The Nissan Skyline R34 is possibly the best car made by Japan today. Packed into a humble (relatively!) 2 door coupe body is a turbocharged straight six capable of being tuned to give huge power and which drives all four wheels through a sophisticated 4 wheel drive system, giving excellent grip in all conditions. The car leaves the factory with 280bhp (the maximum permitted under a "gentleman's agreement" between Japan's car makers to prevent a horsepower race between them, similar to the German automakers voluntary 155mph maximum speed restrictors, with the exception of Porsche), but even the simplest modifications such as a change of chip in the engine management system releases much more power! 350-450bhp is common for a Skyline in "aftermarket" tune, and outputs can go much higher.
The suspension system is highly adaptive and computer controlled to ensure the car is well balanced and adjusted when cornering, which gives it superb handling. Nissan ally huge onboard computing power to achieve this, unlike for instance Lotus who give their cars superb handling by pure engineering rather than programming means. However, the results are just as impressive! One very Japanese touch is an on-board data recorder that can display information on cornering forces, acceleration, lap times and so forth on a screen in the dashboard. The results can then be downloaded to a PC for further analysis! More humble Skylines are also available, in 4 door form as well. These sell well as large family cars in Japan, and the R34 is the all out range topper, much as an Olds 442/Pontiac GTO was the performance derivative of the respective Cutlass/Tempest-LeMans ranges.
Since the R32 was launched in 1989, the Skyline has become well known as a serious performance car outside it's home market, and it's follow on, the 1995 R33 built on this. The R34 is the best of the lot to date, and continues the Skyline R series reputation as Japan's fastest cars.
As one would expect from AUTOart, this is a quality model. The metallic blue colour looks superb, and it is also available in white, silver and in purple. The interior is realistically done and includes carpet like texturing on the floors. The engine bay has the straight six engine with it's distinctive red cam cover and has a silver cross brace between both suspension turrets to increase the torsional stiffness of the chassis. In the past many AUTOart models had a flaw in that the bonnet (or hood) would not stay open on it's own, hence making it impossible to display the car with the engine showing. This model does not have that problem as the bonnet clicks into a fully open position. The fat low profile tires and the superb six spoke wheels look great on this model, along with a detailed brake disc and calliper showing through the spokes. The stance of the model is just right too.
Faults are few, the only things that come to mind are the clumsy looking interior rear view mirror and the "mesh" over the front air intakes, which unfortunately looks just like the textured plastic it is on examination. A piece of photo etched metal mesh would have been far nicer looking. Another "fault" I've heard concerns the white version (I have only seen the blue and silver one's "in the flesh" so to speak). Apparently the paint appears thin in places, and hence spoils the appearance overall. Personally I don't like white cars anyway, so I wouldn't be in the market for one! All in all a good model of a great car!
68.75%
