- GTR, an acronym that stands for Gran Turismo racing,
which in and of itself is kind of weird
because Gran Turismo is Italian
(engine revving loudly)
for a luxury oriented sports car, and Nissan GTRs pre-R35
are, you know, Nissan skylines,
which not inherently luxurious.
Anyway, Nissan stole a fancy Italian word and turned it
into something that stands for much more
than a pinky out sports car.
GTR stands for unbridled performance, stands for power,
it stands for world domination,
it means being the best in the world.
But while the GTR was extremely successful in racing,
and its success in racing undoubtedly played a huge role
with its reputation,
and even gave the brand its very own nickname, "Godzilla"
(roar)
but underneath the fame and the racing pedigree,
do the streetcars hold up to the reputation?
In stock form, are these cars the supercar killers
we've come to assume them to be?
Should you meet your heroes?
Well, today we're gonna put that theory
to the absolute test, because we're gonna look at some cars
that will outperform a BN R34 GTR
(engines revving)
and just for shits and giggles, I'm gonna show you how to
do all of that for less than 15 grand.
Yep, you guys heard that right, I'm about to learn you
some cars that will on the holy grail of GTRs for just
15 grand!
Let's get started.
The BN R34 skyline GTR is pretty well universally known
to be one of the most bad-ass, fastest, coolest cars
of all time.
Even at the most basic level of car knowledge, most people
know what this car is, and have an affection for them
in some way, whether it's from the racing success
making an impact on your life during it's era of domination,
or maybe you grew up watching the fast Saga.
- It's got one of those big shiny things with a lot of tubes
and curly coils coming out of it.
- Or playing "Need for Speed" All of these things
held the R34 GTR on the highest of standards,
and though the skyline GTR was an absolute brute of a JDM
sports car that is full of charm, stunningly aggressive
good looks, and built on a platform that can be built
to the moon and back,
I don't think people truly understand that all these
thousand horsepower GTRs have so much time and money
and custom parts put into them to make them as insane
as they are.
But in stock form, the R34 GTR is doing 0 to 60
in just slower than four and a half seconds,
and rolls through the light at the quarter mile
in the lower middle end of the 13 second range,
putting down about 280, 290 all wheel horsepower,
which is pretty impressive in my opinion
considering the, you know, 276 horsepower crank rating
that they were listed to have.
It was certainly a fast car when it came out, I mean,
it was beating up on mark 4 super turbos,
largely due to its all wheel drive advantage,
considering they're roughly the same horsepower
and roughly the same weight.
But, that also means there's some cars rolling around
on a street near you that you wouldn't even
take a second look at that would completely stomp
on a stock R34 GTR, and do it for a lot less money.
And first up is a car that's kind of already
on the upswing price wise.
Now I'm not gonna lie and say to you guys that a
10 to $15,000 example isn't gonna be high mileage,
but it can be done with a little bit of research
and knowledge on the platform.
The E39 BMW M5 is an absolute slayer of an automobile
that nobody wants to buy because it's an old BMW M car
with a bunch of VANOS issues and a bunch of other
weird complicated, but, what you get here
is a very well sorted chassis that handles its fat weight
very, very well.
Couple that with a high revving race car inspired individual
throttle body, having 4.9 liter naturally aspirated V8
that makes 400 horsepower,
and that 400 horsepower is good for 0 to 60
in a not GTR slaying 4.8 seconds because two wheel drive,
however, give it a quarter mile of room to let that V8
out power the all wheel drive system and you'll cross
the finish line three tenths of a second ahead
of the GTR.
Now three tenths of a second might not sound like a lot,
but as soon as you take out the all wheel drive
and the world's most careless and aggressive
magazine test launch out of the picture,
the M5 is gonna walk all over the GTR from a roll,
or even just with a realistic,
"I actually paid for this" launch.
Around the track, I also guarantee you it will be
neck and neck, with the smallest things that make or break
each car's individual advantages.
A longer track with more straights, The M5 is gonna
put some bus lengths on the GTR,
but on a tight technical course that would allow
the all wheel drive to have a little bit more
of an advantage, to get the GTR out of the corners quicker,
it's probably gonna take the cake.
Worst case scenario, you're nose to nose with Godzilla
around your favorite racetrack for 85,000 less dollars.
Not a bad way to spend 15 grand on a car,
but you know what's better than a big old sports car slaying
V8 sedan from a German luxury car company?
A big old sports car slaying sedan from an American
car company.
The Cadillac CTS V1 is a bargain GTR competitor,
and honestly, it's kind of the same car as the M5,
just a little bit different, like, they both make
400 horsepower, just one's a 4.9 and the other one can get
a 5.7 or a 6 liter that both make the same horsepower.
