Nissan GT-R vs Toyota Prius

What's the difference?

The GT-R of the famous R32 era was a direct response to immortals like the Audi Ur Quattro and Porsche 959 that preceded it in the 1980s.

But the Nissan’s true gift since then is that it has evolved over successive generations, to serve as a glimpse of what these long-discontinued European supercars might be like if they, too, were allowed ongoing development, rather than dropped.

As such, the last R35 GT-R as we know it in Australia is far from disadvantaged, even 15 years on from launch, because it was devised and developed outside of the usual constraints and compromises of mere mass production sports cars.

In 2022, then, the Nissan GT-R remains timeless and transcendental. It’s still an incredibly moving and thrilling driving experience… if you can get hold of one.

The Prius can rest its weary head. The Age of the Hybrid has begun. Even though this iconic eco car might have lost its ultimate purpose to more mainstream models in the last few years, it’s still the best execution of Toyota’s hybrid tech on the market and if you can look past its divisive-as-ever looks, it’s comfortable and practical, too.

The brand’s Australian division promises the Prius will stick around in one form or another, so we’re keen to see what its next iteration will look like. Plug-in? Fully electric? Time will tell.

At its 2007 unveiling, R35’s design chief, Shiro Nakamura, revealed to your author that the GT-R had to express modern Japanese culture, singling out the giant robots of the Gundam genre.

It also had to look “mechanical”, something highlighted by the squareness and creases. He also mentioned something about “…withstanding fashion trends throughout its lifetime while evolving with the times”, calling out Porsche’s 911 as inspiration. Clearly the circular tail-lights connect with the Skyline originals of the 1960s.

Some 15 years later, mission accomplished.

Six years in the making and with the design locked in during 2004, the GT-R was nevertheless a global project, overseen by Mr Nakamura but with input from Nissan’s US (mainly the rear quarter view) and UK outposts (roofline). The latter remain as striking as ever.

Despite its blocky visage, the R35 boasts an impressive drag coefficient of 0.26 Cd, aided by particular airflow elements and helping it achieve a 320km/h top speed. While the GT-R’s body consists of steel, aluminium and carbon-fibre to contain kerb weight to a very reasonable 1751kg, the latter also partly makes up the platform, further assisting aero.

Hands down, this is the coolest supercar in the world. 

The Prius is the very visage of economic motoring. Derided by big-engine lovers, and adored by the eco-crowd, the fact that the Prius’s wedge-shaped frame is more about function than form tells you everything you need to know about this car.

It blends with Toyota’s latest design language, the face and bodywork containing some subtle nods to other models that would launch after it, like the Corolla, Camry, and C-HR.

What always surprises me about even this top-spec Prius is its dorky ride height. For a car with such a low drag coefficient, it sits so far off the ground! The 17-inch wheels look almost out of alignment with the body in those wheelarches.

Round the back, the Prius’s integrated spoiler and glasshouse bodywork are as divisive as ever, with more extreme pointed light fittings leaning into the effect created by its boxy, rear three-quarter view and mirroring the shape of the LED headlights at the front.

Of course, this car is less about being looked at as it is about its drag coefficient of 0.24 Cd, which is one of the lowest on any production car.

Inside, things again prove divisive, with a minimalist dash, a swoopy gloss highlight piece that frames the central vents and multimedia screen, and an odd, centrally mounted dash cluster, which is a usability faux pas.

In the case of the I-Tech at least there’s a holographic display which can put up useful information to help prevent your eyes from drifting too far from the road. Still, I can’t help but feel like this whole interior ethos is futuristic for the sake of being futuristic, with a little less thought given to how practical it is, compared to the brand’s other models.

The leather-appointed trim across the wheel and soft plastics in the door and dash-topper are appreciated, and there’s attention to detail in the little ‘Prius’ logos on the vents. However, I found the dull multimedia screen to be susceptible to glare during the day, and the big integrated panel in which it sits is made from a tinny gloss plastic, which will easily to get covered in fingerprints and scratches.

“We could have made the cabin much tighter, like a sports car, but we didn’t, because even though it is one of the fastest cars in the world, at the same time we wanted to make enough space to drive every day.”

Those are Mr Nakamura’s words from 2007 again, highlighting how user-friendly the GT-R’s cabin was designed to be.

