Tokyo Days 58 - GT-R Dreams

After 58 days, my long trip to Tokyo was finally coming to an end. Reluctant as I may be to leave, all good things have to come to an end. But, before I would say my farewells, there was one final place I needed to visit. One that I had been holding off for the past 57 days in Japan.

That place, was the Nissan HQ Gallery in Yokohama.

There resided the biggest Nissan showroom in the whole of Japan sporting every outgoing and upcoming Nissan model.

In this case, I made this particular pilgrimage to visit one of the biggest forces in the Japanese automobile world, the Nissan GT-R.

You would be right in stating that Nissan's GT-R has been on-sale for close to 10 years now since its initial release in 2007.

But, Godzilla has recently received a brand new 2017 refresh which has many R35 GT-R fans excited for several reasons.

For starters, the 2017 model receives rather dramatic cosmetic changes to the front and rear bumpers moving towards a design language more similar to Nissan's current lineup. Admittedly, I am one of those big fans of the design update which, in my opinion, makes this the best looking iteration of the R35 ever.

Not only that, there are also sweeping changes to the interior namely with the addition of a new steering wheel and touch screen display. Overall, there are less buttons and plastics now replaced with more premium leather and carbon fiber. I cannot say I am a big fan of the new steering wheel but, as a whole, it is a genuinely nice place to be especially compared to the current iteration.

On top of that, there are several new color options and a new set of rims to go with it. With the addition of a new silver and metallic orange color, I am strongly considering if I would still like mine in black. After all, the new orange looks really good and suits the whole "Mami-theme" that I have in mind. That said, the rims still and always have look questionable warranting an immediate swap out the moment you get your hands on one.

There has also been some changes engine wise, namely a slight boost to power. Nothing too dramatic but, then again, the GT-R was never slow to begin with.

The final touch is that every engine know has a plaque denoting the "takumi" who built it. It is a very neat touch often seen in higher end super cars and it does add some flair to Nissan's otherwise rather mundane looking VR38DETT power plant.

Perhaps the most important thing of all to note is that this is, possibly, the final iteration of the R35 GT-R as Nissan preps to release an all new model come 2019-2020. As far as I can remember, the GT-R has always been a car that has tugged at my heart strings ever since I first set eyes on the R32 Skyline. Out of them all though, the R35 is the one I love the most.

Although it will be a while before I can call one my own, I ultimately hope to do so in the near future. With that, I steel my will and set my sights straight for that one goal I have been working for my entire life.