THE GRASS IS GREENER

Kirby discovers jealousy can be a virtue

CAMERON KIRBY

I’M NOT USUALLY the jealous type. But I am jealous of Alex Affat. Not only does he maintain an aura of effortless cool at all times, he also owns (and regularly drives, bless him) a genuine Nissan R32 GT-R. I’m not the only person that is jealous of Affat though. He regaled me recently with the dilemma of commuting in a JDM icon. At every other set of traffic lights he is set upon by owners of modern performance cars all looking to demonstrate that their sprightly metal is capable of sending Affat’s geriatric Godzilla out to pasture.

Nissan’s original claimed power figures for the GT-R (which we can take with a lake’s worth of salt) were 206kW and 353Nm; roughly on par with ‘my’ ST’s 206kW and 420Nm. So, why isn’t anyone trying rev their crackle-tuned Golf GTI at me for the traffic light grand prix? I’ve noticed in my last month of faux-custodianship that the ST somehow flies under the radar, even with its Orange Fury flanks contrasted against Melbourne’s grey spring weather.

This could be in part because the ST really doesn’t shout about its performance abilities all that hard. There’s no huge wing, the arches aren’t adorned with brutish flares, and the exhaust – while rorty – doesn’t really shout at passers-by. In fact, line the ST up against more pedestrian Focus variants and I suspect anyone but a car nerd like you and I would be able to pick it from the line-up.