Ample, sedan-like space is available up front, so people can get in and not feel cramped or hemmed in at all. This is in keeping with the old three-box Skyline philosophy. Australians can see it in the 1973 Datsun 240K, a distant cousin of the GT-R.

Back to 2022, with its fascia angled slightly to the right and the binnacle moving vertically with the steering column, the Nissan's whole focus is on driver welfare, and so making it a better sports car in the process. Storage is excellent, as is ventilation, while vision out is enhanced by the upright windscreen pillars and acutely rectangular side window shapes that offer their own brutalist ambience.

Just a few years ago, the equally squarish dash would have seemed laughably dated – and some of the details still are – but the physical switchgear feels fresh again after an endless wave of newer models with touchscreens and sub-menus that require fiddly prodding, when a button does the job better. That they’re weighty and mechanical in their operation adds to the GT-R’s mystique.

Being a T-spec, swathes of suede-like material also bring real class to the interior, along with the green-on-green colour scheme, chunky gear lever, thick-rimmed three-spoke wheel, hefty paddle shifters and exacting build quality. Actual 3D dials are lovely to behold as well.

Racy, tombstone-style electrically-actuated front seats, too, rise to the occasion, enveloping their occupants with an inviting sumptuousness that brings both comfort and support for hours on end. They also feature a clever curled knob that deftly takes care of reclining and fore-aft duties in one. Does any other car offer such an item?

Several seasons ago, Nissan overhauled the centre console, cleaning up the intimidatingly complicated switches and simplifying the various, customisable digital readouts that provide deeply intricate accounts of engine, driving, performance and vehicle operation data via arcade-game-like analogue-look dials. It’s really over-the-top techy and yet also mid-2000s cool, and that should thrill the curious teenager in us all. The fact that Polyphony Digital of Gran Turismo video-game fame helped develop all this just makes the R35 all the more cooler.

However, the Nissan parts-bin digital graphics, especially in the multimedia system, betray the GT-R's advancing years, as they’re so obviously steeped firmly in another era. They convey info efficiently, but they’re out of place in such as an exciting, hedonistic machine.

Plus, in keeping with a car that was released the same year the original Apple iPhone was, there’s no adaptive cruise control, digital radio and wireless smartphone charger, let alone Apple CarPlay/Android Auto of any description. But you’ll find Bluetooth connectivity as well as active noise cancellation tech at work in there, along with an 11-speaker audio system of outstanding sound quality, a USB port and... even a plug for your iPod.

Moving out to the rear, there are two seats bisected by a centre console that runs the length of the cabin, providing a natural armrest as well as a drink holder and home for a pair of Bose speakers.

The cushions are comfy enough, as are the well-angled backrests, and an average-sized person like your 178cm tester can rest back there for short periods in relative civility as long as they don’t sit too upright to avoid scalps touching the rear window.

Finally, further back, there’s a pleasingly long, deep and wide boot area, offering 315 litres of richly carpeted cargo capacity. A high loading lip and odd shape limit the amount of luggage you can put inside, however, while there’s no in-cabin access like a ski-port or folding backrests. It’s a separate compartment.   

But, like the rest of the Nissan’s cabin, the GT-R remains appealingly practical for a supercar. As Mr Nakamura said, “…you can use it for daily life, anywhere and anytime.”

If nothing else, all of the Prius’s edgy design gives it plentiful interior space. Toyota granted this generation of Prius a low seating position and tall roof, which combine with the distant dash elements to make for a spacious cockpit for the front two occupants.

The seat design in the top-spec I-Tech is also cushy, reminiscent of the seats in high-spec Camrys, and I had absolutely no trouble finding a comfortable driving position. If there’s one thing to be said for the annoying, centrally mounted instruments, it’s that you don’t need to consider the position of the wheel interfering with their visibility.

The Prius’s total glasshouse grants superb visibility out the front and sides, with large wing-mirrors, too. The only downside is that integrated spoiler at the back, which makes for a distracting view out the rear mirror that I’m sure any owner will quickly become accustomed to.

Soft trims across the doors and centre console, even in the back seat, make the Prius cabin a comfortable place to be, too.

Ergonomics have not been forgotten, with the multimedia screen and climate unit having useful and easy-to-reach physical dials and toggles for all the key functions. Even changing gear is a breeze in the Prius, with its odd little rosebud-shaped shifter simply a flick of the wrist from where your arm sits.

