New Trust Power Extreme R Mufflers!

So even though I am SLOWLY breaking in the car, one very odd feature of this Skyline NISMO is how quiet it is. Even at full throttle.

Check out the OEM muffler tips - same as on the Z!

So, I began to research what kind of aftermarket muffers/exhaust systems were available for this car. Turns out, as the laws here in Japan are quite strict it means that there are very few offerings. Basically, each exhaust system has to be certified for a particular vehicle, and technically the Skyline Nismo is NOT the same car as the Skyline 400R on which it is based (as a limited edition car, the NISMO is homologated on an individual basis, not in a batch like the 400R), and so I couldn't buy an aftermarket exhaust for the 400R and be done. No, the paperwork has to say the exhaust is for the Skyline NISMO, otherwise the car will not pass shaken in the future. 

Being a NISMO car, of course Nismo offers a titanium version that saves over 10kg.

https://www.nismo.co.jp/products/web_catalogue/exhaust/sports_titanium_muffler_v37.html

But... why the DLC coating that makes the tips look black? Who thought of that? I mean they should offer a non black version! And of course the Nismo pricing... and it looks just as constrictive as the OEM system.

As I was pondering what to do, my friends at Mine's told me that Trust/Greddy was coming out with a system certified for the Skyline Nismo.  (The photo below shows the system for the 400R upon which it was based, looks like the page for the Skyline Nismo has been taken down...)

https://greddy-shop.com/?pid=168483153

The Nismo system has a pipe diameter of 51mm, and a tail diameter of 110mm. The Trust system has a pipe diameter that starts at 60mm and expands to 70mm, with a tail diameter of 115mm.  For any turbo charged car, better exhaust breathing should result in better response, right?  And just the straightish pipe arrangement should in itself mean less restriction!

So, I found a day where I was free and the guys at Mine's said they had time, and drove down (got honked at and a thumbs up by a trucker who was excited to see one out on the road, I guess?)

Still think I made the right choice on the color.

They had Nakayama-san pull it into their garage for me.

I don't understand why the engine bay was so exciting but I guess they wanted to check it out!  
A future VX-Rom for this car?

As I drove back home, the difference was immediate! To be honest the car still felt fast, but wow it sounds SO much better, befitting the twin turbo 3.0 VRDDTT it has!  And of course it looks fantastic too! 

But there was one weird thing, I started hearing a weird buzzing sound from the rear seats.  At first, I thought it was because I hadn't removed the factory clear plastic from the rear seats (yep...). Now, it turns out that this car has two electronic aids to adjust the ambient cabin noise. One is Nissan's Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and the other is the Active Sound Enhancement to supplement the natural exhaust noise.  

And guess what - on its 1 year check up, the dealer figured out that the ANC was acting up by trying to counter the new exhaust tone! That led to a buzzing sound coming from the rear speaker that is used to cancel out ambient noise.  So I had them turn it off, but leave the ASE... so now the car sounds perfect! 

I wonder how many other owners out there with a Trust Power Extreme R muffler had the same issue?

From Nismo Omori to Nissan Prince Fukushima

BLUF - I am sending my car up to Nissan Prince Fukushima to get all the dealer options and some extra work I want done, because I got screwed by my local dealer twice and they don't deserve any further business from me.

So as shown in my first post, the first thing I did after picking up my car was to drive it over to Nismo Omori Factory. Not for some work to be done there (not yet anyway) but to leave the car there until Midorikawa-san from Nissan Prince Fukushima could come down and retrieve the car. 

You may have noticed that I have recently been asking him and his team to do work on my cars, starting with the Elgrand. And there is a reason for this.  You see, when the new Nissan Skyline Nismo went on sale back in August 2023, I was ready with check in hand.  However, the closest local dealer (Nissan Prince Kanagawa, Nippa branch) told me they could not order it, EVEN THOUGH I had been telling them that the car was scheduled to go on sale in August in the months leading up to that date - how was I confident that I had accruate information? Because the people who worked to develop the car told me! (more details in a future post).  I was given all sorts of excuses - there was to be a lottery system given the demand for the car, that Nissan employees could not buy it, etc. 

I was ready to give up, or at least try to find one on the used car market, when Ochiai-san at Nismo Omori introduced me to Midorikawa-san. You see, Midorikawa-san is WELL CONNECTED on the dealership side, and he quickly contacted some senior people he knew at Nissan Prince Kanagawa, and lo and behold turns out they WERE able to offer me a car from the allotment they had received from Nissan - I would just have to buy it from their Higashi-Kanagawa branch, not the Nippa branch. Not a problem for me, it means a few more minutes traveling to that store versus the closest one. But being able to order a brand new vehicle on the same terms as any other paying customer, even if it meant asking around, was exactly what I wanted to do. No special treatment for me - Even though I work at Nissan, I am not the kind of person who pulls strings to get something I want, at the expense of ordinary customers.

So I placed my order for the car I wanted on 8 August 2023. One small problem... when I finally got the paperwork in the mail, it was NOT with all the options I wanted, as the car did not have a sunroof. I am not going to say whose error that was, but it meant that I had to quickly place a change order... except this time, the salesman at Nissan Prince Kanagawa Higashi Kanagawa told me it was too late - the dealership's allotment had been used up too, so I could not cancel this order and re-order either.  Apparently, a really popular car!

So I was resigned to a car without a sunroof, but if you know me I really like my cars to be the top of the line and fully optioned.  It was at this time that the salesman at the Nippa branch called me and told me they now had a new allotment of 6 cars - apparently, these cars were not being ordered in remote areas of Japan, so those dealerships had relinquished their allotments back to others who had customers on waiting lists, mostly in Tokyo and Kanagawa prefecture. Once I heard this, of course I was not happy - did the salesman at Higashi Kanagawa just not know or could he not have been bothered to make me happy? Did not matter, I called up Midorikawa-san... and a day later I had the Higashi Kanagawa dealership's management call me with deepest apologies - of course they would be happy to reorder the EXACT car I want from their new allotment.  Also, it turns out that there was plenty of time to submit the original change order...the salesman just couldn't be bothered I guess. 

