Nissan has re-asserted itself as a carmaker to contend with having risen well from its low point in the late 1990s, when the severe global economic downturn pushed it to the brink of financial disaster.
Its range of vehicles could be as dull (depending on how you look at it) as the fully electric powered Leaf that is now into its second generation to the highly exciting and iconic GT-R.
As part of the Nissan 360 Asia & Oceania 2015, the regional media was recently given a hands-on insight into a selected range of Nissan vehicles at the Sodegaura Circuit in the Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
This included a ride in the Nismo-tuned GT-R and a drive in the standard version, which was already an exciting car with its 545hp of gutsy power.
The anticipation was also fuelled by the fact that we were coming full circle with this particular car, having driven the Skyline 2000RS at the Fuji Speedway (known as Fisco then) in 1984.
Nissan dropped the Skyline name for the GT-R when it was re-introduced in 2007 as the R35; the lapses in between the GT-R model lifespan (1969-1974; 1989-2002; and 2007 onwards) had to do mainly with the economic climate.
When demand was expected to be low, Nissan saw little point in producing the performance car until times were better.
As it were, following the facelifted model in 2011, there was little word as to when the next GT-R model would come along and speculations were rife that a hybrid version was in the making.
Our first go at the GT-R was the Nismo-tuned model offering even more power at 600hp and 654Nm that was driven by Hiroyoshi Kato, Technical Meister of the Nissan Vehicle Test Department.
The 2.4km Sodegaura Circuit, which saw a complete transformation from the circuit we drove on in 2013 as part of another Japanese car company event, was divided into two sections; an 800m inner loop for the GT-R and Nissan X-Trial HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) drives and a 1.6km outer loop for the ‘chauffeured’ GT-R Nismo ride and drives in the Note, March and Leaf.
The short one-lap ride in the GT-R Nismo had us enjoying the strong G-forces as Kato accelerated hard, with the throbbing exhaust note of the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 pulsating through, and pushed 600hp 2+2 coupé through the tight curves.
That raised our anticipation further about driving the lower powered GT-R later in the day, based on the media grouping of the respective countries involved.
Although it was again a short drive, being two laps that went by so quickly, we came away fully impressed and we could understand the strong following that the GT-R has garnered the world over.
With so much power going to all four wheels for a car that weighs less than 1,800kg, we could feel the rush of adrenalin as the GT-R simply picked up the pace and ran with the wind.
Its designers had benchmarked the GT-R’s development against fancied rivals, Porsche in particular, and they have succeeded handsomely.
The GT-R Nismo also has the honour of covering the Nurburgring circuit in Germany in a very quick 7 minutes 8.678 seconds this year, improving on its previous time set in 2012 by almost 10 seconds; back then, that time made the GT-R the ninth fastest production car at the circuit.
If you want more of the GT-R’s performance credentials, this Nissan sportscar is said to accelerate to 100kph in 2.8 seconds and a top speed of above 310kph.
Yes, we recalled the thrill of driving the Skyline 2000RS (which had a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine delivering 148hp and 181Nm) on a wet Fisco circuit 31 years ago but the GT-R experience topped that by far.
Lest we go overboard on the GT-R, we were also impressed by our drives in the other Nissan cars, despite the convoy manner in which they were carried out.
The latest LEAF, with its higher mileage range per charge (an increase of 25% from the previous version to 250km), was a brisk car with its strong torque.
We went through the respective corners of the outer loop at about the same speed as the Note Nismo and March Nismo S with conventional engines but at a quieter pace;you have to be impressed.
The Note, which is in its second generation, is a good-looking compact MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) with a 1.2-litre three-cylinder supercharged engine delivering 98hp and five-speed manual transmission (the Xtronic CVT version was not provided for this drive).
The March, also known as the Micra, is a five-door subcompact hatchback with the Nismo S version being powered by a 1.5-litre engine delivering 114hp; this model came only with a five-speed manual transmission.
Another Nissan we are not likely to see here is the X-Trail HEV, mainly due to its higher price as the special hybrid car incentive is no longer applicable locally.
This hybrid model was introduced in Japan last year and comes only with a 2.0-litre engine; it is said to be capable of 19km/l on average and power to rival the bigger 2.5-litre model.
Initial acceleration was pretty good with the strong torque of the electric power giving the push to move the big SUV (sport utility vehicle).
On the move, we didn’t feel the lack of power when we needed to pick up the pace to maintain a consistent flow in the convoy.
Our final experience was in checking out the X-Trial with IPA (intelligent parking assist); on being activated, the sensors picked out the parking spot and this was shown on the central multi-info display.
We then pushed the gear lever into D(rive) and the IPA took over; first, it moved the X-Trail forward at an angle to make reversing the SUV into the desired spot easier.
All we had to do was to work the accelerator and brake pedals to move and stop as guided by the coloured graphics on the monitor.
Other highlights were the respective Nissan vehicles with Autech fitments; Autech is another wholly-owned brand of Nissan that attends to special modifications, those for elderly needs being one of them.
Keyword: Nissan - The hi-tech side