I do wish Toyota had made better use of the large area under the climate unit, however. The front part of the centre console is exclusively for the wireless-charging bay alone, and the rest of the space is constructed from a smoothly contoured gloss-finish plastic panel. It has looks to match the Prius aesthetic, but it’s no good for storing anything other than a single phone. It would have been better to make a large bay here with a rubberised finish.

Thanks to the lack of a physical handbrake in the centre or any other buttons or functions, there are two large bottle holders with variable edges.

A huge centre-console box and large door bins round out the Prius’s front-seat storage options.

Room in the rear seat is excellent, my 182cm tall frame had stellar amounts of space for my legs and head, as the roofline continues through to that raised rear spoiler. The comfy seat trim continues, although the padding in the base is notably not as good as it is in the front.

There are some useful pockets on the backs of the front seats and a drop-down armrest with cupholders for rear passengers, too.

Finally, the awkward rear of the Prius makes for a fantastic boot capacity, one advantage this car still holds over its hybrid Toyota stablemates. Capacity for the I-Tech is a mid-size-SUV rivalling 502-litres (VDA), which easily consumed our CarsGuide test luggage set and is even bigger than the base Prius, at the cost of the space-saver spare wheel. The I-Tech only has a repair kit to go with its larger alloys.

This Toyota Prius in top-spec I-Tech form costs a whopping $45,825 before on-road costs, which is a tall order, especially given the fact that the technical advantage this car once had to help justify its price-tag has been lost to the rest of Toyota’s range.

An equivalent Corolla hybrid, even in top ZR trim, can be had from just $34,695, and even the much larger Camry in its highest hybrid SL trim is more affordable, at a suddenly cheap-looking $42,790. All three Toyotas are sourced from Japan.

Not a good start in the value battle, then, especially since those other Toyotas are not just hybrids, but great cars in their respective segments.

The Prius I-Tech’s most direct rival is the similarly shaped and sized Hyundai Ioniq Premium, which can be yours from $40,390 with competitive equipment. Hyundai is not only hunting Toyota with this car, but flexing its deep pockets by selling the Ioniq in Australia as not just a hybrid, but a PHEV and a full EV, too.

Thankfully, the I-Tech comes with some decent gear, sporting 17-inch alloy wheels, a 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, digital radio, a 4.2-inch digital information display, a holographic head-up display, full LED lighting with auto-levelling, leather-appointed seat trim, auto dimming rear vision mirror, wireless phone charging, 10-speaker audio, and improved interior trims over the base car.

The I-Tech also scores a larger boot capacity and an improved safety suite compared to the base Prius. More on that in later sections of this review.

Is the Prius “good value” then? It's still a no, as all of this equipment can be had in bigger, more mainstream Toyota models, and far more affordable rivals. It’s a shame Toyota hasn’t brought the Prius’s cost down in the five years since this generation launched, because in today’s market it makes less sense than ever.

That said, there is a certain niche audience for this car. One that will always love its little innovations, like the fact that it has one of the lowest drag coefficients on the market, its stellar fuel-consumption number, and its claimed 40 per cent thermal efficiency.

Does it get better than this?

The GT-R’s VR38DETT is already steeped deeply in motoring folklore. it really is one for the ages.

But just in case, here are the salient facts. It's a handmade 3799cc 3.8-litre 90-degree V6, with intercooled twin turbochargers, double overhead cams and variable valve timing, pumping out an incredible 419kW of power at 6800rpm and 632Nm of torque from 3300-5800rpm.

Tipping the scales at an entirely admirable 1751kg (kerb), the GT-R boasts a power-to-weight ratio of 239kW per tonne, helping it scream to 100km/h in 2.7s, on the way to a top speed of 320km/h. There’s a launch control system to help the latter out.

Drive is delivered to all four wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch transmission with a trio of modes depending on the level of performance desired, courtesy of Nissan’s traction and yaw-based ATTESSA AWD system. This features an electro-magnetic clutch and 1.5-way mechanical LSD to shuffle between 50 and 100 percent of torque rearwards. Suspension is double wishbones up front and a multi-link out the back.

Weight distribution to 53/47 front-to-rear.

It wouldn’t be a Prius without Toyota’s signature hybrid synergy drive technology. In this most original case it consists of a 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which uses the more thermally efficient but less powerful Atkinson combustion cycle, producing 72kW/142Nm, paired to a set of electric motors on the front axle, which can produce up to 53kW/163Nm.

