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If Nissan's GT-R Spec-V had to face off in a ten-round questionnaire against a Porsche, why not choose one of the wildest 911s to ever exist?
This 'Face Off' was first published in MOTOR Magazine March 2009.
| Porsche 911 GT2 | 10 QUESTIONS | Nissan GT-R Spec-V |
| The ultimate 911 – tougher, faster, lighter, and more powerful. The closest you’ll ever get to driving a race car on the road | What is it? | Nissan’s much-anticipated lightweight version of the all-new GT-R is the fastest Japanese road car ever produced |
| Rear-mounted twin-turbo 390kW/680Nm 3.6-litre flat six, six-speed manual, rear drive. Semi-slicks. Two seats. Composite brakes | What’s it got? | Front-mounted twin-turbo 357kW/608Nm 3.8-litre V6, seven-speed dual-clutch, AWD. Semi-slicks. Two seats. Composite brakes |
| Porsche reckons 3.7sec to 100km/h, even though we’ve pulled ‘only’ a 3.9 (not using launch control!). And she’ll do 329km/h | How fast? | It exists more for track attacks than improving GT-R’s blistering acceleration, but it should tap triple figures in around 3.2 seconds |
| It effortlessly claimed our Performance Car 2008 award, so it’s here already. But you won’t see too many of them on the road | When’s it coming? | The Spec-V was only launched in Japan in February, but we’re unlikely to ever officially see it in Australia, unfortunately |
| You could buy a three-bedroom house in most Australian cities for less. A bog-standard GT2 will set you back $447,500 | How much? | Even though the base GT-R is a relative bargain at under $150K, the Spec-V would be $250,000. That’s why it’s not coming here |
| This 997 model is the third-generation GT2, and the most liveable. The original 993 GT2 ‘widow maker’ was launched in 1994 | History? | There’s been a V-Spec version of every GT-R since 1989’s ‘Godzilla’ R32. It was inevitable there’d be an R35 model |
| What’s not cool about the GT2? It’s blindingly quick, completely civilised, reasonably economical … and it’s the best-ever 911 | Cool bits? | It’s lost some of the bulk that has blighted the new GT-R. Composite brakes and semi-slicks will provide wicked track potential |
| Are you effing serious? Okay, maybe its personal-island price tag is just slightly ridiculous. And the front splitter scrapes | Daggy bits? | Why Nissan couldn’t pull a few more herbs out of the engine is questionable. And it still weighs over 1600 kegs. And it wears a Nissan badge! |
| GT2 is likely to be a high-ranking executive’s weekend plaything. Expect to see them only in the ritziest suburbs or at track days | Who’s going to drive one? | In Oz, probably only a handful of rice burners with too much money. And they’ll probably put a big zorst on it, dump it, and ruin it |
| No question, but don’t expect to be able to get too many bags of money in it as there’s hardly an abundance of luggage space | Would you rob a bank in it? | Bloody oath! Not even Michael Schumacher in a VE cop car could catch one. Steal one in black for an even more sinister transaction |
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