If you’re going to drive an epic Nissan GT-R, you certainly don’t want a stock edition just like all your neighbors. Instead, you want a wild one-of-a-kind car like today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe custom. Let’s see how much you might pay for this level of exclusivity.
You know, that Shakespeare was one hell of a quotable guy. One of my favorite bon mots of his is a phrase assigned to Polonius in the play Hamlet. As his son, Laertes is leaving to visit Paris, Polonius offers the counsel that it’s best to “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry”
Obviously, Laertes’ response is something along the lines of “whatever, dad,” after which he gives Ophelia the stink-eye and bids them both adios muchachos.
That lending stuff that Polonius lays on his loin-spawn is to this day some pretty sage advice, and is something the seller of yesterday’s 2012 BMW X5 xDrive 35d perhaps should have taken to heart. That would have potentially prevented his attempt to sell the diesel SUV with a lien against its title and would have possibly changed the outcome of our vote.
In the end it was shoulda; coulda; woulda, and at $13,995 and a lien-tainted title, the big Bimmer came in at a 61 percent Crack Pipe loss.
It’s hard to believe, but the latest version of Nissan’s heroic halo car the GT-R has been around now for over 12 years. Hell, it’s been more than that if you consider the Tokyo Auto Show concept that presaged the model all the way back in 2001. The GT-R name goes back even further than that, having once been aligned with the Skyline model line that was once part of the Prince auto company. Nissan bought bought up that marque way back in 1967.
The latest GT-R perhaps doesn’t need a successor since as it sits it’s pretty damn amazing. The car puts down extraordinary performance numbers all the while remaining serenely unflappable even up to nine-tenths of those extremes. It’s one of the most exhilarating cars I’ve ever driven. Its nickname, Godzilla, is well earned and wholly appropriate.
The current GT-R is also one of the weirdest cars on the planet. I used to think that the honor for oddest drivetrain layout was owned by the Lamborghini Countach and its successors. That was owed to the ultimate Italian having its transmission in front of the engine, which sends power back to a final drive behind the big V12 through a shaft encased in the sump.
The GT-R out-weirds that with a front-mounted engine—a 479 horsepower twin-turbo V6—to which is bolted a torque tube taking power back to a rear-mounted transaxle. That’s not the weird part. What is weird is the secondary driveshaft spurred off that transaxle. That U-turns the power back up towards the engine to drive the front wheels. I suppose if you were to turn the GT-R’s transaxle around you’d have the start of a pretty nice drivetrain for a VW Doka.
All that allows the GT-R to hit sixty from a standstill in a little over three seconds, do almost one-gee on the skidpad, and top out at about 190 miles per hour if given enough road.
Those are impressive specs but may not be enough. I mean, let’s be honest, the GT-R may be a performance monster, but as far as looks go, it’s a monster of another ilk.. Yeah, style-wise the range-topping Nissan is a bit of a dog. Woof!
That’s why this 2009 Nissan GT-R is so interesting. The premium package coupe has, according to its seller, been imbued with over forty thousand dollars worth of modifications. Those include bodywork updates, an air suspension, DPE three-piece wheels that remarkably change color, Brembo brake upgrades, and a re-tuned ECU. There’s more, but maybe it’s better just to soak that all in to start.
The car underneath comes with a mere 27,000 miles under its customized belt. The bodywork is wrapped in faux carbon fiber over factory grey, and carries more wings than Hooters at happy hour. The interior presents in two-tone black with white leather seating and an appreciably stock appearance. You want everybody else to see where the money has gone so it’s laudable that it’s been dropped on the car’s exterior.
The consignment seller lists the car’s condition as excellent and claims it to be one of a kind. With 40K in receipts for personalizations, you’d fully expect it to be, and that’s what makes it stand out. This obviously isn’t your neighbor’s GT-R. It’s also not your father’s Oldsmobile, for what that’s worth. You’re not going to see this bad ride’s doppelgänger at every stop light no matter how tony your town. If you want chic and unique then this might just be the car for you.
That is of course, if we can get by its $59,995 price tag. That’s the asking and now I’m asking you to weigh in on if that’s a good deal. Thankfully, this GT-R doesn’t seem to have any shenanigans related to its title, and it’s seemingly turn-key. Could all that make it worth carving a $59,995 hole in your bank account?
You decide!
Austin, TX Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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