# MY12 after MY10 first impressions



## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

Recently sold my Ultimate Silver 2010 to a next door neighbour and bought a Gunmental 2012 with Recaros a couple of months ago. It's just completed it's running in service and haven't had a chance to really experience any high end performance so these are really first impressions of one car vs another (ie definitely not a cross-section!) as well as model year differences noticed so far. Had both cars from new and neither have been modded although I am having serious thoughts about modding the 12 when it comes up to it's first proper service.

Firstly, am really enjoying the new car. Surprisingly so - I didn't expect it because to all intents and purposes it's the same car with the same plate. I am totally neutral on the colour change. I loved the UMS and I love the DMG although I would say the UMS is a bit more flashy and the DMG a bit more understated which have their own pro's and con's. Completely indifferent to the carbon trim vs black plastic trim, dark metallic plastic vs aluminium plastic or driving lights. Had a premium edition 10 and like the all black seats and was worried that the Recaros and red flashes were going to be too red (in fact if there was an option for all black Recaros I would have taken it) but now I am glad to have them as they are more maroon than flamingo red and make the interior a little bit more interesting. I cannot really explain why I have that new car "woohoo can't wait to go for a drive" feeling again. I think it is because there are a number of tiny changes that just seem to add up to make one big impression difference. A lot of the differences are not unique to the 2012 too.

Not a brilliant writer by any stretch of the imagination so will list out all the positives and negatives I have noticed between my two cars in chronological order of noticing them. If anyone has any input on the negatives as they have resolved similar in the past would be grateful to hear.

1)Car was not as well prepared from same HPC. I think my 10 was their 2nd ever sale and it was more meticulously prepared than any car I have ever bought. I am totally fastidious and couldn't find a single flaw when they uncovered it...but in fact they pointed out where the detailer has put a microscopic scratch on the black plastic sill and said they would change the sill (which they did at running in service). Forget looking for dings, polishing swirls, alloy scratches - that MY10 didn't even have a carpet fibre that hadn't been combed into perfect position - sounds almost impossible but it's true and it was a joy to keep clean because of that.

The 12 on the other hand was very poorly prepared and still has adhesive lines where the protective tape was taken off the body and the windows steam up unevenly because they were never cleaned properly on the inside. The driver sill looked like the most clumsy heavy booted guy in the world had gotten in and out of the car 80 times. Quite perplexing on a 38mile car when I never touch the sill on cars I have had for years. The plastic centre console between the rear seats had a long deep scratch in it.

2)The 12 has cheap blue plastic valve caps. The 10 had beautiful blue aluminium dust caps.

3)GTR tech (who I think is very good btw and was servicing my 10) warned me that the gearbox was far noisier at idle than my 10. I didn't notice when I started the car up but he said no it's when the gearbox warms up and the few 12's he had seen so far were the same. Sure enough found the gearbox is noisy (very rattley, knocky) at idle in Neutral or Park when the gearbox temp is at operating temp. In gear there is no noise. Not a mechanic but it sounds like a light fly wheel / clutch type noise. I have a lot of evidence that my 10 was unfeasibly quiet in the gearbox department compared to average but it makes me wonder if all the gearboxes / flywheels are the same spec how can they sound so different. Comments on this welcome because it does bug me a bit.

4)The blue centre cluster screen to match the gear position light is a big improvement but this is a personal taste thing.

5)Gear oil pressure higher in the 12 than the 10 (a couple of markings) "at rest" and jumps further momentarily when under load in the 12. Ie in all circumstances there is more pressure in the 12 on the gauge.

6)Engine oil pressure identical for both cars in all circumstances.

7)Water and Oil temp seem to run a little bit hotter in the 12 in steady state motorway conditions but don't seem to heat up as fast in traffic. Jury still out on gearbox oil temp.

8)10 didn't have a single interior rattle of any kind. In fact it was ominously quiet. The 12 has what I think is an annoying windscreen creak (especially bad in cold conditions) which sounds like it is coming from the rear view mirror area - I think I had similar on another car many years ago that was cured with silicone tape under the window seal.

9)Far more subtle but from the same place it sounds like a loose wire above the courtesy lights tapping on the plastic between the roof and the headlining but if the windscreen is creaking it completely drowns that out. Tech said he tried taking the courtesy lights out of the demonstrator to see if he could get into there and decided he would rather not try on mine unless it was unbearable, which it is far from being. Also he could try to pull the headlining at the front and stuff some foam in. Interested to hear if anyone has cured similar.

