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Automotive News & Views Are The Japanese Poised to Dethrone the 911 AND the Z06?
194 messages, Last post on Nov 24, 2008 at 12:05 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: nwng (Mar 12, 2008 7:36 am) LOL. Yeah, lets go with 'relatively cheap'. I do indeed think the Z06 is a great bang/buck car. Offering supercar performance for 1/2-1/10 the price. If offered for the same price, the GT-R is in the same catagory (being modest, IMHO its a next-generation car). don't forget GT-R is not a brand new model, skylines were always in limited production and demand premiums. Indeed, and oddly enough the R32-R34 weighed in between 3500-3700lbs. And those were considered the best handling cars of their time when they were introduced too. And even with only 280-330hp, they were among the fastest due to their awesome AWD traction. So this one isn't drastically different, just a few updates. It trades the TT I-6 for the TT V-6. This one getting 50% more power and better economy. Add a few interior and exterior changes, and you have a return of the best handling car in its class. Just because it was never sold in the US prior to the R35 doesn't mean it wasn't a Japanese equiv to the 911. It has been since what... 1989? I think there are at least two more UK mags who tested the GT-R, look up youtube. One did a M3/911 turbo/GT-R comparison and I forgot the other one which has a M3 in it as well. I had them in my Autoblog link, but its just easier to go to the source.
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Replying to: bigmclargehuge (Mar 12, 2008 8:51 am) IIRC, the 1990 R32 NISMO version was 3400-something, but the R34s did get close to 3700. As for horsepower, once the factory detuning was corrected they put up about the same numbers that the R35 has now (although one would hope that the R35 also has a lot more in tank, given 45% more displacement to work with).
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Replying to: bumpy (Mar 12, 2008 9:20 am) Indeed you are correct about the weight. I unfortunately clicked this page and it looks as if they have the R32 and R34 weights inverted. One certainly could get more power out of the old I-6. I'm a fan of inline engines and wish they had stuck with it actually. Time will tell if they left this V6 some untapped potential. I'd like to see a ~500hp R34 go up against an R35. Would be interesting to see those results.
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Replying to: bigmclargehuge (Mar 12, 2008 9:32 am)
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Replying to: bumpy (Mar 12, 2008 10:20 am) I heard it was actually fuel ecomomy related. Much the same with the VR4, the main reason I keep seeing for the Japanese GT class discontinuation was that they couldn't get it to meet future emissions requirements. Such is everything these days... BMW doesn't seem to be doing so bad with the I-6 twin-turbo in a front-midships design.
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Replying to: bigmclargehuge (Mar 12, 2008 10:30 am) I don't think any 3er has ever been front-midships. The 335i doesn't look like it in this pic: 
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Replying to: bumpy (Mar 12, 2008 11:19 am) From that picture, I would say it is hard to tell exactly where the balance point of the engine is without x-ray vision. "Front-Midship" is a Nissan term, and I should not have applied it to BMW cars. But despite their inline-6 engine, the 3-series does achieve a near 50/50 weight distribution, even on AWD models, as did Nissan with the R32-R34. So it don't think its entirely a weight issue.
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Replying to: bigmclargehuge (Mar 12, 2008 10:30 am) I have no idea what prompted you to post this. BMW races in F1, where the engine architecture is a V-10 not an I6. They race their I6 in their WTCC events, but then again, so does Chevrolet with their Chevy Malibu. A V6 is always inherently better in design than an I6. More compact, smoother, better COG. Why an automaker would want to go with an I6 is beyond me.
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Replying to: bigmclargehuge (Mar 12, 2008 2:53 pm) When Nissan makes a "front-midship" design with a V8 instead of a V6 in their sportscars like Chevrolet does then come talk to me. |
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Replying to: bigmclargehuge (Mar 12, 2008 2:53 pm) 
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