MotorTrend Pits the Corvette Z06, Shelby GT500 and Nissan GT-R Against Each Other

What weights ten tonnes and costs more than US$240,000? If you said, “a gold plated bulldozer”, you’d be close but no cigar. The answer is three sub-100k supercars: the Chevy Corvette Z06, Ford Shelby GT500 and Nissan GT-R. These three industry titans, with nameplates stretching as far back as the 1960s, were the recent subjects of an epic comparison test by MotorTrend. Here are three would-be-supercars – over 500hp and 3 second 0 to 60 mph times – that don’t command the supercar price tag.

The US$55,330 GT500, US$90,950 GT-R and US$98,010 Z06 are all within the budgets of most mid-life crisis suffers (providing you sell the house, the kids and the dog) and offer the sort of performance that was once the sole reserve of great Italians like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati.

And they’re not stripped out racers either. The Z06, for instance, comes with such luxuries as heated leather seats, Bose audio, Bluetooth and sat nav. You can’t buy a second-hand Lamborghini with that sort of equipment for US$98,010.

If you want to find out who wins this legendary battle, you’ll just have to check out the video. Even if you don’t care who wins you should check out the video anyways for a sweet-as drag race between the Z06, GT500 and GT-R. Now that’s something you don’t see everyday...

Sports Car Nissan GT-R

Nissan strengthen his sports sedan range with the release of the sports car Nissan GT-R. Nissan GT-R The new variant has a variety of modifications here and there to improve performance.The new GT-R is able to issue a power up to 530 hp.Nissan GT-R which will be available at Nissan dealers on November 17, 2010 this has 6 types of the GT-R Pure Edition, GT-R Black, GT-R Premium edition, the GT-R

HKS releases more powerful GT600 upgrade for Nissan’s GT-R

After releasing GT570 racing kit for the GT-R, HKS now has gone another step further and produced an even stronger pair of packages for the GT600 Racing and GT600 Sports lines.

The new GT600 kit is based on the previous GT570 package and essentially adds a new induction kit with large diameter intakes, a fuel regulator and a fuel pump. The GT600 kit also ships with the HKS Superior Finisher fitted with an exclusive GT600 badge. The only difference between the Racing and Sport lines is the exhaust system, which for the street-legal Sport trim has been toned down to pass emission and noise regulations in Japan.

According to HKS’ own dyno chart the addition of the GT600 package boosts power to 592hp (441kW).

The pricing for GT600 Racing and GT600 Sports kits has also been released, for the GT600 Racing package you get three options. The GT600 Racing base package is 882,000 yen. For the less obnoxious “Silencer Version” fitted with an additional muffler in the exhaust you will pay 903,000 yen. Finally for the LEGAMAX Premium exhaust version you’re looking at 1,155,000 yen all up. The GT600 Sports package prices at 1,197,000 yen for the base package and 1,470,000 yen including the LEGAMAX Premium exhaust.

Nissan GT-R is America's most expensive car to insure

The compilation made by Insure.com has shown a list of the twenty most expensive 2009 vehicles to insure, as well as the twenty cheapest 2009 vehicles in the U.S. From the list, the Nissan GT-R stands at the top of the list of the most expensive cars.

The GT-R, which is owned by a 40 year old man who travels about 12 miles to work daily, with a $100,000 policy limit for injury liability for a single person, $300,000 for all injuries, $50,000 for damage to property, and a $500 deductible on collision and comprehensive, can be insured annually for an average $2,540.

According to Insure.com, the reason the GT-R features so prominently is because of the fact that customers will buy the car for its speed and power, and they will be more likely to be involved in serious crashes.

The most expensive cars to insure for this year portion of the list are populated by sports cars. Next to the GT-R comes the Dodge Viper, which ranked as the second most expensive vehicle to insure ($2,446/year) and the third-ranked BMW M6 ($2,236). High-performance vehicles such as the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, the BMW M5, the Lexus IS F, the Jaguar XK and the BMW M3 also made the top 20 list for the most expensive vehicles to insure.

Other categories where a clear correlation between vehicle class and insurance cost arose was that of luxury SUVs, such as the Mercedes G-Class, the Hummer H2, the Land Rover Range Rover, the Cadillac Escalade and the BMW X6 all making appearances in the top 20.

At the other end of the spectrum were smaller and cheaper vehicles that didn't offer much in the way of power but were big on safety. Interestingly, the five cheapest cars to insure were all from South Korea, with Hyundai and Kia featuring multiple entries in the cheapest five vehicles to insure. Meanwhile, minivans seem fairly cheap to insure also, with the Honda Odyssey, the Chrysler Town & Country and the Dodge Grand Caravan all featuring on the list for cheapest vehicles to insure.


