Reports of the Nissan GT-R’s death have been greatly exaggerated. While some of us expected the 2024 Nissian GT-R to be a send-off of sorts, that couldn’t be further from the truth. In a presentation at the 2023 Tokyo Auto Salon, Nissan surprised the pants off of everyone by facelifting its ancient kaiju.
The GT-R is older than the Dodge Challenger. It’s older than Barack Obama’s presidential nomination. It’s older than David Banner’s The Greatest Story Ever Told. These things were prowling the streets while MySpace was alive and well, and Nissan doesn’t seem like it’s planning to end production anytime soon. Despite its archaic nature, the R35 GT-R is such a flex of craftsmanship by a Japanese automaker that it’s basically a Toyota Century for people who know what TX2K is. That it receives another facelift at all is a marvel.
So what’s new with the 2024 Nissan GT-R? Well, the front and rear bumpers have been dramatically re-shaped for the sake of style and aerodynamic efficiency. While the blacked-out bumper beam cover is gone from the front end, Nissan claims that the new car features the same grille area as the old one. Separate daytime running running lights make a reappearance, although their hexagon overlays are new and distinctive.
Around the back, a new rear bumper with a trapezoidal license plate recess gets a new diffuser for better aerodynamic efficiency. A wider rear wing with vortex generators mounted further rearward on the decklid, which helps with the rest of the body tweaks to improve downforce by 13 percent without affecting drag coefficient. It’s all very nerdy, which means it’s all perfectly GT-R.
Horsepower of the Premium and T-Spec models is still 565, so expect straight-line acceleration to be similar to that of the old model. This comes despite a new muffler to pass strict noise regulations. Unusually, the new muffler uses a resonance chamber and a bunch of small vortices to cut exhaust noise, the latter of which Nissan claims was inspired by jet engines.
The other big news for GT-R otaku is that the T-Spec model gets some properly cool heritage colors. Millennium Jade returns, while Midnight Purple also makes an appearance, much to the delight of R34 Skyline GT-R fans. What’s more, the T-Spec model gets a green interior which sounds delightfully weird. Sadly, we don’t have a picture of it, but it’s not hard to imagine given how long the GT-R has existed for.
Stepping things up to the Nismo variant, it also gets a new front fascia, although this one’s a bit weird. The grille strakes are styled to effectively pierce the bumper beam, while even more red accents than usual make it very well known that this is a Nismo model. Things get even stranger around the back, with a massive black diffuser and trim piece reaching skyward up the edges of the bumper. It’s truly a bizarre look, but we’re glad that Nissan is letting its freak flag fly.
In terms of performance bits, the GT-R Nismo gets brand new ultra-thin Recaro seats that look to weigh as much as a cheeseburger, while the drivetrain is enhanced with a new limited-slip front differential. Power is predictably unchanged at 600 horses, but this thing should still fly.
There’s no word yet on pricing or American trim level availability of the 2024 Nissan GT-R, but don’t expect it to be cheap despite the model’s age. It may date back past the days of crabcore, but it can still get down with the best of them. Long may it continue, for a replacement doesn’t appear to be in sight.
(Photo credits: Nissan)
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One little change on the grill and suddenly it feels like the gap between the r34 and r35 has finally been bridged…..
I have an irrational affinity for Japanese cars and engineering in general (although my Japanese cars mostly turned out problematic). The GTR feels like a really great product to me. A car which was brought to perfection. Not pursuing senseless innovation, which have for some reason to puke out a new car every 5 years at most, filled with black glossy plastics and capacitive buttons – the GTR is a car which I feel I would rely on in the long term.
Especially with the latest cockpit redesign it feels complete now. Mostly logical ergonomics, all physical buttons, no-nonsense infotainment. I would go as far as to bet this will actually turn out to be more usable and intuitive than modern touch interfaces. Speaking as someone working in HMI UX concepts for a major European manufacturer, I know first hand how big of a problem this is.
