Nissan GT-R
A Quattro encounter throws a spotlight on some shortcomings of our modern-day supercoupe
COMPARING THE GT-R WITH AN original Audi Quattro 20V recently ( evo 242) provided me with a decent plateful of food for thought about the newer car, and I’ve been grazing on it quietly ever since. Because without wishing to sound in any way ungrateful about temporary GT-R ownership, I came away from my day with the two cars thinking some strange new thoughts about the Nissan, not all of which were/are entirely positive.
For one, I drove back home in the GT-R thinking it was both bigger and heavier than it really should or could be. I also twigged for the first time ever that its packaging – specifically the amount of space it offers on the inside relative to the amount of real estate it occupies on the outside – is completely and utterly ridiculous. Plus the quantity of fuel it quaffed on the day was faintly absurd beside that of a near-30-year-old Audi Quattro.
And yet… I remain entirely smitten by the GT-R. Not just by how it drives or by how quick it is (i.e. mentally), or by what it sounds or looks like, but by it as a thing, period. Which is a bit weird considering how badly it was shown up by the Quattro when we put the pair backto-back. But then sometimes logic simply has no place in an argument, and I think ultimately that’s why I like the GT-R so very much.
Logically, after all, this 1752kg, 562bhp, £84,000 car makes almost no sense whatsoever if you really stop and think about it. Yet in reality I reckon I like the GT-R more than any other car I’ve ever run on a long-term basis. Every time I park it and walk away from it I absolutely have to turn round and give it another look. Every time I drive it I hear new sounds as it warms up, feel new things happening beneath my backside as the ambient temperature gets colder at this time of year, and think slightly different thoughts about it as a result. And every time I put my foot down in it on a quiet bit of road, or out of a roundabout onto a dual carriageway, I get a massive hit of adrenaline as it catapults me towards the horizon.
Restraint is therefore a crucial ingredient if you drive a GT-R, because without it – without a sizeable dose of it, in fact – you would end up behind bars very quickly indeed. And I rather like that aspect of GT-R ownership. You know what it can do. You know how mad it can be. But for most of the time you let it be, content in the knowledge that it’s there if needed, if you fancy it.
And then every once in a while you let rip in it and it blows your mind. Completely.
I guess it’s all about the potential in the end.
Date acquired July 2017 Total mileage 8108 Mileagethismonth 1103 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 19.0
‘Every time I put my foot down in it I get a massive hit of adrenaline’