10)Had a really odd intermittent plastic bag flapping in the wind at motorway speeds coming from driver side rear quarter and "amplified" road noise from only the right rear tyre (same place basically) when going over certain surfaces eg wet bit of road or white line. It sounded almost as if they forgot to put sound deadening in that one place. Jiggling around in the rear seat and pushing things down seemed to cure the flapping noise and at the run in service the tech mentioned that the hub was quite loose and needed a lot of tightening - haven't experienced those noises again since touch wood.

11)Exhaust note is more throaty on the 12. The 10 sounded like a vacuum cleaner. The 12 feels far less smooth perhaps as a result of the more purposeful note but doesn't seem to be louder in the cabin - Just a different note. Have had non-petrol heads remark that the car sounds far louder so it may make more of a difference outside than inside. It's definitely more interesting to wind the 12's window down in a tunnel than the 10's..

12)Handsfree phone needs to be at volume "9.5" on the scale to be anywhere near loud enough in the 12. The 10 seemed to have better hands free sound-wise. Same mobile handset via bluetooth so definitely the car.

13)Not sound expert but could swear the sound system is better on the 12 than my old 10 and thought it was very good on the 10...

14)Happy to say very rare creak from the carbon fibre centre console. My 10 did same from the "R mode" panel.

15)Upshift paddle is looser that the downshift paddle. Never checked my10 but I think I would have noticed like I did in the 12. Any way I will next time I see neighbor. The actual shift action is fine and no play. It's in the vertical plane that there is a few millimeters of play. Checked the 12 demo with technician and both paddles were madly loose. We burst out laughing. Not sure if it is easy to fix this by tightening something up or what.

16)The 12 seems to be far more torque at lower RPM so the car feels far faster in the normal driving part of the rev range say 2-3.5k. Can be a bit deceptive because you seem to get practically full throttle acceleration at half throttle but I think the 10 was similar. Not rung it's neck yet but at around 5.5-6k there is definitely the feeling that there is more puff than the 10 which started to feel like to run out of breath. So would say the power diff between the 10 and 12 is very noticeable in normal/realistic every day driving conditions. Makes me wonder what kind of rocket ship the 600 plus conversions on here must feel like!

17)Where the door panel meets the window there is a small gap where one can see into the door internals when standing outside from the right angle. Only tiny but thought this can't be right. Tech thought same and dismantled door card and put back with very little change if any and him adjusting the only thing he could in there so seems to be a simple fit issue. Will check my old 10 but it has a car cover on it at the moment...

18)Hill start assist braking seems to work 100pct on the 12. It was 50pct at best on the 10.

19)Again this is a very personal thing but seats are better in every way in the 12 except strangely in the lumbar support area. I may need to fiddle a bit more (the 10 made my left leg numb until I found a slightly tweaked seating position for example) but at the moment longer journeys are not quite as effortless in the 12. I think this is fixable with seating position.

OMG sorry, can't believe how much I've droned on..sure there is other stuff that will come to me later.

edit to say also can't believe I forgot to mention the gearbox is so much smoother in the 12. Night and day. Pull away smooth however you want to do it and no drop in power while shifting 1st to 2nd with a bit of lock on like I used to get in the 10. also to remove a lot of ***821; stuff..


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## Austin (Sep 30, 2010)

Thanks for writing up your comparison, it makes interesting reading.


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## KingOfTheGT-R (May 21, 2011)

So the big question... Is a MY12 worth the price difference to a MY10?


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## HSimon (Jun 4, 2008)

Good write up mate. Ive had a few vehicles with creaky windows over the years. It took me ages to work out what was at fault with these cars. I always had great luck, with squirting some silicon lubricant, between the rubber sealing strips, and the offending glass itself. Cant remember on the GT-R, how tight the rubber windscreen top seal is, but i know on all cars i fettled creaky windows on, i did manage to slide a straw under the rubber seal. Worth having a go ?. I also noticed, on my 10, the upshift paddle had more vertical movement, than the downshift paddle. Hell, i thought i was the most OCD chappy on here, but it appears not. Contemplating a new GT-R myself at the moment, so a very timely report, thanks, regards, SIMON.


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## *MAGIC* (Oct 21, 2009)

Good write up.