So given the runaround I got from Nissan Prince Kanagawa at two of their stores, there is no way I am going to spend more money with them (even though as I mentioned in my previous post that I had a good experience, USUALLY it's only the salesman, and not the branch manager and the dealership president who come running out to greet customers... and now you know). I got the car from them, and unless there is some kind of warranty work I have to do with them, I doubt I will ever see them again.  The guy who DOES deserve my business is Midorikawa-san, so I am more than happy to be inconvenienced as he takes care of all 3 of my Nissans.

Anyway, a few days after I dropped the car off, Midorikawa-san personally came down in their car carrier and retrieved my Skyline Nismo. Here are some photos and video I took. I knew he was coming so I dropped by to make sure he knew EXACTLY what options and extras I wanted him to install before he left with my car.

So I arrived a few minutes early, but then as soon as Midorikawa-san showed up, the guys at Nismo sprang into action, opening the big garage door.

Love how everyone is ready to go! On time, without delay and without any fuss.

Car was looking fantastic. I really think I made the correct choice on color.

Of course, we took this opportunity to make sure some additional Nismo parts got loaded into the car...

The trunk space not as big as we expected...

The only I guy right now I would trust driving my new car, Ochiai-san.

Some stills from the video:

And then Midorikawa-san got to work, securing the car. 

And then once secured the car was lifted up. Love how these carriers are designed for cars with low clearance.

Another still from the video clip. Just love this angle!

And of course, leave it to the Japanese to get Nissan wheel cap perfectly flat when the parked it onto the carrier.

So here is the last view I had before they drove off. I guess the only way this could have been improved was by covering the car or putting it into an enclosed trailer, but Fukushima is only a few hours away and there was no rain in the forecast. 

Anyway, I am hoping a quick turnaround on the work on this car so I can start driving it and breaking it in! OR, should I keep it under 100kms for the rest of its life, assuming it will become a collectible? Hmm...

Introduction - My New Car!!!

So I did it. Finally bought a new car.  But not just any car.

Behold my new limited edition 2024 Nissan Skyline Nismo! 

Limited to only 1000 made which makes it valuable enough, but more importantly, I will share that I personally helped to bring this particular version to the market.  Hence, of course, I had to buy one!

I will discuss how I was involved in a later post - first, for those of you who may not know what makes this car special, I have a couple of links for you to get started.

https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/skyline-nismo-230808  (English press release)

This color for me is bleh. The popular Slate Grey color

https://www3.nissan.co.jp/vehicles/new/skyline/specifications/nismo.html (Japanese but with embedded video)

Basically, the car is the NISMO version of the JDM Nissan Skyline 400R (so Infiniti Q50 Red Sport for my North American, Middle East and Australian friends).  But this NISMO version is not just a body kit, as it has proper engine (more power and torque), transmission (different shift points and logic), brake (improved pads), and bespoke suspension (spring rates and larger diameter rear roll bar) modifications -  all by Nismo engineers (including the guys who work on the GT500 racing car engine), with input from Nissan test driver Kamiyama-san, the same guy who helped dial in the R32 GT-R before it went on sale!! As for the body kit, yes the aero bits are actually functional, not just as claimed by Nismo but also as reported by many well-known race drivers and journalists (check YouTube).

I will go into more detail over the next few posts, and I also have some photos of when I picked up the car, so later I will also share the new car buying experience here in Japan.

Meanwhile, here is the moment I took delivery - in Japan car dealers for some reason give you a bouquet of flowers when you take delivery (this was embarrassing enough, but when I bought my CPO Lexus the bouquet was twice as large!)

The Dark Metal (Gunmetal) Grey color looks awesome!

And of course, the first thing I did was to drive it over to Nismo Omori Factory to have some optional extras installed.  Why? Why not? This is a Nismo version of the Skyline, so why not let the guys who helped develop it make it even more special for me?

Of course, my buddy Ochiai-san immediately took a close look to make sure the car was perfect!

We may have found a small scratch! It will buff out...

Driving impression - although it was only a few kilometers from the dealer to Omori Factory, let me tell you I was laughing out loud like a maniac, grinning ear to ear - this is a VERY FUN car! Kind of like an R35 GT-R but lighter and quieter, and oh yes, it is a sedan.  In traffic it was point and shoot effortlessly and the engine (420ps VR30DDTT) a masterpiece of engineering.  Proves to me that Nissan really makes some of the best gasoline turbo engines. 

Driving dynamics worthy of this badge!

Anyway, as it was Friday I had to rush off to a few work meetings so I came back the next day to sit down and go into more detail with the guys about the work I want done on the car.  Meanwhile, Ochiai-san had hidden the car away in the Nismo Omori Factory garage:

They cover the license plate from view for owner privacy just in case

But not on the hidden side.

I am not going to spoil the surprise, but there are some tasty bits and pieces and mod coming! Stay tuned.

Finally - the car's color - Dark Metal Grey (color code KAD) is the SAME color as the Nismo CRS demo cars.  So I asked for a small favor, and the next day...

He he he. Looks awesome! I wonder how many people will visit Nismo this weekend and think that Nismo has a new project car.  Actually... in any case, check this blog as I am looking forward to sharing with everyone this latest edition to my fleet!

Just in case, here are the blogs for my other vehicles:

www.r33gt-r.com

www.e52elgrand.com

www.lexus-isf.com

check back here soon!