2013 Nissan Titan Sv Glacier White With Charcoal Interior on 2040-cars

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Is the Chevy Camaro Z/28 a Godzilla Slayer at the track?

Godzilla. It's a name that strikes fear in the minds and hearts of giant monsters (Mothra!) worldwide, not to mention a number of automobile manufacturers that produce high-performance coupes... including Chevrolet. The Bowtie-cladded company has one rather obvious model that lines up squarely in the sights of the Nissan GT-R, that being the Corvette.
Interestingly, though, Chevy's halo coupe isn't the vehicle the boys from Motor Trend decided to match up at Barber Motorsports Park against the Japanese Godzilla, opting instead for the brand-new Camaro Z/28. A glance at the spec sheet of the Z/28 clears up any consternation regarding MT's choice - more horsepower for the Nissan, more torque for the Chevy and roughly the same weight means they are on pretty equal ground when it comes to what's under the hood.
The rest of the spec sheet looks to tilt the argument in the GT-R's favor (especially considering that MT's test car is a Track Edition model), as it boasts all-wheel-drive traction, a quick-shifting six-speed dual-clutch transmission and a price tag that's about $40,000 higher than that of the Z/28. Oh, and don't forget the GT-R's legendary computer-controlled reflexes. Does any of that matter with a professional race car driver like Randy Pobst behind the wheel? Scroll down and watch the video to find out.

Nissan recalls 226k vehicles over airbag inflators

Nissan and Infiniti are the latest automakers to issue recalls involving faulty airbag inflators from Takata. The Japanese automakers have announced campaigns covering about 226,326 units from seven models built in the early 2000s because they contain the bad part in the passenger-side, front airbag. The affected vehicles include the 2002-2004 Nissan Sentra, 2002-2003 Pathfinder and 2002-2003 Maxima, and it also covers the 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4, 2002-2003 I35, 2003 FX45 and 2003 FX35.
Like the other vehicles with the faulty inflators, it's possible for the part to rupture during airbag deployment and spray metal shrapnel at occupants. Nissan and Infiniti have even included vehicles with replacement airbags in this campaign because those parts also could have been defective. Both companies were also part of the earlier regional campaign to fix cars in high-humidity climates where the problem has been found to be the worst.
As is the usual response, Nissan and Infiniti will notify owners of the affected vehicles and will make the repair at no charge. According to the filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these fixes will commence around August 11. Scroll down to read the report from NHTSA, or read the full defect notice as a PDF, here.

Nissan Leaf Aero Style wears new body kit in Japan

Here we have the Nissan Leaf Aero Style, which the automaker says "offers 100% electric vehicle performance in a new stylish and sporty shape." We call it a Nissan Leaf with a not-terribly-attractive body kit and two-tone wheels. Suffice it to say, it's not much like the conceptual version Nissan showed off at the Tokyo Motor Show back in 2011...
Our blunt assessment of the Leaf Aero Style doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, of course. It's still, best we can tell, a Nissan Leaf through and through, which means it has the same 107 horsepower, 187 pound-feet of torque and 24-kWh battery pack as every other new Leaf. That, in turn, means it has an official range of 75 miles (though you're probably better off assuming you can get 50 or so miles per charge in the real world) and a top speed of 90 miles per hour.
The Nissan Leaf Aero Style will go on sale in Japan in December of 2013, and there's no word on whether or not it will make its way to the States. There's also no official word on whether the Aero Style is actually any more aerodynamic than the standard Leaf, one of the slipperier cars on the market. If you want to read all about Nissan's presence in Tokyo, scroll down below. If you just want to see the new body kit and wheels, check out our high-res image gallery above.