Faults:

None.

General Comments:

The Nissan Skyline 250GT/Nissan V36 (as it's known in Japan) is a bit of an oddball. It's probably better known as the Infiniti G25 in the U.S. and even so, there's not a whole lot of information or reviews about this car so I thought I'd share my thoughts.

A bit of background is that here in New Zealand, imported cars make up a large proportion of the car market. As a result, we get a real mix of Japanese, European and other vehicle brands. My previous car was a 1996 Mercedes C280 which I liked for its smooth, powerful and refined cruising, so I was looking for a replacement car which was at least as capable. What drew me to the Skyline was that it was as smooth and refined as the Mercedes (if not more so) with the reliability of Japanese engineering.

Likes:

- The high revving 2.5L VQ25HR engine makes around 220-230hp in Japanese specification, which makes for fun driving if you want to push it. This engine loves to be revved and must be to get the most out of it.

- The chassis is tight and the car feels confident when I throw it around the tighter roads. Bear in mind this is not a small car, but it is more than capable in both power and handling for how 99% of the population actually drive.

- This car is most at home on the highway or at cruising speeds, and will return me around 13.6km/l or about 30mpg without a lead foot on an open highway. Have managed 800km out of 65L of fuel on a roadtrip on a mixed set of roads.

To summarise, decent power, handling, smooth and refined ride, more than capable for how most people drive. Had zero problems with reliability so far.

Dislikes:

- My Mercedes, despite being 11 years older, came with a huge variety of options such as cruise control. For whatever reason, Nissan Skylines are incredibly rare to find with cruise control, which is a pain especially considering the GT nature of the car.

- Limited aftermarket options. This engine isn't really a highly modifiable engine (yet its big brother engines the 3.5L and 3.7L VQ35HR and VQ37HR are) so the ability to crank more power out of it is not really common practice or possible as far as I know. Not so good if you want to start modifying your car.

- Low end torque. It's not a slow car by any means, but some days I wish there was just a little bit more low end torque in the power band.