2012 Nissan GT-R – Short Take Road Test « New and Used Car Listings

2012 Nissan GT-R – Short Take Road Test

Can it do 2.9 to 60 mph? Answering that question consumed a significant part of the 2012 Nissan GT-R’s press launch in California in January. Nissan claims this latest version can, but it wasn’t able to prove it, despite several attempts. The best the car could manage was 3.0 seconds. So, in entomological terms, it was about three beats of a bee’s wing slow, a glaring gap between claim and reality. Nissan’s man said it was because the track surface was cold that day. The assembled press snorted skepticism.

Well, we can now confirm that Nissan isn’t full of it. Our 3859-pound test car did an honest 2.9 seconds to 60 mph on our secret high-desert test track running California 91-octane pump gas with the ambient temperature at a slightly chilly 51 degrees. In fact, it did it twice before the clutch got hot and 10ths of a second started to pile on. The fourth launch saw it running about 3.3 to 60. After four launches, the computer requires a 1.5-mile cool-down cruise before it would allow the execution of any more launch-control starts. We did the cool-down but couldn’t get better times. The first two runs were the fastballs.

At 2.9 to 60, the new GT-R is 0.7 second quicker than an example we tested for a July 2008 comparison test, and it shaves 0.3 second from the quickest time we’ve ever recorded for the model. (The slowest GT-R time in our logs: 4.1 seconds.) The 2012 barrels through the quarter-mile in 11.2 seconds at 126 mph, almost a full second and 11 mph faster than that July 2008 comparo car. Tokyo, beware: Godzilla is more powerful than ever.

Nissan: Good at Engineering, Not So Good at Names

In Nissan’s bone-dry techno-speak, the 2012 Nissan GT-R is called the R35 GT-R (12MY M/C). Catchy, isn’t it? The R35 is the current model designation; you may recall the previous Japan-only R32–R34. The “12MY” refers to the 2012 model year, of course, and the “M/C” stands for “minor change,” according to chief engineer and resident GT-R god Kazutoshi Mizuno.

That “minor change” bit is perhaps a touch of Japanese modesty, but it’s apt. This GT-R’s biggest news is that horsepower from the twin-turbo 3.8-liter V-6 jumps from an already ridiculous 485 to a totally absurd, USDA-guarantee-of-certain-arrest 530, and torque swells from 434 lb-ft to 448.

There are some nitty-gritty suspension tweaks to enliven the steering and improve the big rocket’s straight-ahead tracking, some structural bracing to reduce body flex, a few styling alterations to clean up the aerodynamics, some changes to the stability and electronic suspension controls—you’d need to turn to page 274, subparagraph G, of the owner’s manual to read about them—and some new packages on which to spend more money.

Speaking of money, the price increase is not insignificant: $5890 more from the base 2011 to the base 2012 model, which is dubbed Premium and starts at $90,950. There’s also a new Black Edition that runs $96,100 and features a red and black interior, leather Recaro seats, and lighter six-spoke wheels with, of course, a black finish. For the body color, buyers of the Black Edition can choose any GT-R hue.

Feel the Rush

Beyond the track sheet, you can definitely feel the R35 GT-R (12MY M/C)’s extra power, much like you’d feel being whacked from behind by a six iron. Besides the engine, the other changes are far subtler. It’s a good thing Nissan brought along a couple examples of the 2011 model to compare against the new car during our single day of driving and track lapping.

Every production car on the market represents a snapshot, the final spot where the engineers decided to call it a day after exhausting their development time and budget. Improvements can always be eked out with more time and budget. That’s what the 2012 GT-R represents: the old GT-R plus three years of time and a little—very little, because the sports-car market has been sucking wind lately—extra development money.