Nissan GT-R sets new 0-100 kph benchmark – 3.046 secs

A MY2011 Nissan GT-R has set a new  acceleration benchmark for the vehicle with a standard production DBA-R35 taking just 3.046 seconds to arrive to 100 kph from a standing start on the main straight at the Sendai Highland raceway in Japan.

The event control last month was witnessed by a group of Japanese journalists and recorded by a V-Box measuring device and Nissan engineers said the time would have been even faster had the road temperature been higher than the 13 degrees Celsius on the test day in Japan. Nissan chief vehicle engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno the R35′s Godfather told journalists that with warmer track temperatures “the GT-R will range the world of two seconds!”

Now a search for the fastest production cars on the planet might have you thinking the same GT-R clocked that run in 2.nine secs but that time is actually the 0-60 mph measurement which is just a range shorter than the 0-100 kph (effectively 0-62 mph) one being bandied about by Nissan.

Whatever the case may be both times place the current R35 as the 13th fastest exhibition car and though the new sprint time was achieved with the car in R-Mode journalists at the Highland Raceway test were still able to achieve 3.1 seconds for the 0-100 kilometers per hour dash in the car’s less aggressive A-Mode

Nissan Leaf is the 2011

It’s a defining moment for ordinal emission vehicles what with Nissan Leaf electric vehicle named as the 2011 European Car of the Year.

The Leaf is the 1st all-electric car to win the coveted Car of the Year title in the award’s 47-year history finishing ahead of 40 other contenders for the big prize. In the final shortlist of seven vehicles the leafage scored 257 points despite splitting opinion to the point where several jurors placed it in last place.

Its total was nine points open of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta which scored 248 points and 13 open of the third-placed Vauxhall/Opel Meriva which had 244.
The remaining finalists were the Ford C-Max/Grand C-Max at 224 points the Citroën C3/DS3 at 175 the Volvo S60 and V60 at one hundred forty-five and the Dacia Duster at 132 points.

Different approaches in voting by the panel members produced the final result of this contest. As the panel put it “the launch of a mass-production electric cable car in the market has been more awarded – twenty top points – than the sheer appeal of Alfa Romeo Giulietta or the practical originality of Opel Meriva. In spite of the lack of a large recharging network and the noncomprehensive  range the Leaf represents a technical and commercial bet that might otherwise satisfy many potential consumers especially where public incentives will come to reduce the paying price.”

The awards were voted for by 58 body members from 23 countries.

Nissan to introduce diesel variant March in India

It looks like India will be acquiring something that we won’t be seeing anytime soon. Nissan is set to innovate the diesel version of its March hatchback in the country next month and the car known as the Micra in that market will be equipped with the Renault-derived 1.5 litre K9K four-pot oil color burner.

The Micra Diesel will join the 79bhp HR12DE 1.2 litre petrol adaptation in the market – which started selling in July this year – beginning December 10 in two variant forms the XV and XV Premium. The common bar direct injection eight-valve block with 63 hp at 4000 rpm and 160 Nm at 2000 rpm is mated to a five-speed manual tranny the only gearbox available for the car in the Indian market. numbers pool include a 158 kph top speed and an impressive 23.08 km per litre fuel ingestion figure.

The K13 diesel will be assembled in Nissan’s factory in Oragadam Chennai for native sales though it will also be exported to South Africa next year. - Micra Diesel