Nissan GT-R Review (2008-2021)
Nissan GT-R cars for sale
4.0
Expert review
Pros
Incredible performance
Hugely sophisticated four-wheel-drive system and driver aids
Sensibly priced considering its supercar-baiting speed
Cons
Very firm ride
The interior is cheaply finished in places
Tremendously thirsty
The CarGurus verdict
Because it wears a mainstream badge, you might not think of the Nissan GT-R as a supercar. But given its pace and ability, it’s hard to argue against the fact that that’s exactly what it is.
What’s more, more than any other supercar, the GT-R’s array of sensors, computers and driver aids mean its performance is extremely accessible. So even if you aren’t a driver with the reactions of Lewis Hamilton, you can still get the most out of it.
It’s also relatively affordable, given the thumping pace it offers. Granted, you can tell why as soon as you climb on board and spot the rather cheap-looking dashboard; you might also wish it was just a little smoother-riding when you drive along a potholed road.
But if you’re willing to live with the trade-off between the fact the GT-R isn’t quite as plush as some of its performance car rivals and its much lower price, this is a car which delivers a huge amount of bang for your buck.
Its devotees call it “Godzilla”. That isn’t just a reference to the Japanese origins of the Nissan GT-R; it's also derived from a combination of its monstrous power and its ability to smash the competition to bits.
It was actually the GT-R's predecessor, the Nissan Skyline GT-R, that first earned that nickname, and today's GT-R is a worthy heir; phenomenally potent, its twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 engine produces a rollicking 562bhp, enough to hurl it to 62mph from a standstill in less than three seconds, and blast it on to a top speed of 196mph.
In pure performance terms, then, it sits among exalted supercar rivals like the Audi R8 and Mercedes-Benz AMG GT. Yet its list price undercuts theirs by vast amounts: tens of thousands of pounds, in some cases.
With two rear seats, the Nissan GT-R is impressively practical. In fact, the only other cars that offer anything like this combination of practicality and sheer pace are the BMW M5 Competition and Porsche 911 Turbo, but both will set you back considerably more to buy than the GT-R.
For what it is, then, the GT-R is something of a performance car bargain. Yet it isn’t without its downsides. For one thing, climb aboard and you can tell this is not a premium product. The plastics feel cheap in places, the infotainment system looks tacky, and some of the switchgear is shared with lesser Nissans. The touchscreen in the centre console is especially dated, and rather fiddly to use; jump into a GT-R from anything else that costs this much, and you might feel a little short-changed.
From the moment you get underway, you can tell this is a car set up to go round corners as fast as possible. It feels honed and taut. Too taut, some might say. Even with the adjustable suspension set to its softest “Comfort” mode, there’s still very little give, and you feel every little bump through your backside.
But there is a payoff for this, and it comes when the road gets twistier. The GT-R feels locked down to the road surface, its huge tyres hooking into the tarmac with faintly believable tenacity. But it isn’t just the tyres doing the work; the GT-R uses a complex combination of electronic and mechanical trickery to continuously vary the amount of power being sent to all four wheels, working out the best combination to provide maximum grip and traction.
What that means to the person behind the wheel is an astonishing ability to point the GT-R in the direction you want it to go, plant your right foot and watch it do the work. You don’t need to be a budding racing driver to get the best out of it, in other words, because the computers and differentials will fill the gap between your ability and the car’s.
So when the road (or, more likely, racing track) allows, you can rocket from corner to corner, cracking through the dual-clutch automatic gearbox, deploying all of that sensational performance to maximum effect, your eyes wide as the car devours the road ahead of you and kicks it out behind.
The beauty of the GT-R is that it isn’t just a fast point-to-point machine; set its driver aids up in the right way, and it’ll allow you to pull off perfect lurid powerslides and four-wheel drifts, its clever electronics once again helping things along wherever they need to. This isn’t just a great-value supercar, then; it’s one that’ll make even the least experienced drivers feel like a pro.
At the heart of the GT-R’s unique driving experience is its complex all-wheel drive system. What makes it so special is the level of control the car’s computers can exercise over which wheel the power is sent to, using sensors and hydraulic clutches to transfer power not only from front- to rear wheels, but also between the left- and right-hand sides of the car.
The GT-R can also sense the yaw of the car, which is to say its angle relative to the direction of travel, and like many modern cars, it can also use gentle braking on each individual wheel to reduce wheel spin and further help control the car’s attitude.
