Nissan Makes One of the Greatest Cars and One of the Most Boring

Chevrolet immediately comes to mind, regarding the Corvette and the Spark. But there’s another mainstream brand that builds two wildly different cars for two completely different segments, the Nissan GT-R and Micra. The GT-R, or Godzilla as it’s also widely known as, is a genuine supercar/supercar killer. A twin-turbo 3.8-liter V6 with 545 horsepower is bolted into place underneath its front hood, and a dual-clutch six-speed gearbox sends power to all four wheels.

Launched in 2007, Nissan isn’t expected to replace it for a few more years. That’s how good the GT-R was from the get-go. Very few cars, even supercars, these days have a 10+ year life expectancy. And then there’s the Micra. Oy, yeah, like, it’s a Micra. Richard Hammond couldn’t complete a featured review of the previous gen Micra on Top Gear. Wearing a brown bag over his head to shield himself from the embarrassment of driving one didn’t even work. The Micra is a rental car at best, and a daily driver for those who don’t give a shit about cars. These cars having absolutely nothing in common except for two things: internal combustion and the Nissan badge.