Nissan Skyline GT-R (Hakosuka)
Why 1.8: The S20 straight-six came straight off the Prince R380 race program, and Group A domination turned 1,197 coupes into the genesis of every Godzilla that followed. Six-figure auction results now keep it further from a public road than any GT-R that came after.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The S20 is a 2.0 twin-cam six derived from the GR8 race engine, fed by triple Mikuni-Solex carburettors that howl on induction to 8,000 rpm. It is capped by displacement — thin and high-pitched rather than deep. Sound well ahead of speed, like the Alfa.
6-cylinder · naturally aspirated · 8,000 rpm redline · rated 8.4 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €7k (1995) → €598k (2026), trending up · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
Built before ISOFIX existed, so there are no anchor points at all. A child seat here is a seatbelt installation, and the belt geometry of the period was not designed with one in mind.
Derived from production years and seating layout, not a per-car source. ISOFIX was standardised as ISO 13216 in 1997, required on new EU model types from 2011 and on all new EU cars from 2014.
The long version
Group A racing wins made the badge before the R32 ever existed, and that history is exactly what auction houses now sell alongside the car — a numbers-matching Hakosuka draws bidders who know the R380 lineage cold and are buying the archive as much as the drive. Values have compounded for two decades straight, steep enough that even a supervised parade lap reads as a risk most owners decline to take. The S20 six still spins the way period road tests once described, revvy and mechanical, but that character is now almost entirely theoretical, protected rather than proven, inside a climate-controlled bay.