Am I gonna miss my chance at an r35? (R36 speculation)
 

Hello everyone,

So I'm a college junior going into my senior year next year. I'm going into a fairly lucrative career and I made up a somewhat rough finances plan taking into account all the expenses I would need to be taking care of to determine how quickly I could save up to responsibly afford a new GTR.tweakbox appvalley https://vlc.onl/


Why new? Maybe it's paranoia, but I don't want any modifications done to the car that I buy, I want anything done to it to be under my ownership so that I can know that it was done the way I want it to be. Also where's the fun in buying something that's already FBO? Mods are fun! Additionally, I want any mistakes made to be my own. If I launch the car 1,000 times, that's not great, but it'll have been me that launched it, not some previous owner, so at least any bad driving habits will net me the fun as opposed to someone else.

The problem is that I likely couldn't responsibly afford a brand new R35 until somewhere between the years 2022 and 2024, and while nobody really knows what Nissan is planning for the future, there have been rumors of the R36 being released around 2023. Plus, even if it doesn't, whose to say the R35 continues to be manufactured, considering the low sales volume of the MY2017 R35.

Why not go for an R36? Well (A) it might be too expensive and (B) it might be a hybrid. I like how tunable the R35 is, but a hybrid is probably too complex for someone that isn't a specialized Nissan mechanic to mod. There doesn't seem to be a huge aftermarket scene for, say, the new Acura NSX compared to the current GTR, and they're in a pretty similar price bracket.

Now I know the future is unpredictable and for all I know the economy could crash or I might be caught off guard by unemployment or I could end up paying a lot more on my living expenses than I planned to, I'm aware of all that, but I'm just trying to get a very rough idea of what to expect, not a set in stone life plan.

So, with all that said, this post came out a bit more rambly than I intended, buuut what do you guys think?

tl;dr: I want an R35, but I don't want to buy used bc reasons, and by the time I could afford one (2022-2024) it might not be available new anymore, do you guys think I'm gonna miss the chance?

Thank you!

If it does go out of production in say 2020, there may still be MY2020 models sold as new in 2023. It's a long shot, but always possible.

I've always been a 'cost efficient' kind of person, and as such I can't see myself ever buying a new car, and I certainly cannot relate to your sentiment. With that in mind, I think you will very easily be able to find a bone stock R35 in 2024, and if you're patient you can probably find a very low mile car driven by a very cautious (read: old) driver. Even if you're uncomfortable with that, it's just another excuse to pour over every detail of the car in your first few weeks of ownership to make sure it's in tip-top shape.

Regardless of what you do, the R35 is a LOT of car for a 20-something year old. Borderline too much car. The first modestly powerful car I got at 24yo, I totaled within a year. I would seriously recommend enrolling in a defensive driving class (I did this... and still totaled my car), and whatever you're driving in the mean time - take it to a track day or at least attend a season or two of autox events. The most important part of the car is that fleshy bag of meat between the seat and the steering wheel.

Have fun with your computer programming c:

Why not work hard towards the R35 as the goal then decide for sure what you want when you get there based on availability??

And while I agree with the post above about driver’s school, I find the comment about the “old driver car” contemptible, stereotypical, and just plain lame. Age is not a factor in how well or fast/reckless a car is driven or maintained. Idiot owner/drivers exist at every age just as amazing owners do as well.

While I stand by my statement, I'll admit it was a bit judgmental, and it definitely doesn't apply to everyone (especially those who are active on sports car forums). In general, the folks who have the means to buy an R35 are going to be older, and again, in general, older folks don't thrash on their cars. The average country club has more luxury 4-doors than sports cars. That's definitely not to say that some don't drive them hard, but I'm sure you'll agree that with age comes experience, and with that also comes a certain amount of mechanical sympathy and a bit more respect for the dollar. A life-long car enthusiast is probably going to drive their car harder than Carl the CFO, who would rather take his 40-footer out on the lake than take his GT-R to the track - the same GT-R he only really bought so Bill in Purchasing would shut up about how his 5.0 was the fastest car in the office.

I had my dad in mind when I made the comment. I love him to death, but as a self-developed car enthusiast, he did nothing but hamper the development of my passion through misinformation and restrictions (but this ain't therapy so I digress). Everything he knows about cars he learned from Car & Driver, my favorite-least-favorite car related quote from him "It's impossible for oil levels to drop, it's a sealed system". At the age of 60 he bought a new Mazdaspeed3. He loved the thing, babied it like crazy, maintained by the dealer it's entire life, took several road trips down to Reno and various national parts, and I can guarantee in the 25k miles of driving the car was never launched once, and I'd be willing to bet the highest it was ever revved was when he asked me to drive it around so he could hear what it sounded like from the outside. When I took him autox-ing once, he said he had to get the Speed3 out here so I could show him how hard it could actually be driven. He traded it in before that could come to fruition, and somebody is going to find that pristine, spotless hot hatch on the lot, bone stock with full dealer maintenance records, and they're going to thank their lucky starts that smarta$$es like g356sp bestowed the need for speed on their dear old dads.

He drives a Ridgeline now, and claims it's just as fast.. bless his heart :P