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## ROG350Z (Jun 15, 2008)

Excellent thank you great and detailed write up. Based on that I will stick with my MY10 haha and go stage 4(.5 maybe with downpipes mmmmmmm downpipes)


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

Thanks for all the positive comments on the write-up. Not really my forte. and thanks for the tips on the creaky window seal - will check it out!

Of course I forgot to include one other glaring difference which is instantly noticeable is that the comfort mode on the 12 is far stiffer than on the 10. I have mostly been in comfort mode for the running in and quite happy to keep it there whereas I remember thinking I can't wait for the runing in to be over on the 10 to see how the car really feels..haven't had the time to drive much or try normal mode since running in so won't comment yet on whether I think this is a good or a bad thing - although I thought the comfort mode on the 10 had far too little damping and was like a bouncy castle it was fine in traffic and so with it being so easily switchable why not have a big difference between comfort and normal..

Also forgot that the 12 has the ability to switch off the 4WD at low speeds which the 10 didn't and I do this everytime I get in the car as it makes it feel far more freed up while parking / unparking, especially when not warmed up. For example reversing the 10 out of a garage then up a road camber while applying lock i used to have to use a lot of gas. Not in the 12.

To answer the questions on whether it is worth the price difference - in my view it's a personal thing and it will be unique to each individual on how they value certain things - my opinion the 10 was an absolute bargain and the price hike for the 11 and 12 still makes the GTR very good value relative to other cars but relative to an imaginery brand new 10 available at the old price side by side with a brand new 12 I think it would be very hard to justify the 15k diff IF you were happy with modding and could get the gearbox working the same and the power the same for a fraction of that cost(which i am sure you can). Those have been the stand out features for me in the short space of time I've lived with the 12. The other little tweaks that add up are definitely worth something but what is difficult to say as it would just be a personal preference thing.

When you factor in depreciation on top to sell the 10 to get a 12 then it widens that gap further but it's probably not correct to think about the depreciation because even if you were selling an old 10 for a brand new 10 then you would have to shell that out.


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## Arcam (Jun 30, 2009)

Nice write up :thumbsup:

Re point 3 on your list: it is noisier because it uses the new "improved" bell housing.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

How are you "turning off" the 4wd?


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## Anders_R35 (Jul 20, 2011)

Adamantium said:


> How are you "turning off" the 4wd?


Press and hold Save mode until it flashes, 4wd mode disables to allow better low speed turning without diffs binding and re-enables automatically obove circa 5mph


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## GTR Bro (Jun 8, 2011)

Anders_R35 said:


> Press and hold Save mode until it flashes, 4wd mode disables to allow better low speed turning without diffs binding and re-enables automatically obove circa 5mph


Is that limited to the 12?


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## Anders_R35 (Jul 20, 2011)

GTR Bro said:


> Is that limited to the 12?


No works on MY11 too :thumbsup:


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

Anders_R35 said:


> Press and hold Save mode until it flashes, 4wd mode disables to allow better low speed turning without diffs binding and re-enables automatically obove circa 5mph


It's a great feature which I find really helps with parking but you have to do it every time you start up which is odd given it engages automatically at v.low speed anyway. Would have thought it should be default on low speed 2WD and switcheable to low speed 4WD for pulling away in snow or if stuck? Guess it's safer this way round though..


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

Arcam said:


> Nice write up :thumbsup:
> 
> Re point 3 on your list: it is noisier because it uses the new "improved" bell housing.


Ahhh... Thanks! :thumbsup:So there is a mechanical or design difference.. Do you know what is different and meant to cure what and whether it is only MY12 or MY11 too? I'm no engineer but seems odd to me that something that makes more noise and knocking / vibration is going to last longer or solve a problem...or maybe they took the word "bell" too literally


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## MarcR35GTR (Oct 17, 2010)

GTR Bro said:


> Is that limited to the 12?


Also works on my 59 reg MY10 !


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## GTR Bro (Jun 8, 2011)

MarcR35GTR said:


> Also works on my 59 reg MY10 !


Great feature car doesn't sound like it is pulling up my block paving with this feature. Great tip and fantastic read in general.


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

MarcR35GTR said:


> Also works on my 59 reg MY10 !


You hold down snow mode til it flashes? Is that a documented feature that I missed?


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## sw20GTS (Jul 29, 2010)

mags993tt said:


> You hold down snow mode til it flashes? Is that a documented feature that I missed?


