Same Car but More Expensive
It has been 8 years since the Nissan GT-R was introduced to America. The car has secured itself a coveted spot in the field of supercars that steadily seems to be growing bigger. Initially the car was molded after a Nissan Skyline, which was a Japanese car that was first released in 1957. The Skyline has a cult following due to it is speed and agility, so when the GT-R was announced it instantly got a lot of attention.At an $80,000 starting price tag, the car was still expensive but almost felt possible to the average man, unlike the Bugatti Veyron’s $1.5-million-dollar price tag. Sadly, when the GT-R was first sold through Nissan dealerships it was the most expensive car on the market to insure. The GT-R Sits at a lofty $3,169 for a year of insurance, which breaks down to $264 a month on top of a car payment. It doesn’t help that the price of a GT-R has also jumped over time, from the semi-attainable $80,000 to a starting price of $101,770 for a 2016 model. While that can be looked at as only a $20,000 jump it quickly pushes it out of reach for many people that could barely reach it anyway.
This year we are seeing the 2016 version of the GT-R which is basically the same as what we saw in last years’ model. Not to mention that these updates were already available in the 2015 version of the car available in Japan for well over a year. The 3.8-liter, V-6 Engine that can go from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds, remains the same. Instead Nissan decided to focus on the suspension and braking systems of the car with subtle updates. We are seeing slightly updated headlights, but the body also remains untouched. If you put the 2015 model and the 2016 model side-by-side you would not see a difference. Even if you raced each model the difference would still go unseen.
While the Nissan GT-R has a huge following one could easily question if it was a smart move for Nissan to not bother with a major update. The car has enough pizzazz to carry it through a few more years, yet it doesn’t have the established name like a Porsche 911 to assume that people are just going to keep following along. It is going to be interesting to see if Nissan handles the future of the GT-R properly or will they drop the ball like they did with the Turbo Z so many years ago.
