Classic Cars Nissan

Alright, we get it. We’re deep within it, up to our elbows. Recession and economic turmoil haunts us at every turn and there isn’t much we can do about it. Cry, scream, throw yourself out of your office window…nothing is going to help at this point. The automotive companies and the banks and the lending agencies are all to blame. Nobody is immume, blah, blah, blah, and blah.

Have you heard enough about recession and economic downturn? It seems that there is very little to get excited about these days, especially if you’re within the automotive industry. But survival may soon be a fight to the finish and that fight could be, frankly, really exciting for all of us to witness.

Many analysts are predicting that there could be one car company to emerge out of this wreckage with actual sales, positive numbers, and *gasp* profits! The idea comes as foreign investment agencies line up to see which of the American car companies will collapse and who will win this proverbial race to the bottom of the pile. Foreign investment teams have a lot to work with, as the failure of the Big Three certainly guarantees at least some opening in the markets.

With this opening in the markets, an opportunity for a foreign car company arrives and someone will step through that rabbit hole. Many are asserting that it will be a car company with big brass ones like Nissan or Toyota. Regardless of what will occur, you can bank on the fact that every single company in the industry will be doing whatever it takes to survive.

Whether you’re into Nissan cars or Ford trucks, you can bet that it will be one hell of a fight to the finish.

With car companies tweaking line-ups and creating new out of the old, it’s no small wonder that Nissan is unveiling a new, updated GT-R with a higher price tag and a few extra features to satisfy customers. The updated GT-R boasts more power and an elevated chassis along with the elevated price tag, improving handling and giving drivers more pounce for the bounce.

The GT-R V-Spec gains 5 horsepower on its predecessor giving it 478 horses overall. With the increase, Nissan has improved engine management through the computer and added the horsepower boost without changing the overall power. Nissan has mastered the art of distribution instead, giving the engine its 5 horse boost with a few touches to the computer and finer tolerances on the manufacturing line. 

Fuel economy has also improved on the new GT-R, giving the vehicle an upgrade from 19.3 mpg to 19.5 mpg in Japan’s cycle, plus a slightly larger 19.6-gallon fuel tank.

The GT-R’s chief engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno continues to think of ways augment the car’s chassis. The latest round of revisions brings better shocks and recalibrated front spring rates to sharpen the car’s handling, improve the smoothness of the ride and create more stability.

If these changes intrigue you, drop by your local Nissan dealer today for a look at the new GT-R or any other Nissan cars that might catch your eye.

Nissan’s GT-R, an amazing two-door coupe, has been a bit of a thing of legend for a while. For most in the PlayStation generation, the GT-R has been a figment of video-gaming imagination. As a part of the video game Gran Turismo and a few others, this Nissan supercar already packs a significant following amongst the younger generation.

So when the real deal finally faces its North American release date and the car journalists get set to test drive this marvel, don’t be surprised to see a few jaws drop. The Nissan GT-R has already been cruising Japanese streets since December of 2007 and will face its international release in late 2008…which is any day now, for those of you waiting patiently.

With a starting price of $81,900, the GT-R is almost half the money of a 911 Turbo or Porsche GT3, yet it’s just as fast or faster.

The GT-R has a push-button engine start, just like all cool cars, and runs a twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6 under the hood, good enough to put some seriously fast times on the clock and beat most other cars on the road off of the line. Not that we’re advocating racing here, but it’s sure as hell nice to know that it can be done, isn’t it?

For more information on this and any other Nissan cars, keep it locked here for your dose of Nissan news.

For those interested in downsizing from a larger, clunkier model to something a bit more efficient, the 2009 Nissan Murano SL is probably a great place to start.

The Murano stands as Nissan’s rival to the Toyota Highlander, a crossover that carries an awful lot of buzz. The 2009 Murano has experienced a slight makeover from the last model year and has increased, ever so slightly, in size to help corner more of that crossover market.

The styling of the new Nissan Murano is pretty similar to previous models, although the size adjustment does make the vehicle appear more stretched out. Still, it is comfortable to park in most locations and fits in average garages without much of a hassle, making it an intelligent and sleek crossover that should please most drivers.

Along with the size improvements, the power of the Nissan Murano SL also went up for 2009. The 3.5 litre V6 is now good for 265 horsepower at 6,000 rpm, marking an improvement by about 20 horsepower over last year’s model. With the additional kick of power and size, those in the market for a bigger and more enticing ride will find what they’re looking for in the 2009 Nissan Murano SL.

For more information on the 2009 Murano SL or any other Nissan cars, head on down to your local dealership for a test drive today.