Yes, curious about this too as it doesn't seem to work on my 59  I've only recently noticed on MY11 + it's "Safe" (blue led) instead of "Snow" (green led) lol


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

sw20GTS said:


> Yes, curious about this too as it doesn't seem to work on my 59  I've only recently noticed on MY11 + it's "Safe" (blue led) instead of "Snow" (green led) lol


Any 4 letters beginning with an S will do lol.


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

Reading through the last six or so posts I think we've gone a but wrong.. 

On the MY11 it automatically goes into RWD when you apply half a turn of steering lock under 6mph.
But you can turn 4WD on and off while doing this by holding the transmission switch down for 4 seconds.
I would assume the MY12 is the same?

If the steering wheel is not turned much then holding the transmission switch down will put the car in Snow (09,10) or Safe (11,12) , both of which allow more slip between the front and rear axles, so turning is made easier.
But it's not the same as the RWD feature only the later cars have.


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## OldBob (Oct 18, 2010)

Good write up mags very interesting, thanks for posting. Let us know how things go when you have booted it a bit more!


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## New Reg (Jul 22, 2011)

Very good write up and based on that I am fairly glad I stuck with the MY10.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

CT17 said:


> Reading through the last six or so posts I think we've gone a but wrong..
> 
> On the MY11 it automatically goes into RWD when you apply half a turn of steering lock under 6mph.
> But you can turn 4WD on and off while doing this by holding the transmission switch down for 4 seconds.
> ...


Something is amiss here!

which is why I asked the original question! It was me who noticed someone commenting on a youtube video that holding down the save mode button causes it to flash once indicating something strange is happening. It has never been confirmed to me what it does. I tested it to see if it was a way of manually engaging permanent 2wd mode, but the mfd at least still indicated that torque was being sent forwards.

What is amiss is the above statement. In snow mode on other cars, they actually reduce the slip between front and rear wheel drive. By locking the diff front to rear to some extent you can be certain that some torque will be transmitted to every axle. If you really on simply an open centre diff (which our cars do not have) you will only achieve wheel spin at the rear. By locking the diff more, you guarantee some degree of torque transmission at the front which is more likely to find you some traction.

Equally, on a low grip surface like snow or even standing water, by reducing the burden on the rear tyres to generate traction you leave open more of the available grip for lateral grip, meaning you are less likely to oversteer, this is considere safer hence "save" mode or snow mode.

ie. the opposite of what CT17 said.

One of us is confused - please explain why if it's me.


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## MarcR35GTR (Oct 17, 2010)

Adamantium said:


> Something is amiss here!
> 
> which is why I asked the original question! It was me who noticed someone commenting on a youtube video that holding down the save mode button causes it to flash once indicating something strange is happening. It has never been confirmed to me what it does. I tested it to see if it was a way of manually engaging permanent 2wd mode, but the mfd at least still indicated that torque was being sent forwards.
> 
> ...


It definitely does something on my MY10, but i must say it is hard to be sure what ?


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

...


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## bones (Jun 7, 2012)

Adamantium said:


> Something is amiss here!
> 
> which is why I asked the original question! It was me who noticed someone commenting on a youtube video that holding down the save mode button causes it to flash once indicating something strange is happening. It has never been confirmed to me what it does. I tested it to see if it was a way of manually engaging permanent 2wd mode, but the mfd at least still indicated that torque was being sent forwards.
> 
> ...


This is about the "tight corner braking phenomenon". To reduce this you press the safe mode switch down for 4 seconds. Awd is already engaded so it will then only switch to 2wd if there is more than a half turn on the steering wheel and speed is less than 6mph. This happens only if the switch is used ie it is not automatic. I got this from a US MY13 manual and see no reason why it should be any different on UK cars. I could be wrong, of course.


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

bones said:


> This is about the "tight corner braking phenomenon". To reduce this you press the safe mode switch down for 4 seconds. Awd is already engaded so it will then only switch to 2wd if there is more than a half turn on the steering wheel and speed is less than 6mph. This happens only if the switch is used ie it is not automatic. I got this from a US MY13 manual and see no reason why it should be any different on UK cars. I could be wrong, of course.


You are right.

I got my wires crossed.
You have to hold down the switch for 4 seconds to activate RWD when you have half a turn of lock, it's not automatic.

Ooops.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

That's interesting. So the manual now says it and it's not automatic.

