Deep Singh

John

1) What do you do about servicing, and can you tell me once and for all what it really costs?

2) Is there another option for the £600 tyres?

3) What would you do out of warranty if the engine went? I don't usually stay awake worrying about these sorts of things, hence I don't about the approx £8k my M5 engine would cost. But £30k would have me worried, that's quite a few years of school fees!

4) If you needed the gearbox replaced and did it from a non main dealer, how much would it cost?

Thanks.

john banks

I've not had it serviced yet, but in amongst all the fluff it isn't really much different than say an Evo. I will be changing the gearbox oil to Willall WR35TM which is more expensive than the stock oil but protects the gearbox better and will not degrade with temperature so will likely last for ages. This is being donated to me by Willall as encouragement to develop more ECU work on the GTR GTC have donated me some Carbotech front pads These pads are comical, they are about the size of a small village, the width of the is literally about the length of the pads I replaced in the Audi A2 before I sold it, but they did cost £10 and these about £200!

There is nothing special about any of the other fluids in the car and there are no hydraulics to bleed like an Evo. There is no cambelt to service. So really any competent garage should be able to do it. The brake fluid, filters, sparks and things like that are not every five minutes, but fairly typical for a performance car.

I will possibly ask a friend of a friend who runs a single ramp next to his house and who lets me help, to service it together like he did with my Evo. He stamps the book, I know it is done properly, I can supply the fluids etc. It will cost less than my time costs to drive to go and see him.

A set of four Bridgestones is about £1100 I gather.

Personally I wouldn't replace the gearbox but have it rebuilt, I would expect change from £5-6k, but that might be optimistic if it happened right now. There is no one in the UK I know of that would do this at present, but there are in US, Aus and NZ. Yes that is a PITA. If it was just a solenoid like alloy I would try and do it locally as it is not a terribly difficult job, I gather it can be done without even dropping the gearbox.

Engine, it depends what broke. There is no one in the aftermarket selling new blocks or reconditioned engines yet.

Your E60 M5 engine when first released would have been much more than £8k, I think this will be the same. There is likely to be little difference in ultimate cost between rebuilding a high revving V10 and a medium revving turbo V6 albeit with unique liners. Both are going to hurt.

Mitsubishi dealer told me that a new engine was £14k. A friend bought a new crate engine (with head & virtually all the ancillaries including injectors, turbo, manifolds etc) from the US for about £2.5k delivered with all duty paid a year or two ago when the pound was stronger.

There is a GTR tax, but there is such a modification scene around it that it will become better in time I expect.

I can run my cars relatively cheaply because of what and who I know, I wouldn't like to run this car and simply hand it over to a main dealer and do all the things they ask including pay their bills.

alloy

amen to that John! Think I'm going to join you with the COBB from ben and hopefully one of the maps you have produced for him in the next week or two...not that stock power isn't enough but there are too many good reviews that I feel obliged to delve deeper into the joy of ownning this car!

Deep where are you based? Feel free to drop me a PM

alloy

A guy over on GTROC has wrote this about his first drive.....fairly accurate and IMO agreeable!!

Just drove my first. - GT-R Register - Official Nissan Skyline and GTR Owners Club forum

This is the write up I have place on the Fiat Coupe forum:

"I have never been in the presense of a more menacing looking car. Black, antracite wheels, black and red leather trim. If aliens invaded the Earth, this is what they'd come in. Get in, get comfortable, press the red starter button and the thing rumbles into life. No indication yet of the power - it sounds pretty ordinary (I can see why some of you fit the Miltek Y pipe thingy). After a quick lesson on the transmission I put it in full auto and take to the road.

The car feels huge - great sweeping dash board like a people carrier, big instruments, long bonnet. What struck me first though was how comfortable it was to drive. I cannot understand the journalists who talk about it being too hard - it just isn't. Very firm, yes, but informative and cossetting somehow at the same time. Then I realised there was a comfort ride setting and things became even more serene. What a bunch of crap car writers talk.

The road opens up so I switch to manual (paddles) and give it about 25% throttle in 3rd. There is a little lag, a mutted, distant roar from the front of the car, then suddenly - whap.

