Supercar - Made In Japan

It's like being shoved into an oven with the temperature set to the max and the temperature control knob pulled out lately. It makes one think, "Could it get any hotter?". For me, it did... it got way hotter. The bright (not to mention scorching) morning sun brought out every detail and subtle line for my eyes to feast on. Parked in front of me along with a fleet of gorgeous cars was the Nissan GT-R. In the looks department, the GT-R lags behind it's European cousins but not too far. The car does look fast but not brutally like a Lamborghini or Ferrari. It is a car with capabilities of mammoth proportions but somehow it doesn't quite look the part. It is however the most exotic looking car to roll out of a Japanese factory, without doubt. Here's the funny part... this car does the magical century faster than its menacingly styled Italian rivals although it is substantially bigger and it does it in a way words simply cannot describe. Forget about looks because this car is meant for one thing and one thing only... speed! A purpose-built supercar for the man with subtle taste.

                                                                                  not a bad start to the day..

The angular exterior styling isn't for everyone but who cares when it's performance figures on paper seem like they belong to something that dropped out of the sky through a wormhole from the future! Sit in the car and all those performance figures start running in your mind simultaneously, gibberish to your understanding but all you are compelled to do is press the bright red button that brings the car to life! The car starts up, but in a manner that completely baffles ones mind! The anticipated growl of the quad tail-pipes  hardly audible at all. No loud rumble... almost nothing. And then it hits me why this car is so different, so special. A one of a kind day-to-day use supercar this is. The most practical supercar that outperforms all it's rivals, some of which couldn't possibly know the meaning of practicality let alone practice it. Drive off in it and you might as well be sitting inside your dad's saloon car, that easy! All round visibility is excellent and the car handles rough roads without sending spine numbing vibrations up my rear end. The rear seats cannot accomodate adults on long journeys unless you want them permanently damaging their spines. Besides that, all is well.
Daily usability: check.

                                                                               push to be blasted away!

Lights turn red and the car's doing 100kph? Not an issue at all... 100-0kph in just 3.3 seconds. Lights about to turn green and have a heavy right foot? That's when the magic happens. The only remaining vision in my memory bank is of the lights turning green. Everything else is just a blur of colours, just like the view from a cockpit of a spaceship from Star Wars hopping galaxies. The rear mounted dual-clutch gearbox went through the gears with seamless precision. With 4 men in the car, it not only hauled us effortlessly, it had us all speech deprived for a few moments. Nope, launch control was not activated. Need I say more? It's capable of attaining the 0-100 sprint in just 3.4 seconds. Neck snapping accelaration: check!

The maneuverability of this mother-of-all monster wasn't put through its paces but it is extremely rooted to the road, almost as if it were running on a track laid out in front of it. Rapid turnings in this car might have you on an ambulance with a neck brace and the car unscathed, very very brutal. Nissan did not fit the GT-R with swiveling head lamps because the motors couldn't keep up with the speed the car changed directions.The car has epic handling capabilities but we weren't able to bring out the best of it.... yet.

In short, the GT-R is a thrill to drive, a brutal beast when you decide floor it or a humble coupe when you decide to go for an evening drive. At RM630,000 for a brand new car and RM580,000 for a reconditioned one, it is a bargain. If you had that amount of money lying around somewhere, take a drive to the Maju Muhibbah showroom in Prima Damansara (between Bandar Sri Damansara and Damansara Damai) and get yourself one. You would never stop smiling behind the wheels of the Godzilla.