Life is like a box of chocolates - or the Nissan GT-R classifieds. You never quite know what you’re going to get - but, for a car that famously enjoyed a long production run without enormous alterations, you won’t want for variety. There are late R35s at supercar money, wild bodykits that must have taken weeks to fit, power claims to blow the mind and paint straight from the TVR palette. Anyone with even a passing interest in Godzilla’s 21st-century rebirth will find something that appeals. It’s become so much more than just another big Nissan coupe with twin-turbo power, four-wheel drive and the quad rear lights.
While plenty will claim special status, this one really must be unique. It’s unmodified, for one thing, and that really is remarkable. Not ‘standard except for’, not just a Stage 1 tune, not with a set of lowering springs to better show off new wheels - actually unmodified. And the GT-R looks brilliant for it, too, a reminder of just how smart the original design was. It goes to show just how bold this would have looked in the late 2000s that the GT-R remains confident and pretty punchy to this day.
The second point of note for this GT-R is its tiny mileage of just 2,711 miles. Again, that’s not 2,711 miles since import, on 2,711 miles this year, or 2,711 miles since a raft of upgrades. This car is almost 18 years old and hasn’t yet covered 3,000 miles. Which, for a car so explicitly designed with driving entertainment in mind - and which was such good value at launch - seems incredible.
But there it is, in black and white: having spent a few years in storage, the GT-R has enjoyed some modest recent use, with the most recent MOT in April at 2,611 miles. While other low-mileage cars are around, they’re much newer GT-Rs; as far as collectability is concerned, these early UK cars - the ones that first embarrassed 911 Turbos at so much less money - are probably the most desirable.
Understandably, given the pristine condition and paltry mileage, this isn’t the cheapest GT-R in the classifieds: £85k will definitely buy newer, faster, fancier examples if that's what you want. That being said, it’s only as much as a UK-supplied R33 GT-R with 10 times the miles; with many more R35s around, getting the best of the best isn’t quite as expensive as with the 20th-century icons.
Could this GT-R be driven? It’d have to be, surely, for proof that even a standard one has the power to shock all these years on. The R35 really is a driving experience like no other, one that deserves exploring to the fullest. With the GT-R story on pause and this likely to always be a very low-mileage example, it’s hard to to imagine values moving much. Let’s hope whoever owns it next can resist the temptation to tinker…
SPECIFICATION | NISSAN GT-R (R35)
Engine: 3,799cc, twin-turbo V6
Transmission: 6-speed dual-clutch auto, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 485@6,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 434@3,200-5,200rpm
MPG: 24
CO2: 275g/km
First registered: 2009
Recorded mileage: 2,711
Price new: £56,795
Yours for: £84,950
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