2009 Nissan GT-R: Lemonade

I have a client who has put 22000 miles on his C63 AMG in the last year, and he has had it in for exactly three days. Two services, and a tire repair when a screw was picked up. He ended up just buying 4 new ones as he had near racing slicks on the back...

Same guy has had no issues with his CLS63 AMG in over 20k miles, just services and tires.

My family has had less days out of service on our 3 cars combined than this car has had in one year and 27,000 miles. Combining my three cars is 21 years and 302,000 miles and counting...
Oh yeah, the cost of all three combined doesn't add up to the price of the GT-R.

That’s what happens when a manufacturer designs something beyond anything it’s done before, and you buy a first-year model. Totally worth it.

Denial won't keep it out of the service bay.

Hey cheslin- Why don't you ask me about my experience with my C63, or E55 before that. Trust me, they are far from reliable and your client should be thankful that he has gotten two of the good ones .....Lord knows I sure didn't!

It's remarkable that it made it around the Nürburgring intact.

Carlisimo got it right...its not like there are last gen GTR's driving around. For taking a leap into the middle of nowhere, Nissan and your baby shouldn't be faulted for their issues. If anything, they add character. :)

If an American vehicle was in the shop this much the commentariot would be up in arms about how bad the product sucks. In this case there are plenty of excuses for the Nissan. While I am sure that it is a blast to drive, reality says that this thing has been in the shop A LOT and this deserves to be mentioned.

Sorry, Donna, no amount of crying would help. This car IS a lemon.

The SAME part broke in under 5000 miles? A part that has NOTHING to do how hard it is driven? How many transmissions has this gone through? 2? 3? Didn't your 370Z also have a transmission transplant? At 27k miles, you're almost near the end of the warranty period. Lord knows how much the expense would be if it breaks down while out of warranty.

Nissan should be ashamed.

Donna, do you still cry at night about your very first car, the 1970 VW Beetle that broke down every 51 miles and had the cracked windshield and the missing left-rear wheel cover? That seems very similar to this doesn't it?

Wow, so not crapping out on you for 300 out of 365 days is the new standard of reliability?

^^^Yeah, and how much actual money has the GT-R cost them???? Get over yourself. The GT-R is a remarkable performance vehicle for the price. Period. I'd still rather have an M3 though....

On my 328i's first birthday it had 32,000 miles. Depending on the month, I'll put anywhere from 2-3 thousand miles on it. It's only been in for tires and standard maintenance. Still as solid as the day I drove it off the lot

Nissan is NOT the first manufacturer in the world to have problems with the first year run of of high performance and high tech cars. Think about:

BMW: The subframe issues in the early E46 3 series models. The E46 M3 rod-bearing failure in the 2001 M3s. The SMG pump failure issue floating around in a ton of the SMG equipped M3s. Not all of these issues right away were fixed under warranty and some (like the SMG pump) still aren't replaced under warranty

Honda/Acura in the late 90s could not build an automatic transmission worth a crap (in the Accords, CL/TL, Prelude). Also, the early NSX's had problems with A/C's going bad, premature clutch failurse, and power window motors going out. These issues were eventually addressed in the newer models.

VW/Audi- Among all of the other reliability issues that VW/Audi had, one of the bigger issues were premature turbo failures in the 1.8T motors.

Mercedes (at least 03-up)- Heater control valve failures and the air suspension failures that are common.

The GTR is a marvel of engineering and has a ton of complex systems. It can and will take a year or two of production models being on the road to shake out bugs and make improvements.

Ok, well can I just hate on it for being soulless, ugly, heavy, too complicated, and for sounding like a vacuum cleaner?

Its either a lemon, or all first year editions of this car are lemons. I'm not up to date on GT-R forums, so I'm going to say that at the very least....its a lemon. Sorry Donna, but you're in denial :)

Folks, this is not the first GTR- just the first one in the US. The excuses being offered are ridiculous. Nissan has been building high performance AWD cars for many years.

