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R34 GT-R - Nissan Skyline
To some people the R33 series seemed a bit oversized and most of them considered the R32 to be the best Skyline ever. So Nissan changed its approach when the new R34 series was due. The new line-up was oriented more towards the R32 series than towards its direct predecessor, to result in a car that was even more sportive than the R33 series. The standard R34 is available either with all-wheel-drive or rear-wheel drive. Of the standard versions there are five now, all of which come in coupe and sedan form: the R34GT, powered by the RB20DE with 140hp, the R34 25GT-V with the RB25DE engine and 193hp; the R34 25GT and 25GT-X, which get optional AWD, and last but not least the top-of-the-line R34 25GT-t, powered by the RB25DET with 280hp. There are no Coupe-versions for the GT-X and 25GT RWD models, though.

Of course a GT-R may not be missing. Regarding the technology, the R34’s top version is basically an evolution of the old R33 GT-R, but with a much sharper design and a truly improved chassis, making this the best Skyline GT-R ever and, in comparison to other sports cars, one of the fastest cars in the world: . This GT-R held the Track Record for production cars at the Nürburgring Northloop, the most difficult racetrack of the world, until the Porsche 996 Turbo came along, and it won the JGTC championship in 1999.

V35 GT-R - Nissan Skyline
Finally, after 3 years of speculation and various pictures of what the new Skyline might look like, the wait is over. Fortunately, rumors stating the Skyline would be dropped in favor of the new Z-Car were not confirmed, since on June 18th, 2001 the all-new V35 Skyline was released. The new car comes with two entirely new engines, the VQ25DD producing 215hp and 275Nm from 2.5l of displacement, as well as the VQ30DD, with 260hp and 330Nm from 3.0l.

Both engines are packed with new features like E-VTC (Electro-magnetic variable valve timing control - similar to Toyota’s VVT-i) and Nissan’s newly developed direct-fuel-injection (similar to Mitsubishi’s GDI), which are supposed to improve the new V6s’ responses and fuel-economy over the previous inline-6 RB-series. With these engines, Nissan marks a new step of the Skyline towards the luxury-sedan segment, since there is no entry level engine anymore.

Had previous versions been evolutions of their respective predecessors, the new V35 now presents a cut into the Skyline’s design history as radical as the last model change from the R31 to the R32. The V35 comes in 4 versions: GT, GT-P, GT-S and GTe, the GTe being the least expensive. Apart from minor changes, the new model line-up resembles the Infiniti XVL concept car, also featuring that one’s Cd figure of 0.27. After decades, the Skyline not only loses the RB-engines now, but also its round tail-lights, which are replaced by something more BMW-like.