2009 Nissan GT-R: Spotted

The GT-R? Possibly, but only because it's so unique and collectable. The Beetle was nothing special in it's day, but it was a very simple car.

I doubt that a Nissan Maxima would still be running in so many years (or any other modern run-of-the-mill car) because the electrical and computer components are very complex, specialized, and expensive. Makes more sense to ditch it and buy another one.

With the GT-R it will depend on resale value vs repair cost.

The GT-R is a very expensive car to repair and if the value falls enough or if the repairs are frequent enough they will disappear.

That is until they become really rare then the value will rise and they will be worth fixing again.

Regarding your Beetle question: if the body pieces are correct, it's a 1974, which would make it 35 years old. The '73 was the first year with that bigger style of tail light, and the '74 was the first year with the higher rear bumper. If it was a '75 or '76, the deck lid would say "Fuel Injection" instead of Volkswagen.

Assuming the tail light style is original to this beetle, I'm guessing the car is somewhere in the '73-'77 model range, making it about 35 years old. (someone who's more of an air-cooled VW geek, please correct if I've goofed on this one).

35 years from now, won't we all be driving flying cars... or out of fossil fuels?

hmmm... no edit here for my first post, but looks like dscain zeored in on the year.

Just from the fact that there are more Beetles running around on the planet than any other make of car, and that GT-Rs are in comparison, very rare. I think I can safely assume that there are more beetles at age 35 then there will be GT-Rs at age 35.

I also think that the added complexity of the GT-R over the simplistic Beetle will also add to it's demise outside of an automobile museum. (Example, albeit a bad one...90's Cadillac STS: loads of technology, not many on the road, vs. Chevy Caviller: simple and cheap and there's still plenty on the road.)

Will the R35 GT-R be on the road as long as that Beetle? No, not even close (unless that particular beetle happens to be a mexican-market late model one). The GT-R is all about having smiles while it's under warranty and is supported by the dealer network, it's going to be a horrible car to own in less than a decade I predict.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who takes pictures of cars I like on the road. My friends think I'm crazy.

Looks like you caught a Super Beetle (if you had a front shot showing edge under trunk lid sporting many vertical slots, we'd know for sure). Drove one for 2 years - was definitely unusual, especially its clutchpedal-less 2-speed auto trans.

Oops, I meant auto clutch trans -- you still had to shift its two forward gears manually.

There are plenty of 20year old R32 going fast and looking good while doing it. The current version should do the same. If it does face a problem, it might be that it looks too futuristic even in the future.

Older, simple cars will outlive the current computer cars.

Yes most old GTRs still exist and running, because it is a speciality enthusiast car. A tons of 1989 R32 GTRs is still running, not to mention all the highly value Skyline GTRs in the 1970s. They are like American muscle cars, people love them, protect them and restore them.

To everyone who said the R35 GTR is very expensive to fix and maintain. Keep in mind that only apply if you take the car to the dealer, the aftermarket is already coming out with all the fixes that is much lower price then the Nissan factory. Good example is Nissan only sell the tranny as a complete assembly for $20k. But you can already buy stronger aftermarket parts to rebuild the tranny for a few $thousands. Same will apply to brake rotors, engine.....etc. The R35 GTR will cost the same to fix and maintain like any other performance cars in the same level.