My 2015 JDM GTR

Z28Camaro

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I joked with my wife about getting a GTR when we moved to Japan. One thing led to another and it I started looking in to how that would work, costs and time to deliver it, etc.

The dealers don't really carry these in inventory except for the occasional demo car at a bigger dealer. It's funny because I had never actually even sat in a GTR prior to taking delivery but I knew it had 4 seats and that a car seat could fit in the back. :smile:

I put in an order right before Christmas and the car came 9 weeks later. Ordered a Pearl White 2015 GTR Pure Edition with no options. To close the deal, the dealer ended up throwing in a set of the "carbon fiber" floor mats, a book to put the owners manuals in, the backup camera, and the ETC system to go through the toll booths without stopping. Japanese cars lag by a model year when compared to the US - 2015 is the newest model available for the GTR right now in Japan.

The Pure Edition is a somewhat lesser spec than what is offered in the US in that it does not include the Bose Stereo and a couple other things that aren't really important for going fast. I figured any weight that can come out of the car can't hurt. There was a dry carbon trunk and spoiler that could be added to the Pure Edition as stand alone options but they just drove the price up further and I didn't really think there would be a difference in anything meaningful. JDM cars have a few other differences like lighting and the navigation is a Nissan Carwings unit and has a Digital TV built in to it.

I worked through an agency that specializes in getting cars for foreigners. The car ended up being sold through a dealer in Tokyo but I took delivery at a different Nissan dealer that is one of the two High Performance Centers (authorized to service) in my area.

The guy who sold the car from the Tokyo dealer came in for the day to deliver the car. A bunch of managers showed up too to take photos as they had never delivered a car to an American before.

They left all the plastic inside the car prior to me getting in there and offered to leave it in the car if I wanted. The salesman then walked me through all the features of the car and answered all my questions. I had an interpreter there and we had a few interesting exchanges on the use of the car, the service and warranty. The car is speed limited in Japan unless you are on an approved track and enable the higher top speed. Each prefecture has a Nissan Nismo dealer who can break that feature for a price. Will end up doing that in a few weeks.

Now for a few bad photos.

Car as it sat when I arrived.
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There are 4-5 guys who hand-build the engines for all the GTRs
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Salesman taking plastic out of the car after I got to check it out a bit.
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Car had 44 Kms on it when I took it and the car was driven 14Km from the port to the dealer. Would be hard to get less Kms on the car at delivery unless you got the car from the dealer closest to the factory and asked them to take it by truck or something. The factory signed off in the manual that they put 30Kms on the car for the break in and brake bedding, etc.
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Z28Camaro

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White is right man. Congrats! Awesome info on how the car got to you as well :bigthumb:

Thank you.

Thats fantastic. Congrats!

Thanks!

:fy:

That digital TV feature is hilarious. They really have those weird Japanese game shows out there where they sniff each other's butts and stuff?

Yeah, it can get a little strange here at times.

congrats. very sick car

Thanks!

Nice ride! I assume you are out there for work, you used to be in Poland correct? What do you do for work?

Yeah, we took a new assignment in January. I work for a large manufacturing company.

Wabaki! Anytime time you want to drift, hit me up. I'm the new DK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfI5DvCvWmo

- Gaijin

OK.

Amazing! Welcome!

Thanks!

Very cool

Thanks!

Great thread! Congrats on the purchase!

Thank you.


:bigthumb:
 

Z28Camaro

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Car is really fun so far but I haven't driven it very much yet. Drove it to Costco with the family yesterday and filled the trunk up with crap. Got a couple amused looks from some guys in the parking lot.

One issue did come up so far. Drove the car in to work the day after delivery. Things were fine until I drove out of the work parking lot to go home and the tire pressure check light went off on the dashboard.

Mildly annoyed, I stopped in to the nearest gas station to check on that. We checked the pressure in all the tires with a gage and found the front driver's side was low. They initially didn't want to top up the tire with regular compressed air because it was a nitrogen filled tire. It was only down to about 180 kPa from the 220 recommended so I just told them to fill it and then drove it home.

After getting home I looked the tires over more closely and found this.
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I called my dealer and they sent out the service manager and an interpreter to my house the following morning.
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After showing them the issue, I asked them if they thought the car already had the screw in the tire when they delivered it and they said it wouldn't be possible to know. When I asked about how to proceed they said that the GTR policy is that they don't repair tires because Nissan does not want a tire that has been dismounted to be put back on the car... Needless to say I was fairly pissed at that point but they were there and prepared to take the car away and fix it so I told them to go ahead. I had to leave the next day for a business trip and it was either them take it and fix it then or deal with it myself later when I got back.

I got an eye watering estimate for tire replacement from them by email. Considering the car was nearly less than 24 hours sold I proposed that we split the costs 50/50. They said they didn't have the ability to negotiate that then and would get back to me. After some back and forth we ended up settling on about a 70/30 split on the costs. They gave the tire back to me so I'll probably have it repaired at a tire shop and keep it for a spare. Either that or make it into a piece of furniture. :smile:

The screw was barely long enough to go fully through the tire...
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Looking at the photos for this thread reminded me that they had significant construction going on at their dealership (see the first photo of the thread) so I have asked them if their contractors are using this type of screw. Maybe the contractor will be honest with us if they are using small stainless self tappers... No reply back yet.
 

Z28Camaro

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Took the car to Okayama International Circuit this weekend for a track day sponsored by a Japan auto parts store company called Autobacs. I signed up at the store and paid $150 to attend. I was expecting a few laps with a lead car, no passing and some rides by a couple pro drivers who were supposed to attend.

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My expectations were completely blown away. We had a brief driver's meeting and then they put me in the advanced class and let us loose on the track for two 30 minute time attack sessions!

It was actually pretty amazing - every car that was there had modifications; I think I was the only one there who was stock. There were guys who showed up with trailers and pit crews, highly modified cars, etc. I was just planning on a few leisurely laps. :lol:

There were a couple guys in earlier groups running off the track and tagging barriers and many marks where guys were running off the track into gravel traps when I got out. I was actually more worried about other guys running in to me, but our group was really civil and there were no incidents in either session.

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Circuit Mode!
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I finished in 7th place overall which I felt was great considering I never got a clean run due to traffic and it is my daily driver. No need to murder the tires, they are expensive here!
 

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