Cars, like dogs, age at an accelerated rate compared to us humans.
It’s a sad fact, but man’s best friend isn’t as long-lived as we are. And so it goes with cars, which get purulent and start growing fuzz after being left without updates for just a couple model years.
After nearly a decade on the market, you’d think Nissan’s GT-R should be covered in mold and ready for the compost heap, but that’s not the case. Even though it has achieved senior citizen status in car years, this is a machine has withstood the test of time thanks to an unending stream of improvements.
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Like storing veggies in the crisper drawer, Nissan has made a slew of significant enhancements for the 2017 model year to keep this car fresh.
As before, a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 ignites the firestorm. For 2017, it delivers 565 horsepower and 467 pound-feet of torque. Compared to 2016, those figures have increased by 20 and 4, respectively. You can thank tweaked ignition timing and extra boost for those gains.
SEE ALSO: Next-Generation Nissan GT-R Will Have Hypercar Performance
Once again, a six-speed dual-clutch automatic is the sole transmission, which isn’t news, but the tuning is. This gearbox has been reworked to deliver smoother shifts and quieter operation. I can confirm that’s it quite civilized, though it will still bang through the gears when you want it to.
These nuts-and-bolts enhancements should help the GT-R keep pace with rivals like the Porsche 911 Turbo and Audi R8, all for much cheaper. The example we just tested cost roughly $113,000, about $50,000 less than entry-level versions of those German models.
Powertrain improvements are perhaps the biggest changes Nissan’s GT-R has received for 2017, but there are plenty of others. To learn what these are, you’re going to have to watch the Feature Focus video posted above.
