2013 Nissan GT-R Gets Power Boost

One of the best bang for your buck super-cars is now going to be even more powerful.

The GT-R will get a 15 horsepower bump to 545 horses as well as an increase in torque to 463 pound feet from 448 pound feet. There’s no mention of an increased 0-100 time yet, but this will likely shave a bit of time off the current GT-R’s official time to be sure, which will translate into a more agile Godzilla on the track.

Also helping out with lap times will be the GT-R’s re-worked suspension along with a handmade dry carbon spoiler for the Black Edition model. The new GT-R will also get an updated transmission that promises to be more refined.

The 2013 GT-R will hit certified Canadian dealerships January 2012.

[Nissan Canada]

Nissan Targets Porsche in New Ad Campaign

Nissan is starting to become the Japanese Audi when it comes to attacking other car brands. You may remember a while back when they took on the three biggest performance brands from Germany: Audi, BMW and Porsche. They also threw in an extra jab at Audi for good measure.

Now it seems Porsche is the next one to be singled out of the three in a new ad campaign promoting the GT-R. For the campaign, Nissan got two fairly attractive women to drive around in a GT-R looking for Porsche’s in Porsche saturated Germany. They then got out and put a picture of the GT-R’s tail lights right on the windshield, insinuating that their car is slower than the GT-R.

According to Nissan, the campaign worked as they received an uptake of 23% for requests of a test drive of the GT-R.

But if it were me, that would make me want to buy a GT-R less. Firstly, I don’t care how good the GT-R is, don’t touch my car! I don’t know what Nissan used to put the ad on the windshield and I don’t know how careful they were in putting it on. Surely the risk of scrapes dents and dings is a factor when doing that, and if I came back top find that on my Porsche because Nissan was trying to be cheeky I’d be livid.

[Youtube]

Oh Hi: 2012 Nissan GT-R

Say hello to the 2012 Nissan GT-R.

Probably about the only noticeable difference in appearance is the addition of LED running lights that remarkably copy the LED light scheme of the Porsche 911 and new Cayenne. It also dons a larger front facia and grille and a redesigned rear facia that supposedly lowers the centre of gravity.

But the big news is the power. The 2012 GT-R will get 45 more horsepower. Since Nissan doesn’t actually know the horsepower rating of each GT-R (because each engine is hand built, and therefore different from the first) it’s hard to say how much horsepower in total is actually underneath the hood. However, it’s widely believed that most GT-R’s have around 480 horses give or take a few. That brings its horsepower total to around 525 while the torque comes in at 488 pound feet.

More horses along with 0.26 less drag coefficient thanks to the redesigned front and rear, means this new GT-R can get from 0-100 in at……wait for it….. UNDER 3 seconds! That’s stupidly fast! Faster than a Ferrari 458 Italia, faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo S and faster than a Lamborghini Gallardo Superlegera!

And get this, pricing will be $89,950 US. That’s a steal of a deal! Sure, it’s likely to hit 100 G’s when you convert to Canadian dollars, but still, that’s tremendous value. In fact, I’d wager to say, dollar for dollar, it’s the best valued car in the market today.

Very impressive!

[Nissan]

Bentley Continental Supersports vs. Nissan GT-R

Motor Trend had the opportunity to put these two rare breeds of sports cars against each other. If this seems like an odd comparo, well, it is. The Nissan GT-R has a starting price of around $80,000, while the Bentley will set you back $323,000. Seriously.

The Bentley is a whopping 1,000 pounds heavier than the GT-R, but it also retains the horsepower advantage with 631 bhp. On paper, it seems like they could be comparable.

Find out who won after the jump

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