# GT-R One Month On



## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

So i've now had my GT-R for 1 month & thought i'd report back on how i'm finding her & if she is living up to my expectations.

Completed the 1200 mile running in so the car went in for it's 1st Optimisation Service last week & can now be opened up fully & all the R settings can be used. As far as pure speed, the car is startlingly quick & by far the quickest machine i've ever been in, let alone driven or owned. It's hard to keep pace with the rise in speed as within a blink you're doing 60 & then another blink you're over 100 (where permitted).

What i have found surprising is the gearbox as i'd fully expected to be using the paddleshift all the time as i did in the M5, however as the box in the GT-R is a DC-T i'm finding in R setting the shifts as quick in Auto as in Manual, although i'll need to test this more over the coming weeks as i do want to go back to paddle shifting.

Traction in the dry is awesome, but given the biaise is very much RWD, the rears will break grip very briefly even in a straight line when both the turbos punch even through 3rd gear, however it's fully controlled. In the wet you need to be a little more aware of this but the rears still only spin for a very short time & it never feels out of control. It's worth pointing out that front grip traction is limited to lower speeds & cuts off once the steering is over a certain %age, so it's far from being an AWD car in around 75% of driving scenarios. That said, the way the car applies traction is just amazing & i've found myself expecting the back to step out on a few damp corners only to not even feel a wiggle.

Living with the car is very easy as normal motorway cruising is very relaxing with Comfort suspension engaged & the cruise set to 80ish. Ride is more than acceptable & the seats are extremely comfortable. Still getting used to the rattles & clunks from the transmission when on B roads as have not been used to such a mechanical sounding car, but it just adds to the background noise & is soon removed when the engine volume increases. One annoyance is rear soundproofing, if you remove the rear seat bench it's bare metal & this is further demonstrated by the sound of stones pinging around the wheel arches It's not helped by the special tyres being very sticky when warm, so they pick up every item off the tarmac & pepper it into the arches. May look into a solution to this minor annoyance.

Some nice touches on the toys, such as speed cameras included as POI's on the Sat-Nav, a USB socket that can handle up to 32GB sticks & an iPod interface that not only works but gives full controlability, even from the steering wheel. Not used the screen gizmos such as various lateral G meters etc. but will not doubt have a play around when i take her on track.

I really like the way the car looks, with the black touches including wheels setting the white paintwork off perfectly, however it's always going to fall short of say an R8 or Lambo in a beauty contest.

Already had my 1st modification, got Middlehurst to pop a Miltek "Y" pipe onto the car which basically replaces the middle section of the exhaust & does away with 2 of the Cats. It's meant to only offer a marginal improvement in performance, however it makes a big difference in the way the car sounds & is stated as making the GT-R sound like it should have done from the factory (does sound very good now & does not impact cruising noise levels).

Dealer service so far has been excellent & i'm lucky that the stated No.1 GT-R dealer in the UK just happenes to be my local dealer (Middlehurst) & this firm have a strong affiliation to all things Performance Car & Motor Sport with the owner Andy Middlehurst being a very accomplished racing driver. As an example, on the GT-R forum another popular GT-R centre is Litchfields in the South Midlands, they're not affiliated to Nissan in any way & if compared in Audi circles would be like an AmD, APS or MRC. Litchfields are known as the premier tuning house for all things GT-R & they offer the modification i had done for an all inclusive price of £399. I posted on the GT-R forum that i was thinking of having this done & looking for basic advise. I was confronted when i dropped my car off for it's 1st Optimisation service last week with the Service Manager asking if i'd like the "Y" pipe fitting for £398 (as a direct result of reading my post & to be cheaper than Litchfields). The normal price for Middlehurst is £399 supply only or £499 fitted. Hardly a massive deal but makes alot of difference as a customer & of course i've still got the security of the mod being fitted by a Nissan HPC.

I think it's safe to say i'm delighted with my decision & purchase & am enjoying the car more than i could have hoped for. It's not perfect, but any imperfections oddly enough add to the charm in some way as you're getting so much performance in every area for less than 1/2 what you'd pay for a similar performing German or Italian car.

Link below of some better photos taken a couple of weeks ago.

http://rides.webshots.com/album/5750434 ... S?start=24


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

Sounds like you've found a good match ..... so I wonder how long you'll have it? :lol:

They are astonishing cars. What gets me more than anything is just the physical size of them. It's a whole lot of metal which looks a lot smaller in pics.

Enjoy :wink:


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

Oh and don't damage the self healing paint. It seems quite expensive :

http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/general- ... tself.html


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## BLinky (Jul 3, 2009)

self healing paint XD.