Combined system output is rated by Toyota at 90kW, driving the front wheels only via a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). This system is the same one now also employed in the C-HR and Corolla hybrid grades.

The Prius’s electric motors source their power from an older design nickel-metal hydride battery (instead of the more modern lithium-ion setup) located under the boot floor.

Given the Euro 5 emissions-rated GT-R’s prodigious performance, a 15.3 litres per 100km result in a mix of urban, freeway and performance driving is actually not too bad. Again, it's all relative.

Nissan’s claims are 12.0L/100km (and 17.2L/100km and 9.0L/100km for the urban and extra-urban runs respectively), for a carbon dioxide emissions average of 281 grams/km.

A sizeable 74 litres of 98 RON premium unleaded petrol is what the recommended tipple is, allowing over 615km between refills.

The Prius’ sandpapered hybrid drive, low drag number, weight reductions, and low-rolling-resistance tyres add up for a stellar official/combined fuel-consumption figure of just 3.4L/100km. While its signature hybrid tech might be available on other Toyota’s, it’s here where the Prius still shines, undercutting the others by almost a whole litre every 100km.

But can it live up to that promise in the real world? Over my week of what I would consider to be reasonable ‘combined’ driving conditions; with plenty of traffic, freeways, and suburban driving, the Prius returned a stellar figure of just 4.0L/100km. This is not just one of the lowest figures I have ever achieved on a test car, it is even lower than the Corolla Hybrid that I tested over a three-month period. I couldn’t get that car below 4.9L/100km, despite by best attempts.

For a true rival comparison, my week-long test of the Ioniq hybrid in 2019 had the Korean managing a fuel number of 4.6L/100km.

You need not worry about kWh energy consumption for the Prius, as its hybrid system’s software manages the state of battery charge on the fly. It will simply run the engine to charge the battery if levels drop too low, although it always feels good to make the most of the motor’s regenerative braking to keep the battery topped up.

It’s clear that the Prius is still the king of hybrid, then. At least for the time being. All Prius models have 43-litre fuel capacities and are able to consume base-grade 91RON unleaded.

Nothing you've driven before is like the experience of familiarising yourself with a GT-R, going from initial intimidation to trust and cooperation. This is a supercar for all moods and seasons.

Above all, though, and even without the launch control activated that helps it get to 100km/h from zero in 2.7 seconds (making it still one of the fastest production cars in the world), the Nissan is ferociously fast.

That’s no shock at all, but what is further imprints on you the GT-R’s outstandingly broad capabilities, since it can pussyfoot about in Comfort mode like any reasonably well-sorted grand-touring sports sedan, like a tame lion. In such circumstances, the car's mechanical congeniality is testimony to the sheer scale of engineering talent going on behind the scenes.

Choose Sport or Race modes, and the forces that the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 unleash are nothing short of seismic, swelling up and subsuming you in a tidal wave of relentless thrust that just doesn’t let up. With the exhaust wailing and the scenery blurring by, it is starkly clear that the GT-R is a supercar of tremendous speed.

Over the years, Nissan has improved the dual-clutch transmissions operation, reducing the driveline's abrupt clunkiness that marred earlier versions, for a smoother and yet still bolt-action rifle-rapid shifter that serves to facilitate all that walloping performance. In the sportier modes, with the configurable dampers, torque split and traction settings unshackled, a ham-fisted driver can still illicit a thump from the gearbox as it clumsily engages the ratios required, but overall, it’s a far-more seamless mover and shaker than before.

As you’d expect, the steering walks a fine line between agility and heft, responding calmly yet quickly, for direct and decisive handling. The GT-R feels hunkered down at all times, and it seems to dig in even more as you turn up the wick, unfazed by turns or the state of the road below.

What’s impressive is just how deceptively fast this is, since the car glides along so effortlessly. Yes, there is the engine's alluring aural soundtrack to remind you of the vast speed you potentially might be doing, but the chassis’ incredible control numbs your sense of speed.

While the suspension is set up for firmness, the adaptive dampers help calm the ride, bringing a sophisticated suppleness over most urban terrain. There isn’t much ground clearance at 107mm, but the double wishbones and multi-link arrangement does a terrific job filtering out the bad stuff. Furthermore, backed up by fiercely instantaneous brakes, the Nissan never feels nervous nor unsettled.

