I'd rather have one of the original GT-R's from the 70's or one of the mid-90's. A few friends in Japan said they'd never get in one though. To lighten the car, Nissan removed structural reinforcement. They'd seen cars that folks were street racing that had rolled over and there was no top (completely caved in). And yes, I'm a firm believer in adding a roll cage if you're going to race, but a stock top should still have some integrity.

Why hasn't Nissan entered at least one in the American LeMans Series? BMW M3, Corvette C6.R, Ferrari F430 GT, Ford GT-R, Jaguar XKRS, Panoz Abruzzi and Porsche 911 GT3 RSR are all competing there.

How about the Grand-Am Road Racing Series? Hmm, only Porsche, Mazda, Chevrolet, Ferrari and BMW in the Rolex GT Series. Add Subaru and Ford for the Continental Tires Series.

I guess GT-R's can only compete against themselves or in street races. Oh wait! They can compete in drifting challenges, go slower, and run only a few laps! That's it.

The GT-R is being used in the Super GT and FIA GT championship series.
Some cars are built just for the sake of the customers demand, to celebrate a certain lineup of a car and so on.

Heck, even BMW's new concept of the M1 is built for pure M-division celebration, not for worlwide motorsport racing series.
Or the Mercedes-Benz CLK65 Black Series, or the SLR. Do you see those cars being used in worldwide racing series, by the manufacturers? I don't. I only see them in touring, DTM and SCCA Pro races.

Nissan has never found it an as a sales advantage to race in the US. Actually in any racing at all for that matter. Aside from there run in JGTC. Nissan doesnt field the cars for FIA GT, SUMO POWER does.

Nissan really went down hill stateside after the glory days of tour racing in the SCCA.

They never did well at Le Mans anyways. Although I am interested in seeing them this year

Nor does the GT-R need a selling base. It has always sold even though it never "REALLY" had any factory backing (take note that the great wins of the supercar series in Australia was fielded by Nissan's association of dealers and NOT Nissan Motors GT-Rs). Lets face it. Car companies race cars to get face time for the dealer showroom floor. Again, face time that was never needed since you could keep the car on the showroom floor.

Although I admit I am a fan of the GT-R. But one has to realize that the GT-R was the Japans badge that took the best of technology, made it freaking cheap and available. If you took the GT-R from any era and placed its tech on any other car from the same era you would find that price tag would be a much higher figure mark.

and this reply was aimed at Cmdr but I hit the wrong box. XD

Gotta agree with that.
The GT-R R32's whole purpose was to just show Porsche, that one does not need a billion bucks to buy a good, fast and easily tuned car for racing, but with 20-30.000€ you could buy one, that not only is a lot more advanced in technology and handling, but also in overall everyday use. And boy, did that piss off Porsche back in the days.
Then came the R33 (which I personally, really dislike) which was pretty much rushed, due' to customer demmands.
And when the R34 came, the sales went down as people didn't know what expect, after the failure with the R33.
But heck, the R34 is already considered as a classic and proper GT-R V-Specs cost quite a lot, along with R32 V-Specs.

Easy to drive, great performance, for a much smaller ammount of money - A car that can dominate the streets and motorsports with very simple tuning. That's what the GT-R is all about.
And cars that are similiar to the GT-R, from Audi, Mercedes-Benz or BMW? They cost 3-10 times more.
As much as I love Mercedes-Benz and BMW, I'd pick the Nissan, just because of the price tag alone.

And yes, it is very unfortunate that there are way too many (retarded) Skyline GT-R and GT-R fanboys, that pretty much ruin the image of the car. "GT-R is the greatest car ever", well, if a person hasn't driven it, then one should not say what is the best or not.
I gotta admit, I love the R32 and R34 GT-R's. But they are not "great" cars to me: They are way too filled with technology and are extremely heavy in the front, making them wear out the tires really fast during racing, wether you are driving it on track days or so.
Not to mention, the cars don't FEEL the same, like a BMW M5 E34 does. Where as you can feel a lot better how a BMW handles and acts in high speeds, in GT-R you have so much stability and electronics set on the front, that you feel absolutely nothing in the drivers seat nor on the steering wheel. And that, unfortunately, is a big "Goddamnit" to me.

Well, not everyone in ALMS is factory backed. Robertson Racing had been running a Ford GT with no backing from Ford for three years.

As I said earlier, I liked the R32's, but I refuse to drink the GT-R koolaid that they are the best car out there. I'd like to see someone put two GT-R's into ALMS and show what they can do on a 6 or 12 hour race.

