2 Fast 2 Furious: 1999 Skyline GT-R R34

No car has quite the same reputation as Nissan's Skyline GT-R. It's not officially sold in the United States, barely qualifies as compact, and is built with its steering wheel on the wrong side, but the all-wheel-drive, sequentially twin-turbocharged Skyline GT-R has managed to become a legend in America. That the producers of "2 Fast 2 Furious" ("2F2F") recognized that is at least somewhat encouraging--isn't it?

The Skylines used during filming were all R34s, a model introduced way back in 1998. Like other Skylines, the R34 is powered by a RB26DETT 2.6-liter, DOHC, 24-valve straight six sitting longitudinally in the engine bay that's force fed by twin turbos and rated at a laughingly low 280 hp. The R34's engine feeds a six-speed Getrag gearbox that in turn sends power to the ATTESA all-wheel-drive system, which electronically varies the torque split.

Super HICAS four-wheel steering is also aboard and includes an electronic feedback control system to ensure precise wheel positioning under extreme circumstances. But the big change for the R34 from previous Skylines was a stiffened body shell and fresh aerodynamic design. This car has carbon-fiber under-car diffusers and a new rear wing.

In fact, the Skyline R34 is such an effective piece of technology, it was too good for movie work. All-wheel-drive supercars are quick and amazing to drive, but they're absolutely nonchalant about their work. It takes a rear-quarter hit by an out-of-control country squire to get an R34's tail to swing out dramatically, and burnouts are tough in a car with more traction than a Caterpillar D9. So the 2F2F transportation department excised the front driveshaft and disabled the Skyline's four-wheel steering so it could misbehave like a regular car.

For its appearance on camera, the Skyline was encrusted within a C-West body kit, drenched in House of Kolor's platinum pearl paint and treated to a set of 19-inch HRE 446 polished wheels inside Toyo Proxes T1-S tires. Inside, the front passenger seat was ditched in favor of not one, not two, but three nitrous bottles--none of which are actually plumbed into the engine. Also thrown in is a Clarion head unit with LCD TV screen, a big JBL amp and Infinity speakers that actually seem to work. Of course, it also carries a bunch of blue neon and spits blue flame from its exhaust system.

As one of the two cars driven by too-pretty-for-a-guy hero Officer Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), the Skyline, according to transportation coordinator Ted Moser, has 505 hp on tap and a hoarking 444 lb-ft of torque. In that "2F2F" alternate universe, that means this car rockets to 60 mph in just 4.1 seconds, consumes the quarter-mile in 12.1 seconds and has a top speed of 180 mph. Back on the actual planet Earth, the performance is still strong, but not quite as strong as fresher, intact R34s we've driven.

With Josh Jacquot doing his suave Paul Walker imitation, the Skyline, which is bone stock under the hood, groped its way through the quarter in 14.1 seconds at 101 mph--the third quickest car of the six included in this movie car test. With 22,254 km (13,797 miles) on its odometer, this car wasn't old, but it definitely had been beaten up pretty determinedly. Power output seemed down from other R34s, but a direct comparison is tough since the other R34s had the advantage of all-wheel-drive launches and didn't need a feathery throttle down the track. This car literally smoked its rear tires on every 1-2 upshift, which was cool to watch but certainly added time to each run. Its performance is also sabotaged by its big diameter wheels and the added heft of all the add-ons. The last stock R34 we drove hit 60 mph in just 5.07 seconds and crushed the quarter mile in 13.3 seconds at 103.7 mph.

The lack of AWD and 4WS knocked the movie Skyline's performance to 0.91g on the skidpad, although we expected worse. The missing front differentials made the car much easier to drift, which is of course, the point, and we have to admit the car looked great doing it.

As for the brakes, they remain stock all around, and the ABS is intact. From 60 mph, this car stopped in 127 ft. Again, not a terrible performance, but not exactly what we've come to expect from a Skyline GT-R.

Overall, the Skyline turned out to be one of the better running and better sorted of the six cars. The driver's seat is a Sparco Milano and the additional gauges are HKS products."It's not too bad," Josh reported after his quarter-mile runs. "Now we know how a rear-wheel-drive R34 performs."