Three generations, zero showrooms
Never sold here
Between 1989 and 2002 Nissan built 72,183 Skyline GT-Rs across three generations, and every one of them was built for somewhere else: Japan first, then a handful of right-hand-drive markets. None was ever engineered to North American rules, so no dealer here could order one. For most of its life the GT-R was a car people knew from magazines and screens, never from a test drive. That absence is why a clean one still stops a car park today.
- Years
- 1999–2002
- Engine
- 2.6 L I6
- Power
- 276 hp
- Built
- Not recorded
The one that won everything
R32 BNR32
The R32 arrived in 1989 with a 2.6-litre twin-turbo straight-six, four-wheel drive that sent power forward only when the rear tyres let go, and an official 276 horsepower that nobody believed. It won all 29 races it entered in Japan's touring-car championship over four seasons and took the Bathurst 1000 twice, until the rules changed to stop it. 43,937 were built.
- Years
- 1989–1994
- Engine
- 2.6 L I6
- Power
- 276 hp
- Built
- ~43,934
The long one
R33 BCNR33
The R33 stretched the wheelbase by 105 mm to 2,720, grew rounder, and was written off as soft by people who had never driven one. In 1995 it became the first production car to lap the Nürburgring in under eight minutes, at 7:59. It is the rarest of the three by the numbers, with 16,668 built, and the one most people walk straight past.
- Years
- 1995–1998
- Engine
- 2.6 L I6
- Power
- 276 hp
- Built
- ~16,668
The one everyone knows
R34 BNR34
The R34 pulled the wheelbase back to 2,665 mm, added a six-speed Getrag gearbox, and set a 5.8-inch screen in the dash that showed boost, oil and water temperatures and, with the right unit, lap times. It was sold for four years, 1999 to 2002, and 11,578 were built. The last 1,003 were the Nür editions, named for the track that made the car's reputation.
- Years
- 1999–2002
- Engine
- 2.6 L I6
- Power
- 276 hp
- Built
- Not recorded
Fifteen years, then twenty-five
Vancouver first
Canada lets a car in once it is fifteen years old. The United States waits twenty-five. So the R32 could land in Vancouver from 2004 and cross into the States only from 2014; the R33 from 2010 and 2020; the R34 from 2014 and 2024. For a decade the nearest place to see one legally on the road was a port city with a taste for right-hand drive.
- Years
- 1989–1994
- Engine
- 2.6 L I6
- Power
- 276 hp
- Built
- ~43,934
How to tell them apart
The three tells
Length first: the R33 is the long one at 4,675 mm, the R32 the short one at 4,545, the R34 in between at 4,600. Then the wing: the R34's stands on two tall posts with a flat blade, the R33's sits lower, the R32's is a modest lip. Then the face: the R32 boxy, the R33 rounded and wide-mouthed, the R34 sharp-edged again. All three keep the signature: four round tail lamps.
- Years
- 1999–2002
- Engine
- 2.6 L I6
- Power
- 276 hp
- Built
- Not recorded