BTW, will you be at Mid-Ohio for ALMS or the Rolex?

Another thing wrong with the whole GTR thing is Nissan was feeling outwardly butthurt because of the American car companies getting a bailout. Nissan was struggling bad in the early 90s and they got no bailout, fora while they said they weren't even going to let America have a Spec V version of the GTR because of the whole bailout thing.

actually, 88-96 is still there best sales to date. I dont know your source but it doesnt seem correct :(

Well, yeah, because they're better cars. But the new ones... scrapyard material. The guy who has been trying to sell me on them is a master mechanic for Nissan certified on the GTRs. Actually, he has every certification Nissan offers. I know that much because at the dealerships they have an online reference of available classes and what classes are certified. He COULD be lying just to make me like them but the more he says... the more I think Nissan in general is full of shit and the new GTR is just a dingleberry. Seriously, Nissan was about to refuse to release the Vspec version to the US because they were butt hurt because American car companies got a bail out? What, is the CEO 4 years old? They wouldn't even participate in the auto shows to show the new stuff in Colorado. Infiniti makes it in, but Nissan refuses.

Ok, Your local car show attendance is NOT decided upon that actual manufacturers. Its decided upon how much your local dealers want to spend. The ONLY U.S shows that get the manufactures to back it up are Detroit, Chicago and BARELY New York. They rest of the countries car shows is scheduled and paid up by dealers.

The V-spec argument is a tad flat. They dont "technically" offer the V-spec for a simple reason. This is our first GT-R. Nissan will asses the results of dealer option sales and response of their new GT-R Egoist package. Again, the sales are still strong for the car. Let my put this into the perspective of my placement General Motors. When I worked on the current Zeta chassis (The Camaro). We had a full range of model packages. The Camaros first 3 quarter sales stats were not exactly "stellar". Until the current model year the Camaro had to slowly gain its numbers above the heavily optioned Mustangs. Only now is GM unveiling the ZL1, Basically a package the I HAD PERSONALLY WORKED ON, DRIVEN (since 06!) and expected to be a release option, But alas no go cause the sales did not reflect the need. The car sold "well enough" and GM didnt see the need to raise the stakes till later when the demographic showed promise. This is true about the CTS-V coupe and the ZR1. I mean look at the vette. They have been utter SHIT boxes for decades until the C6 chassis. The C6 has been on the floor for about what..6 years and only thill the 09 model year did that sell. All unlike the current GT-R which as been a strong seller and still has a dealer waiting list (as in the dealers themselves have to wait to acquire one).

And to finish off. Nissan again isnt a struggling manufacturer. Remember that Renault owns Nissan and are still high on the list of euro car and heavy truck sales. Let alone sell fucking still sell TONS of SUVs in the middle east. Granted they arent doing best but if your sales are stable, in this economy thats all that matters.

And Ive got to say. Ive driven the current GT-R many times. Both on street and on track. If had the cash to lay down for a 911 Turbo, ZL1 Camaro or even a Gallardo.... I would still likely dump the moolah on GT-R and take the money I saved and build a spec Fiesta rally car and campaign it.

Im sure you are thinking " awe man this kid is all Nissan in mah face. Must be one of those fanboys" and for the record no (in case you forget I worked for GM and was a factory Chrysler driver). I raced cars for a living, I enjoy many brands. I just enjoy a good ride in general. But one has to get the facts in order before a case can be made. Coming from a family rooted in the corporate auto world, one can not help to have a deeper understanding of how things work. And the more I talk to the average "car guy" the more askew their perspective on the way things work.

::Rant official ended::

Manufacturers can decide if they want. This is our version of the detroit auto show.Not something anyone can enter. They display cars that aren't technically released yet. I'm just going on what the my friend at the dealershipand the dealer told me.
Also there is a Vspec coming, already made I believe, didn't they test it on Top Gear?
I( didn't say Nissan IS a struggling manufacturer. I'm saying they WERE a struggling manufacturur. Way back in I believe the early 90s they almost went out totally. They were so fucked up they only had a couple cars out there and they had to fight tooth and nail to get back into the game. That's why they're crying like little brats because the US decided to try something different, and Nissan missed out. The Tigress owns an Armada. I'm not saying Nissan is a bad company, I'm just saying some of the people running it are little crybabies and everyone who drives one of their more performance cars has a big mouth in neeed of serious shutting. The GTR is more myth than legend anymore, do you know some people say the GTR is actually FASTER than a VEyron? "Well Nissan had to limit the power. If you remove the govenor it WILL take a Veyron."
Not to mention... it still looks like a fucking audi. Only people worse than Nissan owners when it comes to trash talk are Honda owners.
GTR... wouldn't be caught dead in one. Hell... my friends 13 second Sentra I pass on. When Nissan grows up a little and gets a little dignity and when it's drivers shut their talking traps I'll begin to respect them. Until then, they can have a car that can drive so fast it will drive on water to another continent... it will still be garbage on wheels.

