By Jeff Glucker
Cars and music go hand in hand for me. When I’m driving a car, I like to have certain songs queued up that serve to enhance the experience. Sometimes when I’m sitting at my desk, a certain song might remind me of a machine that I’ve recently spent time enjoying. From classic rock to hip-hop to jazz to metal, the right song evokes extra emotion and helps plant a vehicle deeper into my memory banks.
Like music, cars can exhibit what many refer to as a soul. The problem is that one of my favorite cars on the planet constantly gets derided for a lack of a soul. I’m talking about the Nissan GT-R, more specifically in this case it’s the 2014 example that I just spent a weekend getting to know better. Did I find the soul of the car? Once I thought about it musically, of course I did…
[youtube width=”720″ height=”405″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVRtBZbpM6A[/youtube]
Kamil Kaluski
I think those are beautiful too. And even if you don't think so you cant deny it has presence. Whenever I see one (which is rare) I just stop and stare and go gaga.
Hey, I know where that is. Ortega Hwy turn off past that biker bar, right?
Also, amazing car and great presentation, Jeff.
Thanks yes. Upper Divide is typically devoid of traffic.
I was in front of one for 5 minutes on my morning commute on Monday.
The fact that I remember that means yes, the GT-R does have soul.
Jeff! We have the same shirt!
Actually, I like to think of the GT-R as Daft Punk, technological but with soul. And they're both pretty much perfect.
ha! I almost went with Daft Punk!
Stupid "related posts" plugin not doing what I want: http://hooniverse.info/2010/10/21/2011-nissan-gtr/
Agree with Jeff. Don't confuse good engineering with lack of soul.
Was initially thinking the GTR's getting long in the tooth, but a sub 3 second 0-60 suggests it's aging well.
In terms of performance for price, I think the GT-R is just about the best car on earth.
I love it. Great review, Jeff.
It is amazing, and I totally respect it… But my heart belongs to the R34.
Same here. And GO STEELERS!
So it has soul, but you have to dig deep behind the technology to find it. SO, what you're saying is that it's almost as if there's a Ghost in the Machine?
<img src="http://classic.modernrockreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/1981_Police-GhostInTheMachine.jpg">
Hmm… this or a SRT Viper?
Haven't driven the Viper so I can't say… I WOULD take the V12 Vantage though, even though it's far more expensive.
Depends on how much you want your car to want to kill you.
Ever seen a kid try to swing a bat that's too heavy? That's usually how it is with a Viper. On the off chance you can control it, you'll knock it out of the park. The GTR will regularly deliver hits.
Edit: I'd argue the options that make sense are either this, a Lotus or an Aston. Aston is the grand tourer, Lotus is the track rat, this is a happy medium.
<img src="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/6715/fastgtr.jpg" width="500/">
Not this time, Toretto, this one does 0-60 in…
<img src="http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7474/fastgtr2.jpg" width="500/">
NOO!! SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!!
oh man that's good!
How this only has three votes in 38 minutes is baffling. Hoons – initiate thumbs up voting!
Bravo!
There's a blue one in one of the parking lots near the office. It looks good.
Like James May said of the MP4-12C, maybe a really well engineered car can be fun for its own sake.
Agreed – I think many of the folks that knock it on looks have never seen one in person. I've seen four different ones in person and there really is a presence to it that you can't deny. So far my favorite color on it is the dark blue color. 🙂
I don't know how Nissan makes such a well performing car. I mean, this car doesn't really excite me, but it amazes me that Nissan can build a car like this that is faster (in more ways than one) than 99.7% of other cars.
I really wanted to watch the video review, but the host is annoying.
love the car, hate the presenter. he is consistently off on almost every detail. it's like the fanboy who only learned things from magazines and never quite paid attention in school, knows what words sound like but not what they mean. hard to take him seriously. how hard is it to get people that are interesting and know what they're talking about??
I see a time stamp of "7 hours ago," and I wonder, did you find your way here after reading the TTAC Baruth article about the Duster?
Yes?
You have this negative attitude that seems to be pretty common among the commentariat of the aforementioned publication.