They're both six speeds, they're both properly
rear wheel drive.
The V also dips into the very low 13 second quarter mile,
and would 200% touch the high twelves with nothing
but a sticky tire.
And so the V has the same advantages as the M5,
lots of power, sophisticated chassis engineering,
also they handle very well considering the weight,
and it out-powers a lot of cars
in this price range by a lot.
I mean, come on, who would have thunk for 10, 15 grand
you could go get a really stupid, shitty, 2000's
Cadillac CTS that would outperform everything the gods
ever can throw at it.
(heavy electronic music plays)
(tires squealing)
(music continues)
But moving away from the V8 and somehow still sticking with
sedans, there's a real hot competitor at this price point,
because this next car is also all wheel drive.
It's also a six cylinder and it's also boosted just like
the R34 GTR, but, in this case,
it's a V6, and it's supercharged.
The B8 Audi S4 is an absolute masterpiece of engineering
for the money.
First off, I've witnessed these cards with my very own eyes
running a 12.8 seconds in the quarter mile,
completely stock, running in the 4.4 to 4.5
range to 60.
These cars also somehow handle ridiculously well.
That's kinda what I mean about
the masterpiece of engineering.
Both rig and engine hangs out in front of
the front axle, the steering wheel isn't centered
to the seat, and it falls pretty well on the heavy side.
On paper, these things should suck,
and I think that's why a lot of people sleep on them.
But man, somehow Audi really engineered out
all of these issues.
I have no idea how they did it, but the car just
telepathically does whatever you want it to.
It's just a shame that it does so well that it also kind of
lacks character,
but this thing will absolutely decimate a lot of cars
on the street, including an R34 GTR stock for stock.
Now before we move on from the S4,
every time I talk about a B8 S4 there's 300 BMW guys
that come out of the woodwork and harp on me about the E90,
E92 335is, and they just don't compete.
I'm sorry, maybe next time.
I know we couldn't actually make it through this list
without talking about a Mustang, all right?
I mean, come on, we're talking about bang for your bucks
performance here.
It's hard to beat a Mustang for the money, let's be real.
As long as you can go buy a pre slash, post facelift
S197 coyote car for under $15,000, it's always gonna be
in these fricking lists.
The thing gets over 400 horsepower from the factory.
If you launch and shift these things like you stole them,
they're getting into the 12s completely unmodified,
without an all wheel drive launch.
These cars make really good use of the power
that they do have, the variable valve timing Ford
developed for these engines is pretty damn good,
and it lays down an impressive power curve to punch
quite well above its power rating.
True you might get made fun of for driving a Mustang
with a live real axle, but it has the power to kind of
negate that lack of power going to the front wheels
to help it out.
But maybe the best way to go for just 15 grand
if you're put up against an R34 in some sort of freak
real life Forza horizon 5 challenge,
you got to go with the good old fashioned,
New Balance wearing, retirement home having,
a Chevrolet Corvette.
A true sports car that takes motor sport
just as seriously as the GTR did.
These days you can get into an early C6 Corvette
under that $15,000 mark, which means you're getting
that 400 horsepower, six liter LS2 V8.
Essentially the same one found in the 05 and up
CTS V1s and the new GTLs, but, it's in a much lighter,
much more nimble platform.
And if the V1 outdid the GTR,
the C6 will put bus lengths on it.
I mean, you're talking about a rear wheel drive car
going 0 to 60 as quick as an all wheel drive,
twin turbo, R34 GTR.
It decimates a GTR in a quarter mile, with 12.6 second
last time, at 114 miles an hour,
for less than a quarter of the price.
Now I get it, these cars that I mentioned may outperform
a GTR, but they will never have the presence,
the soul or the collective ability that the GTR has.
A C6 Corvette might have a better lap time,
but the GTR is a showstopper.
Is a worth a hundred grand?
I don't know, but it sure is sick.
Now I'm sure I could go on for hours about cars
that are better than R34 GTRs,
but then I wouldn't be able to ask you guys what you think
should have made the list that I didn't mention.
Don't forget to throw your questions and suggestions
down in the comments as well.
We literally read all of them and looking for the next
big video idea from you guys.
So let us know what kind of content you want to see.
Be sure to head over to the website and see all of our early
black Friday deals, and of course,
make sure to check out the giveaway page as well,
and grab some apparel or accessories to get entered
to win a modified Honda S2000 and $10,000 cash
for as little as $5.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
I'm Sean, seanb.fi on Instagram.
Peace.
(slow hip hop music plays)