Recent GTR Info From Edmunds
 

Source: Edmunds.com
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2008 Infiniti GT-R

Date Posted 05-23-2005
The 2008 Nissan Skyline may be a couple years away, but we've got the latest spy pictures of a new prototype caught testing on the Nurburgring. Expected to come to the U.S. wearing the Infiniti GT-R badge, this super coupe from Nissan is the car that Japanese rivals like the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evolution aspire to.

We've seen this prototype before, but closer examination reveals some variations that have been added since its last sighting. The rear fascia wears an extended bumper section that hints at the GT-R's longer overall length compared to the current Japanese market Nissan Skyline, otherwise known as the Infiniti G35 in the U.S. The view from behind also reveals pronounced front-quarter panels that extend beyond the G35's stock bodywork suggesting a considerably wider track up front. Same goes for the rear quarters, as the view from the front shows some wide wheelwells destined to house some serious rubber.

Regardless of whether it comes over wearing the Nissan Skyline GT-R badge or the Infiniti GT-R nameplate, expect the usual combination of serious horsepower, all-wheel drive and Nissan's latest technological hardware. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn suggested in a speech to expect around 400 hp from what will probably be a twin-turbo version of Nissan's VQ V6. Internet chatter has also brought up the possibility of a seven-speed sequential gearbox, but even if that doesn't come to fruition a standard six-speed manual should be part of the package.

Ghosn has also gone on record with the promise of a production version for the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, but a recent report suggests that yet another concept version may be shown at this year's Tokyo show. Rest assured that regardless of when the Nissan's replacement for the Skyline hits the streets it will be one of the fastest supercars Japan has ever produced.

appreciate the update.

dunno why they say "2008" now.
looks like the G35 with a wide-body kit. looks neat. but is prolly only a test-car. i'd drive it.

cause its coming out in '08. I mentioned this on my site, and NOW everyone is saying it. :)
Not thats its bad they be taking a hint.

We need a great Japanes car here in the US, just like this one. The real Japanes "Power" cars are things of the past as of now.

maybe it will come out in 2007 as an '08 model. perhaps that is what they meant.

Possibly?

I can't wait for it to come out. By that time my evo will be paid off.

"'06 Shelby GT500 vs '07 Infiniti GTR"

Come join the rediculous arguments!

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...7&page=9&pp=15

i read about 7 pages of it. it goes on and on about the GT500 mustang and the Z06 corvette. ?? --in an often "anti-GTR" bias. they're comparing the GTR to the mustang and corvette, as if the GTR will be crap compared them. the posts are full of misinformed opinions and just overall stupidity.

i'm not even going to reply to their thread.

Realize that the pictures show a test mule, so I hope that the GTR will have a more distinct look. I have a G-35 coupe and like the looks. While I always assumed the new GTR would be based on the G-35 platform, I am looking for more that just a "slightly" modified G-35 look. Especially at over twice the price of the G-35.

from what i gather by now, the new GT-R will NOT be based on the 350Z, V35, FX platform. it will be its own platform, new, on which subsequent Skylines will be based.

i think it will look pretty butch. i have a good feeling. i think it will look very intimidating and not "dainty." i do really like, perhaps love, the G35 coupe design. it is elegant and a head-turner. i think the GT-R will be that on steroids.

Yes it will be based of the 350Z, G35, etc. Thats the FM platform and its will be a fast car. But I doubt it will be worth the high dollar, Im not saying I won't own one, but I sure would like to see if the new GT-R can in any way destroy my Evo 8.

despite early and widespread assumptions, there are also news reports floating around that it will very possibly not be based on the FM platform, and that it's new platform will be used to base subsequent cars upon.

i will presume that if the new GT-R cannot outperform the Evo 8, then Nissan should not even bother making it.

from what it looks like so far, alot of us are evo owners, and need a step up. it had better outperform an evo, or like you said i wont buy it. good call.

josh...seaside?

yeah thats me richard. just doing some research. i was thinking about it, and to add to my earlier post, not only should this car easily out perform and evo, but for the money involved it needs to outperform the new Z06. i have heard/read nothing but fantastic reviews of the bad boy. Car and Driver calls it the "best domestic ever made" and the "corvette from hell". seeing as they are both in a similar (speculated) price range they could easily be direct competition. just my .02 or maybe a .05.

new GTR will more than likely not share V chassis of G35.

new GTR will be a generation removed from G35.

new GTR will not be affordable.

new GTR will not target current demographic who buys G35c or Z car.

new GTR body style is not yet disclosed, and neither will it fully be at 2005 TMS.

new GTR will more than likely not share FM platform of G35.

