Nissan GT-R Nismo (R35)
Why 4.5: The Nismo takes the standard R35's launch-control party trick and adds real aerodynamic and chassis hardware borrowed from Nissan's GT3 program — carbon front fenders, a fixed rear wing, retuned Bilstein dampers — which is why it's the R35 trim that actually gets tracked. It's also the trim collectors specifically bought to park, betting correctly that the end of R35 production would push Nismo values up faster than the rest of the range.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The VR38 whooshes hard and the titanium exhaust gives it more edge than a standard R35. But the noise the GT-R is genuinely known for comes from the transaxle, a gear whine most owners learn to like. The engine itself is muted and industrial.
6-cylinder · turbocharged · 7,100 rpm redline · rated 6.0 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €161k (2017) → €225k (2026), trending up · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
The GT-R owner's manual covers Nismo trim throughout with no seating exception, showing the same two rear LATCH positions plus top tethers as the base car.
Same as the base R35 — no LATCH lower anchors up front; a forward-facing restraint can only go in via the seatbelt.
The optional N-Attack performance package replaces the rear seats with a carbon-fiber bulkhead, deleting LATCH entirely — standard Nismo trim keeps the seats.
2019 Nissan GT-R US owner's manual
The long version
Nissan built the Nismo as the R35's answer to a decade of owners asking for the GT3 car's aero and chassis tricks on something road-legal, and the buyers who paid the premium over a Premium trim split cleanly into two camps: people chasing the same launch-control theater as any other GT-R owner, just with sharper turn-in, and people who read 'production ending' as an investment thesis and bought accordingly. Both camps are represented in the used market today, which is why Nismo examples show up with everything from five-figure track mileage to delivery-mile odometers. Production wrapping in 2024 accelerated the second group's thinking, and values have climbed hard since, pulling even the well-used cars up with the garage-kept ones. It's the R35 trim built to be driven hardest and, for a meaningful slice of its buyers, driven least.