2009 Nissan GT-R: I Want Comf You Stupid Car

I'd rather have a Fit (or be at that end of the car spectrum), for this and so many other reasons. It may have been the MT road test of the '09 that said it best - something about how nothing beats the thrill of driving a slow car fast. To me, this Nissan is just not built for my world, and in a strange way, the Fit is SO much more what I think of when I say "sports car". Which one really has more of the character of, say, a Lotus 7, MG-A, or 2002?

@Siblur - Well given the price you paid I hope nothing beats the thrill of caning an underpowered mini-minivan.

I think Scott hit it on the head. When I drive the BMW in our house, it has my setting stored by what key fob I use. Every time I unlock the car or insert the fob, it resets every setting to what it was the last time I was in the car. This includes not only seating position and mirrors; but climate control, parking light duration, turn signal preferences, etc. The funny thing is that the GT-R is more than twice the price and doesn't seem to include these features.

mikeolan - Wow. What an interesting contribution to the conversation you have made. I'm sure your job offer from Inside Line is in the mail.

Wow lazy much?

everyone should be thankful that the GTR even has those settings and everyone is just complaining about holding a button for 3-5 seconds OHHH NO THATS 3-5 SECONDS OF UR LIFE

serioulsy people be happy with wat u have and quit complaining

I assume you've already RTFM? Seems like you should be able to save those settings.

Actually i'm thankful for more important things, like each day of life i'm given. Conversely i chose not to be thankful to Nissan for anything it may or may not offer.

Fit vs. GT-R?

Really, are you serious?

My post is clear. Read it again. Who said anything about "versus"?

This is why I drive a Lexus LS daily and plan to buy a GTR as a weekend toy.

The GTR is for the ultimate fun and excitment, not for daily comfort and convenience. Although I do agreed with Scott that this situration is annoying, it would cost Nissan hardly anything to make the settings savable, but I think for the GTR's purpose, it is probably not necessary. Few people would use the GTR as their daily commuter.

The LS defined the ultimate comfort and convenience, all settings is saved on the key fob.

Each car is good for something, almost no car is good for everything.

To finish my last post:

The key is to drive the appropriate car for each different task, especially for the IL crews that has a fleet of free car to choose from.

Don't ask a Lexus LS to break the lap time record or ask a GTR to be the perfect daily commuter.

I am tired of people criticizing cars for what it is not designed for (not talking about you here Scott, you had a valid point in this post). Everyone criticize the LS for being too quiet, too isolated, too boring to drive......come on people, it is what it designed for, it is why people love it, if you want excitment, buy a GTR. Then people complain about the GTR is not comfortable enough, don't have enough convenience feature.....helloooo?!?

Then there are those cars that try to combine comfort, convenience, practicality and performance.....AKA all the Euro sports sedan....AMG E/S-class, BMW M5/M6, Audi RS6/S8.

I call those the half ass cars, since they don't do anything totally good.

They make the suspension stiff for good handling, but they are always too heavy to handle good and the stiffness makes them not comfy enough.

Big power is good, but big power means noisy operation, which again reduced comfort.

That is pretty dumb. It amazes me how some of these performance cars go through so many engineering hurdles in their development, yet something that seems so obvious slips through. Nobody who tested this car during development asked, "hey wait a minute, this doesn't make sense!" It's amazing.

The GT-R isn't the only car with engineering mishaps like this. Most cars have at least some. Like the seats in my Z06 (what the @#!*$ were they thinking???)

One of the reasons no car is ever perfect.

Pretty chintzy looking A/C panel and controls....what's up with that?

Regarding those that say it's only 3-5 seconds a day, Scott said,

"Running errands on a Saturday, I can futz with those toggle switches a dozen times in just an hour or two"

A dozen times 3-5 seconds means the car is wasting alot of time if you are running 4-5 errands. That adds up and becomes annoying. Imagine if your car adjusted the seat tilt each time....only takes a moment to fix, but annoying nonetheless.

Joe

there's a reason all this performance technology is relatively cheap

"Pretty chintzy looking A/C panel and controls....what's up with that?"

Looks better and is more ergonomic than the one in the Saturn Aura. It's called parts-bin raiding. If you want interior art, get a Veyron.

As to holding down the toggle switches for 3-5 seconds.... THAT'S AN ETERNITY!!!! You could pull off two or three 0-60 burnouts in that time! Geeze, what a waste of time!

I honestly don't see why this is such a big deal. Don't you check the mirrors every time you get in the car? That has to take longer doesn't it?

I've said it before and I'll say it again... the GT-R is one butt ugly turd of a car. But it's an amazing car at any price and a silly amount of car and technology at the MSRP.

Adding more cost, probably more weight, etc. to add these settings to your key fob memory settings is a waste, IMO.

By cjasis on September 4, 2008 3:54 PM

I honestly don't see why this is such a big deal. Don't you check the mirrors every time you get in the car? That has to take longer doesn't it?

Um... No? I set them the last time I drove why would I check my mirrors every time I get in the car? If one of them is out of position I will notice when I try and use it. Even if you did check your mirrors glancing in each mirror takes way less time than actually setting controls.

Scott, thanks for pretending to nitpick the GTR as much as others on staff nitpick the Aura.

reflecting on the article about how much better the GT-R's interior is than the Corvette, this is precisely why I disagree. That "metallic" will be shiny black in about 5 years. That does not exude quality to me. I don't give a damn how fast it is.

How about that new Ariel Atom 3...doesn't even have an interior, so it just prevents the fuss altogether :)

"I honestly don't see why this is such a big deal. Don't you check the mirrors every time you get in the car? That has to take longer doesn't it?