Between this and the MX-5, I’m just glad these cars exist. No need to rush the replacement (modern Nissan is dead to me anyway).
Every time the GT-R pops up I’m reminded that someone locally has one with “Godzilla” vanity plates, and that makes me smile.
Maybe it’ll be like the Morgan, and in another 20 years people will still be happily buying this niche anachronism.
Is it just me, or does the new front end look sorta like an aftermarket body kit, rather than an OEM design? Because that’s the vibe I get from it.
This car always felt just almost attainable when it came out. It wasn’t ostentatious it was just a mechanical beast. It also just felt like it was going to be a decent car to commute in. I look at it and think I could have fun driving that fast, but I could also see taking it through the school drop-off line and enjoying it there too. It just kinda feels like it wants to be there and experience life with you.
If I am going to shell out $115k, it’s not going to be on a Nissan.
At your class reunion someone asks what you drive and you respond Nissan GT-R. They hear Nissan and immediately envision Kicks, Sentra, Altima, and Rogue. Maybe they are out of date and think Cube or Juke.
I don’t chase nameplate prestige. I purchase cars that visually appeal to me and I can afford. Hence my interest in the 2023+ Prius Prime. Granted it would probably be easier to find and buy a GT-R considering the unicorn fairy dust Toyota’s Prime models appear to be made out of.
Absolutely no one Envisions those models with GTR…
First, no one who knows cars is going to diss a GT-R. It’s a known quantity. If anything, they’ll assume you have a lack of imagination, and chose that way to spend your excess income, because it was a thing you wanted when you were younger. Which is fine. Rosebud.
Second, if you are considering your ride, based upon the way you will be perceived at your next class reunion, then you have already failed at life. I will not belabor the point. But seriously. No.
“At your class reunion …. They hear Nissan and immediately envision Kicks, Sentra, Altima, and Rogue.”
“I don’t chase nameplate prestige.”
Those seem like contradictory sentences..
But I agree, at this point the $115k is hard to justify for a street car.
I came here to say this as well. OP says he would never want a Nissan because of the name yet he doesn’t chase nameplate prestige. And he references HS reunions, because we all know how important these events are in our lives. You can see that him sniffing his own farts has done quite some damage to his reasoning.
Man, it’d be a real shame if people thought you drove a mainstream vehicle, huh?
I have been to multiple class reunions and never heard a conversation along this line. Stop imaging scenarios where people will let you prove you’re a schmuck. You’re doing just fine in real life.
Of all the things there are in life to worry about, whether or not the random dickwads that I went to high school with a decade ago think that the little chrome shape on the front of my car represents an association with a sufficiently aspirational corporate conglomerate is pretty fucking low on the list. If you care about that level of thing, I don’t know whether to be envious of your presumably otherwise flawless existence, or sorry for your having to endure the kind of crippling insecurity that ties your self-worth to the imagined opinions of people you see once every five or ten years at the most.
Look. I’ll back you here.
I have a Nissan (the MegaVan) – and that was due to it being the best of a lot of poor choices. The least bad if you will.
No way I’d trust their dealer network to take delivery of a $100k+ car.
My new van had the tire pressure light on, and an interior light was missing, no one noticed and I was initially mocked by a salesperson for “inspecting” the car. Until he realized they failed at delivery.
It’s mind boggling how slightly Nissan updates the R35 in comparison to how Chrysler likes to update anything that’s not the Wrangler, Ram 1500, or Grand Cherokee….
Like, the Chrysler large cars have gone through multiple different engines, transmissions, AWD systems, suspension tweaks, even interiors! Sure, I’m comparing mass market to hand-built supercars, but I mean, it was shocking when Fiat put the money in to redo the entire Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep portfolio’s interiors (that weren’t already getting an update as in Ram trucks, Grand Cherokee/Durango), because Chrysler does not like to do many updates, unless they have to do complete overhauls to meet mandates. In the GTR’s market, I’d think updates would be more plentiful and impactful honestly.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Glad the GTR is still going, maybe I’ll have a chance to buy one one day
Ok at first glance I thought the pictures of the non-nismo were comparison pictures of the old one. Y’all are being dramatic about it being ugly because it looks exactly like the old one.