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

scoTTy said:


> Oh and don't damage the self healing paint. It seems quite expensive :
> 
> http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/general- ... tself.html


My paint isn't quite so expensive thankfully. The silly money paint is Ultimate Silver i think which IIRC is not a cost option colour so is weird that as an after market item costs so much. Have heard horror stories in GT-R forum with that colour.

I'm more worried about my bonnet imploding due to the pedestrian safety system.


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

W7 PMC said:


> I'm more worried about my bonnet imploding due to the pedestrian safety system.


Yeah - don't go hitting any people. Not for there sake but coz it's a stupidly expensive reset/replacement! :wink:


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## jdn (Aug 26, 2002)

Sounds like there is a lot to discover and enjoy.

Are you planning to take it on the track?

Link to pictures not working currently. Looking forward to seeing some more. There is a dark metallic grey one which prowls around near me and they do look fabulous in the metal.


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

jdn said:


> Sounds like there is a lot to discover and enjoy.
> 
> Are you planning to take it on the track?
> 
> Link to pictures not working currently. Looking forward to seeing some more. There is a dark metallic grey one which prowls around near me and they do look fabulous in the metal.


Will defo be taking it on track. Unlikely to be this year though. Planning on doing Scuderia Hanseat at the Nordschleife & a 2 day event at Spa in the Spring.

Link to photos updated.


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

Good report. Sounds like there is a lot of interesting technology in the car. I don't know if I could adapt to paddle shift full time though - changing gears manually with a lever seems more satisfiying, even though it takes a few milliseconds longer!

I've seen very few GT-R's on the road - how many of them have been sold here?


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## techfreak (Aug 13, 2010)

scoTTy said:


> Oh and don't damage the self healing paint. It seems quite expensive :
> 
> http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/general- ... tself.html


love the car wmc, read that and after picking myself up off the floor after i read £1000.00+Vat p/ltr i've decided i need to continue saving up the pennies before i buy such a car lol :roll:


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## DPG (Dec 7, 2005)

Awsome car.


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

PaulS said:


> Good report. Sounds like there is a lot of interesting technology in the car. I don't know if I could adapt to paddle shift full time though - changing gears manually with a lever seems more satisfiying, even though it takes a few milliseconds longer!
> 
> I've seen very few GT-R's on the road - how many of them have been sold here?


TBH Paul, i'm not sure i'll be using the paddles all that often as it's a Dual Clutch box aka DSG/S-tronic on Audi's so is very very fast & super smooth in Auto mode & it has an R (Sport) setting for hyper quick changes. Loved using the SMG paddle shift in the M5 & may try to use the paddles more in the GT-R, but the M5 hated being in Auto as it was SMG, however the GT-R is very capable in Auto mode. Will of course be trying a few full attack launches in Manual mode when the conditons are right.

IIRC, around 800 were sold in the UK, but not all of them are genuine UK spec cars as those sold in 2008 & early 2009 were Grey Imports from either the US or Japan. I'd hazard a guess that around 500 are UK cars.

Sounds so sweet now the Miltek is bedding in


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Nice chunky car Paul. Sufficiently pokey even for you. Adequate power too. You must be hitting those IBM SW targets.... :wink:


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

garyc said:


> Nice chunky car Paul. Sufficiently pokey even for you. Adequate power too. You must be hitting those IBM SW targets.... :wink:


Hi Stranger!


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## NaughTTy (Jul 9, 2003)

garyc said:


> Nice chunky car Paul. Sufficiently pokey even for you. Adequate power too. You must be hitting those IBM SW targets.... :wink:


Crikey - where have you been hiding?!


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

...
Oh here and there. Had a year out - cars, boats, hi fi gadgets etc, all been low on agenda.

Back now, and just started new job with large US data base co. Probably need a car or two......

Hope you and yours all well. Am sure that my wit and charms were missed.

Pleased to see someone invested in gtr - always thought Tim would plum for one, once R8 out of system - but see he still has it!

Cheers


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

garyc said:


> ...
> Oh here and there. Had a year out - cars, boats, hi fi gadgets etc, all been low on agenda.
> 
> Back now, and just started new job with large US data base co. Probably need a car or two......
> ...


Nah, I'm just too lazy to update my sig. I kept it 18 months / 18k miles, but it went a while ago now!

I have considered a GTR, but there's a guy down my road with one, and I didn't want to look like a copycat. :roll: :lol:


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## NickP (May 6, 2002)

I didn't know you'd got rid Tim -

Good to see you back Gary


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

garyc said:


> Nice chunky car Paul. Sufficiently pokey even for you. Adequate power too. You must be hitting those IBM SW targets.... :wink:


Cheers Gary, nice to see you back.