Just assumed GTR would share platform with something. Do not think that Nissan
would have platform just for the GTR.


new GTR will be a generation removed from G35.

Good, I am all for that.


new GTR will not be affordable.

As they say it is only not affordable if you do not have the money :). Kidding aside
I am sure that the GTR will not be affordable for a majority of people.


new GTR will not target current demographic who buys G35c or Z car.

Since I currently own a G35c, does that mean I will not like the GTR?:)


new GTR body style is not yet disclosed, and neither will it fully be at 2005 TMS.

Hope enough of it is disclosed so that we can get a good idea of what it is going to sold in 2008.

dragon, if anything, it would follow that the GTR will be an entirely NEW chassis. why would they want to have a new generation of car be bulit upon an inferior chassis as the V?

to preface, i know i am speculating, and risk being totally wrong (and very soon to be proven as such!). but my thinking, based on all that i have been reading, leads me to think that the GTR will be it's own thing, distinct from anything currently in production. part of the reason the car will be so expensive is because it will not share much internally with current V35s (Skylines).

as well, i have learned to not believe outright what is printed. that is, even though the press has revealed some basic things about the car, some solid truths (and some clueless guesses), it has also omited many other things. so i have learned to read what is not there based upon what is said and what is witheld. nissan itself is intentionally feeding the press what it wants. and nissan does not want anyone to know A LOT of things.

for example, they keep saying Lotus will develop the suspension. and Cosworth may co-develop the engine (maybe). and that the GTR aims to be "lighter than the 350Z." already, given this information, i draw an inference based upon some layman knowledge of engineering: the components and geometry involved in having entirely new systems developed for this car will more than likely require so many "tweaks" and adjustments to the monocoque chassis and underframe, are so radically different than anything yet developed for nissan, that the FM platform, despite how good it is, simply will not be able to accomdate the new systems.

i mean, i think at the outset, nissan maybe wanted to cross-develop the car with others already existing, saving money and time. but i think that notion was quickly abandoned once they began seeing the domino effect of introducing "this and that new thing, these new features, the frame is ultra-exotic, the entire drivetrain geometry is this, is that"...et al. i think they set up a "GTR war room," and said "ok. we are entering uncharted waters."

as well, look at the huge gap in time between the last GTR and this new one. undoubtedly, this alone speaks volumes. the silence reveals a lot. at least to me: this car is no "off the shelf" parts bin composite vehicle. it is R & D'd as an entirely reinvented sports car, several orders of magnitude beyond the 350Z and V35 GT 350 Skyline (and R34). i am certain they used these cars as a point of departure, preserving some styling and heritage cues from them, but the car is probably LESS like those and MORE like an entirely new car.

so will you "not like the new GTR" ? well, who knows. it may be a huge disappointment insofar as how it looks. or it may be surprisingly awesome. i tend to believe that it looks like nothing we have seen yet. perhaps the closest thing to how it may look is the version in Gran Turismo 4 --a fairly early concept. again, i will eat humble pie if this is wrong. i am going on pure intuition based upon what is NOT printed, and what is NOT said.

but they have been quoted as saying, in essence, "the GTR will be very aggressively styled, very masculine and distinct to the GTR, and have strong heritage cues from past GTR's." and many of the hundreds of concepts of the GTR in the press have not looked like this to me. many of the bogus concepts floating around look gay, like that ugly Lexus 2 door sports car they have. and this is why i feel Nissan is really witholding much hard proof of anything, laughing at everyone until "D Day."

i think the upcoming TMS 05 concept will generate a lot of buzz, and officially "cut the red ribbon" for the GTR's re-emergence. and i am sure you will have the haters and the ones in line to get on the pre-order list. but remember as well that the actual GTR will still be 2 years away from going into production. and Nissan will be taking notes on public reaction, making adjustments.

