IS F or USED GTR 2009
11-16-11, 01:35 AM
#31
It's really not that hard for someone to make a "Ferrari Killer" or "Veyron Killer". Any car can be made to go fast...er...than an exotic in a race. The bottom line is, at the end of the day, your car will have two dents on it: one being it's a Nissan, and the other being that your $15k transmission will have lost 20% of its life in that one race! No joke, the GTR's transmission has been revised three times already, and they still haven't gotten it right. There are numerous lawsuits against Nissan for their faulty transmissions. Remember, the GTR was always a gentleman's sports car, that was slightly above average price. So yeah, paying $90k for a Nissan is really not a bargain! The same concept goes to Lexus with the LFA...that car is not worth $375k....no way! There are luxury exotic hyper-cars with history lists dating back before Toyota existed....that will embarrass the LFA and don't cost as much as an LFA. My point in all this is, you have to be kinda smart for yourself and not give in to marketing gimmicks! Buy a car for its true value and "whole package". The ISF is good at that (not the best), but there are plenty of cars that would be sick fast, not too expensive, and look great with ultra luxury! Wait for the new BMW ///M5....you will never look back! The past 10yrs have demonstrated a bad turn for Japanese car makers in that they are finding markets with a demand, but at the same time, making it very difficult for the that "demand" to buy what they have to offer....aka GTR & LFA.
As for the value of the LFA, it depends on how you see it. There are a handful of people that see the LFA and will pay the $375k to have one of the only 500 being made. Most people will think performance wise its not worth its cost. A few will see that owning a car only 499 other people will own, having the first Lexus supercar and a car unique to most others is worth the $375k. If i had the cash, i'd buy an LFA in a heartbeat given the opportunity. But this goes back to your arguement of true value vs. what i call perceived value. Not all buyers are the same
Can't comment on the GT-R transmission, as i don't have any personal experience driving one past a test drive and the only person i know well that does have one has no issues with his outside of horrendously expensive scheduled service. Not sure a BMW M5 is what you'd want to own either if you think Nissan's have engineering issues. Some BMW's are still experiencing HPFP issues and BMW has had more than enough time to engineer a correct design.
11-16-11, 01:54 AM
#32
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We've owned 12 nissans and they have been by far the most reliable cars we've had. The fact is ANY car can have transmission issues especially when driven hard and since we have no idea how your "friend" used his car I'm taking what you say with a grain of salt.
This whole its a nissan thing you're spouting is horse crap, I don't care if it has a geo metro badge on it, it's performance is in supercar territory and it can very easily be daily driven unlike most of its competition. In what planet is a 90K M5 considered "not too expensive"? That's more than the yearly income of most americans, and BMW's are horrible for their reliability, SMG troubles, the DCT's had troubles, failing vanos pumps, cars going in to limp mode, the list goes on and on, this is exactly why I cancelled my M3 order and got the ISF. My cousin babies her 335i and it's been in the shop with fuel pump issues more than it's been on the road!
This whole its a nissan thing you're spouting is horse crap, I don't care if it has a geo metro badge on it, it's performance is in supercar territory and it can very easily be daily driven unlike most of its competition. In what planet is a 90K M5 considered "not too expensive"? That's more than the yearly income of most americans, and BMW's are horrible for their reliability, SMG troubles, the DCT's had troubles, failing vanos pumps, cars going in to limp mode, the list goes on and on, this is exactly why I cancelled my M3 order and got the ISF. My cousin babies her 335i and it's been in the shop with fuel pump issues more than it's been on the road!
11-16-11, 06:52 PM
#33
I've driven both the Nissan GTR and the Lexus IS-F quite a bit and they are completely different cars. I like the reliability and V8 roar of the IS-F. I would be afraid of breaking the GTR drivetrain. It costs a lot more than an IS-F.'s The GTR feels like a bigger car even though it is a coupe. Sedans are more practical. They are both great cars. A lot of people compare the GTR to the LFA and to me they are in different categories. Sure they are close in performance but I think the LFA is built more like a supercar than the GTR. If I had the cash I would love to get an LFA.
