Made a purchase of a perfect 2012 Super Silver Black Edition GT-R with only 5000 miles. Made a good deal on the car and it seemed to fill many of my needs: versatile 2+2, 4wd, great power that can be used around town, many of the latest tech options, and improved ride comfort so many spoke about for the 2012 model. Took it on a couple mile test drive - found it reasonably comfortable and really fast. I had done a fair amount of research, so I took the plunge.

• As soon as I left the dealership, I was already questioning the purchase. It seemed like a different car from the test drive. Straight away, the lower seat bolsters were way too narrow. I don’t know why I didn’t notice it on the test drive; I just couldn’t get comfortable. At 165 lbs, I was totally shocked how narrow they were. Did some research on the forum and found somebody that had pulled his seats, removed the covers and bent the lower frame. I couldn’t believe it, but knew I needed to do the same thing. Thankfully, I waited before spending more money on the car.
• Then I hit the highway. Holy cow, the car didn’t need to be that quiet, but between the transmission noise behind me, the droning runflats and the exhaust droning at 2.5k RPM, the car was annoyingly loud. If it was the noise from a loud exhaust it would be one thing, but under hard acceleration all you hear is this cacophony of mechanical noises. I think the car actually sounds cool OUTSIDE of it, but inside all you hear are the tires and tranny. My wife rode in the car on one longer ride and couldn’t stand it. I did some research. I find a thread about the guy adding Dynamat to the trunk and interior. I couldn’t believe I was reading about someone ADDING insulation to a car in a performance forum. Any other car you are taking things OUT. For all the weight the car has, why isn’t some of it for insulation? Obviously, the car is optimized for performance and insulation was not part of that requirement. I just found it odd that 20 lbs couldn’t be spared for insulation, yet the dash and doors get leather, full infotainment and navigation, etc. The Bose stereo is what it is. Weak. But I found myself using it often to drown out the other noises.
• Those 20” runflats. I used the car as a daily, so I needed snows or all season tires. Holy cow, all seasons are $2100 a set! Ok, fine, it’s only money. I call 5 tire stores before I find one that would install them. I read the threads about installation difficulties and damaged rims. The local GT-R dealer wants to charge 1 hour’s labor per tire to install them! I found someone that charged a more modest $50/tire. Another “approved GT-R dealer” didn’t even have a tire machine. Then I read all the threads about going to Michelin PSS’s because of the increased comfort and improved tire noise. I probably would have gone to those later; they are also a cheaper option.
• Maintenance. Fortunately I didn’t keep it long enough. I researched before I owned the car that it needs 6k mile oil changes and tranny fluid at 18k that costs $100/qt. Wouldn’t want to touch brakes either, even aftermarkets are pricey. Service compared to a Porsche is very expensive. Just be aware that this is not a Nissan, it’s really a Lambo with a Nissan badge.
• Mileage. Okay, I don’t care about the mileage either. But holy crap, around town the thing gets 9 mpg! I always manually shifted it, mainly because I couldn’t stand the exhaust drone of the car running at only 2k RPM. Admittedly, it did eek out 13 mpg in mixed highway and city driving. And that was running the car in “SAVE” mode on the highway. But that mode really cut the boost and made the thing downright slow for passing. At least the car had a reasonably large gas tank, it needed it.
• Ride comfort. I thought the 2012 had the IMPROVED comfort mode. That was a joke. I need to frame my reference. I’ve lowered most of the cars I’ve owned. Most recently coilovers on an E46 M3. That car seemed like a Cadillac by comparison. In Comfort mode, the GTR just seemed to bounce around more on its stiff springs. Towards the end, I actually found the ride was smoother and more refined by running it in Race mode. It does it the small bumps harder, but in the end the damping is a better match for the spring rates. That is often true that you really need damping that matches the spring rates. I could tell that the Race mode damping was a better match for the spring rates. In any setting though, the car is very stiff. Even with only 6000 miles, the car started to develop rattles. I couldn’t imagine how loose one of these will be with 20k. I traded a 2011 M3 for the GT-R. Needless to say, even with the competition package, it was also like a Cadillac by comparison, yet still managed to have excellent handling.

