So those of us diehard 33 fans know all about the 400R.
Here in Japan, Nissan has brought back the 400R! Sort of.
Basically it's a home market Infiniti Q50 Red Sport - 3 years delayed. Actually, since 2013 when Nissan released this V37 Skyline as an Infiniti in North America, Europe, China and Australia, in the Japan market the car has been marketed and sold only as the Skyline - there are no Infiniti dealers here, plus it would be brand suicide to eliminate Nissan's most famous car model name. Unfortunately, this car had the Skyline name but it also had Infiniti badges (grill and trunk), and further had the shittiest (and I do not say that lightly) 2.0 turbo engine supplied by Daimler (part of a cross investment scheme that was not exactly good thinking). Or, you could get the classic VQ35 engine, but it came with a hybrid system so it wasn't exactly sporty (although Nissan hybrids are designed to emphasize sportiness over gas mileage, actually).
So it's taken a long time but Nissan has FINALLY released a proper Skyline - same car as before but with a proper engine (VR30DDTT), all Nissan badging and the classic round (kind of) tail lamps. Further for the top of line 400ps versions, they have resurrected the 400R name. This is controversial with some in Japan saying it's good to highlight the most powerful Skyline ever but with others saying this detracts from the heritage of the R33 GT-R. For me, I'm happy there is finally a decent Nissan sedan sold here in Japan that I'm interested in buying for myself...
Anyway some photos from the first day the car was announced here in Japan at Nissan HQ.
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| Looks good from afar although the lights aren't completely round...(and reminds of some of the recent Mazda designs...) |
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| Little touches like the flares in the rear bumper are interesting. I was hoping for larger exhausts though. |
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| Heh heh return of the 400R!! |
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| Unbelievably affordable pricing actually. Can't believe what Lexus charges for its 400ps cars... |
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| Not sure about the red brake calipers but I guess I can always get them repainted... |
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| The metallic black is very nice...as you may know the front of the car is supposed to stylistically tie the Skyline to the R35 GT-R. Bonus is the fact that for cars equipped with ProPilot 2.0, the smooth lines are better for sensor placement. |
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| Black though would be a nightmare to keep scratch free, even with Nissan's actually functional Scratch Shield paint... |
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| Silver not bad either but I already have a silver Skyline...PS you can see the small infrared camera mounted on the center of the dash. That's to sense when the driver isn't paying attention when the car is driving itself. |
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| This is what we call the "Hagane Blue" - exclusive to the Skyline. Not feeling it... |
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| Really liking this darker blue... |
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| But I wonder if there will be a Nismo version. I will have to ask around. If so it won't be blue... |
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| Yes, that is a woman with her dog in the baby carriage... |
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| The love it or hate it (mostly) steer-by-wire thing. Looks like all Skylines in Japan will come with this, damn... |
In conjunction with this "new" Skyline, Nissan brought out some other Skylines to remind us how great the Skyline Brand really is...
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| 1974 Skyline Hardtop 2000GT (the C1100 |
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| Beautiful blue (sensing a theme here) C110. |
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| The Fourth Skyline. |
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| 1981 Skyline Hardtop 2000 Turbo GT-E/S |
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| And yes R31 Skyline. No way this would pass modern safety requirements (look, no B pillar!) |
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1985 Skyline 4 Door Hardtop GT TwinCam 24V Turbo Passage
(Period correct - the name reflects the over abundance of Japan's "bubble era" I think...) |
There were two more interesting cars...
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| S21 Skyline Sport - hand built Micholetti bodies |
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Not sure how many were built - but again blue!
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| The very first Skyline - the 1957 Skyline Deluxe. |
And finally - Nissan chose not to bother with displaying the over emphasized R32 and R34, but DID leave this historically significant Skyline on display:
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| Oh yes. The R33 Skyline GT-R that set the under 8 minute record at the Nurburgring. |
So I see that my friend Dino has now posted a photo of my car taken during our last trip to Nismo Omori Factory.
Guess my next post will have to talk about that then....
3 comments:
Nice photos!
It is really a shame that the return of the 400R does not have a good manual or automatic transmission and that steer by wire nonsense.
From what I have heard there was a faction of Nissan that wanted the new Skyline to have a manual transmission and the cars have a lot of provisions for a manual transmission but in the end they did not go ahead with it.
I love the 400R, especially the tail lights. BMW, Mercedes and Audi have been making "sleeper" sedans for quite some time now but we haven't seen any muscle from Nissan/Infiniti in quite a while, aside from the Q50 Red Sport. If I didn't do so many miles annually I'd trade my M37S in on one... maybe when they've depreciated a bit more. Cheers Aki!
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