2012 Nissan GT-R Gets Power Boost, Better Suspension and Optional Ceramic Brakes

The Nissan GT-R has affirmed itself as one of the best performance cars for the money available today and could be on the list as best value for money ever. For 2012, Nissan has boosted power from the engine and strengthened the transmission. The body has been reinforced, there is a stronger transmission and carbon ceramic brakes are now optional. For an even more extreme car, Nissan is offering a track pack that firms things up even more and ditches the rear seats.

Thankfully, Nissan did not just release the GT-R and walk away. It has developed and updated the car every year making little tweaks and improvements. For 2012, the GT-R is getting its power boosted to 550PS (404kW), up from 530PS (390kW), and torque is at 632Nm, up from 612Nm. To get these improvements, Nissan improved the intake efficiency to get more air into the engine and tweaked the exhaust to get air out better. The engine's valves are now sodium filled to improve cooling and time has been tweaked.

The shift fork arm and flywheel bearing in the transmission have been strengthened, and a competition spec differential oil comes standard on all GT-R models now.

The rear of the engine compartment and dash panel have be reinforced. Nissan says that this will deliver more responsive handling and allow the driver to better understand grip levels through the steering wheel.

To reduce sprung weight and improve hard braking performance, Nissan is offering optional carbon ceramic brakes on the Premium Edition and Egoist trims.

Nissan has also made some changes to the interior of the GT-R for 2012. The rear view camera is now standard on all models, and the tachometer gets blue lighting to match the shift position indicator lighting.

Nissan is offering a Track Pack for the GT-R that removes the rear seats and adds revised suspension settings, extra brake cooling front and rear, aluminum-alloy wheels made by Rays and a carbon fiber air duct in the front spoiler.

The 2012 GT-R goes on sale in November, 2011, in Europe with deliveries starting in January of 2012.

For right now all of these model changes are limited to the Japanese- and European-spec GT-R, but the US should get these changes soon.