"Baby Godzilla" Pulsar GTi-R - Nissan's WRC Special - Cars from Japan Reviews

In this episode of Cars from Japan, presented by ‪@carsfromjapan888‬ , we drive Nissan's all-wheel-drive turbo WRC srally special, the Nissan Pulsar GTi-R, known by many as "Baby Godzilla".
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#pulsar #babygodzilla #pulsargtir
#projectcars
#motorsport
#turbocharger
#skylinegtr
#gtr
#dragracing
#timeattack
#drifting

[@JohnDoeC78]

A neighbour had one, was the ultimate red light racer. Got into 5th in no time. The SR20 AWD monster 🤙🏻

[@amacca2085]

Until the gearbox goes bang haha

[@craigpitts7949]

@@amacca2085right no one has ever broken a skyline or s chassis box ever. People use to do 5k clutch drops and 4wd burnouts and the box breaks and say weak gearbox 🤷‍♂️It’s not a subie box.

[@frankgile1996]

​​​@@craigpitts7949there was a guy in Greece back in the early 2010's that was running a tuned SR20 with an HKS T51 Kai turbo (if I remember correctly, somewhere close to 1000hp at the crank), and the guy was running the stock drive line with no issues apparently... Not sure how long that lasted, and granted, he was running normal tires, cause anything stickier than that would most likely grenade some part of the driveline, but still.

[@awesomeness8206]

We used to call it Godzilla killa… that was 25+ years ago at 16 pounds leaves GTR for dead

[@greybeard27]

I owned one for 4 years and helped run the UK owners club for a while. Yes the gearbox was a weak point, once you got over 350bhp you needed to treat it kindly, over 400bhp it was when not if. The uprated gearsets didn't help much, unfortunately (par, quaiffe etc). Kept mine sensible at just over 300bhp, with just a Helix clutch kit, it was fine.

[@JohnPedder]

I've seen a black one of these flog a red R34 GTR in Townsville, both cars coming out of the army barracks. It was on steroids.

[@hazzleberry95]

There's one for sale on fb 30g if it's the same black one it's in Townsville too

[@JohnPedder]

@@hazzleberry95the GTR sold for 80K. GTiR’s back then sold for 17K more or less with authentic KMs and the one I watched would have been sold for 30K+ and get it. Seeing as though a Nur R34 GTR was imported for 90K, and R32 GTR for 32K. A stock GTiR selling for 30K today, is stupid but good luck to the seller though. All these YTubers are amping up the price of these cars, and a lot of us with JDM cars that actually work for a living are just enjoying what these market manipulators are doing.

[@jasonh.8754]

Some famous racer once said: "An ounce of weight is worth a pound of horsepower." A car 300kg lighter than the car next to it makes a big difference. Mass matters.

[@TheOystei]

Adrew: "This was a hot hatch before hot hatches were really a thing" mk1 Golf GTI: "Am i a joke to you?" Jokes aside, nice video, old homoligation specials are the coolest cars.

[@gnomethegamer9706]

Yes, the mk1 golf gti was a joke to this monster

[@jeroentenkaten7494]

Renault 5 would like to have a word.

[@Birmingham_racing]

Fun little cars and probably one of the quickest hot hatches of its time

[@jamaalanderson3133]

correct, If I'm not mistaken they ran mid to high 13 seconds 1/4 times stock(Best Motoring throw back video confirms the time kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqXJZ6WelM58bqM) Gosh I miss my car :(

[@Dasunny1]

I believe it was faster than its big brother of the time.

[@RWDcosworthRSTurboEscort]

Had a black one back in 1998-99, awesome little car

[@MM0SDK]

Had black import myself around 2000-2001 (H849 JVM) - pretty much stock at the time just a sump guard and HKS mushroom.. Missed it since. Wish i still had it now, it would be worth more than i paid for it then.

[@Danieltaylorsoaringnz]

Miss seeing these around Newzealand . Along with the Mazda Famila GTR GTAE and subaru RS-Ra

[@barra245t2]

Those were the days,mobbin down mission bay and queen street.the main street of Hamilton.we got all the good jdm cars.

