Some people may remember Top Gear’s episode 4 from series 11, the one with the R35 racing a Shinkansen high-speed train. In the following episode, Jeremy Clarkson reviews the R35 in a rather enthusiastic fashion. So enthusiastic that Jeremy’s neck got sore after some oversteer-y action.
Both episodes aired in July 2008, and I’m pretty sure that some peeps are feeling really old right now. The R35 feels even older, though. Production kicked off in December 2007 for the 2009 model year, when the GT-R was a bonafide supercar killer on a budget. With the passing of time, however, Nissan slowly but steadily increased the MSRP beyond the reach of many.
The GT-R is currently sold out in the United States and plenty more international markets, including the Land of the Rising Sun. At $113,540 before destination freight charge and options, many peeps might be looking at the mid-engined Corvette Z06 or something a little more contemporary.
Nissan operated a plethora of updates in the past 15 years, yet it’s borderline impossible to ignore how little Nissan actually did to keep the R35 as relevant as possible. Sam CarLegion’s latest upload perfectly encapsulates how passé this car is, albeit yours truly still dreams of buying one at some point. A 2018 model with stock everything, the white-painted Godzilla is challenged to a series of drag races by a previous-gen BMW 340i xDrive. With a twist...
Under the hood, the F30 in this particular spec is rocking a turbocharged inline-six engine with 320 horsepower and 332 pound-feet (450 Nm) on deck. The black-painted Bimmer is running a hybrid turbo, a downpipe, and a beefier fuel pump to make something between 480 to 500 horsepower.
Its torque doesn’t match that of the bone-stock R35, yet the modified 340i xDrive is 130 pounds (59 kilograms) lighter. Given this information, have a wild guess which of these cars gets badly walked over four drag races.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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