I knew it was a featre, but didn't know it was automatic.

I have my manual next to me, will check the UK one!

Worth doing everytime I leave the driveway!


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

I don't have my manual to hand but from memory it's exactly what the American MY13 one says.

In practice I can vouch for the fact that it makes a huge difference to low speed manouvering where I felt I was constantly fighting the diffs in the 10 especially when cold.

In theory though there is deffo something I am not understanding about why it works - I seem to remember that the MY10 and earlier switches off 4WD when lock is applied. So if the only difference is with wheels straight ahead at low speed being able to have 2WD then why should it matter when manouvering?


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

mags993tt said:


> I don't have my manual to hand but from memory it's exactly what the American MY13 one says.


It is.

I checked.


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

My old car was back in the driveway opposite so had a quick peak around the outside as promissed.

Where the door card meets the door window is a bit lower and a flappy bit of rubber is perfectly the right height to cover the gap between the top of the door card and the window. So seeing the internals on mine is simply because the door card is a poor fit - too high and flappy bit of rubber is too low so they don't match up.

Also noticed my inner two rear lights look a darker red than outer ones on the MY12 but on the 10 all four are the same colour. Not sure if this is a MY "upgrade" or something related to the fact the cars are different colours.

Unfortunately another build flaw I noticed while washing the car - just above the rain sensor there is a scratch in the black paint on the windscreen...looks silvery or like a bubble.

Happily I did notice one enhanced bit of build quality on my 12 vs my old 10 - the bonnet vents are perfectly fitted on the 12 but were always a little bit off on my 10.

Fact that these little things pass quality control makes me think they are correcting bigger issues on the line.

Quite a few comments about happy to have stuck with the MY10 so I hope I am not painting a bad picture of the 12. I am trying to be as fair and unbiased as possible - I was changing cars any way and it was going to be a GTR and may not have time for the logistics of modding unfortunately so kind of didn't have a lot of options. Unmodded 10 vs unmodded 12 as mine are/were I would say it is definitely a step up or should I say a few little steps up (OCD niggles aside). So it is more a question of value of those differences to the buyer when comparing the two cars and whether most of those things can be achieved in an alternative cheaper way.

As I tried to say in the first post I was surprised that swapping essentially like car for like car would re-engender that new car feeling.. but it did.. so would say that is a definitely a tick in the right box for the changes.


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## paul__k (Dec 8, 2007)

Excellent write up
The 12 car does have better speakers as you have noticed


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

paul__k said:


> Excellent write up
> The 12 car does have better speakers as you have noticed


Cheers for the info :thumbsup: Tone deaf but even I noticed an improvement.

Just had a mess around with the 4second save mode RWD only thing. Looking at the torque distribution MFD:

1) Above 6mph can't notice any difference whatever the mode.
2) Below 6mph with wheels straight ahead can't notice any difference on the mfd whatever the mode. ie plenty of torque distribution to the front.
3) Below 6mph with wheels turned with it activated absolutely no indication torque is going to front (AWD) until speed climbs above 6mph.
4)Below 6mph and above with it deactivated with lock on can see torque going to the front wheels at car trying to rip up the pavement.

So it stops torque going to the front wheels at sub 6mph speeds if there is lock on. It is mightily effective and i switch to this mode everytime i start the car. I thought my 10 did this automatically ie no torque to front with lock on but judging from the difference I must have been wrong or it is doing something else as well that I don't understand.

Had another shocker when I looked at the windscreen again. This time nothing to do with Nissan and more to do with the government. £1030...holy [email protected] reckon my 10 was around £450...


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## MarcR35GTR (Oct 17, 2010)

mags993tt said:


> Cheers for the info :thumbsup: Tone deaf but even I noticed an improvement.
> 
> Just had a mess around with the 4second save mode RWD only thing. Looking at the torque distribution MFD:
> 
> ...


The tax is just the first time at that price , then both are £460 per year still high and will probably only get worse !


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

If you change to that mode, doesn't it prevent you being in any other gear box mode, eg. You can't use R-mode?


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

MarcR35GTR said:


> The tax is just the first time at that price , then both are £460 per year still high and will probably only get worse !


Phew! I thought it sounded like a ridiculous increase.



> If you change to that mode, doesn't it prevent you being in any other gear box mode, eg. You can't use R-mode?!