For those tech junkies out there, the news that Nissan has developed a new electrical inverter for its battery powered cars will be some good news.

Inverters are used to convert direct current from the propulsion battery to the motor in an electric car or hybrid vehicle. The new inverters will shrink 15 percent in size and 20 percent in weight, allowing Nissan’s electric cars more efficiency and reliability all at once. The key to the new inverter is a more efficient diode, a component that regulates the current between the battery and the motor.

With the more efficient diode and the smaller size, Nissan’s leap into the electric car market looks to be on pretty solid ground. The car company is expected to spring some more new technology on the markets in the coming period of time, bolstering its claim to electric car supremacy even further.

For now, the smaller inverter allows Nissan to create smaller electric cars and improve the function of the motors within the vehicles. By building smaller cars, Nissan also can work towards efficiency and can produce vehicles that will save consumers time and money.

Other Nissan cars face similar improvements, with Nissan experimenting with different facets of automotive construction so as to ensure a better car for all Nissan drivers.

Nissan has elected once again to go with a flagship sedan. The 2009 Nissan Maxima fits that bill nicely, with good performance and a nice look that should appeal to plenty of new Nissan customers. Nissan is essentially going with the old pattern that worked so well with the Maxima before, notching up some design issues to meet new demands but generally staying with the same set-up.

The Maxima first made a decisive turn against the norm in 2004 when Nissan made radical styling changes to the vehicle. The model was based loosely on the Altima, which made plenty of people happy.

With the 2009 Maxima, the car has continued its journey to become larger and wider. It is also more powerful, continually building on horsepower through the years. Along with the boost in power, the 2009 Nissan Maxima features aggressive styling that gives the car a more streamlined appearance. It features a more curvy body, allowing it to gracefully slide down the road. The clunky slab sides are gone.

Almost as though the car is wearing a belt, the 2009 Maxima has a tight waistline and features bulging rear and front fenders. This view is most apparent from the driver’s view, as the car appears to demand a change of position for the mirrors.

Regardless of how the car’s styling appears, there will be many Nissan buy opportunities for the new Maxima. Your local dealer will have plenty of other Nissan cars available, too, so stop by today for a test drive.

With Nissan drivers of the future firmly ensconced in safety thanks to the Japanese carmaker’s insistence on supplying safer, greener cars, it can be tough removing high expectations from one’s experience of Nissan cars. So it’s not surprising that the latest Nissan buy experience will be all the safer.

Nissan has introduced a new brake resistance system that will attempt to keep drivers from shifting lanes if another vehicle is detected in the car’s blind spot. Sure, the blind sport warning systems aren’t particularly new. Other cars have used a combination of cameras and sensors to get the driver some additional insight into the area most often missed by shoulder checks and mirror glances.

There is also a host of new vehicles that will include electronic devices that will enhance the blind sport with a series beeps, blips, bells, and whistles. A car from Audi vibrates the steering wheel if the driver is too close to another car, for instance.

But Nissan’s system goes a step further. Those who head into the Nissan buy experience with both feet will learn, probably rather quickly, that the Nissan cars equipped with this brake-resistance system will actually vibrate their brakes in order to ease the car back to where it needs to be. Slick, huh?

On Wednesday, Nissan took it upon themselves to show off what kind of Nissan buy opportunities there will be in the future.

One such vehicle was a snazzy electric car set for release in 2010. The car packs a battery more powerful than any other battery currently on the marketplace, which means that the vehicle will probably become popular rather quickly. According to reporters at Nissan headquarters, the electric car carried a 660 pound lithium-ion battery and still zipped around a Nissan Motor Co. test course, accelerating more rapidly than similar gas engine cars.

Nissan has made the new electric car the pinnacle of its newest marketing strategy. The test model runs silent, but more details are set to be hammered out before its release.

The race is on around the world for the perfect electric car, as companies like Nissan, Toyota, and Honda fight over eco-supremacy. At this point, Nissan sits behind its two Japanese rivals and will need to come up with something big to stay in the game. Most who were at the event and saw the electric offering say that the vehicle will, indeed, see some success against its opponents.

From where I sit, it pains me to constantly think back to some of the earlier electric cars and how things have changed since then. With moves from oil companies and car companies to squash production on electric cars and to limit commercialization of the vehicles, especially the General Motors EV1 from the 1990s, I’m what you could call a sceptic in terms of this new movement.

But if companies like Honda and Toyota are backing new electric technology (or old electric technology), perhaps we’re looking at the dawning of a new era. Perhaps with Nissan cars boasting electric engines and people in the market for something different, the electric car won’t fade away so quickly this time around.