well all manufactures are crybabies by these standards

oh and the ballout only focused on US "sourced" comanies. Nissans IPO is french.

Yup, but the Nissanites still cry about. And how is it that Nissan spends so much meticulous time and effort by assembling the engine in a special chamber that is so controlled that no microscopic particles can get into the engine during assembly and things are so controlled there can be no microscopic warping of the metal... when the first thirty seconds of running will "infect" the engine anyway? The very instant that engine leaves the chamber and goes under the hood microscopic particles are getting into it, and the first minute of running will still cause microscopic warping. To me... it's just a sales ploy "This car is built so accurate it's assembled in a special parabolic chamber to keep ANY contominates and prevent ANY warping even on a microscopic level!" and boom... all that is for nothing just loading it onto the truck.
Plus, if it is such a technological pinnacle why is it that my transmission which was put together September 7th 1968 can handle more than 600 horsepower and more torque and the 500 ponies on the GTR will grenade the transmission in 3.1 seconds if it doesn't like the switch sequence for the suspension settings, launch control, and all that other star trek stuff? Sure, NOW they claim they'll put a stronger transmission in it... but then why is there a paper you have to sign that says, among a lot of other stuff, that the warranty is null and void if the setting are put in a certain order? The Nissan dealership knew before they even got the car. Before they even got one Robert was going on "This car is SO powerful that there's a disclaimer for the warranty about the transmission! That's how badass this thing is!"
So the whole car is the pinnacle of modern technology... with axles machined under load to make them SO precise... the body is SO tight that they had to arrange those side vents to let the liquids out if you blow a radiator hose... that it turns so hard and so fast they couldn't use those fancy headlights that turn the direction can't keep up (COUGH*BULLSHIT*COUGH) yet... such a limp wristed transmission. It's just, as I said to Frozen, recycled tampons and condoms because only pussies and dicks drive them.
Oh, and an ACR did the 'Ring in almost 2 seconds faster than the nearest GTR. Let's think about that a bit. Two seconds is a long time.
VIPER
one...
two...
PORSCHE
GTR.

Take note that the EXACT same ploy is used by ford. Course most of the engines nods are bought patents from ford also.

"but tires wear out at 5000 miles because they're designed to have optimal tire wear at 180 MPH! YEAH, let's go to the gas station for cigarettes... 1t 180 MPH!"
I'd like to know where you got that kind of an info.... because I know that you're dead wrong on this one.
Not to mention, at what point has a Z06 been faster than a GT-R..?

Btw. What you really should be asking "Did Audi hire a Nissan designer", not "Did Nissan hire an Audi designer".

I got that from the platinum master tech at the GO! Nissan dealership. One of only three guys in the area that is certfied to work on them, and as far as we know the only one in the city who can work on the Leaf. He was going on about how the car's optimal cruising speed where everything was working at it's peak was 180 MPH.
The Z06 wasn't faster all out than the GTR but after Nissan was going ballistic with their big mouths about prety much setting new records in so many catagories a lot of Vipers and Z06s came out of the woodwork saying "Oh YEAH?" and went on to break the record the GTR did on their track. The Z06 really had kind of a sucky top end speed given everything else, but right now at the local drag strip a bone stock Z06 Vette holds shy of two tenths of a second throughout the quarter mile and high plains raceway is Nissan Hunter territory with the Viper Club making it a point to roast GTRs for shits and giggles.
Fact is, Nissan opened their big mouths about how their car was going to set a new standard and they don't really seem to be living up to it.
Besides, isn't the GTR just an $85,000 ankle bracelet? They go to so much length to keep anyone from tampering with it.

I hope you are talking about STOCK cars, not aftermarket modified ones.
Because if so, even my fathers friends Ferrari F355 Spider could beat a GT-R, because it is aftermarket tuned to 620hp and 0-62mph in 3.1 seconds.