OMFG.

That was quarter throttle.

I get another stretch, drop to 2nd and give it about half throttle.

Now i've driven 2 GT3s but didn't really push them hard, and an R8 which I pushed harder but only on one slip road as it was rush hour. This was something else.

The dealer is sat in the back (poor man, there isn't much headroom back there) and let us drive the car for around 10 miles. A roads, twisty B roads and a stretch of the M11. As I got braver I gave it more and more beans "go on, floor it" the guy is telling me and I didn't want to disappoint him. I think I managed full throttle about three times, once from standstill and a couple of times in 2nd and 3rd. It is incredible. Utterly so. It makes the R8 feel slow (which it isn't, trust me) and utterly transforms your impression of what a car can do. The noise at high revs is like something from the engine room of the USS Enterprise going into warp. I've read how a good car seems to shrink around you when you drive it quickly and that's what the GTR does - you don't feel intimidated despite everything around you because you get the distinct feeling that this beast from outer space is on your side. The handling is awesome - completely planted at all times and confidence inspiring with heavy but accurate steering (you get used to the tramlining after about a mile or two). The brakes... a set of lights went red 50 yards ahead and I was doing around 60. It was like hitting a wall.

By the time we got back to the guy's place (a big house in the country with a gravel drive and a garage full of his own cars - Bentley, Ferrari, Mercedes, old Corvette - he's beyond loaded) I had a smile on my face a mile wide.

What a simply unbelievable car."

You guys are very, very lucky.

Deep Singh

John, you are in a very unique situation as you have mentioned. You are 'one of the in crowd' from your tuning work, and that affords you a lot of favours and mutual back scratching. Also I'm sure in a years time your name will be synonymous with gtr ecu mapping. Because of that it would be easy for you to sell the gtr on in a couple of years even if you had serviced it yourself.
It would be like, back in the day, buying Bob Rawle's own car that he had serviced himself. No probs, since everybody knew his car would have been better serviced than any spotty tech could do.

The same does not apply to me. If tried to sell the gtr serviced by some back street garage, its not going to work, and I haven't got the time to spend a day each time driving up to a non franchised specialist like Litchfield.

On the positive side, if I bought the car 6 months old now, there would be 2.5 months until the warranty ran out, by which time as you said there maybe more/cheaper options for engines/gearboxes etc

Alloy, thanks for the kind offer, but I'll test drive a dealers, at least then I get to drive it, and I have no guilt if the worst happens and we right it off or something. One has come up for sale near me with a dealer. 09 plate, 2500 miles, black ed, black with black and red leather, £52k. Once I shake this awful flu I've got, I'll pop down and take it for a test drive, if its really that good, and the moons are all in alignment, I'll buy it.

yoza

There you have it, sensationalism.

Chocolate drivetrains, engines going BANG, gearboxes going BANG....

Exactly how many gearboxes have totally failed?

Exactly how many engines have totally failed?

Not many, in the whole scheme of things.

But maybe plenty of warning lights, servo errors, and perfectly servicable boxes replaced under warranty, just incase, and for Nissan to examine the faults for the next batch.

Deep if I were you, I wouldnot buy one, and not for any reason ever mentioned on this board.

alloy

Come on Yoza, you can't leave it on a cliff edge like that.....

Deep Singh

Hey Yoza.

I read similar failure stories about the M5 before I bought it, mainly diff failures. Had mine for over 2 years now with no problems.
so these stories of so called failures don't really bother me.

What does bother me however is buying a car that has hyper car running costs. I can't afford to run a hyper car, if I could then I'd buy a lambo gallardo ( I wouldn't really because I'd look like a prat, but you know what I mean.) Thats my concern, if that makes sense.

Anyway, your final comment was NOT to buy a GTR but not for any of the reasons mentioned. What did you mean?

alloy

I think there is a good case for miss-information and chinese whispers....

