I met an old friend of mine at a party the other day and he parked right behind me. He recently purchased a 2002 Black specV manual. It was a pretty nice looking car, I think black is a good color for the specV. We took turns riding and sitting in each other's cars. I had almost bought one originally so it was vey familiar. I know theres alot of articles out there on the two and most of it was spot on. I hadn't sat or rode in once since I got my RA. My second impressions of the car is that its a fairly nice package. There were a few amenities that I lacked such as the 17" wheels, the 6CD changer, sunroof (I dont have sun&sound) and of course the subwoofer. The red sport seats in the specV in retrospect are probably not well suited to the car. The tight weave material is slick and you tend to slide around alot. The side bolsters are practically spoon shaped and you can slide over them quite easily. The RA seats on the other hand grab your *** like a gay man at a nudist colony. The SpecV shifter was surprisingly tight with relatively short throw. Still not as tight as the RA/Evo shifter which we quickly decided was the better of the two. The Spec V's interior felt a little more high class where the faux carbon fiber dash of the Ralliart has more of a sporty feel. Both interiors are very comparable. I liked the RA steering wheel better. We also got to go for a quick drive in it. Acceleration difference was hardly noticable but i did feel the torque steer.

In short, I have alot of respect for the specV and tip my hat to the car. It does admittedly have a slight edge in performace but much of that is tires. Here's my quick list for what I like better about the two.

Looks

Front end- specV
Sides- RA
Rear- RA
Interior - Tie
Wheels- SpecV

Winner, RA by a hair


Performance

Braking- RA (ABS)
Turning- SpecV
Grip- SpecV
0-60 - RA
60-100 - SpecV
Shifting - RA

Overall performance winner SpecV


Comfort and daily driving

Seats- RA
Steering wheel- RA
Rear seats- Tie
Compartments- Tie
Ride comfort- RA
Comfort under hard turning -RA
Comfort under hard acceleration -RA
Gas usage- RA
Audio- SpecV
Gears- SpecV (6-speed)

Overall comfort winner: Ralliart

Total overall results: Ralliart



Remember, this is just my personal opinion. I feel its pretty honest because I was dead set on buying a specV before I learned about and test drove my RA. The specV is a good car and I like it but afterwards, I feel like the RA suits me better, its a much better daily driver and had more mod potential than the SpecV. I feel that the marginal performance that I get with the SpecV, does not make up for the uncomfortable ride, premium gas usage, and blah looks. The 2005 SpecV and up trades the good looking skyline-esque front end in for an ugly one but gets the torque steer fixed. Still not an attractive package. I'd buy my RA again in a heartbeat.

 

I nkow how you feel about the spec-v. I was dead set on buying one aswell, I still think my account on b15sentra is active. But once they came out with the "buck" tooth look ine 2004 (i Think) I lost intrest. even tho buddyclub2.com make a wicked kit for it and once they make one for the ra I'm getting it. the other car I was looking at was the mazda3 but once I took it for a test ride I knew I wouldn't get it. The spec-v is a very nice car and it also has manafacure support from nismo. But allso nissan doesn't have well known money troubles like mitsu does.

 

My best friend has a spec-v and i love it. Just because we have 2 different cars that are so simular, and yet so different. I'd say the spec-v is way more torquy than the ralliart. But that might just be the tires. He gets crazy wheel hop and my tires just spin. Anyways we are always dead even, but now he has mods on the car. That's were the spec-v looses. It isn't responsive to mods as much as the Ralliart. I have a cold air intake, and he has cai/exhaust. I kept pulling on him then he side by side a couple of feet back. Now he got a header and brembos, and beats me now. The header removed the can and the gains were nice. So the real restriction on the car is the header. Anyways nice comparison

 

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Nice review shiroboi!

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Nice comparison! My '04 Spec-V was such a fun car! It was so torquey, the 6 speed let you tear through gears, and the handling was amazing! The LSD + good stock tires really made the car. My car had the optional brembo's, and if I'm not mistaken it also had 4-sensor ABS. Pre-2004 Spec-V's (like the 2002 you talked about) didn't have the brembo/ABS option. Correct me if I'm wrong.

That said, the RA is an awesome car! No doubt there.

 

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After two years of debating this, there still seems to be no clear winner...

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Brembo package is only on the new, ugly front end, ugly rim having Specs. Don't forget about the Mazdaspeed Protege, which handles better than both of those, looks better, has a better interior and sound system (debatable, but at least it has a better head unit), but lacks the power punch because you have to wait for turbo spool. The MSP also doesn't come with cruise control

All of them are good cars, you just need to find the one that suits you the best. Since you're in MD, maybe we could meet up and run a comparison test between our two cars.

 

I liked the 02-03 spec-v, I actually think it is kind of ugly in the front now. I am not doggin the performance or the potential of the vehicle just the grill change was a major f**k up by nissan if you ask me.

 

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The only thing preventing the MazdaSpeed Protege from being compared to the RA and Spec-V is the fact that... well, it's not sold anymore.

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Correct there didnt have the brembo packege. they same year they came out with that package they changed to the buck tooth look, and nismo came to north america to offer s-tune and a-tune I beleave to the se-r. but from what I remeber most of the first listed nismo prducts were just rebranded intake's from injen and other stuff from JWT.

 

BTW guys, doesn't the Spec-V still have this "passed it's expiry date" rigid rear axle???

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Spev-V still has a twist beam axle.

 

Haha, yea -- the 'front-tooth' on the 2004's and up are pretty ugly. I mean, wtf where they thinking. Personally, I liked the wheels though.

 

Yep, you could (can) get NISMO s-tune and 'r-tune' parts for the SE-R and SE-R Spec-V. If I remember right, full r-tuned spec-v's where making in the high 160's low 170's whp.

 

I sort of wished I went with a Spec V just for Nismo. It would have been nice if Ralliart followed them and gave us some parts

Naa I still like the looks of the RA better.