1994 Nissan Maxima Gxe Sedan 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Meet the Nissan GT-R test driver responsible for 'Ring tuning

Ever wonder what it's like to be a manufacturer's development driver at the Nürburgring? We imagine it's pretty cool. After all, you get to spend your days zooming about the greatest racetrack on the planet in a vehicle that is usually months or more away from consumers. For Hiroyoshi Kato, whose actual title is Technical Meister, life is even better than your typical development driver, because he spends his days wringing out the Nissan GT-R Nismo around the Green Hell.
Kato-san has a long history with both Nissan and the Ring. He had a major hand in the development of the R32, R33 and R34 Skyline GT-Rs, having first come to the Ring nearly three decades ago.
His experience with the Nismo, though, is different than the other vehicles he's contributed to. As he explains it, there are real racers on hand to test the car on the track, like Formula One reserve driver Sébastien Buemi. Instead, Kato focuses on the track-to-road balance. Still, he has some truly interesting insights on the car and the track, including his surprise at turning a sub-eight-minute lap in his first outing. That, along with a few other things (one of which is an R34 being hustled about), make this a must-watch video from Nissan.

2014 Nissan Frontier Diesel Mule [w/poll]

Last August, Nissan shook the truck world when it officially announced plans to source a diesel option from Cummins for its long-overdue Titan replacement, its full-size pickup that's slated to drop this January at the Detroit Auto Show. The 5.0-liter V8 turbodiesel is expected to make somewhere around 300 horsepower and north of 500 pound-feet of torque. This combination of an all-new truck with this new powerplant promises to dramatically change the competitive landscape, splitting the difference between the heavy-duty goliaths from the Detroit Three and the Ram 1500 Ecodiesel. And the intrigue moved a step further when the Frontier Diesel Runner Concept showed up at February's Chicago Auto Show, as it displayed a growing relationship between Nissan and Cummins in a very interesting potential future product.
That concept would melt its clear acrylic hood if the engine ran too long, but this month, we got a chance to test drive a production mule, an otherwise normal Frontier with a Cummins 2.8-liter diesel four-pot under the hood and a ZF eight-speed automatic changing gears. The powertrain figures to be a direct competitor to the 2.8-liter Duramax promised for General Motors' Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon twins, but will Nissan build it? All signs point to probably. Officially, Nissan is taking no position on the future of this program, but a concept followed by putting journalists into a test mule suggests the company is considering the option very seriously. Here's what we gleaned from a brief drive around the posh suburbs of Nashville:
Before we get too deep into this Quick Spin, realize this Frontier is absolutely a mule, not a prototype. More or less cobbled together with duct tape and baling wire, it's not meant to be representative of a finished product, or even a started product. The transmission and shifter is straight out of a Chrysler 300 and the shifter surround is cut out of a panel of plastic. The "Low Sulfur Diesel Only" sticker is, well, just stuck on. We're looking at a "What if?" mockup.

Nissan Qashqai caught looking sleek

The next-generation of the not-for-US-consumption Nissan Qashqai has been out doing some testing in southern Europe this week. And, if the dressed-in-trash-bags look is any indication, it's been doing a lot of roadwork so it can make weight for the big meet the weekend.
Nissan designers haven't been scared to take big design chances with recent new models, so expectations are that the Qashqai crossover will get a bold new visage for its generational changeover. What we see in these photos indicates a sleeker, slightly trimmer CUV however, with no trace of the bug-eyed look we captured recently on a testing Titan.
In the rest of the world, it's a good bet that the Qashqai will be powered by engines ranging from a 1.2-liter turbo up to a 1.6-liter forced-induction unit; that larger one good for something like 215 horsepower. Diesel powerplants will be in the mix, too, for the compact CUV, and word is that Nismo might get its hands on this Rogue cousin for the first time ever.