Mercedes Benz

  The awesomeness that is the 2016 Best Driver's Car competition continues as we introduce the four final contenders, which include the 2016 Dodge Viper ACR, 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR, 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S, and 2017 Nissan GT-R. Don't miss Randy Pobst's test-track impressions on each car, below. More 2016 Best Driver's Car content: The Dodge Viper has always had a reputation of being a car that's hard to drive. Yeah, with its big 8.4-liter V-10 up front, now churning out 645 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque, it's fast like it always has been, but that speed has never been easy to manage. The Dodge Viper ACR seeks to change things. Equipped with a massive rear spoiler good for almost a ton of downforce at top speed, dive planes, a big front splitter, and loads of other aero add-ons, the Viper ACR looks more race car than road car. Dodge's SRT team didn't stop there; the ACR also gets unique 10-setting adjustable coil-over Bilstein shocks at each corne...

Text Kenny Tran and the folks at Jotech Motorsports in Dallas were the first to develop twin-turbo kits for the VQ engine powering the 350Z, so they were more than prepared when Nissan released the GT-R in 2009. Jotech cars were running 10-second quarter miles by 2010, much quicker than the 11.6 seconds we recorded in our first test of Godzilla, though we do not test acceleration on adhesive-treated drag strips. In the intervening years, Tran and his team continue to refine R35 GT-Rs—and they've only gotten better at doing so. Alongside the shop's six available stages of power tuning, Tran recently bought back a GT-R he had built for a friend and customer he calls DK. (No, not the DK my dad always chooses in Mario Kart.) DK wanted a car that showcased the best of modern GT-R tuning tech but mandated that it maintain street drivability because he had no interest in running it on the dragstrip. That meant the GT-R's creature comforts like air conditioning, power steer...

Text You may have seen Nissan's newest teaser for its future lineup. If not, you're missing out. Not only does the video reveal plans for new or updated versions of nearly every vehicle Nissan makes, it also gave us our best look yet at the next Nissan Z car—presumably called the 400Z. Eagle-eyed viewers, however, might have noticed a glaring omission in the teaser: Where, oh, where, was the mighty GT-R? It is not unreasonable to assume that, given the GT-R's absence from Nissan's high-profile roundup of upcoming products, that it might be on the chopping block. So, we reached out to Nissan for comment on the twin-turbo, giant-killing GT-R sports car's future, and whether it will survive to join the automaker's gaggle of new products. Here's what we got in response: """Other than what appears in the video, we have no additional information to share at this time. GT-R is and remains an important part of our brand and DNA however nothing...

Text You know the Daihatsu Copen, don't you? How could you not? After all, it's the legendary two-door kei convertible known for absolutely decimating Japan's mountain roads, shaming even the most razor-sharp exotics, and being the dream ride of any true JDM fan. Aside from the fact that little of the proceeding is strictly true, the Copen is definitely an adorably awesome two-seat, two-door roadster that does in fact count as a kei car. But if you have a jones to see this teeny-tiny roadster turned into an R35 GT-R, there's only one place to go: Liberty Walk. It was shortly after basking in the glory of the Liberty Walk R34 GT-R that we stumbled upon this rad Copen, which is one of the smallest cars Liberty Walk has ever worked on. It's certainly the cutest by far. Nearly every panel on the Copen has been reworked (or added to) in order to craft the GT-R lookalike. The front bumper is a near carbon copy of the 2020 GT-R's—it even features the signature ...

Text "Why settle for Mothra when you can have Godzilla? Mothra, the fictional Godzilla monster's nemesis, in this case is the typical high-performance SUV that filmmakers often use as camera cars. In the movies, Mothra lost out to Godzilla—and it's happened all over again: Nissan skipped the usual Porsche Cayenne-based camera rig for a GT-R, its sports car that goes by the nickname ""Godzilla,"" in order to film . . . another GT-R. " Nissan put professional stunt driver Mauro Calo behind the wheel of the camera-rig GT-R and had him play a nice game of cat-and-mouse with the beastly 2020 GT-R NISMO. Are the two cars perfect equals? No. Blame the extra weight of the camera equipment the camera GT-R has to haul around, as well as the additional bodies assigned to operate the camera gimbal, the focus puller, and choreograph the on-track dance from within the car's cabin. The GT-R's small rear seats actually are used when conducting high...