JDM Fans Rejoice: The R34 Nissan Skyline Is Now Legal In America

May of 2023 is an important month for American enthusiasts of JDM tin. After years of pining and a handful of special models making it in through Show or Display legislation for the limited importation of historically or technically significant vehicles never officially sold in America, the legendary R34 Nissan Skyline is finally legal for American importation under the 25-year rule. Mind you, that does come with a big asterisk — not all trim levels will make the boat right now.

See, the legendary R34 Skyline GT-R won’t be legal under the 25-year rule until January of 2024 (The BNR34 GT-R was a Porsche-scaring monster with all-wheel-drive and an RB26DETT 2.6-liter twin-turbocharged inline six making way more than the advertised 276 horsepower), but 3,895 normal variants made in May of 1998 are now legal to import, and some are quicker than others. The base HR34 GT model with its 153-horsepower RB20DE NEO engine won’t set the world alight, but the 197-horsepower ER34 25 GT and 276-horsepower ER34 25 GT Turbo models really get the fizz on, depending on gearbox choice. As with most big Japanese cars of the ‘90s, a four-speed automatic was on offer, and it’s aged about as well as you’d expect.

Still, the late RB-series inline-sixes are a bit of a miracle because the R34 Skyline wasn’t even supposed to come with the RB-series inline-six. According to Whichcar Australia, R34 chief engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno wanted to put a V6 in the engine bay, but the money wasn’t there for a high-performance version of the VQ. Nissan was a sinking ship in the late-’90s, and a financial turnaround wouldn’t come until Carlos Ghosn took the reins in 2000.

Now, here lies the rub of the R34: The one you really want will be expensive. Manual models with the RB25DET NEO turbocharged engine start in the mid-20s and go up from there. These were brilliant cars when they were around $10,000, but the days of cheap JDM performance cars are pretty much over. Even slightly dodgy naturally-aspirated 2.5-liter cars are still in the low five-figure range, and that coin buys a lot of sports sedan. If you have a Japanese bent, the Lexus IS300 has aged brilliantly. Reasonably nice BMWs are never thin on the ground. You might even squeak into a Holden Monaro-based Pontiac GTO, although it feels much heavier than a Skyline.

Current Skyline values are a bit shocking to me as due to Canada’s 15-year import rule and British Columbia’s propensity for insuring anything, non-GT-R R34s were just normal cars driven by young enthusiasts when I was in public school. You used to be able to get a GT Turbo for about what an eight-year-old Toyota Camry commanded in the isolated Okanagan valley, never mind most domestic-market performance cars. They were fabulous value and surprisingly refined, plus the aftermarket was tremendous. Granted, they weren’t Rocky Mountain long-distance cruisers with fabulous NVH attenuation like the Germans or even an XJR, nor were they out-and-out sports cars, but they made sense as one car to do it all.

I’m sure you expect this rambling to be followed up with a controversial statement, but no. The R34 is actually good. Look, it’s a relatively sophisticated late-’90s rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive sedan or coupe with a lineup of inline six engines and manual gearbox availability. However, good doesn’t mean it’s on another level. After all, the R34 is the predecessor to a car we actually got in North America, the Infiniti G35, so we’re really looking at a fun, sporty sedan or coupe that’s bigger than a 3-Series but smaller than a 5-Series. From experience, the R34 Skyline and G35 are fairly evenly matched, although the R34 is slightly more raw and was available with turbocharged power.

To some, the driving experience of an R34 Skyline will undoubtedly line up with the prices they command. It’s not difficult or expensive to coax more power out of an RB25DET NEO without massively sacrificing reliability, and nobody makes this sort of reasonably-light, capacious do-it-all vehicle anymore. Plus, the R34 is relatively rare. According to GTR Registry, 67,262 R34 Skylines of all stripes were made over the entire production run, which sounds like a lot until it’s put into context. BMW made millions of E46 3-Series models, while Infiniti sold more G35s in America in 2005 alone than Nissan sold R34s in total.

Then there’s the cultural aspect of the R34. Although many Americans got their first glimpse at it in 2 Fast 2 Furious, the want goes further back than that. Gran Turismo had introduced the Skyline to American living rooms in 1998, and Gran Turismo 2 brought the R34 to your PlayStation in 1999. Motorex was getting magazine and television features for its questionably-imported Skylines, and a whole host of JDM magazines captivated those in the import scene.

Oh, and the halo effect is in full force with the R34. The GT-R variant has taken on this status as crusher of all, an inimitable final evolution of the dominant R32 GT-R. It marked the end of a truly legendary era of Japanese performance cars, when technology ruled the roost and the Western establishment had a hard time keeping up. These days, R34 GT-Rs are full-on supercar money, largely due to their supercar-killing cred. Once the pricing of top-trim models goes through the roof, it tends to lift the values of lesser models.

The R34 Skyline isn’t for everyone, but it’s still a great enthusiast car. However, it’s also one that requires a careful buying process. Due to the um, exuberance of many Skyline owners over the past decade or so, finding one that hasn’t been modified to a dubious standard is difficult. In addition, it’s still a 25-year-old car, which means that dumb stuff can still break. Still, it remains a dream car for many American enthusiasts and now that the time is right to import them, it’s only a matter of time until they start showing up to car meets.

(Photo credits: Nissan, Thomas Hundal)

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