FTW
After my most recent car purchase, a '97 Acura NSX, one of the first things people asked was, "So which do you like better, the NSX or the GT-R? How'd you compare the two?" It was like Critical Thinking 101 all over again.
The R33 was my unicorn. Back in the early '90s, I'd pick up Options magazines and see pictures of some crazy all-wheel-drive Nissan killing it in Japan. A legend in the making, it was the R32 GT-R. And right as the car peaked, the R33 chassis dropped, tearing up the Nurburgring with a sub-eight-minute lap time-the first production car ever to do so. Ridiculously fast, dominant on the track, and sick as hell, the only problem was that the GT-R wasn't available here in the States. Like dragons, the Cyclops and Tiger Wood's libido, it was a beast of lore.
Taking that into consideration, it's hard to be completely objective when judging the GT-R. It's like hooking up with a girl who used to be the captain of the high school cheerleading team. But if there was a model I could most compare it to, it would be the NSX. If the GT-R was the wild, pom-pom wielding type, the NSX would've been the sexy Key Club president. Mid-engine and rocking a ground-hugging profile only seen in Italian sheet metal, the NSX was the first Japanese supercar exported here and available for the masses . . . if you could afford the price tag.
So what are some of the comparisons? Both models served as technological proof of concepts for each respective OE, helping acronyms such as ATTESA, Super HICAS and VTEC evolve into household terms. Japan, now, was officially on the global performance map. Search through any modern "top car" list worth a damn, and the NSX and GT-R will most certainly have a spot. Packed with innovations, they are automotive milestones and benchmarks.
Besides being coupes and very fast, that's where the comparisons end. Honda and Nissan both sought to make their mark with contrasting philosophies. The former uses an all-aluminum, naturally aspirated V-6 to make its; the latter, a twin-turbo, individual throttle-bodied, iron block I-6. One is a RWD mid-ship; the other, a front-mounted engine and all-wheel drive. Two cars. Two different approaches. Two lasting legacies.
But which do I like better? For a while, it was the NSX. It was new (for me at least), light, nimble, and squatter than a go-kart. Few mechanical events are more visceral than a naturally aspirated motor screaming VTEC at 9,000 rpm. But then I had to think back and remember driving my GT-R (daily), before the turbos died: the whine of full boost, raw power and all-wheel stability. Hell, I could comfortably seat three passengers, jamming on the freeway. Throw in the fact that I bagged the cheerleader-slash-unicorn I thought I'd never get, and the GT-R wins.
Editor
Carter Jung
carter@importtuner.com
facebook.com/carterjung