6month service cost at a HPC with the concierge service is £230...obviously independent garages can do servicing for you and Nissan still have to stand by their warranty under EU law as long as equal quality parts are used, but personally for that price and ease of the pick up/drop off service i'd send mine to Nissan

Litchfield service costs
6000 - £128
12000 - £280
18000 - £435
24000 -£394
30000 - £128
36000 - £831 (2ndary airfilter + transmission)
42000 - £128
48000 - £394
54000 - £435
60000 - £1020 (brakes hoses and plugs)

Tyres- £1250ish for four

Brake Pads and Discs- I will be switching to aftermarket items when mine are done and looking around they are reasonably priced considering the setup on the GTR is the same size as an Enzo! Complete set of EBC pads, as per the Race Academy, £436 for complete set. Disc i will go for the AP J-hook design as not a big fan of drilled discs like the OEM and although i cant remember the price i'm sure they are cheaper than what Nissa's ones are

Transmission Oil, still £600 odd but Nissan have now changed their stance from a change if it goes over 110c to 120c which i think you would stuggle to see in normal or even hard road use.

Deep Singh

Thanks Alloy. Those servicing costs seem very reasonable, are they similar to main dealer prices, as a Litchfield trip would kill a day.

Transmission oil price seems silly, but I don't tend to do track days so may never see those temps.

Were there any cost options on the black edition?

I keep reading some have the y pipe fitted, is this for sound appeal only, or does it add power?

Yoza, still waiting to see why you thought I shouldn't buy one

alloy

I have a Black Edition, i'm sure you are aware for this you get
-the red highlights on the interior
-the dark alloys
-black hedlining(which as silly as it seems really transforms the interior IMO)
-BOSE sound system

On top of that Mats are £120 i think, quite luxury with a large emblem on them near the sill. Then there are parking sensors, and seeing the shape of the rear i might suggest these be beneficial think they were £350 and as you can see below not too offensive on the eye. Y-Pipe added circa 7bhp as per David Yu and Surrey Rolling Road test but it really brightens the drive experience in my eyes, the stock system whispers where as with the y-pipe its not intrusive but gives the car the soundtrack it deserves. Of course there is the paint protection etc, and i think the silver i have is now a £1400 option. Nissan tracker is a few quid shy of £1,000, i went for an alternative solution to what they offered.

Think that's about it, maybe rear camera if you want and front sensors too but you would have to make a HPC enquiry to confirm that!

Deep Singh

Thanks. Yes, ultimate silver is a £1400 option now as far as I can gather. Parking sensors would be essential for me as I'm now used to them, couldn't live without them.

The car near me is actually £54k not £52k, which still seems about right compared to the others.

I will arrange a test drive next week

alloy

as you can see the parking sensors not too offensive to the eye..

yoza

What is that red thing in the middle, its like having a pimple on your ****......see the sleek version.

alloy

Rear fog light, how is this fitted on the import versions?

yoza

They dont come with Fog lights, you get a flare instead..

Mine is wired to led's in the brake light houseing, neat and legal.

john banks

I got a Gunmetal premium. This has the Bose and auto wipers/lights that the base doesn't, but doesn't have the black paint option and red trim inside that the black has. I bought my mats off Ebay for £15, they are great. I like the quiet stock exhaust, 1% power isn't worth extra noise to me.

The newer Nav models have nav, but also a higher res LCD with USB/Ipod integration. Neither bother me, I only listen to radio 4 and use a TomTom when I need to

I rarely have to park anywhere tight living in the sticks, but the rear spoiler can be seen in the mirrors, and the back of the car is barely an inch or two further back than that. The front of the car is long and low, I could have crunched the front badly on my first day taking it to work, I got out to check how near I was and I was already over the kerb in my parking space LOL. Thankfully there is about an inch of clearance vertically.

p1doc

i would really like a gt-r but know if i drive one i will have to have one lol so will stick to remapped diesel scooby and 6 month overdue murtaya
martin

pippyrips

DS - from doing bit of research HPC servicing prices are roughly double Litcho's.

Many back to the original point of the thread - my mind is made up

Ricky

And your decision is ??????????????????

KnobbySP1

I can honestly say having driven both that they are both very special cars.

You can forget most of everything else apart from one thing - do you need a big car or can you just have a coupe?

I just need a coupe for me so choice was easy. Just finished the run in on the GT-R and can honestly say it's still a treat driving the thing...