What makes the R35 really sing is the symmetrical turbo system. With two IHI compressors at each bank, individually piped and intercooled, think of it as two three-cylinder turbo kits. A con for tuners is that the manifolds are integrated to the turbo, making it great for flow, but a pain in the arse for simple turbo upgrades. Nonetheless, on XS Engineering's all-wheel-drive Dyno, the R35 cranked out a heaving 412.1 hp at 6,527 rpm and 388.7 lb-ft of torque at 4,050 rpm at the wheels. Not bad considering it translates to a less than 15 percent loss through an all-wheel-drive powertrain-OE claimed figures are 480 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque. For comparison a stock R32 maxed out at 258.5 hp and 201.8 lb-ft of torque max-see dyno sheet.
Driving the R35 on the streets is where the Bruce Banner metaphor really comes to play. Being a GT-R owner, I had preconceived notions when it came to driving the new one. A little loud, plenty raw, and hefty on the visceral side. But driving it around town I got none of that-zip, zero. It was fast, but all the niceties the R35's accumulated made the car heavier, quieter, dare I say cultured, when on the road. The familiar torquey punch of the turbo RB26 was replaced with a linear, V-8-like acceleration. Confounded, was I.
Here is a car that bested the 997 Porsche Turbo, Corvette Z06, Ford GT, Ferrari F430, Lamborhini Murcielago and Gallardo with a 7:29 at Nurburgring. It ran a 1:56 at Buttonwillow, stock, an effort good enough to place it within the Top 15 at our Super Lap Battle Finals last November. The R35 looks like a predator with its muscular body, wide rear haunches and permanent scowl on its face. But driving it, you wouldn't know all that. As tuners, you come to expect a bouncy, loud, rough car with performance commensurate to the R35. Not something that rides as smooth a G35. Albeit a really, really fast G35.
But then I had the opportunity to take it on a track, two tracks in fact-Reno-Fernley in Nevada and Estoril in Portugal-and that's where Bruce Banner cowered into his subconscious hell and the Incredible Hulk that is the R35 came out. The brief blips of throttle on the highway or unwaveringness on a sweeping interchange is but a glimpse of what it's made of. To coax the angry, supercar-killing beast, take it to the circuit and all the sophistication and intelligence go out the window, and the soul of the GT-R comes alive.
Fly into an apex and hit the brakes and the mono block six-pot Brembos up front and four-pot in the rear slows the 3,800 plus pounds of Nissan effectively. Turn in, and the GT-R feels freakishly solid-a fact attributed to each chassis being individually tested for solidity. The 20-inch Bridgestones wrapped around forged Ray's Engineering-as in Volk Racing-wheels and adjustable Bilsteins grapple the tarmac tighter than a fan-boy would William Shatner at a Star Trek convention. Even with all the technical wizardry acting as Viagra for my cojones, I was barely able to take the R35 to its limits. There were moments where I may have prodded it, accidentally, but truthfully, its much more car than I can handle.
With a base price of $69,850 many might argue that the GT-R is expensive. But when you compare its performance to the league it runs with, it's a bargain. A delicate between intelligence and brawn, it is the closest you'll get to feeling like a superhero for the price of a kidney, a good pyramid scheme, and a part-time job at Starbucks. Despite early rumors from Japan about it being un-tunable, it's only a matter of time before tuners crack it. But until then, I'll cling to the fact that my slightly-tuned R33 is the last of the great, yet-outdated Godzillas.
By Carter Jung
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