- 2014 Nissan GT-R Features & Specs ...
- Interior / Exterior »
The GT-R can seem a car built in halves–part extreme tuner car, part exotic. In profile it’s a more ordinary coupe, clad with some boisterous fender flares, deeply scooped air intakes, and a comically large rear wing. From the front, it’s more luxury car wrapped in anime armor. Neither as instantly familiar as the Porsche, or as lurid as any Italian, the GT-R has its finer points: the roofline chops into the rear end like a tomahawk, and the circular taillamps are an easy marker, now even more so that the ‘Vette isn’t using them anymore. It’s attention-getting, no doubt, but it’s more a digital-age shout-out than a quintessential, timeless take.
You won’t find much in common with other current Nissan models inside the GT-R, where there’s a definite cockpit feel, including center-stack controls angled toward the driver and heavily bolstered seats. It looks cobbled-together and well below what the current Corvette musters, and well below the fully loaded, leather-lined 911–but when it’s fitted with the new Premium Interior package, it’s much more in keeping with Infiniti levels of luxury. The Black Edition earns kudos, too: it also adds a special black and red interior, with Recaro seats, plus light-weight black wheels.
- Performance »
There’s no doubt the GT-R qualifies as one of the more insane performance bargains of modern humanity. So how does it get there? By letting a pair of turbochargers rampage all over a 3.8-liter V-6. Rising in cadence with its advancing years, the formerly 480-horsepower GT-R is up to a solid 545 hp now, with 463 pound-feet of torque, tweaked last year with quicker fuel injectors for better midrange response and a new oil-pan design so it won’t starve while hanging semi-permanently at the zenith of its grip.
All-wheel drive and a six-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission are the only way to restrain that kind of power and transmit it with any effectiveness to the pavement. The transmission and related bits live in the rear end to give it even better weight balance than its rear-biased setup, and Nissan worked on shifter feel and refinement last year to quiet it down–early GT-Rs generated as much driveline clatter as they did tire detritus. Constant improvement hasn’t held it back at all–it’s vaulted it forward even more nauseatingly quickly. The GT-R will accelerate to 60 mph in less than 3.0 seconds, and top speed has drifted up into the 200-mph zone.
It doesn’t waste any time in getting there either. With Launch Control, the GT-R can rip off consistent accel runs with a simple tap and flip of the traction control and sport-mode buttons, and by braking and by goosing the throttle. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime thrill to execute one of those runs–like parachuting horizontally. It’s so fast it can be unsafe to exercise fully on public roads–you’ll want to save it for the track, where it’s set records at some of the world’s most challenging circuits.
Provided you’re not pushing the GT-R’s boundaries–and barring insanity, you wouldn’t dare on the road–the GT-R is a brilliant road car. The rear-biased all-wheel-drive system can vary torque split from 0:100 to 50:50 depending on speed, lateral acceleration, steering angles, tire slip, road surface and yaw rate. The GT-R also has adjustable suspension, transmission, and stability-control settings to relieve its stiff ride and neural responses when you’re just tooling around for admiration. In “R” mode, all those reflexes are sharpened, and it’s staggering to wind the GT-R into long sweepers at triple-digit speeds and feel almost complacent as it just hangs on, drama-free, ready for you to throw on its Brembo six-piston front, four-piston rear brakes.
For the ultimate rendition of its Formula formula, the GT-R Track Edition is the way to spend more than $115,000. Its handling is tweaked to improve high-speed handling, with relocated front suspension bushings and a new stabilizer bar, plus new adjustable dampers and higher spring rates.
With all its NASA-grade hardware, the GT-R still can leave some drivers cold. We’re at a loss to explain why, but its all-wheel drive and massive, meaty Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT treads can shave off some of the unpredictability that gives life to other supercars. They’re undeniably the GT-R’s defining traits, but they do make it more difficult to suss out its character.
You don’t have to be a Formula 1 demigod to extract every ounce of potential from the shock-and-awe Nissan GT-R–but it wouldn’t hurt.
The GT-R commands respect from a cadre of cars straight out of the exotic section–cars like the 911 Turbo, Corvette Stingray, practically the entire AMG and M lineups. Key it to life, and your attention needs to be laser-focused, even though it’s one of the most predictable supercars ever. You’ll roll up into triple-digits speeds–in corners–before you can catch your breath.
You also have to pay special attention, because the $100,000 GT-R doesn’t look so wild or iconic as the other supercars that categorically fall short of its benchmarks, except in the most sensual, subjective ways.
As an objective reality, nothing even comes close to the GT-R’s 545 hp, 0-60 mph times of less than 3.0 seconds, or its brilliant all-wheel-drive handling. Still, Corvettes and Vipers and 911s and Veyrons have instantly identifiable shapes. The GT-R doesn’t lack for a possessing style, but it doesn’t quite live up to those iconic outlines, either. Its jagged outline reads more tuner car, more body kit, than instant classic. The components cut interesting swaths across its luxury-coupe outline: a tomahawk cut at the roofline chops into the rear end, and carbon fiber trim gives the plain interior just a dab of intrigue–given more panache with the red-and-black Recaros in Black Series models.
You’d have to spend a lot more than the Nissan GT-R’s $100,000 base price to sling yourself to 60 mph any faster on four wheels. The next step up? The Bugatti Veyron, at a cool million-point-plus, if you even qualify for consideration. Last year’s rework of the drivetrain brought another 15 horsepower and 15 pound-feet to the party. The 3.6-liter, twin-turbo V-6 now thunders with 545 hp and 463 lb-ft of torque, for blistering acceleration that hooks up perfectly with awe-inspiring traction from the GT-R’s brainy all-wheel drive system. Those huge wheels and tires hang on with near-bottomless buckets of grip, leaving you little room to explore the GT-R’s beautifully balanced handling–which can be dialed into a softer state at the touch of a switch.
With four seats, the Nissan GT-R makes two rare concessions to practicality. It’s almost impossible to name another supercar with a pair of rear seats, other than the Porsche 911 Turbo–and the GT-R’s actually have real leg room. The GT-R has great room for people in front, and that bit of room for small people in back, as well as a useful trunk. But don’t expect too much in the way of touring-car comfort; there’s plenty of noise from the road and the driveline. In fact, if you choose the new Track Edition, you don’t even get the rear seats.The Nissan GT-R has the safety equipment we expect to find in any modern luxury car, and some necessary features we routinely see now in sportscars and supercars. But there aren’t any crash-test scores yet, and we don’t expect to get any from the IIHS or the NHTSA any time soon. A rearview camera, now standard, addresses the GT-R’s blind spots.
It’s no longer the screaming bargain it was in 2008 when it cost less than $70,000, but at $99,590, the standard GT-R Premium still is well-outfitted with all the gadgets its drivers will want–though the $109,300 Black Edition and the $115,710 Track Edition boast their own worthwhile features. Features are as respectable as they can be without begging any mention of plush or luxurious (that it is not), but all the basics are included, as well as a great 3D nav system, Bose audio, and Bluetooth. Take the Premium Interior package–it goes a long way to correcting the inexpensive-looking cockpit, the GT-R’s most visible flaw–and you’ll have Infiniti-grade luxury in a car with NASA-grade acceleration.
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