end supercar. But the real killer punch is the price. They start at a bit over £50k.

Good Lord, you can spend that on the options list on a F430 in ten minutes.

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