It's very early in the morning but I am wide awake…
I’m up at dawn…
I have coffee beginning to course through my veins but for the first time in a long time, I don’t need it. The air is brisk as I stand in the parking lot of a random southern California beach. My eyes are adjusting to the early morning light which is a beautiful blend of muted orange and a deep dark blue, however it is my sense of hearing that is causing my pulse to quicken. I hear a burbling exhaust note of an idle engine...potent yet patiently waiting. My coffee empty, my eyes open, I enter the cockpit of the
2009 Nissan GT-R and suddenly everything stops.
The sun rises, the revs rise, my pulse rises…
Right hand on the right paddle and 1st gear clicks into place with a loud and slightly disconcerting sound that is somewhere in between a clunk and a thud. The sky is quickly becoming more orange than dark blue and I don’t have time to waste thinking about what that noise means. I exit the parking lot and I am now traveling south on the Pacific Coast Highway. There are few cars on the road and the Super Wide HID headlights show me every line, crack, bump and pothole in front of me. If I do see something our there that needs a quick reaction the all-wheel drive system makes sure that I never feel out of control.
I push further south with the urgency of a mission that has not fully revealed itself to me yet. Gear shifts are much crisper once out of 1st, especially since I have the dual-clutch, paddle-shifted six-speed transmission of this Nissan GT-R set to “Race” mode (the suspension too). As I climb through the gears the 3.8L twin turbo V6 begins to awaken and really starts to come alive once I rise over the 3,000 rpm mark. The turbos have spooled up and more pressure to the gas pedal pushes me deeper into the heavily bolstered, yet surprisingly comfortable, leather and suede driver’s seat. This experience is not simply “driving a car”, it is so much more than that… I am behind the wheel of a precisely engineered automotive masterpiece which has set the world on fire. No one finds this car merely “ok”, it is either loved or loathed – there is no in between.
… I love it.
More of a suggestion really…
On the outside, the style is off-putting to some but I see the beauty in the hard creases and lines that run the length of the Nissan GT-R. They serve a purpose and that purpose is to keep me safe as I push this car to my limits. I say “my limits” because I am not capable to push this car to “its limits”. The door handles are flush mounted for improved aerodynamics (and it just looks better). The carbon fiber diffuser is not a bolt-on toy for your average street racer. The 20-in wheels are made from forged aluminum and the tires are filled with nitrogen. I stopped staring at every angle and design element on the front and side of the GT-R so I could make my way to the rear of the car. Staring back at me are the four exhaust tips that in any other supercar (and yes, this is a true supercar) bark madly at the world as I drive by… but not in the GT-R. The noise is more subtle and subdued. It is a noise that I can happily deal with on a daily basis as I pass Ferrari and Lamborghini owners with hearing aids, ear muffs or both.
Speaking of Ferrari and Lamborghini supercars, I would not want to drive one every day. Ok… that is a lie. I would gladly sacrifice my spine and ears to drive a Ferrari or Lamborghini every day but I can get all that performance with comfort and every day livability in the 2009 Nissan GT-R. Not only that I can do it for $80,090 (as equipped) which is about 1/2 a billion less than the supercars from Italy… my math may be a bit fuzzy, I think I carried a 10 or something. The interior is comfortable for two full-size adults but forget that this car has a back seat as it was only designed to keep backpacks or small dogs comfortable. This GT-R supercar has cup holders (3 of them!), dual zone temperature control, a seven-inch display screen that shows me way more detailed information than I can handle, speed sensitive power steering, a nine-speaker Bose audio system and many other features that I would find in any luxury sedan.
I have rambled on about the feelings this car creates, the design elements and the interior features but that is because I find it such an amazing piece of engineering. I can drive it as hard as any supercar in the world yet I can take it to get groceries because the trunk is surprisingly big. I can track my lap times while also monitoring my lateral, braking and total G forces and then switch the display back to either the navigation map or my preset radio stations. Nissan has found a way to go back in time, steal the DNA from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde then engineer that DNA into the 2009 Nissan GT-R. The most amazing thing I keep thinking about is that I can do anything I want in this car for a price well under $100,000 while the nearest competition costs more than the average person makes in several (several) years.
I often joke about being sad when a car leaves… but the Nissan GT-R has left me sitting in my room, listening to “Goodbye My Lover” by James Blunt on an endless loop and longing for a time when we may be reunited…