Last-ever UK-spec Nissan GT-R Nismo for sale
The R35 isn't sold in Britain anymore; good thing Litchfield sent it off in style with a 1,000hp parting gift
Maybe it’s physically impossible to leave a Nissan GT-R standard. At first, you think that the facelift’s 570hp is more power than you’ll ever need, and that a 2.8-second 0-62mph time should be more than enough to terrify your mates on a late night blast. But then doubt begins to set it. Everyone says the GT-R’s 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 is capable of stratospheric power, so a few engine mods won’t do any harm, will it? Maybe chuck in a meatier exhaust while you’re at it, and perhaps a firmer suspension setup.
A recipe for disaster on most cars, but so over engineered was the GT-R that it can take pretty much anything you can throw at it. Earlier this year, I drove a Litchfield LM20 that had been dialled up to around 800hp, and it just felt like a normal GT-R on fast forward. No ridiculous turbo lag, no wheel spin when it’s not expected. Granted, it was a bit more playful in the wet, but so would anything putting out ridiculous levels of thrust. And you’d expect nothing less from the folks at Litchfield, given it’s been tuning the GT-R since the first R35 landed in the Europe over 15 years ago. So while this 1,000hp Nismo may seem a tad excess, just know it’s been put together by people who absolutely know what they’re doing.
The Nismo is the ideal platform to throw more power at when you think about it. Power was left unchanged at 600hp when Nissan revised the Nismo R35 in 2019, though the GT3 racer-sourced turbochargers were upgraded for a sharper throttle response. Instead, the focus was on refining an already magnificent chassis. The roof switched from aluminium to carbon fibre, saving 4kg and lowering the centre of gravity (if only by a fraction), while tweaks to the carbon bonnet, wings and bumpers helped save a combined 6.5kg. Factor in standard carbon ceramic brakes (at a mahoosive 410mm in diameter on the front axle) and various other lighter components gets you a saving of 30kg over the original Nismo.
Naturally, it was absolutely rapid. Nissan didn’t go back to the Nurburgring to reclaim its production car record, but it did pump in a sub-one-minute lap at Tsukuba (that dinky test course from Gran Turimso and the old Best Motoring videos) which, apparently, is a unheard of for a road car. But just think how much quicker it would have gone had Nissan taken this Litchfield-fettled Nismo with 66 per cent more grunt. It’d probably be easier to list everything that the tuning arm hasn’t changed on this car, but the big upgrades include forged pistons, ported cylinder heads, new camshafts, uprated turbos and, of course, a 102mm Akrapovic exhaust.
That’s just the engine, too. The gearbox has been tweaked with new ratios for first and sixth, the software upgraded and the front differential upgraded to Litchfield’s own specification. Then there’s the upgraded suspension, retuned geometry and custom maps for the 4WD system for face-melting levels of grip.
Must have been quite the commitment for the original owner, given how rare the GT-R Nismo is in the UK. And this isn’t any old GT-R Nismo, either. It’s the very last Nismo R35 sold in the UK, as we never got the GT-R’s final update. Hard to think of a better send off for the R35 in Britain, and one that brings major bragging rights in the GT-R community. For a price, of course, which is £249,995. A hefty wedge more than this Litchfield-tuned Nismo at £179,995, or this Midnight Purple car for £159,950 which, again, has been worked on by Litcho. In fact, there aren’t any Nismo GT-Rs currently for sale on PH that haven’t passed through Litchfield’s workshop at some point, and if that doesn’t inspire confidence in a 1,000hp R35, I’m not sure what will.
Regardless, I have a weird relationship with the R35. It's a car that I have always felt was impressive, but not one that I ever found massively appealing. As a '90s JDM fanboy, it never hit quite the same note as the R32-34 Skylines that came before it, but also didn't have the appeal of the Porsches etc. that it was trying to take on.
That said, my resistance has softened over the years and, in a world of stupidly fast (but unengaging) EVs, as well as increasingly ugly offerings from Ferrari and the like, it's desirability has increased. The fact Nissan kept refining it for so many years meant it started to look more and more old-school, but somehow more interesting as a result, to the point that I was a bit sad when it was finally killed off.
One thing's for sure, it's (likely electric) successor is probably going to be even less interesting to folk like me.
For me they have never really appealed, they are massive. But that said i would still like one, especially with this sort of power.
It's all personal preference but there's a lot of other things out there I'd rather have for that money.
Are they a bit lacking in some way once the novelty has worn off?
Are they a bit lacking in some way once the novelty has worn off?
Mine for example, 485bhp standard, but it cost me around £2500 to take it to 600bhp. After that, it does get way more expensive for smaller and smaller gains.
One thing I do find odd is that when I drive it, it gets a lot of very positive attention, but GTRs are hated on PH.
I’ve only driven one GTR, when they were first launched. It wasn’t modified. I don’t recall it lacking in performance.
I still love the look of the R35 even though it is a very old design.
I do love the R32/R33 and completely 'get' the appeal.
This model just seemed to try a bit too hard to rival the supercars of the time, but to me, it just didn't have that 'special' quality or appeal.
I can see why people like them, but personally I just found them a bit naff.
I’ve only driven one GTR, when they were first launched. It wasn’t modified. I don’t recall it lacking in performance.
I still love the look of the R35 even though it is a very old design.
Are they a bit lacking in some way once the novelty has worn off?
I always loved a GTR and bet this would be a mega drive, but a that price would I take it over some supercars, 720s? Hurracan EVO? I don’t think so.
Are they a bit lacking in some way once the novelty has worn off?
Mine for example, 485bhp standard, but it cost me around £2500 to take it to 600bhp. After that, it does get way more expensive for smaller and smaller gains.
One thing I do find odd is that when I drive it, it gets a lot of very positive attention, but GTRs are hated on PH.
Are they a bit lacking in some way once the novelty has worn off?
Maybe because, at least initially, it's quite cheap to do so.
Mine for example, 485bhp standard, but it cost me around £2500 to take it to 600bhp. After that, it does get way more expensive for smaller and smaller gains.
One thing I do find odd is that when I drive it, it gets a lot of very positive attention, but GTRs are hated on PH.
It's the screwdriver/railway-arch tuning potential of a mid-large turbocharged engine*, with suitably stout internals, something that only a limited number of (mainly Japanese) products once offered. When those characteristics proliferated (335i, 2.5t STs, etc) then tuners diversified into those.
(* As noted adding 20-30% power is doable, and economical, with a GTR: Try that with an M156 or S65 and you'd be into mega-bucks without breaking a sweat!)
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