2009 Nissan GT-R: Getting its New Windshield

I think my bid of $1,501 won! I think I hear Rod saying I have a chance up to $50,000 playing Plinko! :o)

and how many problems have you had with the R8?

a flat tire...

For those new to the fracas, here's a link to the previous blog entry, folks. It also has proof of my "bid." :o)

http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2008/10/2009-nissan-gt-r-this-is-going-to-be-expensive.html

210$ oil change for Smart makes 1696$ windshiled replacement look acceptable

WOW - that makes the Ford GT's windshield look downright reasonable.

I just got an estimate for my windshield yesterday. A whole whopping $200. Insurance won't even cover it as my deductible is $500.

Suby, you said $1,501, I said $1,750 -- are you playing the "closest without going over" game or is it closest, period? I already know your answer...

This car get's worse with every update from Edmunds. Is this the most dissapointing "supercar" of all time?

Tell you what - you have $80,000 to spend?

Buy the new 370Z and an Audi S4. I'd rather have those two arrows in my quiver than this broken one in the shop.

Those screens are really ugly looking, I think. Not the actual physical screen, but the HMI. Maybe its just the photos, but the resolution looks really low.

This is not an $80,000 car. It's got a $40,000 drivetrain wrapped in $5,000 of cheap materials and electronics capped off with a $35,000 "the emporer's new clothes" markup.

Smoke and mirrors and hype.

It's time to sell this car.

I've got to ask Scott and others: Do you guys shop around or do research on your typical repairs? It seems like you usually put about 10 minutes of thought into it....sometimes you get a reasonable cost but 80% of the time you appear to be getting ripped off.

It's a shame when the 'extra' you are putting into repairs, maintenance, and upgrades on your supercars could be used to purchase a hot older car for evaluation.

Joe

Out of your $1696:

How much is labor (do they have to tear half the car apart just to replace a windshield) ?

How much is the part itself? If it's over $500, what the heck is it made out of?

It's not glass, it's actually transparent aluminum. (5 points to whoever gets that reference)

Joe, how about -5 points to whoever doesn't get the reference?

As much as I'd like to complain about this car, I don't think the complaint about the service reminder is a big one. The problem isn't that the car is reminding you, the problem is that the tech didn't reset it when they last worked on the car.

Speaking of that, when the heck are they going to let the end user perform the reset?

"This is not an $80,000 car. It's got a $40,000 drivetrain wrapped in $5,000 of cheap materials and electronics capped off with a $35,000 "the emporer's new clothes" markup.

Smoke and mirrors and hype."

No smoke so far...but it does have mirrors and a lot of hype. As for the materials, with the exception of the big chunk of silver by the shifter, they're very nice.

And Joe, we shop around to varying degrees. There are no third party makers who build glass for this car so we had to go to Nissan. As for install, no idea what percentage that makes up. We'll let you know. On something like the smart repair we went with the dealership because that's what most smart owners would do (take note of the week-long wait for a simple first service at two dealerships). The last part of the equation in location; things cost more here because they can. People will pay the extra everything just to live here. Yesterday was 75 with warm Santa Anna winds...from the POV of an ex-pat New Englander, the markup is well worth it.

Look for more forays into indy shops and DIY jobs in the future...your suggestions have been heard.
-mike

Fair enough.

FYI - I just found a nice (high mileage) e30 325es 5-speed nearby for under $3k at list price.

When 2.5k can buy a nice e30, I feel like you guys should add one and leave the BBKs on the M3s :)

Joe

Damn, I meant "leave the BBKs off the M3s"....stupid lack of edit.

Joe

Can't you guys just buy (in case you don't already own) a full face helmet?

It's cheaper and you get the wind in your hair if you choose not to use it :D It would be like being in a low slung sportscar without the fear of loosing your head if you roll the car

When I dropped the GT-R off at the dealer for this visit, I asked the manager there about the windshield. He said that there is no special installation procedure for it; that it goes in just like it does on any other Nissan.

The ~$1,700 price tag is largely the part cost and not the labor.

Why so costly, then? The low volume nature of the parts is my guess. Once more GT-Rs (and other models that share its platform in the future) trickle into production, I would expect the cost of replacement parts to fall.

Star Trek 4; Scottie invented Transparant Aluminum.

As for dealer explaination; understandable, but implies only the very rich can afford to own this car once its warranty runs out, let alone if it gets damaged

sgude, of course it's closest without going over--just like the real game!

Jay's (jkavanagh) logic is sound. Everyone should remember that most dealerships (at least in Southern California) charge more than MSRP on parts.

"This is not an $80,000 car. It's got a $40,000 drivetrain wrapped in $5,000 of cheap materials and electronics capped off with a $35,000 "the emporer's new clothes" markup.

Smoke and mirrors and hype."

So its still better than any GM product, thats good enough for me. Smoke? Somehow whenever Iam on any American car site, the only smoke I detect are from Corvette fans ears and mouths.

"As much as I'd like to complain about this car, I don't think the complaint about the service reminder is a big one. The problem isn't that the car is reminding you, the problem is that the tech didn't reset it when they last worked on the car."

You shouldn't have said that. Now the haters have nothing to complain about.

As much as I enjoy reading these blogs about the GTR, I find that the information posted by the author and other users to be misleading.

First off, if you really paid $1,700 for the windshield, you got ripped off. Not by Nissan but your dealer.

I will tell you why. I broke my windshield also on my 2009 GTR. I had it replaced by Team Nissan (Oxnard, CA) for a little more than $1k and this included installation.

Before you got to an auto shop and replace something, do some homework. If you go to Nagtroc and do some research you will find what the price of a windshield costs.

Also, "jkavanagh" stated that the $1,700 was mostly part cost, false, it's mostly you got ripped off.

I don't know which dealer you went to, but I hope it was not Santa Monica. They are rip offs in service and when buying a car.

There are a lot of people here that are misinformed. The service cost of this car is not bad if you do your homework and know what your doing.

I got a two year service plan for $900. Yes it covers Nissans Gold plan for two years or 30k miles. This of course does not include the brakes.

gtrz, as it turns out you're partly right--we were ripped off somewhat for the windshield. However, the majority of the $1700 price we paid was in fact the part cost.

We've since found dealers that list the windshield at a lower price, but even at the "correct" price, the part cost is exorbitant. You paid $1000 to replace your windshield and almost all of that was the part cost. Seriously, a thousand bucks for a windshield?

We've got an follow-up to our windshield saga. Stay tuned.