Car Auto Magazine

Multimode also applies to the suspension, which features monotube Bilstein Damptronic shocks at all four corners that automatically vary damping across three presets—Comfort, for around-town driving; Sports, the default setting, a little firmer for daily use; and R, for track use. Front camber and caster are adjustable, but not from the cockpit; you’ll need a shop for that.

Braking, by Brembo, promises to be formidable: 15-inch rotors all around, vented and cross-drilled, with six-piston calipers up front, four-piston calipers at the rear.

Credit for the body design goes to Hiroshi Hasegawa, operating under the watchful eye of Mizuno, who is not only the chief vehicle engineer but chief product specialist as well, the only guy in Nissan product development to hold both titles. Although it’s hard to view this car as beautiful, there’s lots of wind-tunnel work in the design, which pays off with high-speed downforce at both ends as well as a 0.27 Cd, an impressive—and rare—double achievement in the aero arena.

So how much will all this wonderfulness cost? Right now, we don’t know, and neither does Nissan in North America. The current WAG is a base price of about $85,000. That’s rare air, and Nissan insiders admit they’re not sure who’s going to step up, a concern when you’re hoping to sell 1000 a month. They don’t expect to convert Porsche intenders. Rather, the hope is that the GT-R will expand the everyday-supercar market.

Is that a realistic business plan? Time will tell. But the core of the plan is the idea that the GT-R represents 911 Turbo (2007 base price, $123,760) performance at a big discount. To this concept we say—at the risk of stretching our vow of silence a little—amen.