The interior styling is tastefully muted, more classical than the latest trendiness, and most surfaces are covered in hand-stitched leather in the exclusive Mori green color or dark gray Alcantara, way more expensive coverings than in previous models. This interior isn’t faddish and is not going to look silly in 10 years.
Besides the dash, the headliner and A-pillars are covered in Alcantara, The headliner is quilted for a more appealing look. I could take or leave this feature but maybe it ties things in well.
The center console is made of dry carbon fiber and hand-stitched leather, I think this looks really neat. Another update is the multifunctional dial so you can scroll through the telemetrics with one hand without having to reach for the dash. I didn’t use this at first and I kinda forgot it was there. I really hate this feature on BMW’s and Mercedes cars but Nissan’s control logic was much more straightforward and now I rather like this feature.
The gauge cluster is also made of carbon fiber to match the center console. The gauge layout is simple and easy to read.
The steering wheel is familiar, it just looks better and the horn button is now covered in hand-stitched leather. Don’t crash it would be a shame to blow this apart with the airbag! One change I don’t like is that the paddle shifters now move with the steering wheel. Previously they were fixed and the wheel moved just like in most race cars. Attached to the steering wheel, I find that it’s possible to lose track of them in track driving. This is one of the only two changes that I didn’t like! My pro-driver friends who drive paddle-shifted race cars agree with me as well. Please Nissan switch it back.
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