Haven't experimented with that. Will give it a go but won't have a chance until tomorrow evening. Completely hypothetically I don't see why it should though seeing as turning this feature on and off is pressing down for 4 secs as opposed to pressing down to switch on and up to switch off. Famous last words maybe seeing as SNOW mode on my 10 used to catch me out by quietly switching itself off if I wanted to use Manual to keep in a low gear going down a slippery slope which just isn't intuitive to me.


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

R-mode DOES switch off the RWD mode...and it needs to be re-enabled with the 4 second save mode button. Seems really unintuitive. Don't understand why they make such a useful feature difficult to have on all the time. After all only seems to do anything sub 6mph..


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## bones (Jun 7, 2012)

I dont think this feature is available on my my10. Held the switch down and nothing happened. The light remained on, it didnt blink or anything.


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## MarcR35GTR (Oct 17, 2010)

bones said:


> I dont think this feature is available on my my10. Held the switch down and nothing happened. The light remained on, it didnt blink or anything.


Odd my MY10 does blink !


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## Austin (Sep 30, 2010)

MarcR35GTR said:


> Odd my MY10 does blink !


Could that be due to the reflash to stage 4?


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## AL0481 (Dec 3, 2009)

Good write up mate, I have an 10 Black Editon and thinking of changing for an 11 or 12. Which NHPC did you use? Apologies if I missed it.


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## bones (Jun 7, 2012)

Austin said:


> Could that be due to the reflash to stage 4?



The my13(us) manual describes the issue and gives a solution. My my10 manual just describes the issue.


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## Austin (Sep 30, 2010)

bones said:


> The my13(us) manual describes the issue and gives a solution. My my10 manual just describes the issue.


I'm not sure what you mean regarding my previous post but I was just asking if the flashing light on the MY10 (MarcR35GTR's car) could be due to the stage 4 upgrade on that car which differentiates it from a "standard" MY10.


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## bones (Jun 7, 2012)

May have been better not including a quote. I agree it could be a reason. Don't know.


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## Austin (Sep 30, 2010)

No problem, I just didn't understand it.


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## mags993tt (Feb 3, 2011)

It's been another month or so. I really do love this car - nothing model year specific, just GTR's in general. I think it's down to the fact that it actually delivers on being a comfortable GT good for cruising and traffic and at the same time is a genuine supercar. I don't think there are many cars in this niche that deliver on both fronts even if that is how they are marketed. If anything they tend to be more luxo barge with bad ride and not particularly impressive on the dynamic front so I do think the GTR is pretty unique.

A few things I've noticed since original post or forgot to write in the first place:

1) MY12 does a three flash indication for lane changes if stalk is not fully engaged. Sounds silly but I really missed this on the MY10. Only small gripe is that the indicator stalk spring is so weak that you have to make a concious effort not to fully engage it when you ony want the three flashes.

2) Again micro detail - The auxillary power cig lighter sockets have a better looking dummy in them and the one in the armrest lights up. (I gues this is where they spent the money they saved on the aluminium dust caps.)

3) MY12 seems to be far more sensitive to petrol. With Shell Vmax I get sustained 1 bar boost and the car feels v. quick compared to my old 10, especially at higher RPM. With BP ultimate I get 0.75bar max most of the time but obviously don't want to test out performance when I have BP in.

4)Sticker on the inside of the fuel filler flap says 100 octane. Not sure where I can get that but if I am not mistaken the 10 had 98 written there. May be wrong though. Would be happy putting whatever is available if the engine management could compensate without breaking anything and only having a loss in power when I couldn't find the right stuff. It seems it does with the boost differences between 97RON and 98RON. Am actually in the oil industry and have to say I am quite surprised by the sensitivity between Shell and BP specification.

5)If someone was to tell me that the engine management on the MY12 could not cope with BP ultimate then that is one great reason to get some mods and a BP ultimate map.

6)Oil level gauge was showing 1 bar below max since optimisation. Have covered 1000miles since then with it not moving and oddly last night showed me full bars. Both starting locations are the only two places I park so inclines not to blame. More like the oil fairy had been...

7)Whe starting the engine from cold the MY12 revs much higher than my old 10 and for far longer. About 2-2.3k and not fully getting down to 1kish until 30seconds later. I thought this would change after running in because my 10 did this (though not as extreme) when it was new and then stopped doing it almost alltogether.