Did you know, that why the V10 R8 Audi's AWD system is different, from the V8 model? Did you know, that it's the exactly same AWD system, that the GT-R has? And that the Lamborghini Gallardo's (since the end of 2008 and 2009) utilize the very same AWD system, that the GT-R does..? They did set a new standard, to AWD driving at the least and even Subaru paid Nissan, so they could utilize the very same AWD system, in their new WRX STi tS (aka. "STi Racing", the car that went around the Nordschleife in 7:55).

I checked some of the manufacturer lap time records for stock cars and only in Road America and on Nordschleife has an american car been faster than the R35 GT-R, and the car to beat it has been a ZR1 on both tracks.
Otherwise, the GT-R has pretty much dominated the other courses, when it comes to stock cars.

And let us remember, that not a single one of the manufacturers in Japan that compete in motorsports, try to make their cars to dominate in straightline speed, in 0-62mph times or so, they have always been competing about being the fastest ones around a corner and that's pretty much what japanese sportscars have always been about, at least in my eyes. Vipers have been like Supras and RX-7's, really tail happy, Corvette's have been like 3000GT's, rather pointless when it comes to steering and balance (where the Z06 is the lightest, it still isn't good when it comes to handling - And the ZR1 fixes that mistake, but it's downside is the plastic shell which just doesn't work, when it comes to high speeds - the car just starts to wobble and feel unstable, you will not dare to keep your foot on the gas pedal).
The American way of sportscars/musclecars is the straightline speed and that's rightfully so, as even you have to admit, american cars are not that great when it comes to handling, compared to European, Australian and Asian cars (mostly Japanese, LoL). All the cars with great handling, have had European engineers working on it.

Like I wrote to Juki, where as the stupid fanboys do ruin the image of the car, the car itself still is great and worth to buy, but even tho' I do like the GT-R, very much, the only reason I would buy one, over a German car, is the price tag. If I (even) had money to afford for a lot more, I would buy a German car, instead. There are a lot of things not to like in the GT-R, but I personally loved to drive with it during the summer (a relative of ours owns a GT-R and I got to drive it 4 times, overall).

Desribing my opinion when it comes to the GT-R, is difficult. I like the Skyline GT-R's and the plain GT-R too and if I had a lot more money, I would buy one, but would I brag about it? No. Just like with the Mercedes-Benz, it's not a car to brag about (altho' were a person to brag about, pretty much any car, then that person would just end up looking like a douchebag, wether he/she likes it or not, LoL! :'D)

I have no way of knowing what cars are modified on any of those tracks, let alone what modiffications were done. I know Vipers have taken them and Z06s have taken them.
Of all the time and effort the GTR has had put into it, it doesn't feel or look like a step up from an R34. Robert gave me a short trip in one and you don't feel special in it, you don't feel like you're driving anything spectacular. It's... boring. Even when you stand on the thottle and you KNOW you're going fast "Eh, just another fast car. I can build something faster than this for less money. And look good doing it and have a car that has actual resale value."
Just about ALL GTRs are stock. You can't modify it. You turn the boost up and the little black box records it and from that point on, at most dealerships, you pay FULL COST for everything done to the car aside from oil changes. Nissan has no faith in the mechanics ability to decide if something should be under warranty. If you blow a tranney they take it to a dealership where if they don't have the computer to read the black box (Not sure if it really IS a black box, but it records absolutely everything the car does.) and if they don't have the computer they either ship the car to someone who does, or bring someone out with the proper equipment, the data is then uploaded to a corporate headquarters where it is analyzed then in a meeting decided if they want to keep it under warranty. Fuck that, gimme $85,000 and a Camaro and I will have a car that not only will smoke a GTR, but be the only one like it in the world and it certainly wouldn't be mistaken for an Audi.
You know how easy it is to total out a GTR? Break a headlight and crack the bumper. Robert took me for a spin in that one, because it was being shipped away. "His girlfriend fucked up at McDonalds in those double side by side drive throughs. It's totalled."
WTF. Of course immagine how bad the LFA is. UGH talk about a car company having penis envy of Nissan.
Besides, like the Lancer Evos.
German cars... BMW alla way, though Mercedes has some cars I'd definately brag about. Probably rape the thing every time I go into the garage...

