The 1989 R32 was the resurrection of old Skyline virtues, in that each of its many versions were very sporty and balanced in handling. The car came in sedan, coupe and finally also in GT-R form and for the first time in history, was available with rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive.

The old engine line-up was mostly dropped, so all versions - sedans and coupes - at least got the RB20DE engine, a normally aspirated 2.0l inline-6 with 155hp. Stronger models like the GTS-t came with the RB20DET engine, already known from the R31 GTS-R, but with an increased output of 212hp. Later versions got the normally aspirated RB25DE engine, a 2.5l DOHC inline-6 with 180hp.

The R32 Skyline GT-R

Over a decade after the last GT-R had been dropped, a new Skyline GT-R finally saw the light of day in 1989. Of course, expectations for the new top-performer were high due to the heritage it could look back upon. But this new version was more than worth the GT-R badge in any way.

At that time it may have seemed impossible for any car to resemble the PGC10’s success on and off the track - that was, until the new R32 GT-R came along, which soon earned the nickname Godzilla. The Skyline GT-R was available only in coupe form and featured high-tech in perfection, high-tech that in this case was used to support the driving experience, rather than hinder it.

It came with ATTESA-ETS (Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All - Electronic Torque Split), an electronically controlled all-wheel-drive system that usually delivers the power to the rear-wheels, but can send up to 50% of the torque to the front wheels. Thus even drifts are possible with this car, which is usually very difficult with AWD. The handling was further enhanced by Super-HICAS, an improved system of the R31 GTS-X’s all-wheel-steering, to make this car one of the best, if not THE best handling car in the world.

The GT-R did not only have excellent handling characteristics, but also featured one of the best production engines of all times, the RB26DETT, a 2.6l DOHC inline-6 twin turbo with 280hp. The RB26DETT is a pure racing engine, derived directly from Group A racing, which was despec’ed to fit the maximum 280hp allowed by Japanese regulations. Tuned (newer) versions of this engine, however, have been seen to reach up to 1300hp, so make sure to check out the Tuning section of this site, because tuning is what the Skyline really is all about. Still, the standard version makes the 0-60mph sprint in 4.8 seconds, putting it on a par with a Ferrari 355.

But the GT-R was not only a great street rocket. It was basically designed to fit Japanese Group A racing standards. And racing is where Godzilla really shone. It won so many races (i.e. it won every single race - 29 altogether) in Group A that this class was abolished because nobody wanted to compete against Nissan's flagship anymore.

The R33 Skyline GT-R

A heavy burden lay upon the R33's back when it was introduced in 1995. It’s predecessor had been very successful (almost unbeatable) and anybody hardly thought the new GT-R could possibly improve on the R32’s performance. Surprisingly, the R33 GT-R was better than the old version in almost any way, although it too had gained some weight.

It kept the RB26DETT engine with an unchanged 280hp, but had a broader torque band which made the engine more flexible. Also standard were improved versions of ATTESA-ETS and Super-HICAS.

NISMO 400R and GT-R LM

NISMO stands for Nissan Motorsports and is the (you guessed it!) Motorsports division of Nissan which was responsible for the former Group A racing cars, as well as today’s JGTC (All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship) racing cars. Since engine power for production cars is restricted to 280hp in Japan, having a car built by a tuning division is the only way to get over such a regulation. And this is exactly what Nissan did with the 400R in February 1996, a car that was produced in a very limited number of only 99 pieces.

Nissan had been racing the Skyline in the GT1 category of the 24-hours endurance race of Le Mans in 1995 and 1996, so the GT-R LM and the 400R were intended as road-going versions of these race cars. Both got derivatives of the RB26DETT engine, the GT-R LM with 305hp and the 400R with 400hp. Unfortunately only one GT-R LM was built to homologate the car for racing, which is confined to a museum today.

The 400R on the other hand, got an enlarged RB26DETT engine with 2.8l of displacement, the RBX-GT2, a twin-turbo with an astonishing 400hp at 6.800rpm. The engine was not the only similarity with the GT-R though, since both cars were based upon the R33 GT-R V-spec (Victory Specification). But where the GT-R LM only got RWD (like the race-cars), the 400R got further improved GT-R technology, like ATTESA-ETS etc.

Naturally, both car’s inner potency was resembled in their design as well. Each one of them featured bigger wheels, wider spoilers and wheel-arches and lower suspension, to give them a look even more dramatic than the already not too inconspicuous standard GT-R.

Autech GT-R 4-door

Autech is a subsidiary of Nissan specialized in tuning cars. The Autech GT-R was a four-door version of the R33 GT-R, which was introduced as a limited edition for the 40th birthday of the Nissan Skyline. The Autech version got all of the GT-R’s standard technology, as well as the most vital parts of its interior like bucket seats etc. So it really was a GT-R in terms of performance - just a lot more practical.

NISMO also brought up a tuned version of the Autech GT-R, which featured the spoilers of the NISMO 400R and a 380hp engine. It is not difficult to imagine that this car was THE attraction on its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show.