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Porsche 911 GT2 vs Nissan GT-R Spec-V: Classic MOTOR

Is Nissan’s race-spec GT-R good enough to take on MOTOR’s reigning Performance Car champion?

Porsche GT2 vs Nissan GTR Spec V
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If Nissan's GT-R Spec-V had to face off in a ten-round questionnaire against a Porsche, why not choose one of the wildest 911s to ever exist?

This 'Face Off' was first published in MOTOR Magazine March 2009.

Porsche 911 GT2 10 QUESTIONS Nissan GT-R Spec-V
The ultimate 911 – tougher, faster, lighter, and more powerful. The closest you’ll ever get to driving a race car on the road What is it? Nissan’s much-anticipated lightweight version of the all-new GT-R is the fastest Japanese road car ever produced
Rear-mounted twin-turbo 390kW/680Nm 3.6-litre flat six, six-speed manual, rear drive. Semi-slicks. Two seats. Composite brakes What’s it got? Front-mounted twin-turbo 357kW/608Nm 3.8-litre V6, seven-speed dual-clutch, AWD. Semi-slicks. Two seats. Composite brakes
Porsche reckons 3.7sec to 100km/h, even though we’ve pulled ‘only’ a 3.9 (not using launch control!). And she’ll do 329km/h How fast? It exists more for track attacks than improving GT-R’s blistering acceleration, but it should tap triple figures in around 3.2 seconds
It effortlessly claimed our Performance Car 2008 award, so it’s here already. But you won’t see too many of them on the road When’s it coming? The Spec-V was only launched in Japan in February, but we’re unlikely to ever officially see it in Australia, unfortunately
You could buy a three-bedroom house in most Australian cities for less. A bog-standard GT2 will set you back $447,500 How much? Even though the base GT-R is a relative bargain at under $150K, the Spec-V would be $250,000. That’s why it’s not coming here
This 997 model is the third-generation GT2, and the most liveable. The original 993 GT2 ‘widow maker’ was launched in 1994 History? There’s been a V-Spec version of every GT-R since 1989’s ‘Godzilla’ R32. It was inevitable there’d be an R35 model
What’s not cool about the GT2? It’s blindingly quick, completely civilised, reasonably economical … and it’s the best-ever 911 Cool bits? It’s lost some of the bulk that has blighted the new GT-R. Composite brakes and semi-slicks will provide wicked track potential
Are you effing serious? Okay, maybe its personal-island price tag is just slightly ridiculous. And the front splitter scrapes Daggy bits? Why Nissan couldn’t pull a few more herbs out of the engine is questionable. And it still weighs over 1600 kegs. And it wears a Nissan badge!
GT2 is likely to be a high-ranking executive’s weekend plaything. Expect to see them only in the ritziest suburbs or at track days Who’s going to drive one? In Oz, probably only a handful of rice burners with too much money. And they’ll probably put a big zorst on it, dump it, and ruin it
No question, but don’t expect to be able to get too many bags of money in it as there’s hardly an abundance of luggage space Would you rob a bank in it? Bloody oath! Not even Michael Schumacher in a VE cop car could catch one. Steal one in black for an even more sinister transaction
MOTOR staff

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