Must be country specific in that case.
An official Nissan dealer here in Finland, gives the GT-R a full 3 year warranty for the car, even if it is to be used for motorsport purposes on track days.
For official sponsored, commercial racing, the Nissan dealers offer a 3 year "Super warranty" (Dunno how to call it in english, as in Finland it's just "Super vakuutus") on their behalf, which will add an extra 10.000€ to the price, but if you'll roll or crash your car in a official circuit race in your own country, Nissan will ship your car to Japan for repairing. No other dealer that I know of, has ever had such offers for customers and racing teams.

And the same warranty offers from the dealers are offered in Sweden and Norway too.

Then again, there are the insurance companies, that offer different kind of insurances, for the matter of the cars purpose.
There is the "Full insurance" and then there are "Super Full Insurances" here in Finland ("Super kasko" in Finnish), which are for street use.
But for motorsports, there is the "Motorsport Insurance" ("Moottoriurheilu kasko"), which will become handy (and is handy) for people like me, who might roll the car over in rallies or so, 2-5 times a year. The insurance will pay you the money that will be used to repair the racing vehicle and your sponsors are happy. Sure, Motosport insurance costs 800€/month, but considering that a car overhaul after a crash might cost you over 30k€, that's a low price to pay per month.

Out here you can get a full 3 year warranty, but the insurance company decides a lot, too. If the dealership doesn't clear something as a warranty item (such as driving like an idiot) and the insurance doesn't cover it then you either total it or pay out of pocket. I had to on my Camaro, after an accident I had to buy it back from the insurance company GO! Nissan out here is real good about going ahead and warrantying out cars. You can even take your car to them, say if you had a Sentra, and as long as you use Nismo parts it doesn't change the warranty. Some dealerships wont do that, but more and more do because if you're buying their performance parts you're giving them more money.
If you, say, wreck a GTR in a street racing accidend and roll it you do not get a new car at all. The insurance will give you the bottom line blue book value of the car and that's it. Depending on the insurance company they might replace the car for something of the same value as the bottom line bluebook. Used GTRs are surprisingly cheap. It seems they degrade rapidly in value, there's one in The Thrifty Nickel for $40,000. That's less than a new Camaro. (I'd take the Camaro)

http://www.nettiauto.com/nissan/gt-r/?sitelang=1
Finnish prices on GT-R's, from official Nissan dealers.

Found one for $50,000 here. Proof positive that despite all the tech they put into it... it's still made of recycled tampons and condoms. Wich is fitting since most of the owners are dicks or pussys.
There's one that's wrecked (parts only) complete with engien for $7,500. No wheels and doesn't look like there's anything in the way of driveline. Good for a windshield, if the engine isn't fragged it can be retrofitted if a good mechanic gets it, not sure what interior there is either. Maybe I can get a loan and buy it. My lawnmower is a bit gone.

So, let's say that I'd own a GT-R (plain GT-R, not Skyline).
That would mean that I'm a dick or a pussy..?

I personally hate "If you have this car, you are a-" type of comments.
I've been called a douchebag for owning a BMW. I've been called a "old fag" for owning a Mercedes-Benz.
Heck, I've been even called a "ricer fuck" for owning a Skyline GT-R R32, despite the car being full stock, with no aftermarket parts, except the turbochargers, which were changed into TD05's.

We all have to live with the stigma of our lifestyles. People see a tuner they imagine the driver being one of two things. Either some wannabe homeboy wearing a long sleeve shirt under a short sleeved shirt, a crooked baseball cap, pants halfway down his legs, and more metal pierced into his face than under his hood. Otherwise they expect some lanky kid with a neon green and black faux hawk in a bright neon orange windbreaker and glowsticks hanging from his neck and alien eye style sunglasses that match his hair. People look at muscle car guys as mullet wearing unsophisticated rednecks in sleevless flannel shirts. Hopped up BMW usually equals some homeboy with nothing but godd teeth and chains around his neck in an expensive leather coat and a bright white baseball cap, you know... gang banger.
In my case, I visually fit the mold of what people expect in a car like mine. But many types of car drivers have been putting forth an honest effort to imrpove how the average public sees them. The Eurotune crowd is one. Especially Audi drivers have been being cool. Japcrap drivers out here are problems. They're loud, brash, mean spirited wannabe gang banging trash talking... geeks. They go about things like they are trying to convince themselves more than anything.
Muscle car crowd is growing older, and maturing more. Older muscle cars I mean. Newer muscle cars seem to be driven by either kids who WANT to seem more mature or older uys trying to be more like kids.
But all I hear is how the GTR is so groudn breaking. Is it fast, yeah that can't be denied. But... what's the point of assembling the engines in a parabolic chamber where there can be no microscopic warping of parts and no microscopic particles can contaminate... yet all that goes completely out the window in the first few SECONDS of running. Then there's the transmission that even NIssan admits wasn't right. Fast shifting, fuck yeah. But weak. I hear all sorts of bitching about that, and Nissan promises a stronger tranney in the future. Okay, fine. But why is it they put so much effort into making the engine so grea,t 500 horsepower or so and the tranney can't take the full brunt if the launch control and all that is set in a special position. My tranney in my care was assembled in September 1968 and that type of transmission consistently handled wheel standing heavy muscle cars. In the old days they were THE tranney to have. So why is this epitome of modern performance GTR not only failing to stop and drives itself up a tree and blowing tranneys?
I think the whole engine being in a chamber is just a gimmick the company came up with to say "We want it to be SO precise we took all these completely irrelevent lengths" and how much less expensive the car might be if they didn't invest so much into those chambers.
What next, all employees have to shave off all body hair, including eyelashes and exfoliate before getting into a wet suit?