01-03-12, 04:30 PM
#34
GTR is FAST but the V6 doesn't sound as nice as a IS-F with a JoeZ (IMO of course)
No question or debate which car is faster - that's obvious but somehow I really like the sound of V8's more.
My buddy has a GTR with the HKS exhaust - sound is very menacing (almost Ferrari like) but has no deepness to it, even he agreed my IS-F sounded amazing with the JoeZ. Different cars for different goals based on difference peoples needs.
Also if the OP is young - I suggest you check your insurance rate first
No question or debate which car is faster - that's obvious but somehow I really like the sound of V8's more.
My buddy has a GTR with the HKS exhaust - sound is very menacing (almost Ferrari like) but has no deepness to it, even he agreed my IS-F sounded amazing with the JoeZ. Different cars for different goals based on difference peoples needs.
Also if the OP is young - I suggest you check your insurance rate first
01-04-12, 06:01 AM
#38
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I think it really boils down to what you are looking for in a car (if you mentioned this i'm sorry I didn't read the entire thread) but my take on it is below:
GT-R Awesome vehicle and a true work of engineering to get supercar preformance for under 100K, expensive to own and maintain relative to the IS-F and i'm not sure I would want to use it as a DD; relability is debatable and largely a function of how it is driven and maintained.
IS-F Lexus so the relability is good (reading through the forums will cement this fact), 4 door so more practicle (sort of), has all the creature comforts that would make it a better DD IMO. v8 sound of intoxicating decent MPG's (again a bonus for a DD), not as rare as a GT-r but still not a common car by any means.
Summary of my thoughts --- As an only car/DD I would pick the IS-F, as a weekend/fun car GT-R.
GT-R Awesome vehicle and a true work of engineering to get supercar preformance for under 100K, expensive to own and maintain relative to the IS-F and i'm not sure I would want to use it as a DD; relability is debatable and largely a function of how it is driven and maintained.
IS-F Lexus so the relability is good (reading through the forums will cement this fact), 4 door so more practicle (sort of), has all the creature comforts that would make it a better DD IMO. v8 sound of intoxicating decent MPG's (again a bonus for a DD), not as rare as a GT-r but still not a common car by any means.
Summary of my thoughts --- As an only car/DD I would pick the IS-F, as a weekend/fun car GT-R.
Last edited by jbjones85; 01-04-12 at 06:02 AM. Reason: I can't spell.
01-04-12, 07:41 AM
#39
My two cents, i've discussed this in depth with robbys3m3 and he has real life experience with both. It's just a matter of what you NEED. Do you need 4 usable seats? I have a 2 year old daughter so a GTR is a little impractical. Do you want a luxury interior? The nissan interior to me seemed cheap and was a big hurdle for me to get over. Maintenance on the GTR is a touchy thing as a GTR is a special car and maintenance records must be meticulous to give it a better resale value, which means you're subject to dealing with the stealership a lot of times.
I test drove the GTR and maybe because I'm running a sikky header/ISS forged exhaust combo on my ISF, the GTR just sounded wimpy to me which dulled the driving experience somewhat. To each their own, the ISF and the GTR are both awesome cars and you won't be disappointed by either.
I test drove the GTR and maybe because I'm running a sikky header/ISS forged exhaust combo on my ISF, the GTR just sounded wimpy to me which dulled the driving experience somewhat. To each their own, the ISF and the GTR are both awesome cars and you won't be disappointed by either.
01-04-12, 08:03 AM
#40
IMO, insurance rates are irrelevant if the OP is shopping for a supercar like the GTR. When I shopped for a sports car my primary concerns were maintenance and reliability. Secondary conerns were Insurance costs & gas cost. Insurance rates also depend on your location, past accidents, tickets. Yes, the rates will be higher for an ISF or GTR as opposed to a low-end Honda or Toyota, but it is trivial in this situation, again IMO.
ISF vs. GTR comes down to so many factors such as budget, reliability, maintenance, space needed, etc... they are 2 very different cars as people have said....
