My Story...

     Ever since I can remember I loved cars, and not just sports cars all kinds-- trucks, small cars, big cars, fast cars, all of them.  Right now I am currently a service adviser / automotive technician at an auto repair shop that specializes in Mercedes-Benz and BMW's here in the bay area.  This is the  fifth shop that I have worked at, all including my current positions were at independent shops, except one, at a dealership.
    
     I have been exposed to whole lot of different types of vehicles while working at these shops, and by different I mean from a classic 69' Pontiac "The Judge" GTO that just came out from a museum, to a $200,000 Aston Martin DB9.  Don't get me wrong these cars don't come through the shops everyday, and not all that I have/had to deal with.

     I personally am some what biased as to what kind of cars I like, as you can see by the picture of my car above --  I have a thing for BMW's.  But I don't get me wrong I love all kinds of cars, but especially -- FAST ONE's

    

Why Spend So Much?

   


    As with many of my earlier posts the Nissan GT-R is at center of attention once again, you saw it in my older posts beating out 11 performance cars in an all out drag race and even saw it get inducted into the "Two-Second Club", by launching from 0-60 mph in under three seconds, as remarkable that feat was, there is no denying that the Nissan GT-R is gunning for one of the top spots in the industry.
 
    Just for a quick comparison here are the two other cars that made it into Road & Tracks "Two-Second Club", a Porsche 911 Turbo S and an extremely rare Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport-- both costing significantly more.  The Porsche comes in at a price tag of around $160,000, while the Bugatti comes in at an out of this world $2.6 million-- one of the worlds most expensive cars.  Horsepower wise the Porsche and the Nissan both have 530hp, while the Bugatti has an astounishing 1,083hp.  Given that these cars have an reputation for being the world's best when it comes to building sports cars, the Nissan GT-R shows that it can compete with the best of them and literally only costing a fraction of the price, at $89,000. 
   
    Now what I don't seem to understand is that why I don't see more Nissan GT-R's on the road, given its performance/price ratio.  In most cases the GT-R has not been recognized yet as a super car and has not been given the respect it deserves, when compared to manufacturer's like Ferrari and Lambourghini.  Ferrari had one of its own attempt the test but ended up just short as its $250,000 Ferrari 458 Italia clocked a time of exactly 3 seconds.  Over here in the states the GT-R is not as well-known as it is in Japan and other parts of the world.  In Japan the GT-R is the supercar for the market and is a legend.  People often refer to it as Godzilla, for obvious reasons.

     If I were in the market for a sports car and I had an extreme amount of money to spend on a car, I would still choose the Nissan GT-R, over any of the other competitors that cost a considerable amount more, because I could use the money saved towards many other cars.

Revealed: Official Photos of the 2012 Nissan GT-R

Courtesy of CarBuzz: Godzilla’s latest edition has been revealed ahead of its sales launch later this month. Nissan has just released their 2012 edition of the GT-R with a promo video and a gallery chock full of photos.The big and bulky beast (aka Godzilla) is back with its awesome acceleration, superior handling and upgraded interior for all the performance of a supercar at a reasonable price.The new GT-R features some new design cues, such as a revised front fascia with integrated LED running lights and redesigned headlights.
New wheels and a revised rear diffuser along with a claimed 10 percent added front and rear downforce further increase Godzilla's looks and performance.Under the hood, Nissan tweaked the powerful twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine for an impressive output of 530hp and 488lb-ft of torque. That is a 45hp increase from last year's model. Improved fuel economy and emissions levels also add to the legend that is the Japanese automaker's supercar. A 0-60mph time of a shocking 3.1 seconds doesn't hurt Godzilla's image either.MSRP for the 2012 Nissan GT-R is set at $89,950, not too shabby for a supercar.