Um... No? I set them the last time I drove why would I check my mirrors every time I get in the car? If one of them is out of position I will notice when I try and use it. Even if you did check your mirrors glancing in each mirror takes way less time than actually setting controls."

I disagree, the one big feature about my mazda3 that I absolutely love is the fact that when you turn off/turn on the car the settings don't reset themselves. The seat heaters stay on, the rain sensing wipers stay on, recirculated air stays on etc. With my mom's BMW you have to reset the wipers everytime you turn on the car, which kind of takes away the point of them. If you experienced the kind of ease that the mazda3 has then you wouldnt find this post useless. It just sounds like a PITA to me.

Not being able to save the settings is a letdown and will hopefully be corrected soon. Regarding some comments saying that the GT-R is not meant to be a commuter car or daily driver. Sure it is! That's exactly what Nissan was going for. A daily driver that could also be amazing on the track. That's why they took the 911 turbo with them everywhere they went during testing. The 911 has been the benchmark for a sports car that is practical enough for daily commuting, but could also be taken to the track if you wanted. Maybe I don't understand how people spend so much money on a car and then occasionally drive them on the weekends and special events.

Those interior parts look like cheap crap.

I think what you need is a Corolla. This is clearly not a car for you. Just like it is not a car for the guy who would rather have a Honda Fit.

jaeger1 - Exactly, you got it. It's either the car for you or it's not. I would never say the GT-R isn't fantastic for what it's meant to be.

Even though I've driven and can afford cars with 60 hp to 400+, I just have no use for such a vehicle right now, in the real-world conditions that I encounter every day. Not to mention, the Nissan would never be my choice, since I hate the appearance inside and out.

Luckily, like a lot of people out there, I also happen to enjoy driving smaller, less powerful cars. (And along with less power usually comes less of the electronic gizmo distraction.) Anybody who's been on a sport bike knows the fun of revving a small engine and going fast on a light-weight chassis. It's clearly a different kind of fun. Obviously, a Fit and a GT-R wouldn't go head-to-head on a track or drag strip...duh...but for my needs, a Fit is really fun, while a GT-R is like killing flies with a machine gun.

If you have use for one, I'm sure this thing is fun to drive in its own way. If I did, my weekend toy would probably be a Z-06, though. At least I like the looks as much as the performance.

To have settings such as those mentioned in this post and not have them saved is crazy and not well thought out by Nissan engineers.

This would be like having power mirrors that return to some funky neutral position every time you shut the car off, what a pain in the ass that would be.

Even if settings aren't stored for each driver, they should at the very minimum be at their last setting the next time the car is driven.

This is a valid complaint. But I am curious, does it remember radio presets? :)

clearly this is not a car for errands to the ATM.
If you don't like please give it to me :)

I'm just hoping to find some guy with a GTR looking for a straight-up swap for a Honda Fit. Keeping my fingers crossed!

"there's a reason all this performance technology is relatively cheap"

Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

jaeger1, I'm sure there's a guy out there who has become an adult, unplugged the Play Station, and is secure enough in his manhood to move on to more important things than boy racing. lol Of course, you know I'm just kidding around with ya.

I'm never giving up my playstation. It has this nice thing called a "reset" button for when I screw up. Does the GT-R have one yet?

I know this is a little a off topic, but I saw my first one today and the thing is huge!!!

The Fit is only "fun" if you're going below 40 mph. And by "fun" I mean "for something that feels like driving a 5/8ths scale minivan." From that point on you've got an underpowered (but very useful) box a gear too short and about 20hp shy for about $1,000.00 too much.

If you want a convincing "cheap car can be more thrilling" argument, I'd say go find a Mazda3.

mikeolan, if you have ever driven a Fit, and this is what you think of it, I can totally respect your opinion. It is as much a car that's "not for everybody" as the GT-R.

I do not own a Fit, but I've lived with one in my household for two years. It is never underpowered, from zero to well beyond the average 75 - 80 mph cruising speeds on our major roads, and there's no way that it feels like driving a minivan. If that were the case, I would never venture to say it is my idea of a little sports car, a modern-day CRX or 2002. It is very easy for people to make these types of assumptions and statements. I could also say that a G8 handles like a typical, old Pontiac Boat, and scores of people would be happy to point out how and why I'm wrong.

The only way I could agree with your statement would be if my priority was to drive way, way too fast for public roads, and if I judged the car by its styling/tall windows, as opposed to the way the chassis/drivetrain actually behaves. The Mazda is fine. It's a step up on a sliding scale of dollars versus fun, and I could just as easily say the 3 is a station wagon for Grandma, and if you really want fun in a small car, you have to get a Mini Cooper S or a 1 Series. We could go on and on.

But fun below 40? No, that's not realistic, and I doubt your basing that on real, first-hand experience. If so, then you have very different priorities as a driving enthusiast, and lofty ones at that, and I hope you can find, afford, and handle safely, a car that meets them.

GTR seems to be a great car if you like numbers but from the things Ive read its just not one of those cars that talks to you. I need a connection of some sort and all those microchips and motherboards dont speak my language.

Give me a Corvette Z06, GT3 or even a S2000 and Ill have more fun.

Yup, this is stupid. It ought to have a "custom" memory button, like the BMW M models. Push the M on the steering wheel (right?) and it brings up your favorite settings for throttle, traction control, suspension, etc. Or, at the very least, remember what setting you were in when you last turned off the car.

To the OP: are you sure that you can't save the setting? Did you read the frigging manual and tried out all the functions/setting?