You didn't answer my question.

The answer is... that's how a lot of people would look at you. Since I know you better than that itd be different. But the rest of the world yes. Unless they're a Nisan fanboy who is jealous in which case hyou're a GOD in his eyes. But don't worry, if you got one then most people will look at your car and think it's just a new Audi. "Must be a dentist".

That might be the case in the USA.
Here in Finland, Audi is the worst selling german car by looking at the sales of 2010 (discounting Porsche, as it's a plain sportscar). In order, Volkswagen, Opel, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi (and Porsche, which is always driven by either a 65-year old or a professional racing car driver that spends half of his remaining life in Germany, or a car enthusiast).

Heck, there are pretty much only S4's of Audi's on the road here. All the other Audi's are some really old models.
(Should I mention, Audi is the cheapest out of the "big boys" - Merc, BMW and Audi. Merc is the most expensive and the new models are mostly driven by people older than 40-50, BMW is the one that a typical and average working guy (and mostly a daddy) drives (and the cars are always 5-series. 1-series are driven by moms, 3-series are drooled -but not owned- by teenagers, 5-series driven by working men and 7-series driven by people who can afford it) and Audi is driven by just an average guy, who just keeps speeding 60ph on a 20mph area.

And like I said, anyone who knows that the S-model's of the Audi's came out after the Nissan's R5-designs, will not mix the Audi S's up with a GT-R.
I personally can't even see any other resemblence between the cars, than the grill. Everything else is different.

But what really are there on the roads here? Well, as I went to see my dad today, I took a look at the cars that were driving up the road I came from:

Toyota, Toyota, Toyota, Toyota, Toyota, BMW, BMW, Toyota, Nissan, Nissan, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Skoda, Citroën, Citroën, Skoda, Audi, Toyota, Ford, BMW, Ford, OH LOOK A FERRARI!, Chevrolet, Mazda, Dodge, Toyota, Toyota OH BOY A '64 CORVETTE!, Skoda,-

Yeah, pretty much Toyota's.

Yeah, but we are educated. We know more about cars. What sets us apart from the others out there are why we like cars. Tuner geeks, be them Japanese tuners Euro tuners or even American tuners the mentality these guys all take are speed is all that matters. They drive like speed is all that matters. Most Honda people seem to only have owned Hondas and if the ever owned anything else whatever it was is trash.
Guys like us, like you said BMW, R32, (In a reply I can't go back and see what else) and you appreciate the Camaro I have shows that personality and character is as important as speed. The Camaro only tops off at 160 MPH and it's old school suspension only does about a .69G on the skid pad with good tires. We're connoissuers.
If either one of us had our car out and we return to find a couple of 10 year old kids with their grubby little mitts all over the car as they're checking it out, odds are we would say "Wanna see something really cool?" and we'd show them or tell them about why our car is special. A GTR owner... every single one I have ever met is a douschebag and I could easily see them in my mind's eye that person telling the kids to scram and get away from their precious car. (Course... Lambos and Ferrari I can see that as well) and fans of the car would nod in time "Yeah, stupid kids, get away from that car!"

Out here Audi is the poor boy's Mercedes just like the Opel had that one sport model we called the poor boys Corvette. We don't get Skoda or Citroen out here. Wouldn't mind getting something like that jjust to drive around and make people wonder what the hell it is. Most people here wouldn't recognize a Mazarati let alone spell it right.