the gtrs are def holding their value... def a sign of it being a great car

as far as the metric you added, you need to add one more factor to make it meaningful....you need to add what you gain for the % of value so normalize the ratio otherwise its not showing anything and would penalize cheaper vehicles like mustangs, and motorcycles...

basically according to you math all i need to to is to have paid more for my audi to reduce the cost of mods as a percent of cost of car

so according to your metric, as long as i paid $66K for my audi then in your formula:

Mods to get to 500whp ($10K) / revised Price of Audi S4 special expensive edition ($66K) = 15% of Value

yeah its a better deal now

$ per HP is really the only way to look at bang for buck.... doesnt always mean is the best kind of HP (as others have noted about NOS), but its still the mathematically correct way.

any ways, i still want some of that $12K change that anyone has laying around in between their sofa cushions and on the floor

 

LOL...tell me about it!

With depreciation on cars like that, I usually look at the predecessor model. For instance, if you are looking to buy an Aventador 10 years from now, look at the top-of-the-line Lamborghini model from 10 years ago. That would be a 2002 Murcielago. That model had a list price of $270K before options. Today you can pick one up somewhere north of $120K (assuming clean title and no blemishes on history report). So it retained about 40-50% of its value. With an Aventador's $400K+ price you might still be looking at near $200K for a used one 10 years from now....ouch!

 

my buddy Steve has a red '12 over in Stuttgart, Germany. I'm quite jealous of both the car and the venue. I've driven his Cobb Stage 2 STI over there on the Autobahn and wish he would have gotten the GT-R there sooner. Perhaps its time for a return trip....

 

There are a lot of flaws with our comparison of a GT-R to an E55 to an S4 (admittedly my fault for trying to simplify things).... part of the problem is that we would need something to remain static as far as a goal. If 500whp is a common goal, the GT-R is there with just an agressive tune and a midpipe...a total of $2K in mods. However, that gives no credit to the GT-R for its exeptionally efficient transmission and AWD platform which makes it much faster than a similar 500whp car. So we could talk about an actual specific performance metric....like a 10s 1/4 mile pass. There again a GT-R needs only the tune and mid pipe to accomplish that at full weight. The E55 would need more than 500whp... it would likely need full bolt-ons and drag radials. Not that many E55 owners have accomplished a 10s run at full weight. As far as the S4, not sure what would be needed to get there (I know they are out there...just not sure how much more over your set up is needed).

If we raise the bar again and said a 9s run is the goal....there have been full bolt-on E85 tuned GT-Rs that have accomplished that with weight loss (pull seats..etc). That is now in an area where no E55 has run before.

Another issue: it is hard (somewhat unfair) to compare a 10+ year old car....to a 6+ year old car to a 3 year old car price wise. That is especially true because the 3 year old car is theoretically still covered another 2 years under a manufacturer's powertrain warranty which inflates the value (if you can still find a MB CPO'ed E55 it would likely have a premium for that and close the gap on the value discrepancy). Also, the older cars are likely to have a lot more miles on them. You would have to find a GT-R with similar mileage to make an apples to apples comparison. That GT-R would likely fall under $60K. These things mitigate value...but will never overcome the huge discrepancy between cars this far apart in age. I think the better comparison would be to compare cars that were available in the same model year as far as value (ZR1, 997 Turbo, E63, M6, GT500..etc).

Tom

 

I have the baby 34-GTR.

293 kW at the wheels in AWD.

I have owned it since 2004.

I service it myself and change the oil every 5K. the only mods are:

Cat back exhaust, Apexi FC with boost control and twin Apexi pods.

Martin Donnon at Willall Racing tuned it and it runs like a watch.

I suppose I could spend another 40K on it and match a 35 but it is plenty fast enough for me.

 

I got to drive a slightly modified GT-R around Beverly Hills one night. Very impressive as far as performance goes.

The next day the owner was driving it and the clutch failed in it and it cost him a big pile of money to fix. He sold it not to long after that because it was always broken and in the shop.

 

What a great car! I love the R34 and I think it is even better looking than the R35. I can't wait for the 25 year point that allows U.S. importation of "classics".

 

I have a 2012... been awhile since I posted here... still have my 05-55. Just different cars. I drive the 55 when I want to relax (k2 and a ton of mods). So, for those of you wondering... that's the difference between a GT-R and a modded 55. One is yeehaw fun, the other is relaxing. I actually have a 2nd 06 55 I just did a pulley / tune mod on to make it as relaxing as my other. It's in another country I visit often.

 

Personally, I can't support or even fathom the idea of spending $100K+ on a Nissan. Not happening with me.

At the end of the day, build quality and reliability-wise, it's still a Nissan.

 

GTR is truly an amazing machine.But, If given a chance with that same price range I do buy a ZR1.

 

I've got a black '12 GTR in my garage right now as I'm storing it for a friend who just moved back from Germany. I drove it back from the Port of Baltimore to my place; this thing is nuts. To quote my friend... "its an expensive toy". He's right.....you'd have to be nuts to drive it every day and its too expensive to justify as a third vehicle.

Having been in this and a few Vette's.....the Nissan has a nicer interior and that ain't saying much.

 

You picked up your 06' 55 used, then, and paid half of what many of us paid new for them. Because there's no way you'd use the word "fathom" if you bought a 55 or 63 new... and then lived with a GTR at the same time. They aren't that far off from each other in terms of excess and wastes of money, if you choose to look at it that way.

And you'd have one hell of a hard time arguing the 55 was better in terms of: fun per dollar, repair cost, maintenance cost OR reliability. I've had WAY more problems with my 55 in the same amount of time than my GTR, and that was before modding it. I haven't had a single issue in 15k miles of driving hard in my GTR, including Laguna Seca.

Not going to start a which car is better war... I love them both... I just think maybe having been on both sides of this fence it's obvious by comments who has / has never driven a GTR. No need to bash a car maker's name until you've tasted their best offering.

As for the ZR1, you'd still get smoked 0-60, get far worse gas mileage, live without one of the best AWD systems made, and lose those two rear seats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...eife_lap_times

Considering for 100k you get something that has the 9th fastest lap of all time at Nurburgring, and considering it's besting cars that cost 2,3,4 and more than 5 times as much... then maybe you'd just never fathom purchasing any of these cars.

I covered my doubts with the mere purchase of an extended warranty.

Just saying... the GT-R has a lot of qualities you need to experience to understand. I do wish they had a super comfort suspension mode. Even the comfort mode makes the 55's sport mode look like marshmellow.

 

The addition of a VRUS air-box will take an E55's power level significantly beyond even a modified GTR's. This translates into sub 3 second 0-60 times, top speeds of 200mph and Nurburgring times right around 7 minutes flat. It's too bad that only a select few had the opportunity to transform their E55's with this magic box.

 

ah yes, the magic airbox! We were very lucky to have been around during those times!

 

Ouch...been there done that...lol! VRP seems like decades ago...what a crash and burn.

 

thought of this post when watching this... and fyi, the 2016 or 17 GTR will likely be a hybrid of sorts...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...eife_lap_times