After months of seeing one claim after another about the Nissan GT-R's transmission issues, Inside Line finally got some real numbers. According to Nissan officials, less than 1 percent of the 1,750-to-1,800 GT-Rs in the garages of U.S. enthusiasts experienced transmission failures.
Yep, that means we're talking about no more than 16-to-19 cars total. You might have thought the number was a little higher, way higher. But that's not the whole story. We dug a little deeper to find out even more about this ongoing situation and have compiled a full report.
Read Inside Line's full story on the saga of the lunched GT-R transmissions.
Image from NAGTROC.org.
cah11705 says:
03:54 PM, 01/29/09
ironic that one of them was the insideline gt-r
heeltoe says:
05:34 PM, 01/29/09
I wish cars could be purchased without a warranty. I have modded my SRT-4, driven it hard and knew that if I blew something up, the odds were slim to none that it would be fixed under warranty. Fortunately the car is built well and modded wisely, so the only issue I have had in 40k miles in a bad boost gauge.
On the GTR something as simple as $3k off MSRP if only a 5k mile warranty and $5k off MSRP for no warranty whatsoever would be fantastic. I would have gone for a 5k mile warranty on my SRT-4 if I could have.
billt9 says:
05:35 PM, 01/29/09
Insideline didn't have a transmission failure. They had a fuel leak that caused Nissan to dissect the car to find out where the fuel leak is.
billt9 says:
05:39 PM, 01/29/09
ok my bad, reading more, the Insideline transmission was leaking and on the verge of exploding sending the car across the sky to land in China.
What a terrible car.
Smart people don't buy Nissan. They buy the reliable Aston Martin DBS.
kurtamaxxxguy says:
06:19 PM, 01/29/09
Meanwhile, am curious if IL's going to be adding the HennesseyPerformance kit or other Tune mods to its GT-R? Hennessey also has a Godzilla setup promising 600 HP (I don't know if there's an extra warranty for the Transmission with that mod).
Given GT-R's a performance "fantasy" vehicle, if the budget allows it, why not go for it? Your EVO IX, which is shaping up to be a fearsome beast, might benefit from some company!
dodo2 says:
08:06 PM, 01/29/09
Can someone knowledgeable enough on this matter clarify if you could use the Launch Control WITHOUT turning the VDC off? The IL article is confusing; it says something like using the Launch Control with the VDC off like it would be possible to use this feature without the VDC off.
AFAIK you cannot, but looking for a confirmation.
As far as Nissan voiding the warranty, once again, by simply turning the VDC off and driving normally, without even using the Launch Control, you void the warranty. This is what many people fail to comprehend. The warranty can be voided, at Nissan’s discretion, even if the owner never launched the car.
boxermike says:
08:13 PM, 01/29/09
"By cah11705Author Profile Page on January 29, 2009 3:54 PM
ironic that one of them was the insideline gt-r" Our transmission never failed. They noticed "moisture" on the outside and asked if they could replace it to inspect, we were going to be without the car anyway so we agreed. Or, ya know, this, "ok my bad, reading more, the Insideline transmission was leaking and on the verge of exploding sending the car across the sky to land in China."
"Can someone knowledgeable enough on this matter clarify if you could use the Launch Control WITHOUT turning the VDC off?" No, you cannot use LC without turning VDC all the way off.
-mike
billt9 says:
08:26 PM, 01/29/09
boxermike,
This is how the Inside Line article words it, in a negative matter of fact tone:
"In fact, Inside Line's own GT-R (purchased outright and not part of any Nissan public relations fleet) had its transaxle replaced at Santa Monica Nissan when fluid was found around one of the seals. "I've been regularly servicing six or seven GT-Rs here and yours is the only one that's needed a transmission," said Doug Chaske, our service advisor at Santa Monica Nissan."
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=140966
Maybe you should fix the article's wording.
dodo2 says:
08:40 PM, 01/29/09
@ boxermike:
Thanks for the confirmation. This clearly means that using the LC, even once, puts the owner in the void-warranty situation and at Nissan’s mercy if the tranny dies for any reasons. Nissan sold a car with a much trumpeted feature that the owners cannot use without risking voiding the warranty.
Nissan sold a car, with a VDC on/off button, which the owners cannot use, outside a very specific situation.
Turning the VDC off is sort of a precondition for any spirited driving especially for cars like what the GT-R is suppose to be.
Unless Nissan removes the stipulation about turning the VDC off (except for rocking the car out of snow or mud) from the Warranty Booklet, no software update would help.
I hope that people who had their tranny warranty claims rejected can afford a good lawyer and sue Nissan's a$$ to the full extent.
dodo2 says:
08:40 PM, 01/29/09
@ boxermike:
Thanks for the confirmation. This clearly means that using the LC, even once, puts the owner in the void-warranty situation and at Nissan’s mercy if the tranny dies for any reasons. Nissan sold a car with a much trumpeted feature that the owners cannot use without risking voiding the warranty.
Nissan sold a car, with a VDC on/off button, which the owners cannot use, outside a very specific situation.
Turning the VDC off is sort of a precondition for any spirited driving especially for cars like what the GT-R is suppose to be.
Unless Nissan removes the stipulation about turning the VDC off (except for rocking the car out of snow or mud) from the Warranty Booklet, no software update would help.
I hope that people who had their tranny warranty claims rejected can afford a good lawyer and sue Nissan's a$$ to the full extent.
chavis10 says:
09:08 AM, 01/30/09
Just read the article. Two things are immediately apparent- IL will go to great lengths to support the GT-R and Nissan does not have faith in the durability of the GT-R's transmission. (i've never seen such fervent defense of an rumor plaguing any other vehicle. They've never gone into so much depth to dispell any other myth attributed to countless other vehicles). If the transmission is as robust as IL claims, why is Nissan going through such trouble to make a running change on the cars that have already been sold. The power output of the GT-R is not great enough for all of these precautions to be taken if it were designed properly. The entire design of the car seems to be a compromise if you ask me. The fact that it's a front engine, AWD vehicle with a rear mounted tranmsission makes the power flow convoluted and over complicated in concept and this being proved in execution. Rear and mid engine AWD cars don't have this issue but since Nissan created this car from an existing conventional platform, there was no way around these sacrifices.
The funniest part about all of this is the fact that the GT-R will tattle tell on its owner by documenting each VDC off event. That proves that Nissan doesn't have confidence in this car without complete VDC control over its activities.
brn says:
01:01 PM, 01/30/09
1% for a major failure on a major component is pretty darned bad.
firstwagon says:
04:56 PM, 01/30/09
It's hard to know who to believe. "Owners" who post about failures on boards or PR guys who read lawyer prepared scripts defending a product even they admit is flawed.
Considering the transmissions that failed were basically on new cars, I have little faith in the long term durability of this transmission. If driving it really hard will break it in a matter of weeks or months, then driving it moderately hard will likely kill it in a year or two.
What will a repair bill of $22,000 plus do to the resale value?
Will you have 5 year GTR's being scrapped because it cost more to repair the transmission then the car is worth?
bbechtel16 says:
02:29 PM, 02/ 2/09
"1% for a major failure on a major component is pretty darned bad."
Yeah I think the key thing people are overlooking here is the GT-R has been out for what? A year? Let's look at 5 or 10 years and see what the rate is. Real people don't throw away cars after they're a year old.