many new cars are developed and put to market in just 2 years, especially if they are cross-platform manufactured. the GTR will be 5, 6, 7 years in the making.

so draw your own conclusions. :uppydown3

Actually the pictures show a smokescreen, this was an elaborate ruse to get the media off their backs and it worked. They put a modified G35 body on to hide the real car and to throw off the spy photographers.

update
 

i just re-read my older post from September 2005, and i am 100% correct so far. my guesses have been proven right since that post.

so i will give myself a pat on the back.

the GTR looks awesome to me, by the way. i was thinking it would be. the biggest guess i have made since then, which has yet to be proven or disproven, has been the engine to be a V8. that's a bit more of a risk to declare that, but i think Nissan will surprise us with something unexpected. they already have surprised us by calling the name "Nissan GTR" when they were using sleight of hand this whole time, making us all believe it would be Infiniti.

thank god it is not called Infiniti GTR. i never liked that idea. too stupid.

Lemme guess another person who's worried about being right. :lol:

Couple tidbits of info I have received. May not be totally new info


500hp or more (not likely to be the 400 number printed everywhere)

New advanced dry clutch paddle shift available

Questionabe if it will use the AWD system based on that of the past skylines.

Also, I have heard from good sources that we can rule out the v8, but cant be 100 percent sure

yes, the prospects for a V8 are pretty much dwindling. i've been reading similar things. as well, i do feel the paddle shift will be an option rather than the only offering. i think, too, there will be model variants, if not eventually, for the GTR as we see in the Porsche 911. in this vein, i'm guessing there may be automatic GTRs as well.

insofar as the ATTESA, that appears nearly entirely replaced mechanically with an eAWD system with individual electric motors to the front wheels. and talk of HICAS has lately shfited my thinking a bit to the negative insofar as expecting that feature.

but as you say, who knows the real truth.

Yeah, I was also refering to the likely use of the eAWD as it is a newer system, and although i dont perosnally know much about this, apparently the different size tires(diameter) is a problem for the attesa computer.

I read car and driver too! from what ive read, in last months issue (i believe..) many, many of the fans say that even though the 'vette is an awesome track car and can outperform the 911, its not as drivable as the 911. they say that it's too loud and too hot for comfortable everyday commute. i would agree. ive been in my friend's vette a few times, and its not that comfortable. any car maker can stick an all powerful 550hp+ engine in a good looking car, but it takes a select few automakers to make it drive AWESOME! i would prefer a 911 over a corvette, and when some corvette driver brags that he can outperform my car for a quarter the price, i would smirk wrapped in my leather racing seat in my wonderfully air conned car with an incredibly smooth ride and drive on. im not bashing corvettes here...i like em, i would love to have that v-10! i do not deny that a stock corvette could beat most of the competition, but it's just my preferance if i had a choice between those certain cars. beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

which 911 are you meaning versus the corvette? the GT3? the 997tt? which one?

well the magazine stated that the new corvette would be able to pretty much beat the whole 911 lineup. if i were to choose, it would be between the GT3 and the turbo. all the others are just body changes, not much in performance. the 911 turbo brings out about 480hp, while the GT3 is supposedly topping 500hp, matching the corvette almost. but then the GT3 is going to be limited, and since it is built to true racing standards, there will probly only be about 500ish sold worldwide. enzo status. maybe $500k USD each, much like the Carrera GT, but the GT has way more horses.

997tt is AWD. Z06 cannot beat that.

i think so too. they only tested last years 911 vs the corvette, and they predict that the z06 will beat all the other ones too. but then again the 997tt is putting out around 325hp, or 355hp if you get the S version, and that's almost 200 horses behind. i'm guessing that the 997tt can beat the corvette in the area of agility, slalom, braking, corning, etc, but in outright power and speed, i think the humongous advantage in power that the corvette has would own. i really favor the 911 series though...beautiful cars!

right.

horsepower is not the whole picture. the 997 would outhandle the vette. it'd be close, though. the Nurburgring times for the corvette are among the fastest ever recorded.