For reasons unknown, Nissan had the lack of foresight to invite us to the launch of their fabled new GT-R. You know, the newest chapter in Nissan’s fire-breathing Skyline GT-R lineage (tho they dropped the Skyline part). And oooooh, what a a car…

Hit the Jump to continue reading Charlie Meadow’s review of the Nissan GT-R…

(all photos by Kikuchiyo for LostInaSupermarket.com)

In 1989, when the 3rd generation GT-R crawled out from the bowels of the Nissan factories after a long 12-year slumber, the racing world had no idea of the monster that was about to be unleashed on its pacified shores. Between that year and 1997, the GT-R demolished the motoring world like a gamma ray-blasted super lizard on a serious morning-after bender. The R32 took 29 out of 29 races, and its successor, the R33, took an absurd 50 of 50 races. It was so dominant, that the racing divisions in which the car competed were disbanded or completely scrapped after the car’s crushing run. Now that’s one mean fucking lizard.

When news hit the blogosphere that Nissan was considering bringing back this evil beast, modifiers worldwide enjoyed a collective rush of blood to the head. As details emerged, and a rumored concept materialized and then a final production version threatened to hit the streets, it is no exaggeration to say that the GT-R was the most anticipated Japanese car since…well…arguably ever (that is, till the Supra makes its mythic return). So the only question remained, would Nissan deliver? The answer, my little chicklettes (if you pick up any autozine or scan any chatroom), is a resounding Hai

Nissan packed 480 hps into its twin-turbo 3.8 liter V-6, popping 0-60 in 3.5 seconds (what?) with a top speed of 193 mph. Those numbers are special olympics, and that’s with a starting pricetag of $68,950 — and under $75K for all the fixins (including a bad ass Bose soundsystem). It’s really when you take the car out onto steep, curving high altitude roads that you realize just how potent this supercar is — taking it through the mountain switchbacks and snowy passes of Tahoe, it terrorized the placid lakeside. I passed a Subaru WRX at 120 and the guy gave me the thumbs up. Dude was excited to get passed by a GT-R. Normally, WRX drivers don’t like to get passed so much.The car is so evil, in fact, that its wicked soul infested my innocent heart, pure of mischievous thoughts like the snow on the windswept Tahoe mountain tops. It clouded my better judgment. What happened next wasn’t really my fault. The speed limit in those parts is a paltry 35 mph, and this thing parks at 40 mph. It is simply impossible to go 35. Try telling that to the Nevada Police Department. Trust me, I did. They have absolutely no patience with that kinda talk. One of those dirty rats passed me going the other way, pulled a 180, and spent 15 minutes (allegedly) trying to catch up to me. By the time he caught me, he wasn’t really hearing my song and dance. He ended up writing me up for 70 on a 35, and made me thank him for not including a Reckless Driving. Gee, thanks Wiggum. My only hope is that Nevada and California don’t have reciprocity.

Many have questioned whether us Americans would be willing to shell out $70,000 for a Nissan (which is a surreal value for this supercar), sparking whispers that it would be released stateside under the more luxurious Infiniti banner. Seeing as 2/3 of the 1500 models have already sold out, and delivery of the first car isn’t even slated till June, it is evident that the doubters have been silenced (in Japan, all 2200 Japanese GT-Rs sold out in two weeks). Its popularity shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, however, as the GT-R outperformed supercars six times its pricetag on the course at Nürburgring — the track at which all supercar performance is measured. It eviscerated track times of the SLR McLaren, Murcielago, Ferrari 430 and every Porsche but the GT.

Mecha-Godzilla is back.