In the end, I wanted to offer my experiences after driving the car for 1000 miles and selling it. Another GT-R was traded back to the same dealer also after about 3 months of ownership! I needed to do a lot of research on the car after I already owned it – I knew a lot going in, but many things I had to figure out. I thought the diary of my ownership might prove valuable to others considering the GT-R so they go in eyes wide open. As a weekend only 2nd or 3rd car, the GT-R could be an entertaining stable mate. As a daily, you need to accept many compromises. I traded the GT-R on an ’08 Porsche TT and couldn’t be happier. Older as it is, the Porsche is much more refined, more comfortable and nearly as fast.

 

Great write-up, thanks!

 

Nice, my brother was looking into getting a GTR too but I think the maintenance drove him away. He ended up with an M3, which he is very happy about. Thanks for the write, it was a good read.

 

Although I'm on my 2nd GTR and enjoy the cars, I do understand a lot of where you are coming from above. I have a BE now and am only 5'11", 170 lbs, and I find the seats too snug. It's a much nicer interior than my 2010, but I dare to say I liked the feel of the 2010 seats a little better day in and day out.

 

great read. thanks for the info

 

I knew someone else must have had the same issue with with those BE Recaros!

I wrote this and hoped others would find it helpful in making a buying decision. Glad to see people found it informative. Pass on some rep points if you liked it!

 

I think your biggest mistake was making a GT-R a daily driver. I think if your GT-R was a weekend toy, you wouldn't be worried as much about interior noise, gas mileage, and brake and fluid changes since they wouldn't be a frequent occurance.

My '09 just went past 20K miles and no rattles (knock on wood). Maybe the roads in Westchester need some paving (I used to live up in Lewisboro and Mamaroneck )... but yeah the GT-R makes rough patches of pavement feel like moon craters.

It is definitely not the right car for a daily driver and the 997TT is probably much better suited to what you desire, which seems to be a more refined and comfortable driving experience. I probably would trade my GT-R for a 997TT S when the prices drop a bit more.

 

Interesting read. Selling my 996tt and was contemplating a gtr. Just outta curiosity how old are you, are you sure the car didn't come with an exhaust and also what was your previous car?

 

Ryem,
My buddy who is a true car ***** flips through cars faster than anyone I know, bought a GTR twice and sold it after a few weeks on both. He first got an 11' model and made the same realizations as you, and traded it for a 911 TT. A few years later he tried a 13' model saying that they fixed all the problems (tranny noises, bad suspension, tire noises, seats, etc.). And against my advice he did it again, and again few weeks later he is trading it in. I got a chance to drive the first one, and only remember that I did not like it. Felt like I was sitting way too high, like on top of the car instead of in it. Also the car seemed so freaking big compared to my 911, and massively heavy.
To me it has never been an option after driving that.
For the prices they are asking now, these issues are inexcusable! You did a good deed by posting this thread and giving folks an honest outlook of ownership. Still a great performance machine, but as you said its more like a lambo with all its quirks.

 

All those GTR owners out there do not seem to have these issues. I have a stock 09, no drone from removal of mid pipe , i get 16 miles per gallon around town and 23 on hiway at 80 or so. The 09 seats are very comfortable fit for an athletic old guy with 185 weight. Run flats suck on all cars , BMW makes them standard on many models ?????
I have owned many makes of supercars and the GTR is by far the least expensive for maintenance and the fastest.....
This was just the wrong car for you and could have been fixed for 3000.00. Now you can ride around in a great TT and be afraid of every GTR who looks like he wants to go because we all know who wins .
If you want mechanical noise, I once had a pro-stock drag race car detuned for the street that ran low 8's and it was great fun .
In the old days, I would take my 2002Tii and road race big block corvettes and seldom would be defeated.

Sorry for your experience with a GTR and Had you joined the GTR club NAGTROC , members there would have told you how to fix all these issues. My car is not dynamatted , I enjoy all the sounds and as for the drone, easily fixed with a quality resonated mid-pipe.

