Indisputably, the 1990’s was the golden age of Japanese domestic market (JDM) cars. To me, the Nissan Skyline GT-R and the NSX were the representatives of that golden era. Never been particularly fond of others like the Toyota Supra or Mazda RX-7, despite the whole Fast & Furious hype. One can therefore imagine my shock when I realised one day, that I have never actually driven a GT-R before, not any of the 32-35 range, and therefore, have never reviewed one on InstacarHK either. I have never felt so embarrassed and ashamed about my channel before.
Fortunately, the opportunity to review one was only one WhatsApp message away. I messaged my friend Johnny, who is a JDM collector in Singapore and also the owner of the 1983 Mercedes Benz 500SEC AMG that I reviewed last year, and he immediately said no problem to my request of reviewing his pristine 23,000 KM 1989 Skyline GT-R R32.
As much as the Skyline GT-R practically needs no introduction, I feel obliged to at least provide a very brief summary of its history, in the spirit of old school automotive journalism. The Skyline GT-R name first appeared in 1969, when Nissan released the KPGC10 Skyline GT-R. The KPGC10 was made with one thing in mind, and that was racing. Nissan entered it into the Japanese Touring Car Championship right after production and the car was an instant success, winning 49 races in just a few years.
Unfortunately, when it came to replacing the KPGC10 with a successor in 1973, the world was hit by the oil crisis and performance cars by any manufacturers at the time suffered. Such was the fate of the ‘KPGC110’, a promising car born in the wrong time. Nissan only made 197 of the KPGC110 before it was discontinued, making it for all intent and purposes, a commercial flop. Of course, today, the KPGC110 is one of the most sought after GT-R models out there due to its limited production, and its value is in the hundreds of thousands of US dollars. Regardless, it will forever be the only GT-R in the GT-R lineage that does not have any racing pedigree.
After the KPGC110, the GT-R name faded away into history, with no particular promise to be back. That was until 16 years later, when Nissan released the BNR32 chassis, or the GT-R R32 as it is most commonly known today. Like the KPGC10, the GT-R R32 was intended for racing, and racing it did. It was again entered into the Japanese Touring car Championship and it was an instant success – destroying all competitors by a fine margin. It won the championship for multiple years and in some years, it won every single race it entered. Outside of Japan, the GT-R R32 entered into other world-renowned races such as the Australia Bathurst 1000 race and the Macau Grand Prix. Similar to its performance in Japan, it too destroyed all competition in those venues. The GT-R R32 was winning so much that race organizers had to add weight penalty of up to 140KG to the cars in the subsequent years. And in some instances, such as at the Bathurst 1000, the GT-R R32 still won the race after the weight penalties. It was in the Australian press where it earned its nickname, the “Godzilla”.
After years of success, the GT-R R32 was finally retired and replaced by the R33 in 1994. Out of the modern classic GT-R range (i.e. R32, R33, and R34), the R32 was the most plentiful, with close to 44,000 units made across all variants. This is compared to the 16,000 units and 11,000 units of the R33 and R34, respectively.
Getting into the GT-R32, the first impression you get is the interior. I was never a fan of Japanese car interiors as they are almost guaranteed to be cheap and plasticky. It was the only reason why I sold my former Honda Integra DC2 Type-R within a year. It was extremely fun when you’re driving like an idiot, but for the remaining 90% of the time that you’re driving in normal traffic, you constantly feel like you’re in a 1990’s Toyota Crown taxi, which I just couldn’t accept and which is also why I always prefer to buy European classic cars instead. Surprisingly, however, the GT-R 32’s interior wasn’t so bad. Yes, it is still cheap and plasticky, but somehow it is less in-your-face about it. The touch and feel to everything are just slightly better and more tolerable. Perhaps it uses slightly less cheap plastic? After all, the GT-R R32 was a top-of-the-line model.
Setting off, the clutch is, as expected, very light, which is very Japanese. The biting point of the clutch is slightly high though, but nothing that would affect how easy it is to drive. As this car only has an LTA-approved HKS exhaust, which sounds very nice on the outside, noise in the interior remains very low. Too low, in fact, as I would love to hear more of the beautiful 2.6L inline-6 twin turbo engine known as the legendary RB26. Based on the “gentlemen’s agreement” amongst large Japanese car manufacturers back then, the car’s ‘claimed’ power output is 280HP, although most media at the time put it more accurately at around 320HP.
Stepping on it, the first thing you notice is the typical turbo lag from turbo cars of this vintage. Nothing really happens until after 4,000rpm. And after that, given this is a twin turbo car, the power does not introduce themselves abruptly either, but rather subtly and in a linear fashion. Johnny is a classic car enthusiast like myself, and he therefore tries to keep his cars as original as practicable. As such, aside from changing the turbos to Australian CGC turbos, which is more for longevity than performance, the car does not have many performance-enhancing modifications (the original GT-R R32 turbos’ ceramic turbines are notorious for breaking and being sucked into the engine as it ages, causing catastrophic engine failure). This means that the car is not really that fast for modern standards, although I would say it remains capable, particularly after 100KM/HR. As the GT-R is first and foremost a GT car, it is most comfortable at high speeds on highways. You can really feel the car livening up once you go past 100KM/HR. All in all, I am satisfied with the performance of this car if I look at it from the lens of a classic car enthusiast and not a speed junky. Having said that, I can’t help but feel, naturally, that there is a monster hidden and restricted in the engine, waiting to be released by modifications. And that is why these Japanese cars are all so modifiable; they are all so much more capable than what meets the eye and are heavily restricted in their OEM form. The RB26 engine regularly takes on 1000HP+ from companies like HKS, Mine’s, Top Secret etc.
One thing that I am extremely impressed with this car is its condition. Everything from the interior to the engine is so solid and tight. The interior has literally no rattling noise and the engine, although restricted as it should be from the factory, is very robust and strong with no signs of any hesitation or looseness whatsoever. This feeling alone, which cannot be artificially created, provides all the verification one needs to prove that this is a genuine 23,000km car. What a gem.
Thanks again to my generous friend Johnny for lending me his beautiful GT-R for review!
See my review video here: