john banks

I was holding off ordering a GTR, given that it looked like it was going to be another speculator rush that I thought would go wrong as the economy collapsed, so I thought if I did get one it would be cheaper later.

The fly in the ointment is the GBP/JPY exchange rate which (presumably) has been the cause of the £3k price rise for new orders, which to be fair is very mild compared to the changes in the exchange rate.

However, people dropping out has meant that there are cars available to order now for August delivery.

Additionally, the problems with the gearbox do not seem confined to cars that have been launched or driven very hard. Some babied cars are breaking gearbox solenoids and gearbox parts cannot be ordered individually, so a bill for a quarter of the new price of the car is happening for those who tune their cars or have no warranty because of import arrangements. I'd get a UK car with warranty and likely keep it standard (really), but I wonder if a car that has place for transmission replacement stamps in the service book will have a terrible out of warranty residual value and turn out to be a lemon?

Having just replaced a gearbox on my Evo out of warranty, I bought a 2000 mile gearbox and had it fitted for a total of £800.

Bottom line is I've said I'll place a deposit today if they will do it for the pre-order price, they have declined. I'm dubious about the gearbox situation and future residuals in this economy which is why I won't offer full price.

Thoughts?

Matteeboy

Thoughts?

When it comes to cars, you are one lucky lucky bloke!!

john banks

No I've just worked my *** off and saved hard, motivated by a poor childhood and the social mobility that was possible growing up under Thatcher

Thoughts on the deal, gearbox, residuals?

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

A UK Car? August must be for a non-sat nav version I'm guessing? I think the otherwise it'll be 2010.

I heard mentions of £18k for a gearbox replacement out of warranty

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

The gearbox issue would worry me. It's a good excuse to hold off for the V Spec too

Turbo2

If they've got your phone number, they'll probably be back on to you within a week, so stick to your guns. It seem that you're only asking for about 5% discount after all.

Matteeboy

John - me too but if I bought a GTR (which I could), Mrs Matt would never speak to me again!

Have you test driven one yet? Worth waiting a little while to see what problems are thrown up once they start coming into the country?

I have a feeling that although desirable, they will still drop like a stone in value.

SPEN555

Seen as high performance cars are tanking it with depreciation I would hold back. Have you seen how much 3 year old £70k M5's are Depreciating at £1,700 per month I last looked at. New M3's a 2 year old new £50/£55k and now going for around £35k.

So based on that the GTR if interest is being lost on £3k price increase will depreciate heavily in this economic climate.

The gearbox issues should put you off totally in any event anyway.

All IMO of course, will be pleased to be proved wrong.

john banks

Yes, they are non-nav cars (still has all the geek displays), I'd be after a Premium (has the audio upgrade, auto lights/wipers), not bothered about the Black (different paint & interior trimmings)

Not test driven, would happily order it blind though. Gearbox and residuals are my main concerns.

If they come down to the previous price they'll have an order (I suspect they won't, they said they don't know what their margins on them are yet). If not I'll hopefully get to vulture the failed speculators later

john banks

M5/M6 seemed very good value in December, prices even appear to have firmed up a bit this month?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Forget the wonky gearbox, Kerry Katona has one !

For that reason, im out.

Nigel H

John,

Don't you think you'll be able to buy an extended warranty from Nissan at some point during the life of the car? It may be pricey, but it should help with the RV. There are similar issues with engines/gearboxes in the M3 but you can get a warranty to protect against them, I think.

As for RV. Tricky one, it's a specialist car, with limited numbers, so I would have thought that would be in its favour. You may get some views from looking at leasing rates, if you can find any? PCP it to take out the risk?

alloy

I have a UK Leight weight edition ( Non-satnav ) on order moving on from my EVO IX. Having driven the car on the Nissan Academy day all i can say is buy one! Superb motor, diverse in its capacity and yes the economy is taking a nose dive but it will pick up. The Brave may not live long, BUT the cautious do not live at all

john banks

I didn't know who Kerry Katona was until there were links from car forums re her and a GTR. I'm not yet 35, but I'm more Radio 4 than Radio 1... is she one of those ***** Cat dragons or something? My cat is prettier

PCPs seem to have terrible RV all round after finance houses have been burnt by high GFMV. Another reason for considering purchase is that I don't want money in banks earning naff all interest whilst Mervyn orders a job lot of cartridges for his Epson Stylus so he can print more GBP. You never know, a GTR might even go up in GBP

john banks

Swarf on the magnets of gearbox solenoids:

alloy

Very true John with quantative easing the likely play for the coming months, I expect Sterling to continue it's declines, we shall all be holidaying in Bognor for the next 18months i think its realistic to see £ trading at parity againts the Euro and Dollar £ against Yen we'll see a correction in the short term, but 12months down the line we'll be far lower than present levels......potentially a good indication that residuals may hold if your in at the preorder price. If the economy continues to move further into this slump then Nissans profit margins will be trimming drastically, with VW coming forward and declaring they are stemming their production, one can only assume Nissan will shelve their production of GTRs especially if they have to rise the price to above 60k for a UK car due to the currency markets

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

......and thus making the GT-R's currently produced and on the market a rare breed? Which would hold their value in contradiction to what matteeboy is stating.

Only thing being though (to flip ones coin), is "assumption is the ****** of all fcukups".

Matteeboy

CoB - you're back?! Cool!

stilover

I respect the GTR for what it can do, and the price it's sold for, but......

Those looks do nothing for me, and the interior dash is one designed by a teenager who loves play GT4 on his PS3.

End of the day, it's a Nissan. For £50k+ i'd want a bit better badge on my car.

Personal opinion though. It just does nothing for me.

rickya

iTrader: (18)

Id rather save a bob or two & get a 2 to 3 year old M car or AMG.

e.g M6 £29k

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

I do actually agree with the interior statement - to me it does look far too busy, and considering the preciseness that went into all aspects of the GT-R's developement, you would have expected a few less buttons and a more visually pleasing layout.

I don't agree on the "better badge" for the money thing though. No disprespect, and certainly no offence intended but that says badge snobbery to me. Can I ask, if the car simply had BMW, Merc, Audi, (enter luxurious name badge here) badges all over it, and was still £50k, with everything the same bar the badges - would you then buy it?

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

You pm box is full.

alloy

If your spending 50k on a Nissan, then you can probably afford 50k on a 911, AMG or what ever.


The badge i see is GTR and that badge holds a lot of weight in the psorts car arena as i'm sure most of you would agree

Matteeboy

Agree with the badge thing.
If Skoda came up with a cracking car I'd buy it. And I have no interest in poxy BMWs, Audis or Mercs (but like the good ones).
Badge snobbery is SO 90s.

I think the GT-R looks like an amazing deal. Unless there is some common flaw (gearbox?) then you are getting Jap build build quality. Look at reliability surveys - Jap cars blast German cars out of the water.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Not that long ago the old Skylines weren't holding their value that badly considering their age. I think people that know them do appreciate them.

5t.

stilover

With that Dashboard? No.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

We agree on one thing then

alloy

You wouldn't buy a car because of the dashboard? Carbon fibre facia not something you can source?

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

No I was agreeing on the fact I don't like the dashboard Andy. If I had the money, I personally wouldn't let a dahsboard put me off the whole car package.