Nissan is an automaker that has made a wide variety of cars, from practical work trucks like the Nissan Frontier to extremely powerful sports cars like the Nissan GT-R. As a result, Nissan has quite a few fans, and like any other fans, some Nissan fans have begun modifying their cars to get more from them. And in one Nissan owner’s case, he thought it would be a great idea to mix the GT-R with the Nissan Navara to create the Navara-R. 

How the Nissan Navara-R compares to the GT-R

According to Motor Authority, the creator of the Navara-R was a British racer, Steve “Baggsy” Biagioni. The idea was simple: to put the engine of a GT-R into a Navara pickup truck. That said, the GT-R, nicknamed Godzilla, was as mighty as its nickname, with a 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6 that only generated about 565 hp.

That’s more powerful than the standard Navara, but it wasn’t enough. Biagioni tuned up the Godzilla engine to get even more power. One of his main modifications was making that engine even larger. Instead of 3.8-liters, the Navara-R’s engine is 4.1-liters. The Navara-R’s output topped out at about 1,000 hp, almost double what the GT-R gets. 

An overview of the Nissan Navara-R

Modifying a car is not as simple as slapping on a bigger engine. Biagioni commissioned other upgrades to the truck to accommodate all that power. For example, with help from Dodson Motorsport, a New Zealand company, Biagioni gave the Navara-R a custom dual-clutch transmission. Like many other sports cars, the GT-R has an upgraded suspension, and that’s the same thing that the Navara-R has.

Motor Authority wrote that the Navara-R has a suspension “based on GT-R subframes.” This includes a KW V4 racing coilovers and an HLS 4 hydraulic-lift system. The Navara comes with 16-inch wheels as standard, but the Navara-R had those replaced with 20-inch custom wheels. Biagioni also upgraded the truck’s interior, as it has a Kenwood infotainment system, and its steering wheel and engine start button both came from the GT-R. 

That being said, there’s one crucial spec that’s currently not known, and that’s Nissan’s towing capacity. The regular Navara, similar to the Frontier, can tow about 6,700 pounds. It can do that with a 3.8-liter V6 that gets 310 hp, so the Navara-R may be able to tow more than that, thanks to its 1,000-hp engine. 

The Nissan GT-R can still be a good sports car option

Since the Navara-R is a custom truck, curious customers will have to choose between the regular Navara or a regular GT-R. Unfortunately for Americans, neither vehicles are an option, as the Navara isn’t sold in the U.S., and Nissan discontinued sales of the GT-R in America in 2021. Regardless, the Godzilla is still an excellent option for folks who can afford one. 

The Godzilla’s twin-turbo V6 gets 565 hp, but more importantly, it’s in a car designed to be light and nimble. As a result, it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds. On top of that, it can also be a quick car around corners, making it fun to drive. Nissan has produced more powerful versions of the GT-R, including the Nismo, which gets 600 hp instead. However, the Nismo starts at over $200,000, almost double the GT-R’s standard price tag of $110,000.