I really like the more simple front end on the non-Nismo version. I like the R34 vibes of the grilles. Well done, Nissan!
(now stop putting tacky red pinstripes on everything)
Well that’s pretty ugly.
I wonder at this point if the R-35 will be on sale long enough that Nissan Heritage will start reproduction parts for the first models while it’s still on sale in 2030.
Shut up and take my non-existent money.
Like one of the other commenters i am over the moon with the Attack Attack reference. ???????????? Crabcore is making a comeback
Forgot that this website isn’t emoji friendly yet (insert crab emojis here)
Same!!!
I’m both over the moon excited you made an Attack Attack reference (and one of their best songs at that) in an article, and simultaneously aware of my age that the reference was used to date something.
Thanks?
0-0-0 on my friend. Crabcore for life
Same! A lot of us scene veterans graduated to cars, it’s pretty funny. I played in a bunch of bands from 2009-2015, it was a great time.
When does the limited Carlos Ghosn Signature Edition come out?
The engineers are still working out how to fit the fake instrument case into the trunk without screwing up the drag coefficient.
possible chance he is hiding in the boot when you take delivery
Once the aerodeck is homoglated. Needed to fit the double base case in the back
*homologated
The moment I saw pictures of this facelift I had to dash to bathroom and revisit my lunch. That front bar looks like a chipmunk stashing Beyblades in its cheeks. It took me 2 minutes and a free paint app on my phone to fix up that nerdy kid with headgear face they’ve given it.
The rest of the redesign, pretty nice. But man, I’m struggling to accept it’s new face.
The edit: https://imgur.com/a/aYpjmOV
I’ll always have a soft spot for these. I don’t care that they’re ancient, heavy, and not a particularly good buy. They’re just so cool and unique. If you’re someone who got into cars in the 2000s they just scratch a particular nostalgia itch. I still get excited whenever I see one in the wild, and who knows…maybe the fact that it’ll now be on life support for a few more years will drop prices on secondhand ones a bit.
I saw a decent enough example of one of these locally during the early stages of the pandemic listed in the high 40s that still haunts me. It would’ve been a serious financial stretch at the time but in retrospect maybe I should’ve thrown caution to the wind and gone for it…
They definitely still have a presence about them. Sure they’re almost as old as the dino juice you put in them, but the design has aged incredibly well. Also performance numbers don’t lie – they still are a technological tour de force all these years later.
A few months ago I did one of those Xtreme Xperience things–I got a gift card for Christmas to drive the Huracan, and I decided to pony up for some laps in the cheapest car available to get a sense of the track before driving the Lambo. The cheap car was the GT-R, and I have always been curious about how they drive because they have always been tantalizingly close to affordable for me. Anyhow my drive time comes and I get into the car and the driving instructor (I think his name was Brandon, and if you ever do one of these he is fantastic) asks “so why this car”, and I tell I have the Lambo booked and I wanted to get to know the track a bit before driving it. He says “okay, lets get to know the track then” switches everything into “R” mode and proceeds to coach me way beyond what I thought my comfort level was. Two and half laps in some idiot drives through some cones onto a portion of the track they weren’t supposed to and we have to reset and do another full three laps. So I got some decent seat time in the GT-R and I can honestly say it’s a fun car to drive really fast, and it’s pretty easy to drive really fast. It just kind of goes where you point it, and feels pretty buttoned down doing it. The Lambo by comparison was faster, and communicated a lot more about what was going on with car which I think would have been mildly terrifying without the coach assuring me that we were fine and I should go faster.
This car is not my first choice in this price range, but I love that it exists and, like the Challenger, I totally respect anyone that picks one.