Posted Jan 07 2009, 07:57 PM by Mike Garrett with 36 comment(s)

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It's not ALL doom and gloom when it comes to Japanese performance cars these days. Nissan has just unveiled the highly anticipated limited production SpecV model of the R35 GT-R. Like the SpecV's of the past, the R35 model sports a lot of subtle upgrades from the standard GT-R, and its exclusivity should make it valuable to those who can afford it.  So what does the SpecV get that the normal GT-R doesn't?

The body of the car gets a carbon fiber rear spoiler, carbon grille, and carbon brake ducts. The most noticeable difference on the exterior would be the wheels, which are the forged Nismo wheels seen on the Tokachi 24 Hr race car. The wheels are lighter than the regular GT-R wheels and should make for a noticeable increase in performance with their grippy rubber.

The cockpit of the SpecV gets a pair of carbon fiber Recaro bucket seats for added bolstering and weight savings. The back seat has also been removed on the SpecV in the name of trimming pounds. Carbon interior accents complete the package.

There are no big power upgrades to the SpecV, but the engine has been retuned to deliver more midrange torque. A titanium exhaust system and upgraded brake pads should also help improve performance. Nissan says the SpecV brings a new level of "oneness between man and machine".

The SpecV will set Japanese buyers back 15,750,000 yen (over 160k USD), which is about twice what a normal GT-R costs. The car will only be available at a handful of Nissan dealers around Japan.

What do you guys think?

-Mike Garrett


Comments

Strop said:

I want one! hehehe  

the price is really high...but lets wait for the lap times =)

January 7, 2009 8:02 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

thehype2049 said:

its meant for track purposes, but i dont like the way it looks

January 7, 2009 8:05 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

dousan said:

wat

auto?

January 7, 2009 8:16 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

SoloTwo said:

Don't forget about the "overboost" function they added.  It is added to the "resume / accel" cruise control knob on the steering wheel and it also replaces the suspension adjustment toggle on the center console.

January 7, 2009 8:24 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

philProject.D. said:

Didn't see any mention of upgraded suspension components? Does the Spec V not feature the Bilstein Damptronic dampers +18.5kg/mm front and 10kg/mm rear springs available on the Nismo Club Sports package? If not, then I'm even more so baffled as to where Nissan got the new price tag from.

January 7, 2009 8:27 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Alex said:

What a piece of garbage. The new oh-so-JDM R35 is nothing sensational to me. It never was, and never will be.

Big, as big as those old Cadillac; heavy, as heavy as those old Cadillac, with so much electronic to confused even the most experienced elicopter pilot, AND to add insult to it; there are quite a few voices on the net that say that the tranny is not very strong either.......

Either way, with that much money, I would buy a Porsche 997 GT3 RS....thank you very much !

January 7, 2009 9:18 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Mr. Moons said:

First of all: the R35 is ugly.

Second of all: you would have to be freaking stoopid to pay that much money for this one.

January 7, 2009 10:07 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

VROCSone said:

lol double the price tag and you don't get much out of it really.

January 7, 2009 10:23 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

s0apgun said:

some pointless extra carbon, some ugly ass wheels, no back seat lol, recaros, exhaust and improved brake pads

HOW THE  DOES THAT WARRANT DOUBLE THE PRICE

stuppppid move nissan

how about a stronger transmission in manual flavor

January 7, 2009 10:47 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Muzaffar said:

Well consider this, why would people pay over 1 million US$ for a Reventon (which is based of a Murcielago) or a CCX-R Edition (which is just a carbon body CCX-R)? It is the same reason as the Spec V, for its EXCLUSIVENESS, There is nothing much to say about that......

Well I do like the rims, and black totally suits the car quite nicely. I wonder what other colors do they have plan for the Spec V....

January 8, 2009 2:22 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

zenkirolly said:

not to mention more power.

January 8, 2009 2:23 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

UberOwnage said:

Yeah, not too much upgrades on paper to really justify the price tag, maybe its in the driving characteristics. We'll see.

January 8, 2009 3:26 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Mike said:

It seems awesome, but at double the price, it seems as though the great bargain appeal of the car is lost. I'd like to see the actual differences spec for spec when it's released.

January 8, 2009 4:11 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

BlueSlug said:

i like the kit action very much, but dislike the wheels they seem too LUX style for my tastes.  i'd rather something that wasn't black-face-silver-lip it's a little 2004 :P

.

at least the price is now on par with its competition, but is the interior up to snuff for a car that expensive? how much did an R34 GT-R V-spec cost over an 'ordinary' R34 GT-R?

January 8, 2009 4:28 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Garrett said:

Exhaust? I thought we weren't supposed to tune the GTR and it came best as it sat?

Twice the price for 1 bucket (i'm canceling out the other one for money they save by stealing your back seat), ugly wheels/tires and brake pads? What a gimmick

January 8, 2009 4:53 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

TougeNoMikado said:

LOL @ "Alex" calling the GTR "a piece of garbage" .... lol... and comparing it to a bleeding "Cadillac".... with that opnion on cars Im even suprized you read Speedhunters.  But hey everyone is entilted to think what they want.

I agree that twice the price is too much, and I was hoping to see a stearing wheel Sin buttons all over it.

I also expected more race oreanted seats... like for eaxample what youd expect to find in the RX7 Spirit R or a Civic type R Mugen RR.  

January 8, 2009 5:05 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Sillbeer said:

Not sure there were any SpecV's in the past for the GT-R as mentioned in the 1st para, they were V-spec or V-spec II's. There could have been SpecV's in the USDM line up from Nissan, but this would have no connection to GT-R's.