Sure, it’s far from quiet, with a decent amount of road noise droning through over some types of country roads, but it’s rarely challenging or distracting. The large turning circle is one of the few faults, in an otherwise satisfying driving and dynamic experience.

It's important to note that, though the styling has hardly changed over the years, the GT-R has evolved and developed for the better over time. For a supercar, its range stretches from benign to ballistic and from mellow to unmerciful, with towering confidence and control.

There are 28 very lucky drivers in Australia right now, wondering whether the replacement will also display Miss Congeniality and Conan the Barbarian with such charming authority. Drive a GT-R to realise how close to greatness it remains to this day.

The Prius was responsible for popularising Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive, and fittingly, it still feels like the best execution of the technology on the market. That instantly available torque from the electric motor is sleek, quiet, and easy. It feels as though the Prius can make more extended use of purely electric drive than not only its rivals, but all other Toyota and Lexus hybrid products.

Despite its awkward exterior looks, the ride and handling of the Prius are excellent, thanks to its robust TNGA-C underpinnings (in fact, the Prius was the car to debut this platform for Toyota). It tilts into corners nicely, despite a frumpy ride height, and deals with bumps in its stride. This is a comfortable car, and the Lexus influence here is undeniable. The steering characteristics are also smooth and responsive. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the Prius is fun to drive, but it is certainly comfortable and compliant.

What the Prius lacks is the lower, firmer, and more aggressive ride and handling characteristics of its Hyundai Ioniq rival, perhaps a telling insight into the trajectory of each brand.

These characteristics add up to an around-town driving experience that really is a breeze. It’s quiet in the cabin and at times genuinely hard to tell whether the car is using its electric motors or the engine. When it comes to bursts of acceleration, the Prius might surprise you. Using both the motor and engine in tandem, I found that the Prius can sprint from the line with an alarming urgency, more so than its Corolla sibling. With the same tech behind the accelerator pedal, it’s hard to imagine why.

Once the electric motor has reached its strictly defined limit, though, the engine breaks in with a vengeance, and this car does have an anaemic follow-through when the electric components fall to the wayside. As in other applications of this drivetrain, the 1.8-litre Atkinson-cycle petrol engine can be thrashy and noisy when a lot is asked of it.

Of course, driving in such a sporty manner is hardly the point of the Prius, and where it really excels is in that day-to-day traffic grind, where the hybrid system works largely in the background to maximise the time spent with the engine off. The best part? While you can really fall into the hybrid system’s addictive fuel-saving displays, which really encourage hypermiling, this is a set-and-forget system. You can drive the Prius like any other car, and it will be trim on fuel consumption anyway. It’s not like I was trying awfully hard to attain my weekly figure of 4.0L/100km, so I’m sure it can do better over the long term.

The Prius wears a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating to the 2016 standards, although even in today’s market it has a great active-safety suite.

Standard modern active features on all Prius models include freeway-speed auto emergency braking with pedestrian and daytime cyclist detection, lane-keep assist with lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control, traffic-sign recognition, and auto-high beams. Our top-spec I-Tech adds blind-spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert, for an overall excellent suite.

All Prius varaints are also equipped with seven airbags consisting of the standard front, side, and head, as well as a driver’s knee airbag, and the standard array of electronic stability and brake controls are also present.

The warranty period is for five-years/100,000 kilometres, with service intervals fixed at every six months or 10,000km – whichever occurs first. There is also five years of roadside assistance.

Unlike all other Nissans officially imported in Australia, there is no capped-price servicing for GT-R. And it requires specially trained service technicians so contact Nissan to find out which dealers can carry out the task.

Toyota’s range-wide warranty currently stands at five years or unlimited kilometres, which is really the accepted industry standard and matches its key Ioniq rival.

Annoyingly, however, the Prius needs to adhere to six-monthly or 10,000km service intervals. Said intervals are capped to $165 per visit for the first six visits under Toyota’s “service advantage” program, after which time you fall back to Toyota genuine servicing with significant price hikes to $221.97, and $425.47 for the next two services covering four years or 80,000km.

A year of roadside assist is included, after which time you will need to subscribe to Toyota’s program, from $89 a year.

While Toyota’s offering is on par with many, it’s hardly the cheapest or most comprehensive we’ve seen.