[@txddyfarquh69]

​@barra245t2 sad that the scene is not what it once was BUT in saying that?, I'm glad( and many many others ) got to enjoy that time in Nz's Car Culture. Alot was really started in that Period for the Car scene

[@chiefrocka8604]

@@barra245t2yeah now the British and Irish bought them all MUVVAFUKKAZ

[@r4zzzy]

Nah I still see them

[@dark1nes09]

Love any attention to the gtir, but cringed at using the wrong image / model of the VR4… that’s the twin turbo one 6 cylinder, not the “evo 0” using the 4g63t, in which evo 1,2 and 3 share the same chassis.

[@vin18m]

Was looking for this comment before I wrote the same

[@kevinlucasr20vet]

Bolt that 54c to a qd500 rs3 awd transmission and a kelford cam sr20ve head with lots of fuel and big air. 2500 pounds. You'll change your mind ❤

[@lukecollins7965]

I've been in the back of one of these many years ago. Driver was a mainac, I thought i was gonna die!! They havent aged well, i prefer the look of the Mazda GTR's and GTX's

[@maxrockatanksyOG]

Our neighbour 2 doors down, has one of these sitting in his yard behind the shed. His son bought it with plans on restoring it, but lost interest, had a look at it one day & it has some HKS gear on it and has R33 GTR front seats in it

[@paulstanford3063]

Good stuff , my Brother had the rare lightweight spec one with the close ratio gbox , no air con or elec windows . It shat on wrxs and was a blast to drive .

[@dash-kt7uf]

I had that version too (over 20 years ago now) with a host of performance upgrades including roll cage The lightweight ones were a death trap though - no abs either

[@REasoninz]

This is my first car, I still have it heading for a 8sec build 😊 I think iv had it for over 16yrs lost count now 😅

[@juniormeghji2551]

I remember when I used to live in Kenya, my dad used to have one. Even being 5 years old when my dad had one, I remember how fun it was being driven in it.

[@melnickharris1177]

Miss my little gtir was my favourite car still had the umbrella in the door piller

[@MerlinOpeth]

The starlet was sweet too.

[@Inconspicuous657]

Was always told to avoid these growing up because they blow 3rd gear a lot?

[@Antonchigurh69344]

No different to a 180sx I blew my gearbox 3 times in 4 years Owned 3x r33 gtst , never broke a box

[@DjMike00769]

I had one of these in the early 2000's picked up a 1994 model fresh import for $14k with 44,000 kms on it kept it stock for a week then modded it , had a built engine by Reg cook who has the fastest NA sr20 on the Bonneville salt flats. anyway it was 304kws at the wheels (which was big back then) and done the quarter mile in 10.51 seconds . what a machine

[@warrenlp8536]

A little content correction......the term "hot hatch" started in the late 70s with the Golf GTi. The Pulsar was just following a formula in the 90s......

[@jens-erik2555]

Mazda 323 GT-R next ?

[@gnomethegamer9706]

I remember seeing these on the road when i was young, wanted 1 so bad 🇬🇧

[@robb7414]

With the right amount of upgrades and more power these are ultimate weapons and true baby godzillas to drive 😊

[@gavinr9107]

They are selling this particular example for $47K, which is completely absurd. You would be better off spending another ~5K for a GR Yaris, similar analog feel with modern tech and potential for much better performance with minimal outlay.

[@Kisyfurr]

Plenty for sale for 25k

[@vin18m]

@@gavinr9107would be interesting to see what the GR Yaris is worth in 5-10 years compared to these though.

[@bboystretch7788]

I had one in the 90s/2000s. Grey one with the original umbrella!