For what you're getting, yes it's over priced. And those wheels have been beaten senseless with the ugly stick, with the offset and face (and outy rather than an inny) on the front rims looking just atrocious!

January 8, 2009 5:48 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

ccc said:

Looks like an interesting car but it definitely looks to be overpriced; for that money I would rather have a normal GT-R

January 8, 2009 6:18 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Chris said:

160k (USD) for a Nissan, you are kidding right?

January 8, 2009 6:40 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Greg said:

dousen it's not auto

it has paddle shifters. i thought this one was going to be adle to beat the vette or atleast compete with it

January 8, 2009 8:58 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Alvin Wong said:

$160k for some extra carbon fiber bits and pieces.

That's almost as ridiculous as Lexus asking over $200k for the LF-A.

I'll take the ZR1 please...at least GM has durable transmissions.

January 8, 2009 9:15 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Ole-M said:

No new mods you can't already do yourself then?

I'd get a standard GT-R and mod it myself for the rest of the money :P

January 8, 2009 12:58 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

STJ said:

Actualy it isn't too exspencive, allmost all te parts can be bought separate from tuners. And they are not cheap!

Carbon spoiler $6000

Carbon lip $3000

Carbon engine cover $2000

Rims, and suspension $20000

Exhaust $10000

Carbon seats $12000

Carbon Grill $2000

And lots of stuff you can't get like the overboost and carbondash.

January 8, 2009 2:49 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Easy E said:

I think you guys are sort of missing the point of the SpecV... Of course there isn't much done to it that a person couldn't do to a standard GTR themselves... I think we all hold the same opinion about most factory cars... We can mod them way better than a factory will ever produce them... So in essence your not buying the specV for it's upgraded performance. If you were, then I would consider you a moron... You have to see this for what it is, a collectors item a novelty if you will. It's the same with special editions of the Subaru WRX STI like the 22B or the Cosworth edition... It's all more of a novelty than anything else. Something you buy to collect... So in point, yes the SpecV is nothing that special as far as performance mods go, but then again it would be a hell of a thing to say you own...

January 8, 2009 3:22 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Leo Plummer said:

Wheels are ugly as hell. I'm disappointed in Nissan. Really.

January 8, 2009 4:05 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

wai said:

dislike the wheels, but let's see the lap times....it's already reported that this Spec V outlaps the normal spec sereis II R35 by 2 seconds in Sendai.  Time attack will resume in Nur when it's warmer.  

January 8, 2009 4:36 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Dennis said:

looks great minus the wheels which look fugly

January 8, 2009 7:10 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Luc Corleon said:

the tranny is not very strong and the gtr have better lap time than porshes in the nur

double the price nissan bad mouve, oh no

yeah that's expensive but nissan just don't give a F*ck, all gtr are be sold every GTR

ya smell me

January 8, 2009 7:27 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Terry said:

Relax guys, they probably won't make many, and the guys who can easily afford them will snap them up in no time for the exclusivity.  The can just change the wheels if they don't like them!  These guys aren't worrying about the next rent check.

January 9, 2009 1:16 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

luis said:

i like light cars, so if i have to spend 160 in a 35 i would put it in dry carbonfibre body, titanium parts and everething like this...

January 9, 2009 1:50 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Alex said:

When I said that the R35 is gargabe.....I just meant that.

Nissan thought: more is better. Adding that super cool LCD screen from Polygraph was a smart move...why having multiple displays is beyond me? Why having paddle shifter AND a stick shift is beyond me. All those features add complexity to the already complex wiring, and more headache for the tuners to hack the system.

Nissan also thought that having those run-flat tires is a cool idea. It's not a Hummer H1 for god sake, it is suppose to be a sport car. Sport cars are suppose to be light weigh.

Adding those gay carbon fiber trims aint gonna help shed much weight either. They should have started with an alumium chassis. like Honda did 15 years ago with the NSX.

On top of that, the fact that their Nismo Package also cost something like $54K is fucking ridiculous. The stock R35 is suppose to cost around $79K. That package give you a set of coilovers, an exhaust, and a set of Rays Wheels. Are we kidding?

I strongly suggest Nissan to follow what Colin Chapman preached for many years.

January 9, 2009 2:33 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

kyle said:

that price is horrible... theres so much aftermarket support for the car now that it would be silly to buy this. buy the base model and drop the other 70k or so left on goodies and have 10x the car....

January 9, 2009 3:17 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

jeremy said:

i love that color in the last photo!!

January 9, 2009 7:00 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

Terry said:

Relax, this is a limited edition.  They will sell all of them.  We all know those little CF goodies are more for looks and do little to make it go faster.  For better use of their money, buyers could go on a diet and save $40,000 on "go fast light weight" stuff.  But these buyers want exclusivity, and they are not worrying about the next rent check.  For my money I would want CF doors and hood also at least.  Also, it will likely have around 600 hp as performance on these cars is underrated.

January 9, 2009 8:32 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

j said:

nice car, but too expensive

u can prolly do the same upgrades yourself w/ that money

January 10, 2009 3:20 PM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters

DM said:

It's no 400R. Change just for the sake of change isn't always good.

The new Silvia if it comes through, should hit the spot for guys like us. Simple, Light, RWD, Solid powertrain, boost. G2G. Hopefully Nissan doesn't make it look like a space ship.

January 11, 2009 8:01 AM [flag as inappropriate] Speedhunters