The standards for reliability would be higher for the Focus than for this $80k "supercar".

As much fun as this car surely is, there is no excuse for this amount of time out of service. It has been in the shop more in one year than my last 3 Chryslers and 2 Chevy's and 1 BMW combined. If my Jeep was in the shop that much it would be traded or sold immediately.

"It may have been out of service for a total of several weeks. But it has given us 300+ days of spectacular awe-inspiring service."

If I add up the service time of all the cars I've owned in my entire life, it's less than this one car in one year. You got a lemon.

You better hope that whoever buys this off you doesn't read IL or you're going to have some tough negotiations.

@majin_ssj_eric: How much did it cost them? I believe the MSRP on the '09 GT-R starts at $76,000.

I hate to imagine what it would cost to maintain this car after the warranty expires..

jkp1187: interestingly, they got it for less than that.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/LongTerm/articleId=130134

Odd, because the GTR tends to go for over invoice, not under. They must have pictures of somebody.

"Folks, this is not the first GTR- just the first one in the US. The excuses being offered are ridiculous. Nissan has been building high performance AWD cars for many years."

1487, the R35 share nothing with the R32, R33, R34, everything is a brand new design in the R35.

Hahah Donna, this is why your my favorite editor.

Nice spin, Donna. For reference, my '02 Z06 has given me 2,725 days of spectacular awe-inspiring service over 48,000 miles, and has been out of service exactly ZERO days. And I've driven it much harder than you guys have driven the GT-R (unless Edmund's has been secretly accumulating thousands of miles of HPDE road course track time and auto-crosses on the GT-R).

I think Donna would feel differently about this if it was her car, not a company/Edmunds vehicle.

Car has some character, there is no question about that.

It's got all the problems you'll find in many first gen cars(some? I guess manufactures are getting better about this...) Brings me back to the family ford taurus wagon growing up...

Difference is the GT-R pulls chicks. 'nuf said. =)

If I could afford it, I would buy our Nissan GT-R when it goes up for sale. -- Donna

dderosa:

While I appreciate your passion for the GT-R, I will try to hopefully stop you from a foolish purchase.

The GT-R has been out of service 65 days out of a year. All the cars I have owned over the last 26 years have not been out of commission 65 days total.

1972 Chevrolet Impala, bought 1983, traded 1986. Total miles, 30,000, in that time. Days out of service, 3, to fix driveline messed up at time of transmission tune up.
1988 Olds Cutlass Ciera, bought 1986, traded 1993.
90,000 miles, out of service one week to rebuild motor after I overheated it without coolant.
1986 Chevy Nova, bought 1988, sold 2000. 150,000 miles, out of service 4 days, three for slave cylinder replacement, other can't remember.
1993 Saturn SL2, bought 1993, totaled after stolen, 2008. 180,000 miles out of service, 15 days for accident repairs(3 different accidents) and three days the battery died.
2000 Chevy Venutre, bought 2000, still own today. 90,000 miles, out of service 5 days, accident repair.
2007 Saturn Aura XR, bought 2007, still own. 22,000 miles, never out of service.

I would like to congratulate you on wanting to purchase a car that has been out of service more in 27,000 miles than the cars I have owned(which IL editors say are American pieces) than my cars in 590,000 miles. Way to go!!!!

Well put Aurakr!

Donna, here's another one.

Our 2007 C280 will now have been out of service for 2+ weeks in 2 years over 56k km's. The lease is not up for another 9 months and the decision to dump the d*mn thing has already been made. It's not even a question at this point.

65 days in a year may not feel like alot when it's not sitting in your driveway, but it's HUGE!

aurakr...you've owned cars that had as much high technology in them as a friggin' horse-cart. You can't compare a high-end sportscar to a Olds Cutlass Ciera. Though I'm sure the an 80s Nissan Sentra or Maxima could easily be as reliable as anything on your list. Lets see you talk about owning something on the same planet as a GT-R before you spew out nonsense like that.

