2009 Nissan GT-R: Gutless

I hope they remember where all the pieces go...

Holy crap - if that were my expensive car, I would just tell them to send it back and give me a new one. This car will never be the same.

Eh? It's not like there's crash damage to deal with. It's unbolting & bolting parts, pretty straightforward stuff...

Bet you're missing the Ferrari 308 now.

wow.

what movie was it, "doc hollywood"?, where the mechanic reassembles the porsche and hands michael j. fox the box and says, "these are the extra parts..."

It won't make any difference as long as they're meticulous and they put everything back together right. And since this is Nissan's halo car, and probably one of the first ones to come up with trouble, I'm betting they will.

If it wasn't a hand-built supercar before, it sure is one now :-)

"Eh? It's not like there's crash damage to deal with. It's unbolting & bolting parts, pretty straightforward stuff..."

The quality of workmanship between an extremely highly trained assembler in the Nissan factory in Japan and a tech in a U.S. dealership is HUGE!

I bet you the guy in Japan torque down every single bolt with a torque wrench, the guy in the U.S. probably don't have a torque wrench.

No true dual exhaust? Why are the tips twice the diameter of the actual exhaust tubes? Details such as this make this seem more like a glorified Evo than a true "supercar."

If it wasn't a hand-built supercar before, it sure is one now :-)

Priceless!!!

"the guy in the U.S. probably don't have a torque wrench."

Because there's no garage in the US, especially a dealer's garage, that has a torque wrench. Please.

"The quality of workmanship between an extremely highly trained assembler in the Nissan factory in Japan and a tech in a U.S. dealership is HUGE!

I bet you the guy in Japan torque down every single bolt with a torque wrench, the guy in the U.S. probably don't have a torque wrench."

FYI they flew in a (if not more) specialist from Japan to work on this. With the time and money they've invested in this project I have no doubt it's going to be as it was when it rolled off the line.
-mike

I too would be weary of letting some guy at Santa Monica Nissan who just finished changing the oil on a Versa rebuild my GT-R.

12 straight days in the shop. What's the CA lemon law like?

They don't let salesmen, managers, or mechanics near it to do any work or sales without first going through Nissan's training program.

"I bet you the guy in Japan torque down every single bolt with a torque wrench, the guy in the U.S. probably don't have a torque wrench."

yeah, I'm sure that's the case........

If Nissan is to gut your car like they did to figure out the problem, they might as well keep the car and give you a new one.
It's highly unlikely that the car will be the same after re-assembly despite appearance.
The factory workers are trained just for that - to assemble the car. I doubt that the US dealership mechanic, Nissan trained, ever disassembled and assembled a GT-R before.

BTW: Why isn't a license plate on the car?

"BTW: Why isn't a license plate on the car?"

Short answer: Because we don't have one yet. (it has a temp tag in the rear window)

Long answer: wait for the blog entry on buying a car from out of state.

-mike

wouldnt i be cheaper to ship a new car to you and send the old one back?

i bet this dealership is trying to make money out of you since you didnt buy the car from them.

pengwin, the repair would be covered by Nissan's warranty coverage.

I believe this post wins the "Most Uneducated Replies" contest.

""BTW: Why isn't a license plate on the car?"

Short answer: Because we don't have one yet. (it has a temp tag in the rear window)

Long answer: wait for the blog entry on buying a car from out of state.

-mike
"

Thanks Mike. I thought Nissan had removed it from some sort of security reasons.(?!)

Chavis, I'm with you on the exhaust. But hey, at least the tips are actually connected, unlike on the IS-F.

Felonious - +1

Seriously guys....the car will probably go back together better than the factory (since it was obviously flawed from the factory). This isn't a Honda Civic. It's a brand-new "super-car" getting special attention....it'll be fine.

Regarding the dual-exhaust/exhaust tips. Obviously it flows better without "true dual" exhaust. And the designers apparently felt it looked better with large exhaust tips, even though they aren't functional. Most cars nowadays with a large exhaust tip have much smaller outlet pipes (look at the Porsche 911).

I was thinking this morning about the GT-R. I thought to myself, "Damn, that Z06 is looking mighty tasty right around now.....is ~4 seconds faster over 14 miles of 'ring worth the trouble?"

Joe

There's no point "shipping a new car and sending this one back."
This is an engineering issue.
That means ALL GT-Rs may have this problem.

This particular vehicle is being dissected and researched to find the CURE for this problem, for ALL GT-Rs out there.

WTF??? I must have missed some episodes with the GT-R. Last time I read a post about it there was an issue with a light on the dashboard!

I would be so PISSED if this was my car.

Lime697,

I'd be pissed if they did any less than this. Cars have problems, new ones especially, high-tech ones moreso. It's all in how it's handled. This one is being handled very well. Frustrated, sure. Pissed, no.
-mike

Mike, you would be PISSED if this was your car that you paid YOUR for. Let's be honest here.

JoefromPa- Why do you say the exhaust flows better through a central routed single system? That obviously makes no sense. I bet cost was one reason this car doesn't have dual exhausts and obviously the system's sound was not a priority based on the noises that it makes. There also may not be any room to fit two adjacent pipes underneath the car thanks to the convoluted torque tube/front driveshaft configuration.

"I'd be pissed if they did any less than this. Cars have problems, new ones especially, high-tech ones moreso. It's all in how it's handled. This one is being handled very well. Frustrated, sure. Pissed, no"

Like Chavis said, you would be pissed if it was your hard-earned money spent on this car. With as few a miles as it has, to be going through this many repairs with any car (let alone an expensive one that's $70k+) is unacceptable. Being left stranded without your exotic car that you just plunked down a load of money for to look good in and not be driving it would be infuriating.

