I felt the current VR38DETT was much more refined than the version in the DBA, it felt more powerful, smoother, and with less turbo lag. Sure enough, the 4BA makes more power and torque than the DBA 562 hp at a higher 6800 rpm vs 542@6400 rpm. Peak torque is up to 467 lb/ft@ 3300 rpm vs 463 lb/ft from 3200 rpm. The power and response gains come from tuning, exhaust, and turbo changes.
The transmission is hugely improved. Refinements in the internal tolerances and TCU programming have made the transmission shift much faster and strangely smoother at the same time. Completely gone are the infamous GT-R rattles, clunks, and jerks believe it or not. The transmission is as smooth and silent as a fine slushbox automatic transmission in a Lexus. The only noise is an occasional cluck from the rear limited slip differential when doing tight U-turns.
The engine noise and exhaust note are lower at part throttle and cruise but more deep and throaty at wide open throttle than previous models, and is actually pretty pleasant as I considered the CBA to sound sort of farty at wide open throttle and not like the scream of a Porsche flat-six which actually sounds sweet. So I feel that the changes made to the drivetrain are significant and make a huge difference to the point that it feels like a whole different car. Journalists who pan the newly updated 4BA need to have their man card taken away.
Like previous models, the 4BA makes a lot of use of FRP plastics reinforced with carbon fiber, and aluminum in the unibody to keep the weight down. At almost 3900 lbs it’s a heavy car but it has a lot of stuff in it!
The official Nissan press releases said the T-Spec stands for Trend Maker or Traction Master which sounds weird. I personally think the T stands for Tamura Spec for the 4BA’s chief engineer Hiroshi Tamura who fought hard to get the 4BA’s many refinements past the bean counters and into production!
The wine and cheese automotive journalists have been especially harsh when judging the GT-R’s interior updates, they keep on using words like dated, tired, and showing its age. They are completely full of crap, I mean I get to drive all sorts of new cars and see how expensive cars are appointed and the 4BA is luxurious way beyond its price point. The interior is full of Mori green (isn’t that a character from Grand Theft Auto?) Semi-aniline hand-stitched leather, Alcantara, aluminum, and real carbon fiber. Everything is pretty buttoned down, the new GT-R is the first car I have ever owned that makes zero squeaks, rattle, or wind noise!
13 comments
Congratulations Mike! I hope you drive this one more than a few oil change intervals! Cool story too. I’m sad that more people don’t know who you are. You are a legend and deserve the red carpet.
Congrats on the new GT-R!!! but if you have to say it doesn’t look weird…
I didn’t really like the styling of the CDA at all, the DBA was a little better but the 4DA is nice I think.
Mike, congrats on the GTR, I am happy to hear that there are still well to do dealers out there. I am in the process of buying my first car so I sympathize with the frustration of dealing with prices these days (though I am definitely not shopping anywhere close to the price range of the T-Spec lol). In any case, I found your candor in your review to be very refreshing. I think the term ‘wine and cheese’ journalists is well suited to many writers and critics around the industry. As someone hoping to make a career in this vast industry, I was pushed to do journalism for the longest time. However, nowadays it feels like these ‘wine and cheese’ journalists put certain manufacturers on pedestals based on current trends (i.e. the Porsche hype). Anyhow, I’ll spare you the rant and I just want to say I’m a huge fan of what MotoIQ is doing, keep it up!
p.s: I’ve noticed that wearing your apparel to events always attracts the best kinds of enthusiasts, I couldn’t have imagined I would meet so many smart people because of a sweatshirt!
Thank you for your support!
Hello Mike,
How did your insurance handle the value of the mods?
They paid me a good price for the car, then I bought the car back and sold it to someone who loved the car that had connections to fix it.
Curious if you bought back the old car for the parts.
I did and sold it.
Man, if money wasn’t an object… I’d love to find another S13 and try to build a more modern version with the T-Spec as the aspirational goal. This car is gorgeous.
The fact that you got one right after tells me that the R35 GTRs are great cars. This post was a great read on how much they refined this car over the different generations. Shame android auto hasn’t been fitted to the car! I’ve notice Lexus took a long time to include it too.
Mike san, the end there with Tamura san signing the page with the child and his comment is not surprising culturally and melts my heart. Congratulations and I will reference this article again when I’m ready to also earn one and be my own pinnacle of a car enthusiast. In the meantime, I’ll just live vicariously through you.
So happy for you Mike. I was watching all your vlogs on the DBA as I recently purchased one and liked how you were doing the build.
Enjoy the T Spec; you deserve it 100 percent!
Andy from NZ