The 20 most expensive 2009 vehicles to insure:
1 $2,533 Nissan GT-R
2 $2,446 Dodge Viper
3 $2,236 BMW M6
4 $2,186 Ford Shelby GT500
5 $2,088 Mercedes-Benz G-Class
6 $2,071 Audi S8
7 $2,020 BMW M5
8 $1,912 Hummer H2
9 $1,881 Lexus IS F
10 $1,819 Porsche 911
11 $1,762 Chevrolet Cobalt SS
12 $1,717 Jaguar XK Series
13 $1,714 BMW M3
14 $1,694 Cadillac XLR
15 $1,637 Audi R8
16 $1,603 Land Rover Range Rover
17 $1,592 Cadillac Escalade EXT
18 $1,587 Honda S2000
19 $1,584 BMW X6
20 $1,577 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class

The 20 least expensive 2009 vehicles to insure:
1 $832 Hyundai Santa Fe
2 $840 Kia Sportage
3 $848 Hyundai Entourage
4 $857 Kia Sedona
5 $870 Kia Rio5
6 $871 Honda Odyssey
7 $881 Smart Fortwo
8 $911 Saturn Vue
9 $913 Mazda Tribute
10 $915 Chrysler Town & Country
11 $921 Scion xB
12 $929 Mazda Mazda5
13 $936 Volkswagen Passat
14 $939 Jeep Wrangler
15 $951 Honda Accord
16 $954 Suzuki Forenza
17 $955 Lincoln Town Car
18 $957 Mazda Truck (B-Series)
19 $959 Chevrolet Impala
20 $960 Dodge Grand Caravan

Nissan GT-R by Ventross

Vorsteiner is an American tuning firm that until now has specialized in modifying German performance cars from the likes of BMW, Mercedes Benz, and Porsche. The company has now established a subdivision called Ventross that will be focused on Japanese models.

After its first business order of Lexus IS-F last year, Ventross revealed yesterday its latest customization kit for the Nissan GT-R, featuring the same high quality aerodynamics engineering and construction expected from parent company Vorsteiner.

The Ventross GT-R is modified with a sporty dry carbon fiber front chin spoiler. The spoiler features a center air channel that allows air to cool down the front brake system, while also increasing downforce. Meanwhile, the rear end of the vehicle features a lightweight dry carbon fiber boot lid with a built in spoiler that reduces the weight over the factory steel unit by up to 50%. Finally, an integrated carbon fiber rear diffuser complements the new bootlid, while also enhancing the factory stacked exhaust design. Also available in the Ventross package is a three-piece forged aluminum wheel set in 19 and 20in sizes.

According to Vorsteiner, all the aero parts are manufactured with a carbon fiber honeycomb matrix (CFHM) structure. This gives them superior stiffness, strength and durability compared to traditional hand laid carbon fiber and fiberglass materials.

The carbon fiber aero components for the Nissan GT-R are slated for market release on June 1st of this year.

Wald releases new photos of Nissan GT-R Black Bison

Japanese tuning house Wald International has a wide range of styling and performance kits for nearly every major luxury car brand on the market, but this time the company has focused its attention on a humble Nissan, albeit one of the fastest Nissans ever produced. The car is the Nissan GT-R, a vehicle whose lines and shape were dictated almost exclusively by the drive for optimal aerodynamics. New photos reveal the car in more detail than ever before, highlighting Wald's precision work.

Improving on the original design would be a tough task for any tuner, and not surprisingly most of the aftermarket kits we’ve seen thus far, such as the Zele and Arios, appear almost completely stock. Wald’s new Black Bison kit sets out to change all this by including a full bodykit, new wheels, and plenty of carbon-fiber accessories.

Wald has given the GT-R a new look through a custom carbon-fiber front lip spoiler, a custom nose cover, a carbon-fiber engine cover, a new rear wing, and some low-drag duct covers also made out of lightweight composite.

All of the accessories can be had in a choice of either wet or dry carbon fiber - wet being the glossy-look material most people are accustomed to, and dry carbon fiber being the dull grey material that wins races and goes into space. The price differential between the two is accordingly as huge as the appearance differential: including taxes, the full wet carbon kit is priced at ￥1,039,500 ($11,620), while the dry kit runs ￥2,362,500 ($26,410).

Surprisingly, no power-adding modifications were revealed, though with the reported difficulty in tuning the GT-R's engine and the obvious benefits of an extensive carbon-fiber-replacement program, the Wald take on GT-R modification may be one of the most successful.

Source from: motorauthority.com