Only stuck IBM for about 2 months :lol: , thought i was heading to better but it made HP look a breeze in the bullshit process dept. so left to join a much smaller software company & am enjoying myself.


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

In the last few months, the "Paul Equation" is:

Jobs > Cars > Hot Dinners


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

jampott said:


> In the last few months, the "Paul Equation" is:
> 
> Jobs > Cars > Hot Dinners


A change is as good as a rest & who could possibly stay long term where they had to drive a Diesel C Class Merc :lol:


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

W7 PMC said:


> jampott said:
> 
> 
> > In the last few months, the "Paul Equation" is:
> ...


...which you sounded like you were looking forward to! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## ag (Sep 12, 2002)

jampott said:


> W7 PMC said:
> 
> 
> > jampott said:
> ...


And has been very quiet about ever since he actually had to drive it! Merc C Class Diesel driving makes one reassess one's life goals almost immediately.


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## kmpowell (May 6, 2002)

Hola Mr C - good to see you fella


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Hot dinners ha. Got through 4 interviews and that " we want you on board" crap with big blue myself, only for them to lose headcount having strung me along for 3 months. They didn't tell me about the c class though - or I'd have pulled out sooner.

A few regulars in the Snug I see, glad yer all in fine fettle. I probably shouldn't sully Pauls gtr thread by mentioning the inherited 1.2 Micra S that I have been running about town in....suffice to say the S does not stand for Sport.  ' Steady' would be more like it.

Thinking of getting an equally steady golf 6 5dr gti/d dsg to run for bit whilst I settle into new job and write some business, before handing it to Amanda and kids to destroy, then get something more interesting when the commission starts flowing.


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

garyc said:


> Hot dinners ha. Got through 4 interviews and that " we want you on board" crap with big blue myself, only for them to lose headcount having strung me along for 3 months. They didn't tell me about the c class though - or I'd have pulled out sooner.
> 
> A few regulars in the Snug I see, glad yer all in fine fettle. I probably shouldn't sully Pauls gtr thread by mentioning the inherited 1.2 Micra S that I have been running about town in....suffice to say the S does not stand for Sport.  ' Steady' would be more like it.
> 
> Thinking of getting an equally steady golf 6 5dr gti/d dsg to run for bit whilst I settle into new job and write some business, before handing it to Amanda and kids to destroy, then get something more interesting when the commission starts flowing.


You think that's bad? I have a Range Rover Sport!


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## NaughTTy (Jul 9, 2003)

Whilst we're heading for one of your old faves Gary.... 320d coming in February next year


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## head_ed (Dec 10, 2002)

GARY!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi mate - very long time no speak. Hope you and yours are well.

Nice to see you back 8)

Mart.


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

jampott said:


> W7 PMC said:
> 
> 
> > jampott said:
> ...


Don't get me wrong, as a practical hack it was a fantastic motor, performance was good, economy was good & build quality was good. Wasn't a big fan of the Manual box & would never have spent £39K of my own money to buy it, but as a good value company car it was very good for the time i stayed at IBM (all 9 weeks of it).

Just glad i'm back in something fun 8)


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

jampott said:


> garyc said:
> 
> 
> > Hot dinners ha. Got through 4 interviews and that " we want you on board" crap with big blue myself, only for them to lose headcount having strung me along for 3 months. They didn't tell me about the c class though - or I'd have pulled out sooner.
> ...


I thought you liked the size, kit and general dog-shiftiness of the RRS Tim. Did the affair wane, or are you doing penance for something that we don't know about?


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

NaughTTy said:


> Whilst we're heading for one of your old faves Gary.... 320d coming in February next year


...and BMW 3 still best option performance/economy chassis blend in it's class, although an A4 2.0tdi 170 has a bit more space (I've been looking myself) New 3 series next sep/oct, so good deals to be had on most e90s.

Enjoy. I have always found BMWs satisying to drive/own/run.


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## NaughTTy (Jul 9, 2003)

garyc said:


> NaughTTy said:
> 
> 
> > Whilst we're heading for one of your old faves Gary.... 320d coming in February next year
> ...


We've had a 318i M Sport Touring for nearly 3 years now and been really happy with it apart from the woeful lack of power, but the 320d version is now available for virtually the same price on Motability so it was a no-brainer really 

Paul - sorry for the thread hijack :roll:


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## kmpowell (May 6, 2002)

garyc said:


> I have always found BMWs satisying to drive/own/run.


6 months in - no complaints from me either so far 



NaughTTy said:


> sorry for the thread hijack :roll:


I'm not. :-*


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## NickP (May 6, 2002)

kmpowell said:


> garyc said:
> 
> 
> > I have always found BMWs satisying to drive/own/run.
> ...


Ditto


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