[@ggbear1043]

had a 1991 import pulsar running 1.2 bar of boost, absolute rocket but with a chocolate gearbox

[@PETERNESS]

Melbourne late January i came across the most unusual Nissan in traffic ,ive never seen one before so i asked the driver at the next lights what he was driving ,he told me it was a K11 Nissan but he fitted a SR20 TURBO a few years back ,were these an imported car or were they available to buy new ,new subscriber glad to be here

[@craigpitts7949]

K11’s never came out with a Sr20 but a few people have shoe horned them in

[@kevinmiller4757]

Movtive DVD get one on the channel

[@troyspicer6394]

I had one of these and its still my favourite car that I’ve ever owned

[@jamaalanderson3133]

Same, brakes are absolute shit though lol

[@pornzi]

that my friend is the 1994 last year produced of GTi-R

[@jamesblack683]

My old workmate had one for years.i used to have a nissan bluebird sss was pillarless model with the same set up standard awd manual sr20det and only 1 registered in newzealand today

[@txddyfarquh69]

These were - sorry still are cool lil' Cars. Very popular in Nz around the early Y2K

[@NismoSM514]

Ah, but does it have the umbrella? 😂 Cool find in those: look in the owners manual for instructions on where to weld seams and reinforce the body just like the WRC cars were. These are fun cars!

[@stevenhearnden6103]

The 2010 phoned and wants it's haircut back. 😂

[@DriftNick]

WRC was also Group A.

[@keatonjones6115]

Hope you do the EC5A vr4 galant, so underrated have owned a few! Stilly pretty slept on for what they are imo . FTO GPX type r would be a cool one to see too!

[@jasonpoihegatama1347]

Try to turn one of these into a Baby GTR Bore out the engine to a 2.2L and big turbo. Didn't need it

[@matthewwatt3650]

I remember the editor Dean of the fast 4 and rotaries magazine back in the day had black one I think.

[@265justy]

You need to do a vid on the Mazda 323 / Familia GTR..

[@InIMoeK]

This SR also use 19mm rod bearings, and rod/piston combo is stronger than the normal SR. Standard AFM only allows 300 whp max :)

[@MotiveVideo]

We know, been using that knowledge in JET200 since 2005

[@TATTIEPICKER]

Me and my mates have always called the pulsar Godzooky and the skyline Godzilla...

[@kaynelevy2662]

A mate of mine had a gun metal grey one and the thing was standard with a boost tap and was rapid even when loaded with people

[@HarrodsGarage]

Makes me miss mine

[@4dshow]

Who was the editor for the WRC pictures? V6 VR4? Yikes 😬

[@octymocty132]

Ever see the one that peed over a viper Also in UK it was first car for insurance company's to make it a age 21 to insure but I don't know how manny in UK there was

[@plinpain]

I bought a 2 door Almera (successor) with no weight and about 100 horses. It was so fun to thrash around I bought another one straight after xD

[@lilripsta911]

My favorite car I've even owned,now i got the GR Corolla 😅

[@leeattwood2783]

Nostalgia

[@marianomartinez1947]

Like mexican i alway had thinking a sentra b13 chassis with this awd transmision and looks like a baby zilla

[@jeffreywong5112]

I want that engine on a Nissan march. Oh please do it.

[@masterdinosawr]

One pretty rare pulsar is the VZR. Meant to compete with the ek9 civic with its 1.6L motor.

[@adrianmotet5083]

Ordinary VZR not too rare, the N1 spec I and II variants are.

[@BJ-wo4mi]

I wish I could find a clean one for sale

[@mohammadsattar5488]

Flipping brilliant

[@krisgodfrey]

Great little rocket ship, known to have a weak gearbox though

[@saluco]

The understeer king !

[@Rob_Green]

Lead tipped arrow

[@MichaelandMaryH]

I have said this numerous times. It’s fun because it can kill you so it has a soul. New cars can’t really kill you so they have no soul.