8) not sure if this is different to my old car but have really noticed (maybe because of the weather) that the ESP light does not always flash when getting some intervention in the wet. You can feel the power getting attenuated but no flashing light. On other occasions get the intervention and the flashing light.

if I remember/discover anything else will stick it up. 

Cheers,

M


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## bones (Jun 7, 2012)

What a fantastic write up. I've really enjoyed reading your comparison. What i find most remarkable is that there is little decernable difference between the current model years. I have a MY10. I think that over the next few versions a gap will appear and the MY15, for example, will be much much better than a 9 or 10. I almost ordered a new MY12 and glad i went for a used 10.


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

There isn't a huge difference, but there are a lot of little bits and bobs that just add up to make it a nicer car.

I went from a MY10 to a MY11, so either side of the most noticable changes so far and it does feel a nicer car. Better suspension, interior (not the flappy paddles though) revised front with DRL, convenient 3 flash indicators etc... not huge, but makes it a better car.

People compare the price of a £40k 09/10 and £75k new one and say it's not worth it.
But let's not forget it's also two or three years newer, which goes some way to expain a part of the price difference. It's not like for like comparing a brand new car and a two or three year old one with 15-20k miles on the clock.

For some people it's worth more for three years warranty, a new reg number and more modern facelift version.
Not £35k addmitedly IMO, but some of that difference I'd have to say it is worth it... which is why I paid £57k for a MY11 with 4k on the clock when an 09/10 was cheaper.


edit:

My main point was, it's easier to say I'm glad I bought an earlier and cheaper car (as many do on this forum), but that tends to be the view of those that did. People spend more on the newer, better car with a longer warranty for a reason usually and are happy to suffer higher depreciation for a vehicle that is slightly better. So they bought what they want and chose to spend more for a reason.
Having had both I can honestly say the MY11 is worth more than a MY10. How much is up to the buyer.


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## MarcR35GTR (Oct 17, 2010)

CT17 said:


> There isn't a huge difference, but there are a lot of little bits and bobs that just add up to make it a nicer car.
> 
> I went from a MY10 to a MY11, so either side of the most noticable changes so far and it does feel a nicer car. Better suspension, interior (not the flappy paddles though) revised front with DRL, convenient 3 flash indicators etc... not huge, but makes it a better car.
> 
> ...


Richard, I agree with your points, I love my MY10, but for the right price difference would go for an MY11. Interestingly i wouldnt pay any premium for the MY11 to MY12 as the performance difference is so easily obtained and everything else seems virtually the same.


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## computergeek (Nov 25, 2011)

MarcR35GTR said:


> Richard, I agree with your points, I love my MY10, but for the right price difference would go for an MY11. Interestingly i wouldnt pay any premium for the MY11 to MY12 as the performance difference is so easily obtained and everything else seems virtually the same.


I recently borrowed a MY12 for the day while the dealer had my MY11 for new headlights. Here's what I noticed:


Suspension felt a bit different and I didn't automatically go for Comfort when driving away on less than perfect roads.

The exhaust note was slightly more prominent at full throttle

Performance felt the same but the MY12 car only had 700 miles and I didn't want to push it too hard

The gear box made exactly the same kind of clunking noises even though the the strengthened shift fork arm is meant to provide more refinement.

I was actually looking forward to getting the MY11 back at the end of the day as the MY12 had a really bad squeak/rattle from the CD area and the ride felt less precise. I guess the suspension may just take a bit of getting used to.

Somehow the build quality didn't feel as good, but that might just have been because of the annoying squeak.


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## New Reg (Jul 22, 2011)

CT17 said:


> My main point was, it's easier to say I'm glad I bought an earlier and cheaper car (as many do on this forum), but that tends to be the view of those that did.


As was the case with you when you had a MY10 

Having come form the Evo scene, the thing I love about the GTR is the relative lack of change between the models. I had an Evo VIII and across the VIII range there were all kinds of hardware changes - exhausts, turbos, pistons, cams - you name it. However, with the GTR, the most important parts have remained the same - engine, exhaust, gearbox. A simple software update and your gearbox is the same as the MY12 and you are running more power. :thumbsup:

I understand the suspension setup is better in the MY11 and 12 than the 10 but having come from an Evo with coilovers, the MY10 is like a Phantom. Of course there are some external change but I really don't like the Daytime lights and I prefer the wheels on the older models.

