Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Is Megane RS250 better than a NISSAN GTR R35?

at our hotel parking in Shin Yokohama. My wife (with the thumbs up sign) is not that eager actually to
be a passenger in it.. he he he
GTR R35 IN JAPAN
During my business visit in early April 2013, I rented a nearly new 2013 NISSAN GTR R35 from Nissan for a whole day. This opportunity is used by driving from Tokyo to Shin Yokohama (our hotel) using some motorways and city traffic then from there to Mount Fuji which takes about 3 hours driving and back to Tokyo. ( a total driving time about 10 hours).

Well, during this experience, I can conclude that NISSAN GTR is a SUPER CAR. Really fast and very capable of eating and racing with other premium marques such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Bentley and so on, but at a fraction of the price of those brands.

However, I can also conclude that, personally I enjoyed much more driving a Megane RS250 or even the older Megane R26 most of the time practically on the motorway, city roads, backroads and all other undulating roads.
the inside cabin is quite special, but feels plasticky and "cheap" especially compared to
models from German and Italian supercars.

EXPECTATION LEVEL
IMHO, maybe my expectations are a little high for the respected GTR. From reading the press and magazines, they said a practical supercar that you can drive everyday.. yeah.. but at my age of nearly 40s, maybe I prefer a more serene and comfortable drive.

As I compare to my driving experience with other marques (Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche), personally I still prefer the Porsche. It has that kind of compliance most of the time for most of the road but also give you the spectacular super car performance when you push it.
Mt Fuji in the background. The road to Mt Fuji is not that perfect and you can feel most of the
roads imperfections. 

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE GTR
The acceleration of course. Simply superb even when in full auto mode.
Then the appearance and presence. It is actually big & brutal but driving it just like driving a big Nissan sedan, very easy and practical.
When you are fast (and road is superb and dry), it is simply awesome.

WHAT I DONT LIKE
Noisy (from tyres, gearbox mechanicals, wind noise) especially during low speed.
Firm suspension. Even in comfort mode, but it is still acceptable if compared to some supercars.
If the road is not good or not level, you dont have the confidence to push it. The car simply become unsettle but the electronics will helps, but it dont feel natural.


petrol costs will not be an issue if you can buy this car, but just for your info, a relaxing drive in this monster
for about 400km will use about 40 litres of high octane petrol ( you cannot put normal RON petrol, only 97 or higher)

CONCLUSION
GTR is a SuperCar that you will enjoy at high speed with superb roads. However, comparing to the modestly powered MEGANE RS, the GTR is a car that you can enjoy 15-20% of its potential most of the time in the real world but the MEGANE RS is a car that you can enjoy 75-90% of its potential most of the time. And I feel happier and more fun driving the MEGANE RS most of the time along the realistic non perfect roads..
my top favourite is still the old R26.. dunno why.. (picture from zero to hundred). Sorry but I dunno
where I put my own pictures of R26 and RS250.

Megane RS which you can enjoy more most of the time on the real road. (picture from The Star)

3 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I'm interested in owning a RS250 and totally fell in love with it after having a go at it in a test drive session.

    The only thing that worries me is that the sales agent would not directly answer my question when i was asking about maintenance/parts replacements.

    Your take on this?

    ReplyDelete
  2. enjoying your blog even the title a bit misleading. Please write more...

    ReplyDelete
  3. my 991 turbo s would easily eat the megane, even the gtr. hate them megane owners, taunting me on the road, but got no balls to actually rev it up.

    ReplyDelete