I read none sense like bad suspension , and I wonder , then why is the GTR one of the fastest ever on a road race track, faster than the 458 and 911 turbo( which I both also love ) at the ring and most TV shows .

Maybe when I get really old, like 75, I won't love being fast and appreciating all the wonderful sounds of a superior car that costs 1/2 or 1/4 of a Porsche or Ferrari .

Until, that day, ???

 

Ah, I knew this was bound to strike a chord with someone! I won't add the quotes, but perhaps touch on a few of the points just to answer some of the questions:

Like robbys3m3, I knew I was not the only one to find the BE Recaros uncomfortable. I only found a thread later where someone had taken the seats apart to bend the seat rails to make them livable. If you don't believe me, search the forum for the thread.

I wasn't so focused on comfort as the performance. I already qualified my statements that I've done suspensions on a bunch of cars, including up sized wheels. Indeed, I agree that as a second or third car, would probably be fun to own.

You can see recent rides in my sig. The car did not have an aftermarket exhaust. When the car is in auto it upshifts to top gear by 33 mph. If that isn't drone at that speed, I'm not sure what is. The exhaust in the Porsche doesn't drone at that speed, nor does any other car I've owned when stock. Oh, one of the main reasons I got out of the M3 was that it was too cushy and quiet of a ride - and I had the competition package, lower suspension with 19's.

Flipping GTRs is very common. They seem so incredible on paper. As I said, where I returned mine, another GTR that was sold by the same dealer was also turned in by that owner after a couple of months! I'm not alone, they don't live up to many people's expectations.

gtr guy in az, don't feel insulted. I know the GTR is fast, I'm just pointing out some of the issues that were not that obvious when I bought the car. Perhaps others don't know the issues. 16 mpg around town? You must drive in auto with the ECO mode on - I shifted manually and that indicator would show 9 mpg most of the time. Combined was about 13 if I was lucky. On the same loop, exact same driving style, I get 16 in the turbo. I think the turbo's highway mileage is much better, but of course these cars really aren't about the mileage - I agree.
Fixing the seats, buying new tires, different exhaust, adding insulation (?!), there was just a limit to how much I was willing to do. Wonderful sounds? The sounds of the runflats? Gravel slapping around in the wheelwells? Droning exhaust? Or perhaps the trans in the rear? I love a great exhaust sound (I've modded exhausts on almost all my cars), but I couldn't even hear the exhaust on the GTR on acceleration! The problem wasn't necessarily the noise level, it was the quality of the noise. I don't think the turbo is that much quieter.
Maybe when I'm old I'll be driving an M6 or M5. The GTR is just not that much faster than a Porsche turbo to be worth all the sacrifices. All said, if I owned 5 or 6 cars, I'd probably still get one. I'm not alone in saying once you've launched it a few times and taken friends out, you get tired of the reality pretty quickly and move on.

 

ryem3,

I knew my post would also get a reaction. All your points are well taken and I agree with them. I can live with all the noise we agree exists except the run flats. They are the terrible in every way. The PS 2's are sweet. The seats in the BE must not be at all like my 09 so I will take your word for it.
We can agree to disagree that for all the short comings of the GTR, it may be worth it to many ??

 

Very interesting read. Im sure not everyone has this type of experience with the GTR but atleast its out there for other people to relate to when they have the same issues. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

Agreed! Michelins would have been next on my list for the gtr. Yeah, the fancy Recaros really seem to be the issue; I thought getting the BE would give me the best car though. All its faults, the GTR still is a remarkable car. Watching the Mega Factories show kinda made me wish I still had it!

 

I will be sure to sit in a new BE version with the recaro seats for a long time. I fit the seats of the 09 perfect even at 190 ish.This will also lead to an interesting question, upgrade to a 2014 or 2015 or send the 09 off the AMS for an alpha 9 make over ??
Drone yes, but massive HP , also yes...
I also hate the drone and wonder does the newer GTR have more drone than my 09 which seems to be not too bad ??
Nice post and thanks for seat issue heads up.