Car Reviews

2009 Nissan GT-R

The most anticipated sports car in the U.S., the Nissan GT-R, has been revealed and is making its North American debut at the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show. So what you see here is the full, undisguised GT-R in all its glory.

The most notable modification is to the face. Gone is the "running mascara" beneath the headlights, replaced by a body-colored bumper, which makes the face look much cleaner and more elegant. Some say the car looks like an F-18 fighter jet on wheels while others feel that it belongs on the set of Transformers. Either way, the styling speaks volumes of what this car is capable of on the open road.

Under the hood a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-6 that pumps out 480 bhp and about 430 lb.-ft. of torque. Nissan claims that the GT-R runs to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, which puts it in Porsche 911 Turbo territory. In fact, GT-R project chief, Kazutoshi Mizuno, says that the GT-R lapped the famed North Course at the Nürburgring faster than the Porsche 911 Turbo. Not bad for a car that we hear will cost about $70,000. The car goes on sale first in Japan, then in the summer of 2008 in the U.S. as a 2009 model. R&T was the only magazine to drive a U.S.-spec model. Check out our feature story in the January issue of Road & Track.