Nissan Skyline GTR R34: proven by time

Horizon.
Time-tested: Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec.
Vladislav Melnikov.

Release date: 2002.
Purchase date: 2006.
Mileage at purchase: 20000 km.
Mileage at the time of the report: 67000 km.
Skyline means "horizon" in English. The first thing the older generation associates with this word is V. Vysotsky's song. Let's see whether my ownership experience was as intense as that song.
Not everyone approved the terms of the bet…
After landing a decently paid job and earning a certain sum of money, I seriously started thinking about buying a car for myself. I wanted something quite out of the ordinary, say a sports coupe, but at the same time still practical (as far as that's even possible for this body type). Having weighed all the options, I made my choice: Nissan Skyline. Just around that time an acquaintance was selling a car – a Skyline in V-spec trim, no less. Low mileage, low price, plenty of undeniable pluses. The only thing was that my colleagues didn't approve of the deal – the price aroused suspicion.

So there'd be no traces, they swept up everywhere...
But nothing escaped the expert's practiced eye. On the minus side – a dead automatic transmission (and that with such low mileage!). On the plus side – an un-crashed body (which, generally speaking, is rare for this model on the used market), a 2.6 L engine that had its factory-detuned power restored, the ATTESA E-TS Pro system all-wheel drive, and navigation baked into the standard onboard computer. There was one more circumstance, quite interesting and one that stumped the entire editorial staff (and not only them), but more on that later.

But every now and then a shadow before the engine…
Here's where it contradicts the song: so far everything's fine with it. Though, as experience running an R33 with a similar engine shows, all the fun is still ahead of us. For now, twice (roughly every 25-30 thousand) I've had to replace the platinum spark plugs – 4 of them at $15 apiece – and the ignition coils (6 at a time at $150, they gave out at 43 thousand). By the way, the owner put in new plugs before selling. For rebuilding the automatic transmission I was quoted $1500. After a little thought, I paid $1800 and had a 6-speed manual put in the car – in my view, a justified overpayment. The all-wheel drive system and the clutch are still holding up too.
I know – more than once they'll stick spokes in my wheels.
The Skyline isn't afraid of that – the running gear is surprisingly durable, no problems have shown up yet. We'll see how long it lasts. This result is phenomenal – the car is driven by me in rather intense conditions (my age, thank God, is still far from retirement, and the car constantly eggs me on to aggressive driving). The only remark at the moment – the car is very sensitive to tire quality and wheel balancing.

But the brakes fail – code!
And so that this doesn't happen, it's better not to skimp on brake pads: change them more often and fit not cheap Chinese ones but original ones ($250-300 per set) – the car's character will benefit too. The replacement interval largely depends on your pace of driving – for example, mine lasted 40 thousand.
Winding miles onto the driveshaft…
And indeed, I've wound on quite a lot – after all, this is still my only car. Sometimes to dash off for work, sometimes to drop by somewhere on personal matters. Over these four years I've fallen even more in love with this car. The interior upholstery and plastics, despite begging for the epithet "cheap," have held their condition – that's with proper care, of course. At speed nothing rattles, nothing falls off, the button labels haven't worn off, the upholstery isn't dirty, and the car is nearly eight years old! The interior is Japanese-thought-out, functional, but boring. Neither the metal inserts on the dashboard nor the original steering wheel with the GT-R emblem can liven it up. I wonder how the M-spec version looks from this angle?
Coupe though it is, the car is quite practical – four of us can take a short trip if need be, and the trunk has never once balked at either a bachelor's luggage or our photographer's gear. Though the Skyline won't take a family aboard: the trunk won't be enough, and a child in the back will be cramped. It's an egoist's car, after all, no matter how you slice it.

At these speeds a grain of sand gains the force of a bullet…
The speeds this blue bird is capable of are truly delightful! Once, on a straight empty stretch, I squeezed out 260 km/h – I'd never driven that fast before in my life! And after that 260 barrier I gave my word – never to accelerate like that on public roads again. I don't advise you to either – the traffic rules are written in blood, after all, and the limits exist for a reason. But what's this? In an emergency, saving the life of a hare that ran out onto the roadway, I managed to pull off a "lane change" at a speed approaching 130 km/h – and no drift or skid whatsoever! A phenomenal result! On mountain roads my speed in a race never dropped below 80, and on the highway you can cruise at 180 without fear of "losing your lane" or control of the car. The only downside: the stiff suspension can lose contact with the road on asphalt waves even at 120 km/h, and beyond that a serious test of your driving skills begins – you'll need to catch the "skyline" as it darts all over the road. The windshield, by the way, stayed intact at any speed, which I largely owe to the excellent roads.
Driving – on the highway, and only on the highway – irrevocably…
Yes, it's best not to leave the asphalt in the "skyline" – off-road it's as helpless as it is all-powerful on the track. The price of its superb aerodynamics was low ground clearance and a long front overhang, and the "smart" all-wheel drive, when it encounters wheelspin, either just freezes up or starts trying to apply its highway knowledge to sand. A rather pitiful sight. You just shouldn't forget that off-road, even European off-road, isn't its element, and that's that. For reference – a couple of nice shots nearly cost my beast its front diffuser (it survived by a miracle).
A tow truck, thank God, wasn't needed. But the thrills
lasted a long time!
My finish line is the horizon, and the ribbon is the edge of the earth…
I'm afraid the "skyline" won't make it to such a finish on one tank. In mixed driving it consumed roughly 13-15 l. per hundred. In races and other extreme driving, as well as in the city, the fuel consumption figures rose to 20 l. On the highway, an average of 11 l. The tank holds 60 l. of 95-octane petrol.
And I grip the wheel until my hands cramp…
Which is located… on the left! This astonishing circumstance was the reason for such a low price ($35000) and my colleagues' suspicions. At first they thought it was another backyard job – but no, there are no signs of garage welding to be seen, the steering rack is symmetrically mirrored, but not a foreign one (often such projects use a rack from a 300zx), and the same goes for the pedal assembly. The wipers, the "heater" intake, the ABS – everything is mirrored over to where it should be on a left-hand-drive version. HICAS works as it should, the dashboard is molded not from fiberglass but from factory plastic (or at least something close to it in characteristics). Finally, the paintwork under the hood is continuous and spectrally identical to the exterior! That is, even if it is a backyard conversion, it's a very skillful one. The VIN is still 11-digit. Neither I nor my colleagues in the editorial office managed to obtain any documentation regarding this miracle, and the acquaintance I bought the car from is silent about it too. Could it be that the Japanese did make left-hand-drive "skylines" after all?

The stumbling block in the arguments
of the whole team.

The article was written by ODiLiSk