10 Annoying Things I Hate About The Nissan GT-R

1. The door handles

I see what Nissan has done here by going for super streamlined aerodynamic doors, but the door handles themselves are horrible.

Opening the doors is a clumsy process where the handle operates backwards in comparison to 99 per cent of the other door handles in the world. This means that if you’re holding anything such as a phone or car keys, it all gets a bit ham fisted. Oh, and the interior handles are equally nonsensical…(more on those later).

2. The navigation system is rubbish

Like most in-house manufacturer navigation systems, the GT-R’s nav is slow, laggy, and often gets alarmingly confused as to which road/junction you’re driving on. I often found myself using iPhone apps like Waze after getting frustrated with the in-car system. If the nav system didn’t come as standard, I’d go as far as recommending that people don’t bother having the option ticked.

3. The drab interior

The 45th Anniversary GT-R is an £80,000 car. For £80,000 I’d want it to feel more special than a slightly larger 370Z. It’s commonly known that JDM cars aren’t renowned for their interior quality, but when all the buttons, stalks and leathers are equal to those you would find in an entry level Nissan Juke, you can’t help but think that Nissan should have done more.

Oh, and let’s get back to those interior door handles: along with the window buttons, they’re located behind the grab handles on the doors which once again makes getting out of the car and opening and closing windows a far more clumsy experience than it needs to be.

4. An '09 GT-R looks and feels identical to a new one

Like many petrolheads, I’m fascinated by used car prices, especially with fast and desirable cars like the Nissan GT-R. So I decided to take a look at used car prices and was alarmed to find out how affordable they are and how little they have changed since their launch.

Remembering that you’re able to buy a used R35 (some even with Nissan warranty left) for as little as half the price of a new one, it begs the question: shouldn’t Nissan have changed the interior after six years? Even just a little bit?

5. It's as heavy as the moon*

Your average GT-R weighs roughly 1740kgs (3840lbs), onto which you need to add your weight, the weight of a passenger, a full tank of fuel and some bags in the boot. Before you know it, you’re looking at two tonnes of car…

That’s pretty damn heavy for a supercar and you really feel it when braking. Cornering brings its own problems because you use more fuel and brake pads than you would in a comparatively priced Audi R8 (a V8 R8 weighs 1560kgs/3450lbs).

*Due to an obligation of having to state the obvious, I must confirm that the Nissan GT-R does not actually weigh the same as the moon.

6. Filling up at the fuel station is frustrating

Now I’m not going to state the obvious here: yes, it’s a supercar and therefore, yes, it drinks considerably more fuel than your grandmother’s VW Polo. What I’m referring to here is the anti over-flow systems fitted on all fuel pumps. The GT-R’s fuel port has been designed in such a way that it means you have to practically aim into the hole without the nozzle going too far inside as it constantly just clicks assuming that you’ve brimmed the tank. That gets really boring, really quickly, especially when you have to fill up every few hundred miles (at best).

7. The boot is awkward and will get you dirty

As supercar boot space goes, the GT-R is actually pretty decent, but due to the way that the boot is designed, you really have to lean over the back of the car; if you’ve racked up any mileage at all, then, you’re bound to get road dirt all over your Sunday best as you reach in to get your phone charger cable that’s inevitably somehow made its way to the darkest corner. Oh, and ask any GT-R owner about how annoying it can be trying to open the damn thing. As far as I could fathom, if the key is in the car, the boot will not open with the button on the boot itself. If the car is unlocked, the key sometimes just refuses to do anything at all meaning that you have to lock the car, then unlock the car, and then open the boot with the remote.

8. Road noise will introduce you to a whole new level of tinnitus

As I mentioned earlier, the GT-R is a heavy car, and being a machine that’s designed with a focus on grip and cornering performance, it’s got some pretty serious rubber on the wheels. These two factors make the GT-R, without any doubt whatsoever, one of the noisiest cars I have ever driven. Find a freshly laid stretch of smooth tarmac and it’s fairly tolerable, but drive on a bit of 1970s concrete motorway and you’ll soon be reduced to tears.

9. The seats are disappointing for many reasons

I first got into the GT-R as a passenger to find that there is very little bolster support for both your back and your bum. Naturally, I assumed that I’d be able to play with some electronic adjustment which would solve this, but nope. The passenger seat can be adjusted by moving backwards and forwards along with the option of setting your preferred reclining position…and that’s it. The driver’s seat gives you the extra option to move up and down but it’s not great for the sort of support you would hope for in a car designed to break lap records. Also they’re just not that comfortable for a long drive.

10. You're never really driving a GT-R

This is the biggest deal breaker for me, and by a long, long way. There are plenty of driving modes which give a sportier ride, adjustment of power delivery to the rear wheels and even a setting that lets you swing the back-end out on a hairpin. But even in the most extreme settings, the car is constantly making minor adjustments to your grip, traction, and even the amount of throttle you’re applying at any given time. And that to me is not real driving.

I think of the GT-R in the same way that I think of the Euro Fighter jet. It’s super fast which effectively shouldn’t actually be able to fly. Its design is aided by tens of thousands of computers applying millions of micro-adjustments to keep the aircraft in the sky at all times. Now don’t get me wrong, from an engineering point of view, it’s fantastic, it’s a work of engineering art and genius, but is the pilot of a Euro Fighter actually flying the jet? Or is he simply telling the computers what he wants the jet to do?

There are many things that makes the GT-R a truly awesome car, but for me, I like to feel like I’m in full control of what my car is doing at all times, and I just can’t have that in an R35.