All of these different technologies are tied together by the GT-R’s on-board computers, which are programmed to mete power or braking out to each wheel as and where it’s needed, depending on the position of the steering wheel, how hard the driver is pressing the accelerator or brakes, and the car’s yaw.
The result is a car that can work out whether it’s about to slide or spin one of its wheels, and either moderate the effect or prevent it from happening altogether, depending on which you’ve set it up to do.
With its twin-turbo V6 engine, it should come as no great surprise that the GT-R isn’t cheap to run. Don’t reckon on seeing more than 15-20 mpg in everyday use. Even on a longer run, that fuel economy won’t improve by very much.
You’ll also pay quite a bit in tax for the first few years. The GT-R sits in the highest rate of first-year tax, and given its high price, it also attracts the higher rate for cars costing more than £40,000 in the following five years. After that, however, its tax should drop to the same level as far more humdrum machinery.
Do keep in mind, however, that the GT-R is a specialist car, and consequently it requires regular servicing. Pre-2011 cars need servicing every six months or 6,000 miles, whichever crops up sooner, and those costs will soon stack up.
2011-on cars had their service schedules expanded to every 12 months or 9,000 miles. However, Nissan recommends that when cars driven when salt is on the road or after high-performance driving (and let’s face it, most GT-Rs in Britain will experience one or other of these things), the engine oil and filter are changed and various components are inspected every six months or 3,000 miles in addition.
Of course, the GT-R is a specialist car, and requires specialists to look after it, and that means any servicing or repair will cost you more than it will on the average hatchback. Having said that, you can expect to pay considerably less at a Nissan dealer or specialist than you will at, say, a Porsche or Mercedes workshop.
The GT-R’s specialist status also means it’s hard to find any reliability data on it, so we can’t say with any certainty whether it’ll break down regularly or not. However, anecdotally, we’ve heard of relatively few major issues with the GT-R.
As a manufacturer, Nissan’s reliability record is hard to read, too, because it depends who you listen to. What Car?’s Reliability Survey, for example, resulted in a 27th-place finish for Nissan out of 31 car makers, a fairly mediocre result in anyone’s book. However, in the JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study, Nissan came 4th out of the 24 manufacturers that were included. Make of that what you will.
- As you may have noticed the GT-R has been around for quite some time. But don’t think of it as an old car; Nissan has updated it continuously, releasing a raft of changes every year of its life. Some have been fairly minor, while others have been more notable; the biggest changes came in 2011 and 2017, both of which brought revised styling and more power, with stiffer suspension and more downforce on the former, and a tweaked gearbox to offer faster shifts on the latter. As a general rule, the newer the GT-R, the faster and sharper it’ll feel to drive.
- Of course, if the standard GT-R just isn’t quite… well, Godzilla enough for you, then you could always opt for the Nismo model. Nismo is short for “Nissan Motorsports”, which should give you an idea of what the GT-R Nismo is all about; it’s an even harder, even sharper, and even more cartoonishly fast version of Nissan’s supercar. You can spot it from a mile away thanks to its more aggressive bodykit, with vents in the bonnet and front wings and deeper skirts and spoilers all round. Under the bonnet, there’s an extra 30bhp to play with, while a more rigid bodyshell increases the Nismo’s stiffness, carbon fibre body parts reduce its weight, and carbon ceramic brakes improve its stopping power.
- It is, in short, the ultimate GT-R; only trouble is, it’s heaps more expensive than the standard car, its near-£200,000 price tag setting it against considerably more prestigious competition.
- The entry-level GT-R is called the Pure, and we reckon it’s the one to have. Oh sure, you could spend more on the Recaro or Prestige versions, but all these get you are slightly posher upholstery – and given the GT-R’s interior isn’t all that upmarket anyway, it rather feels like lipstick on a pig. The Pure still gets you all that’s good about the GT-R: an extensive spec list, the clever four-wheel drive system, and of course, that sensational performance.
- That said, if you’re a track day enthusiast, you might want to consider the Track Edition. This features the same stiffened body shell as the Nismo, as well as sharper suspension and lighter alloy wheels. Of course, it makes the GT-R even less pliant on the road, but out on a circuit, it results in the same incredible agility as the Nismo, but for less money.
- But if nothing but the best will do, you will of course want to consider the Nismo. Just keep in mind that it’s a vast amount more expensive than the standard GT-R, and to be able to really make use of the extra grunt and handling ability it brings, you’ll have to have regular access to a racing circuit, or a very large amount of private land.