You guys don't seem too streesed over the situation and it seems as though there's a double standard at play. If any of the LT GM vehicles were going through this, the car, along with GM, would be shunned. Not that I'm a GM fan and I would presonally agree with many of your observations of the CTS and Aura, but it seems like the GT-R is getting away with a lot more than those cars ever could.

"They don't let salesmen, managers, or mechanics near it to do any work or sales without first going through Nissan's training program."

...and yet somehow you got these photos of the car being disassembled....

I'm not as upset as some here because problems happen with most cars. But I would agree that this is really something else all together.

What kind of rental are you getting?
Are they offering to extend your warranty in any way?
Don't you honestly feel you might be a little more upset if you saved for 5 years and it was your hard earned cash on the line here?

festiboi1,

There's a difference between a corporate engineering issue, and a dealership repair issue, and which one they decide to treat it as.
I see the difference.
You don't see the difference.
It's ok, we can disagree.

engineering issue:
Damn, time to sic the army of brains on this problem, and solve this problem.

dealership quality/repair issue:
Let me slap it like this. I think it's fixed. No? Bring it back. Let me to this. I think it's fixed.
No? Let me check the other cars on the lot. Oh, they all have this problem. "Sir, this is the way the car is, there's nothing wrong with it."

I bet Nissan is pissed the dealership let you photograph this!

I also bet there is a tech from Japan there to help

I get the feeling that if this was my GT-R (not that I have even close the means to afford one), there wouldn't be a chance that I could get these kind of photos unless I could flash an Edmunds badge. It greatly diminishes the Godzilla status that everyone with a copy of GT5 aspires to, to say the least. Although I admire the exceedingly advanced application of science to make this an amazing piece of machinery, it makes me think that there was a certain purity and ease of working with a carburated engine that is irreplaceable.

"I bet Nissan is pissed the dealership let you photograph this!"

"I get the feeling that if this was my GT-R (not that I have even close the means to afford one), there wouldn't be a chance that I could get these kind of photos unless I could flash an Edmunds badge."

There is no difference in letting an owner photograph the repair work being done on their own $80K car, or if said owner went on a world-wide blog to talk about their GT-R being disassembled piece-by-piece at the dealer for 2 weeks.

Either way, there is some negative publicity involved.

Now that Nissan has stepped into the "supercar" arena they need to expect that discriminating owners will want to document this kind of thing. When you pay $80K for a car, you are somewhat entitled to know what is being done to it. Heck, I have often thought about taking photos of minor work done on my $20K Chevy.

I understand a gas cap or sound system issue, but this kind of disassembly on a what is now an $80,000 dollar car is unacceptable.

dph1 -

If you think that's bad, you should see what they do to the commercial aircraft you fly on!

cjasis;

"...and yet somehow you got these photos of the car being disassembled...."

it's not like it's the car from "The Wraith" although....pretty close.

So no one is upset with the car being out of service simply because Nissan is spending a lot of time and money investigating the problem? That is an interestng way to look at things. Days out of service is a major issue for an owner. Afterall, you are paying for the car whether you have it in your possesion or not. Its amazing how some folks are incredulous about "reliability" issues on other vehicles that don't even require the car to stay in the shop for more than a day but this is deemed acceptable.

Also, is the the GTR really that high tech (aside from the AWD system) that these sort of problems should be considered "normal"? I know the car offers a lot of performance but I dont see how that should excuse the lack of pre-production engineering.

Quote from Chavis - "JoefromPa- Why do you say the exhaust flows better through a central routed single system? That obviously makes no sense. I bet cost was one reason this car doesn't have dual exhausts and obviously the system's sound was not a priority based on the noises that it makes. There also may not be any room to fit two adjacent pipes underneath the car thanks to the convoluted torque tube/front driveshaft configuration. "

Most cars will actually have better exhaust flow properties when the exhaust combines into a single pipe, as long as the exhaust pulses are calibrated properly (which I'm sure they are on this car). Not all cars, and v8s for instance seem to benefit from dual exhaust moreso.

However, the picture above shows a really awkward loop-di-loop for the exhaust to go right at the end. I wonder why they did that, honestly.

Joe

Wow, the GTR was gutted like a fish! Id still take the much simpler Z06 over it anyday.

Personally, I think Nissan is using this oppurtunity as a glorified publicity stunt to hype up their car. It's basically free advertisement as they are suggesting that a) the GT-R is so high tech and futuristic that extreme disassembly is necessary to fix a simple leak and b) Nissan will go to great lengths to fix the car (for InsideLine only- individual buyers won't get this treatment). Classic case of turning lemons into lemonade.

honda,

didnt you hear? Since the Z06 isnt as fast around the Ring as the GT-R its been rendered obsolete. who wants a sports car that is lighter and more fuel efficient these days?

Throw a set of R-compound tires on the Z06, and the time difference around the 'ring would be very slight. The tires the Z06 comes with are it's biggest handicap, and are easily upgraded.

Anyhow, holy !$%^^ - if I saw my car like that, I would have a heart attack.

Remind me to never own one of these out of warranty! Can you imagine the repair bill for this?

Hope they can get it all back together correctly!

Is the fuel pump located in the fuel tank? If so, I could see a fuel pump failure being an extremely expensive repair bill for potential owners. Having to remove the transmission and rear suspension to drop the fuel tank is pretty excessive.