ISF: luxurious, reliable, lots of convenient features, 4 doors, trunk space
GTR: FAST, flashy, rarer than the F, 2 doors, less space, mod-friendly, high maintenance bills, higher cost than the F
If I had the money for a GTR when getting the F, I would still get the ISF after reading up on tranny issues with the GTR, I'm just a conservative person and I don't feel safe risking that much money on a car with known issues, regardless of the Carfax or launch control research. However, I would imagine they fixed this problem in 2010+ GTR's.
ISF vs. GTR comes down to so many factors such as budget, reliability, maintenance, space needed, etc... they are 2 very different cars as people have said....
ISF: luxurious, reliable, lots of convenient features, 4 doors, trunk space
GTR: FAST, flashy, rarer than the F, 2 doors, less space, mod-friendly, high maintenance bills, higher cost than the F
If I had the money for a GTR when getting the F, I would still get the ISF after reading up on tranny issues with the GTR, I'm just a conservative person and I don't feel safe risking that much money on a car with known issues, regardless of the Carfax or launch control research. However, I would imagine they fixed this problem in 2010+ GTR's.
01-04-12, 08:51 AM
#41
You have the brackets pointing in the wrong direction if you're referring to MSRP.
01-04-12, 10:06 AM
#42
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My two cents, i've discussed this in depth with robbys3m3 and he has real life experience with both. It's just a matter of what you NEED. Do you need 4 usable seats? I have a 2 year old daughter so a GTR is a little impractical. Do you want a luxury interior? The nissan interior to me seemed cheap and was a big hurdle for me to get over. Maintenance on the GTR is a touchy thing as a GTR is a special car and maintenance records must be meticulous to give it a better resale value, which means you're subject to dealing with the stealership a lot of times.
I test drove the GTR and maybe because I'm running a sikky header/ISS forged exhaust combo on my ISF, the GTR just sounded wimpy to me which dulled the driving experience somewhat. To each their own, the ISF and the GTR are both awesome cars and you won't be disappointed by either.
I test drove the GTR and maybe because I'm running a sikky header/ISS forged exhaust combo on my ISF, the GTR just sounded wimpy to me which dulled the driving experience somewhat. To each their own, the ISF and the GTR are both awesome cars and you won't be disappointed by either.
As for sound, without spending mega bucks on a full catback for the GTR you won't be happy with the exhaust note compared to an ISF with an aftermarket exhaust. I have a CBRD midpipe on my GTR and while I get good gains with it (coupled with the COBB tuner), the sound is still not all that great (I'm just willing to accept that fact as a full catback doesn't yield you much more performance gains).
It's been mentioned before, but I'm always surprised how much these cars get compared on this forum, as they are quite different from each other....I assume it's just because we're all car guys and the prices for used GTR's arent that far off of new or barely used ISF prices.
As for tranny/maintenance/repair cost stuff, I've had no surprises at all,and they haven't been that bad. The tranny stuff has been fixed with software and has been blow way out of proportion nowadays. The sky-high maintenance costs really kick in with the GTR when you track it, as the fluid and brake costs are the killers, but as long as you just drive it on the street primarily, those items don't need to be addressed even close to as often.
Interior fit and finish isn't even close with the GTR, but to keep the price where it is, costs have to be cut somewhere (a la Corvette), and the interior is a big compromise.
With all this said, the ISF is my favorite car I've ever owned and a fantastic all around car. If it would have had a bench seat in the back seat so a rear-facing child seat would have fit in the middle, I never would have sold it!
01-04-12, 01:23 PM
#43
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GTR is FAST but the V6 doesn't sound as nice as a IS-F with a JoeZ (IMO of course)
No question or debate which car is faster - that's obvious but somehow I really like the sound of V8's more.
My buddy has a GTR with the HKS exhaust - sound is very menacing (almost Ferrari like) but has no deepness to it, even he agreed my IS-F sounded amazing with the JoeZ. Different cars for different goals based on difference peoples needs.
No question or debate which car is faster - that's obvious but somehow I really like the sound of V8's more.
My buddy has a GTR with the HKS exhaust - sound is very menacing (almost Ferrari like) but has no deepness to it, even he agreed my IS-F sounded amazing with the JoeZ. Different cars for different goals based on difference peoples needs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTNIfhs_q2w