[@Fine19867]

The stupidest car decisions I ever made was selling my GTIR

[@seikoja]

It has stronger connecting rods than the rear wheel drive sr20

[@GAZZZA19790]

I've been through 3 gearboxes. 4th gear is glass

[@theracingsimdesk7135]

Frontrunner motorsport and motive dvd collaboration with a gtir for the channel

[@29alpinestar]

I love my VR4 GALANT

[@hughmangus2324]

Babyzilla 🤙

[@Andrew_kiwi_AF]

I love these pocket rockets! Pity none have them Have gone stupidly fast :(

[@sammy-ko6bs]

Have you seen the black powertune built one

[@mindjal19]

So strange seeing sideways mounted sr

[@Antonchigurh69344]

This video will now increase the value of GTIR’s lol

[@kingmac007]

Ive seen them starting at 50 grand already

[@Jap_obsessed]

Just painted my Gtir in the rare midnight purple 3 it’s on my channel check it out I apologised in advance for my amateur videos 😂

[@deanplant1500]

It’s a 3door not 2door

[@djnormalnorman6590]

Ha what you on about hot hatches starts in the 80s

[@djnormalnorman6590]

Renault 5 turbo.205 gti. Xr2. Talbot sunbeam. Etc

[@christianoliver5924]

Da fuq is going on with the rearview mirror? 🥴

[@lukecollins7965]

Maybe folded out of the camera view perhaps

[@joshdobson2737]

My 1st car was a pulsar.....wish my 86 was closer to this but the states are lame!

[@scottlefevre3904]

But $47k worth of cool? That's a lot of money for something 30 years old and not really that special or fast.

[@McHotTopic]

The two best days of owning a GTiR, the day you buy it and the day you sell it

[@sdmotorsport1]

Dreamboat

[@MotiveVideo]

Did I drive yours back in the day? Was one i was thinking.

[@reneeharewood5053]

For a turbo awd stock am not impressed

[@Gidanski]

Stock rear alignment settings make the long corner stability thing happen, factory specs call for a half a degree of positive camber in the back, camber bolts fix that problem. Do miss being able to drive mine but once the engines rebuilt it'll be time to daily it again

[@wobblysauce]

Yep, just a few small tweaks and you got a lil rocket

[@philmarsden9594]

"this was a hot hatch in the 90s before they was a thing" golf gti in 1979, am i a joke to you?

[@MotiveVideo]

The phrase dude, not the type of car.

[@philmarsden9594]

@@MotiveVideo i knew what you was trying to say, but it still came out wrong dude

[@sunsetgarage755]

MK1 Golf GTI, Peugeot 205 GTI, Renault R5, Lancia Delta Intergrale… Plenty of very fast groundbreaking hot hatches before this came along, and many faster hot hatches since.

[@lilripsta911]

​@sunsetgarage755 at the time, the GTiR was the quickest hatch. Quicker then the Legacy, Golf, Lancia Delta, Celica etc...

[@outoftheboxsunraysia4557]

@@MotiveVideo The phrase hot hatch came about in the 80's

[@TheNismo777]

Engine loves to take up to 500hp, but gearbox and suspension need to be fine tuned

[@Rayonman31]

My step father had one years ago…basice mods and ran a 12.6 sec 1/4 mile…awesome little cars…but with a glass gearbox

[@lambrosstamos4494]

Buy it. This is a project. I am thinking of a rally recce car.

[@xAvaragex]

These cars are gems in south africa. Sr20ve swap with some cams and headwork, LSD with 888s. Demon. These cars famous tilll today in south africa. Fastest one runs 11.3 with a SR20ve, four door N14. Ifg you want to go up aganst a K series in naturally aspirated form, this is the way to go. Bang for buck th VE platform is mad strong, especially in cape town at sea level.

[@kermitahnenerbe3722]

Also bearings were larger. If you want to increase boost on standard SR20 ppl should change bearings for the pulsar gti-r one's. way more resistent. But to find the Nismo gti-r bearings good luck

[@jaredgreen5305]

Buy one mate, we need you to show how to get one into the 10's..

[@mr.pritchard67]

My favorite car on Gran Turismo 1. These were cars that were meant to have the shit driven out of them. So cool!

[@benjaminblakemore9704]

I LOVE IT 😂❤ kind regards Ben from New Zealand 🇳🇿

[@WylieCoyote45]

They were built for Group A regs not WRC.

[@thomascraig1517]

I had a white one for 3 years. Best car I have ever owned. A 🚀 rocket.

