Nissan GT-R Review

Nothing else has been sold new for this long without a real replacement, and the R35 has aged into something strange. The 3.8 litre twin-turbo V6 is hand assembled and makes 565 horsepower, the all-wheel drive system with its rear-mounted dual-clutch transaxle still launches with a violence that embarrasses newer cars, and the way it carries speed across a bumpy road remains genuinely special. Then you look at the cabin, which is 2007 Nissan plastics decorated for a car now asking well over a hundred thousand dollars, and the arithmetic falls apart.

The running costs are the real horror. The transaxle needs specialist fluid at short intervals, the clutch packs are a known wear item, and a major service at a certified dealer runs into thousands. Fuel economy is poor. Depreciation is uneven, with ordinary cars sliding and Nismo versions holding. The engine and the driveline are still worth experiencing. Everything around them has been left behind.