So I've been watching several youtube videos about the Nissan GTR and I'm still dumbfounded at how Nissan is able to produce a supercar at under $100K that outperforms or stays on par with cars twice and sometimes three times its price tag. I mean, yeah it's Japanese made, and yeah it's by Nissan.

But it's still a high quality machine, minus the transmission problems I've heard a few stories about. I think it has something to do with the cost of building a V6 versus a V8 is a factor. But I can't really think of anything else. What do you guys think?

 

Margins. I doubt the cost of manufacturing a Nissan vs. a Porsche or Ferrari is that much different... but the exotics can charge so much because they've built up a rep for themselves and people are willing to pay those prices.

 

why do BMWs cost so much? half the cost is for the BMW badge. and people are willing to pay for it, thus the higher cost

 

^^^agreed. you are buying the name. but i heard that the GTR tranny was junk along with some other parts.

cheap parts keeps the price downs.

plus they are able to skimp on things liek decent paint and lots of plastic interior stuff.

Thats what i think subaru did to keep the price down on the wrx's and sti's. I mean for what you pay you get a really decent engine and tranny, a decent stock car in general, for a relatively reasonable price. but in order to do that they skimpped on things like quality paint. lots of plastic interior stuff. cheap seats. plus subaru also made a lot of their products interchangable between cars.

Using the same set ups for 2002-2007. plus in 2006 they switched to the 2.5 so that saved them the trouble of making 2 different blocks. more cost effective.

I dont know much about nissan but i am sure they have done something similar in their lines.

 

a polo shirt vs a dickies shirt

 

Most of the price of a car is in teh R&D. The GT*R is using a variation on the VQ35 that they are using in many of their other cars. The AWD system is a variation on the R34 edition. The Body is based on the G35... Im sure that most of the car was already built 4-5 years ago and they just spent the rest of the tiem tuning it and making it ready for mass production. Therefore, not having to reverse engineer everything makes for a cheaper car.

Take the Enzo. Is it really worth $1M? When you consider it was practically built from the ground up and required unbelievable R&D to get a car that perfect. Similarly, the Veyron has a new, custom built engine and a completely new platform.

One more point on this: Think about if you had to build something. If you could take parts from something else and put them together, wouldnt it be cheaper and easier to make than if you had to custom fab everything yourself?

 

GTR... built on a conveyor belt right along the G35 and G37s. Built in 200 minutes. About 12,000 units a year.

Most super cars are built in the hundred (enzo, GT3 RS, etc) or possibly 1 to 2000 range. Much more is hand built. Plants specialize in building certain parts of the process. Take the Scaglietti for example... it gets a computerized 450 point inspection on the body to make sure its perfect. BEFORE paint. All Ferraris get a 2 year unlimited mileage complete bumper to bumper warranty.

Plus... This is cool


but not this cool..

 

Actually the gtr is hand build and individually tuned, or at least i've been told so. Also that they use some very high tech equip to assemble suspension so its perfect right when it's bolted up..........seems the gtr's are built pretty specially.

 

The GT-R motor and Tranny are all assembled by hand by 1 tech in an environmentally controlled room . You can read about it in the new issue of Motor Trend where they name it car of the year. Or read about it here:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=124083

So the body may be converyor belt assembled, but the motor and tranny are not, it gets very similar attention as the supercars do.

The motor itself is what takes 200 minutes for the tech to assemble.

 

you have clearly enver owned a bimmer....
my 95 m3 was lightyears ahead of any other car i have owned in many ways. everything is really nicely thoughtout on those cars, down to organizing ignition wires and other minute details. all the little things like noise dampening in the wheel well(which my bugeye lacks) add up. weather or not it is worth it to you is up to you to decide, but take it from me, the quality is excellent. i have also had really good customer service in the dealerships. (they treat return customers well, dont know so much about potential customers)

 

No it isn't -pictures that are too big to fit on a 24" monitor are just annoying.

Well OK the interior comparison makes a point, but for cryin out loud, can't you re-size your pics before posting so us mortals can look at it?

I have, and while I admit their quality is a step or two above japanese econo-boxes, you still pay an awful lot of premium for the roundel on the hood.

 

Its too bad the Trans of the GT-R is the ****s and dies after only a few lauches... Even though It Is manufactured by the same company that makes the Trans for the Bugatti Veyron.
I think the car would be alot better If they didn't loose all their money during the design process of the car and have to be handed a check to continue working on the design and get the car Into production as fast as possible.

Still a sick looking/handling car none the less.

 

Actually the gtr is hand build and individually tuned, or at least i've been told so. Also that they use some very high tech equip to assemble suspension so its perfect right when it's bolted up..........seems the gtr's are built pretty specially.

correct

motors are hand built

 

It fits on my 24 inch monitor just fine.

 

Do you people think that it being Japanese built kept the price down as well?

But according to Top Gear, the motor and tranny is indeed built in a climate controlled room and is hand built. And the body isn't simply a G35 body, the lines and creases of the car was designed to funnel into the GTR's rear spoiler. So yeah, it may look like a G35, but it certainly has some technical tweaks in it. Plus the wheels were custom built as well...

But if you calculate everything for dollar for dollar amounts, it doesn't seem that the GTR is a very profitable venture.