[@Halotest100]

I had a 1994 GTIR it was a great car for the time. Great fun. They should bring this car back out again.

[@supermaniac5]

Reminds me of the Mazda 323 GTX and GTR

[@stopspin]

Love this car one day I'm going to have one. Very good, very informative.👍

[@HashDogg06]

Just need to get your hands on a GTR Mazda Familia for a comparison, especially the GT-HE version i believe it was called (if you can find one), had wind up windows, no sunroof or leather seats, bigger turbo & intercooler, a bit more boost & shorter gears from factory i believe. They were the better more reliable ones from what i read many years ago.

[@wrc323]

GTAe 😉👌

[@craigpitts7949]

Gtir had the RB model which was the same thing. Factory light weight version meant for racing

[@scottiewardle]

I loved many things on this car. the instant 14pound boost by moving a small vaccuum hose or taking it off for anti-lag. The umbrella, which should of been "then composulsary on every jdm car afterwards, but for some reason wasn't. memories of my mates car running a dog box with 40+psi, will never forget. Constant awd was new to hot hatches back then in oz. They were the most powerful sr20det for years from the quad throttle bodies, as mentioned in the vid. 220 atw was obtained with upgrades to the fuel pump, injectors, front mount, and the valve hose mod. Negatives were front wheel drive basis. They wee known as "interwarmers" as the intercoolerr sat on top of the engine - a front mount was a must. ah good times 1200kg car

[@scottiewardle]

After acknowledging the hassle of importing a T16 to Australia, I got of these in 92 with 15k kms. It was a blast driving it around debadged. Now we have the GR Yaris. Probably the last hot hatch for some time.

[@kingmac007]

Alway liked the gtir👌

[@shifty1927]

Sothe e30 is gods chariot and the sr is gods engine. Big fella has great taste.😂 Wonder what trans he prefers?

[@Danger_mouse]

As a Nissan tragic, and ex Nissan mechanic from when N14s were new and old amateur rally driver years ago, I've always loved these cars. Unfortunately while they had all the right ingredients, Nissan stuffed up the packaging of the systems in the car. In the WRC the very best placing was a 3rd in Sweden in 1992, and only due to the cool temperatures. Air flow through the top mount intercooler had nowhere to go in the cramped engine bay until over 80km/h, and Nissan had big issues with engine and inlet temps. So moch so they ran a special brew fuel. The complex gearbox with torque control F to R worked, but so much of the engine and gearbox was forward of the axle line that the weight bias was something like 70/30 F/R and they understeered... badly. Nissan withdrew from the WRC at the end of 92 when new rules arrived, one of which was the move to a 'control fuel' that meant their special blend could not be used. Great little car, badly executed. On the gearbox, all Group A rally car homologation specials eat up the stock gearboxes 😏 Familia, Subaru Liberty/WRX, GTiR, EVOs etc. Road car gearbox, with race car power = Bang. Update the power, update the gearbox. 👍

[@MM0SDK]

What's with the standard Sunny SR steering wheel?

[@Tom-lf8hx]

So is this a GDiR ahahahaha ❤ ya work mate

[@sp1tf1r3ls2]

Suprised he didn’t have a laugh at the umbrella in the drivers door frame

[@craigpitts7949]

Only series 1 had the umbrella this is a series 2

[@sp1tf1r3ls2]

@@craigpitts7949 I see, I never had a serious 2 awesome little cars they are.

[@craigpitts7949]

@@sp1tf1r3ls2 yeah it was a cool feature. I’ve got a rare RB model which never had one and every time I go to a show it’s the first thing people will ask about. I’ve seen them retro fitted even an extra one on the passenger side. Seen them fitting to Skylines as well

[@chrisguest3452]

one of my bucket list cars

[@markmmm1737]

When they brought back the pulsar car im sure we all 🙏 for the GTI-R version. It never came and was killed off quickly. A missed opportunity Nissan.

[@Leonidae]

I would love to find an LHD Sunny GTi-R sans sunroof if possible. One of the rarest Nissans, about 660 were made..

[@eurohubert]

God I love these beasts!