Or should I bring up memory of the "successful" Chevy Chevette or early 1980s Cadillacs?

thedream21479

You are correct about some of those cars, but even when those cars had over 140,000 or more miles, they were still far more reliable than the GT-R. The only nonsense spewed out if from you and Donna trying to defend a lemon like the GT-R.

Technology is supposed to make your life easier, not harder.

My Aura XR has probably the most up to date technology in a midsize sedan, no problems in over two years. If I had purchased a car like the GT-R, and believe me some day I would love to own a Corvette ZR1, but if the car I purchased had the same problems this car has had, I would consider it a lemon. People trying to justify a car being out of service(not driveable) for 65 days out of a year, are in a word, nuts.

It doesn't matter how fast, or great handling a car is if it doesn't run. FYI, even when I overheated the Ciera's engine, it still ran on 3 of 4 cylinders and started right up. It never ever failed to run for me, can't say that about the GT-R.

People who justify problems with high-end sports cars, or any high-end car for that matter, just prove the old adage, there are a lot of people with more money than brains.

For all those that say that buying a GT-R is silly due to the service records, just be honest, you've never driven one. If you have, you will understand Donna's loyalty towards it.

I can fully support whoever apologizes for the GT-R.

aurakr....

i have no doubt that the GT-R would run on 5 of 6 cylinders...if the ECU specifically would allow it. If GM had programmed the ECU to not allow the Ciera to start, then you would have been walking.

Not only that, but you completely disregard the fact that this IS a high end car that's BOUND to have some issues the first couple of years. You can't expect to pack this much computing power into a car and expect it to work 100% the first time around. It takes Boeing and Airbus YEARS to work out kinks in the electrical systems and avionics and even after the airliners are released, they are CONSTANTLY updating and upgrading systems that they find don't work in the real world. The GT-R is no less cutting edge than a brand new airliner in that regard.

At any rate, most of these failures have had nothing to do with the engine itself. I bet in year two or three Nissan has the electrical gremlins figured out.

BTW...Nice purchase with the Aura..pretty car, but much like most other GM's...worthless on the used car market except for those buy-here-pay-here lots for desperate people.

Once the gremlins are out, then it becomes a fantastic car to buy. Speaking of the Ciera, that car had the best seats anywhere for long trips. With only 85 horsepower, maybe 90, we went everywhere slow, but comfortable :)

You might have noticed that I don't normally trade my cars in quickly. My wife and I have a motto, we buy a new car every 7 years whether we need one or not. :)

The hard part has been buying the cars for the children, in addition to the seven year itch. :)

Believe me, I would love to get a sports car. I have to wait another 7 years, my daughter just started college, and my son is sophomore this year in high school. So I have to get him a car, pay for part of her tuition and then his, but 7 years from, now, lookout, I will be styling in the new 2016 Volt SS, yeah baby!!!!

@aurakr, no need to get rude just because you love your Saturn over unreliable sports cars. These decisions are almost always based on emotions and not by empirical evidence.

aura...i feel you on the road trips..my parents had an 86 Olds Cultass Supreme Wagon back in the day and the back hatch area made a great place for a kid to play in....

pyo_s65

To clarify two things, I love my wife, not my Saturn. I like my Saturn. To show that I too am run by emotions, when we went to buy our first Saturn back in 1993, it was between a new 1993 SL2 and a used 1987 Grand National. In fact I had narrowed my two final purchase choices between a used Grand National and the new car.

Well when we went to the Saturn dealer, what did they have on the used car lot, but a sweet black Grand National, just in for a trade. Talk about losing my mind. My heart wanted, and still does today, that Grand National, but looking back, after 15 great years of ownership, I bought the right car at that time. I still crave a Grand National in all my being.

Here are some cars I would love to have, and no I can not justify them logically at all.

1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396
Pontiac Trans Am, the Bandit Car
1987 Buick Grand National
1972 Chevrolet Impala(first car)
Old Toyota LandCruiser