Don't get my wrong, given the choice between the two I would take the MY11 but for my money it is not worth the extra. When I purchased my car it was paid for in full with no finance - I could not justify paying loads more for an MY11 on the never never for changes that to me just did not seem to justify the extra outlay.


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

New Reg said:


> As was the case with you when you had a MY10


Exactly. We are mostly biased to what we own because it's so good. 
I didn't finance either, although I did last time. Situation change.


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## New Reg (Jul 22, 2011)

That it is. I think the key is to get the best you can afford without breaking the bank but - at the end of the day - what you need more than anything is this car in you life, be it an 09 or a 12.


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## Charlie boy (Jan 27, 2012)

...........or a 911 hey Wes?


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## New Reg (Jul 22, 2011)

Charlie boy said:


> ...........or a 911 hey Wes?


Wash you mouth out Trev!


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## Anders_R35 (Jul 20, 2011)

mags993tt said:


> 3) MY12 seems to be far more sensitive to petrol. With Shell Vmax I get sustained 1 bar boost and the car feels v. quick compared to my old 10, especially at higher RPM. With BP ultimate I get 0.75bar max most of the time but obviously don't want to test out performance when I have BP in.


12's going in to limp mode (0.7 bar) has been discussed a lot on Nagtroc where the hotter American weather seems to trigger it on a regular basis.

A remap is the cure, they must have too much timing in there or something causing too much knock. Perhaps Nissan will release a dealer map update as they will have collected a lot of data from the black box during servicing over this summer. 

If Nissan don't release an update, an EcuTek or Cobb remap will fix it. You can have a 97RON and 99RON map to switch between.

Anders


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## Ventsi (Jul 25, 2009)

Thanks mags993tt for the useful info.

I am a MY09 EDM owner, first batch to arrive in Europe. Bought brand new and driving it for a little over 3 years now. I just wanted to share my experience with the petrol with you, as you seem concerned.

My car came with a sticker on the inside of the fuel door that said 100 OCT only, but below it was clearly another sticker, which said something in German, which translated to "minimum 98 octane" or something in that matter.
However, there was no NHPC in Bulgaria in 2009. That's why I went to personally collect my car from Munich, then I went on a tour accross Germany in order to obtain the first 2000 km for the first optimization or whatever that was. I did it in Reutlingen (very bad service btw, screwed up my geometry so the wheel was tilted for the car to go straight, nightmare). Anyway, after the service I had to get back to Bulgaria and I had to cross Serbia, which don't sell petrol higher than 95 OCT. The car was OK. Several months later I again had to travel to Vienna, because the Bulgarian NHPC was still not working, so I crossed Serbia two times, again fueling with 95. On the first one I even raced a Hungarian 911 on the highway, just couldn't resist the challenge, and the guy was stepping on it hard.
Other than that, I regularly put 98 OCT, because 100 OCT is not present on all the gas stations in Bulgaria.
Sorry for the long story, my point was that you can put 98 with absolutely no worries. Lower than that, I don't really know, but if you don't step on it too much, you're probably gonna be OK.

I'm now running custom GTC stage (higher boost than Cobb Stage 2) and I have different maps for 98, 100 and even 95, so I don't have concerns anymore.

I wanted to ask, did I understand correctly, that the ride in MY10 is actually more comfortable than MY12? Because if I can point a single great problem in the R35, that's gonna be the ride quality. Roads in Bulgaria are not particularly great, you know.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

The ride in the MY10 is significantly worse than in the MY11/MY12.

The difference between 11 and 12 is that the 12 is set up to accomodate at least some of the weight of the driver.


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## Ventsi (Jul 25, 2009)

Do you know if there's any way to soften the suspension electronically? I wouldn't spend another 30k euro just for the ride quality, as my car is properly tuned now and has zero problems and on top of that we will probably see R36 in a year or two.


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## mickv (May 27, 2009)

Buy Iain Litchfield's handling kit and/or switch to non runflats like MPSS? Not "cheap" but not £30k either!


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## Ventsi (Jul 25, 2009)

Can't buy Litchfield, I'm located in Bulgaria 

But I am closing on changing the tires now, because I've done about 35k km on the original Dunlops. Which tires are you referring to exactly?


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## bones (Jun 7, 2012)

Adamantium said:


> The difference between 11 and 12 is that the 12 is set up to accomodate at least some of the weight of the driver.


Only in the UK and ?Japan, though.


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