R35 Established Nissan As A Supercar Manufacturer

By any yardstick, the Nissan GTR gives giant-slaying performance, able to take on almost any other Japanese sports car and capable of humbling German, Italian and British sports cars selling for more than twice its price. Before selling to practically anyone with the money to buy a Nissan Skyline R35, Skylines were limited to Japan, Australia and other Asian countries with right-hand drive requirements. The 11,000 or so Skyline R34s produced were found in these countries, although Australia, and of course Japan got the lion's share.

Nissan's decision to make the R35 available worldwide and to practically anyone who wanted to buy a Nissan Skyline R35 must have been influenced by diehard enthusiasts who kept oven older Skylines on the road. It's safe to say that Skyline GTRs of all generations enjoy much recognition and respect among car buffs everywhere and it was a sound business decision to make the R35 globally available.

Compared to choices from Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin, even Ferrari, the price of entry for a Nissan Skyline is a bargain. In Australia for example, the latest version of the Nissan R35 sells for around 168,000 dollars in local currency. In the same country a Porsche 997 GT3 goes for around 213,000 dollars. Why compare a Nissan with a Porsche? That's because the R35 gives similar, or dare we say, better (though only by a bit), performance. At a price difference that will allow you to even further modify the car when you buy a Nissan Skyline R35. Or buy a cheap and fuel-sipping daily driver for the price difference.

Unlike a Porsche GT3 which is track-oriented and thus gives a jarring ride, the R35 gives the driver the choice of three suspension settings, namely comfort, sports, and the track-oriented R mode. Comfort would be the setting you choose for when you use the car for your daily commute or just want a soft ride. R mode hardens the suspension and switches the ECU and transmission to its most aggressive modes. This setting is definitely not recommended for street use, which is why Nissan provides a sports mode, which gives you a suspension setting that's a balance between comfort and race hard. In contrast, the GT3 gives you stiff, and that's it. To be sure, no one who can buy a Porsche GT3 has that as his only car. There would be at least a couple more in the garage which would be more practical for daily use.

Going back to the price difference between the two cars, having a cheap car to run also makes sense when you buy a Nissan Skyline R35. And that's because the R35 has maintenance costs that are on a par with maintaining a Porsche or any other supercar. In fact, you cannot have an R35 serviced at just any Nissan dealer. Nissan has designated Nissan Performance Centers in countries where the R35 is officially sold. By far, the most expensive consumable maintenance items are the transmission and differential oils, which some have likened to having gold dust because of its price. Many a new owner has been shocked at the maintenance cost of this supercar but if you compare the costs of maintaining an R35 to most other supercars, the cost is actually a bit cheaper. It's just that at the price you can buy a Nissan Skyline R35 for, the maintenance cost seems disproportionately high. But that's the price you pay for having a supercar that gives you the docility of a luxury tourer when you want it and aggressive king-of-the-hill performance at the push of a button.