Funny.. I actually seen the first one in person this morning.
Pretty unusual here in the Midwest, most people like early 90s Mustangs, Camaros and Dodges.
But....... Nissan has always made sports cars, man. C'mon.. Since the 70s, they've been all about sports cars. You can't really tell if you look at most on the road, Altimas and crap like that. Even the Maxima is pretty badass, basically a de-tuned 350Z.
280Z, 300Z, 300ZX,
THE SKYLINE!!!, GT-R, 350Z, 370Z, (Infiniti) G37. Every single one of these was a top of the line, affordable sports car in its day. You want to make a $50,000 MKIV Toyota Supra Twin-Turbo look like a scared little fairy girl? Introduce it to your $8,000 Nissan 300ZX Twin-Turbo.
Nobody's ever heard of the 240SX around here? It's a 4 cylinder car that you can buy all day long for under $1,000... Dump less than $10,000 (way less) into the engine and suspension and come out with one of the best handling 450+ RWHP coupes around.
Nissan's always been badass and competitive, but they're subtle sometimes. Look at the Infiniti Q45. You can buy that TODAY for $700. You know what's in that bitch? 4.5L quad cam, 32-valve V8 pushing 315HP. Want to know why it's one of my favorites? Japan, like Germany had a "gentlemen's agreement" not to put out more than something like 278HP in the 90s. Nissan put out the Infiniti Q45, listed it as "278HP" and sold it. Then it got here, people started putting it on the dyno and saying, "whoa, hold on. WTF? This can't be right. Do it again, Rodney......... 315HP."
Want to know why else it's badass? It's one of the most solid foundations for building a sports car available in its day, and even still. Step 1. Hook up a turbocharger. Step 2. Boost that hooker to 525HP. All day. Want more? NP. Step 3. Get some bigger fuel injectors for $200. Step 4. Boost that slut up to OVER 700 HP!!!
Notice anything about those steps? How about no engine overhaul? No going out and buying forged internals, no nothing. As it sits, that thing is capable of over 700HP before it gets sketchy.
Now take that engine and throw it in some tiny sub-2000LB Nissan chassis like the S12, S13/14/15, etc. You've got a death trap.
You want some of the best handling, finest tuned, most engineered sports cars available? Go to Japan.... Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru....
But yes, the GT-R is a beast.
