Grungle

SOLD

Long-term bump. Have used as a daily for the last 12 months, but now time to move it on. Now located in Orange, NSW, and recently (last week) passed a blue slip inspection. Comes with 12 months NSW rego. Still looks the same, just different tyres. Now with 132,000km. $9,200

Car has now moved to Young, NSW. It's about 2 hours from Canberra and 3 from Sydney. Dropped price to $14,500. It got driven across from adelaide and didn't miss a beat. In fact, with the new (correct profile) tyres it got way better fuel economy than it ever has.

Genuine AR-X (All Road Cross-over). Why buy an AR-X over an RX or RS? The AR-X has: Leather heated + power seats Limited Slip Differential (excellent for snow and getting all of the power down) 10mm wider track 18 inch wheels as standard HICAS (4 wheel steering) - HICAS makes the car feel much more nimble than it’s non-HICAS equivalent. Slightly lifted suspension - So you don't need to creep over speed bumps or spoon drains, and the front bar clears kerbs in the parking lot. Why buy this one? The M35 Stagea is the perfect high-powered family wagon. With a 206kW 2.5L turbo V6 it’s got plenty of power, and it’s extremely smooth with it’s 5-speed tiptronic auto. This particular car has the Nissan “Cold pack” option, which includes (among other things) heated front/rear windscreens, mirrors and a rear fog lamp. I’ve owned this one for 4 years, and I was the first owner in Australia. I got it with ~75,000km, and have done a number of things to it over the years. First was the coilpacks. This doesn’t seem to be a common failure, but mine had a high-rpm miss under load. I swapped out all 6 with new ones (at a cost of about $1100) and it’s been perfect ever since. Spark plugs were done while trying to diagnose the fault. I’ve put a 3-inch stainless steel cat-back exhaust on, fabricated by AAA Exhausts in Adelaide. Significant power gains can be made from this, and it helps reduce the heat getting into the turbo. Mindful that my wife would be driving this car most of the time this exhaust has 2 big mufflers, so there’s no drone - just a nice rumble at idle and lots of flow when it gets going. I’ve never scraped the exhaust, and when it was installed I put a big catalytic converter on it - if you ever want to remove the front pipe/dump pipe you won’t need to fit a cat in there again. I’ve fitted a set of adjustable whiteline sway bars, as well as upgraded mounting brackets. This gets the car sitting much flatter in the corners, but doesn’t affect the comfort - we often use this car for long trips and stiff coil-overs just aren’t suitable. I have changed the power steer pump after it failed last summer. $1000 through Nissan Australia. The brake disks were also recently machined and new QFM HP-X pads were put in late last year. This car comes with a Pioneer “carrozzeria” Japanese head unit, including GPS, DVD, CD, Aux in, Hard Disk and TV. I never bothered getting the TV or DVD to work, and Pioneer tell me the GPS cannot be converted to Australian maps, but it plays and records CDs and the iPhone plugs straight in. Excellent sound. Of course, this car has all the other features of every other M35 stagea: Factory tinted windows 3 x child restraints Split-fold rear seats (that can be flipped down from the back of the car) Split-lift rear hatch (the glass opens separately to the tailgate) Climate control Airbags ABS $15,400 Located in SA. I'm selling because I've just imported a new Delica. PM me here, or email mark.leane "at" gmail.com. I'll be happy to supply my phone number when requested. Pics! Engine cover removed so you can see what's really going on - I've still got it.

Once again, I'll throw my support behind the power steering cooler. I proudly took delivery of a $980 power steering pump today to replace the one I flogged out after 6 laps of Mallala. The half lap I did while the fluid was boiling allowed the vanes to contact the housing and wore the bottom out of it. Fluid has been madly circulating around in the pump (instead of going to the rack) ever since. And it's a bitch to get off. The standard brakes weren't much better though, even with the HPX pads. Hopefully your DBAs will hold up a bit better. Although I didn't change my fluid...

Congratulations Ruby! My wife is at 36 weeks...I can confirm (as many other can no doubt) that a baby seat fits nicely in the back of an M35. I may regret the tan leather however...

Really? I drove one in Japan and it was fine. A long way off the stagea obviously...but that's kind of the point. We'll get one in the next 12 months (once prices are more realistic). As far as I know there are only a handful in Australia at the moment.

Got prices... Both come out of Japan. $43.80 for the seal kit. $890 for the pump! I ordered the seal kit. Moral: Buy a power steering cooler.

Yeah, that's what I don't get - if it was always heavy or leaking it would be easy. I guess early seal failure could show up like this. Can you PM me a price if you've got one? That sounds better than potentially waiting a couple of weeks for one from Japan. Nissan said they can probably get one, but they want the VIN before they order it. funnily enough, after driving the car for just a short time you can feel the reservoir heat up quite quickly.

After taking my car to a track day last week, the power steering hasn't been the same, so I'm looking for some problem solvers/diagnosis experts to think this through with... I know the power steering overheated on the track. I let it cool down, then drove it home. No loss of fluid, but it was really heavy at very slow speeds. Fine at higher (+10km/h) speeds. The next morning I sucked the fluid out of the reservoir (which looked clean, and didn't smell burnt), and refilled it. Started the car (cold) and turned the steering from lock to lock 5 times. No dramas - steering was light, no loud noises and the fluid level remained the same. Took it for a drive, and after 10 minutes when the car was warm I pulled into a car park. The steering was HEAVY turning in. no assistance at all. I stopped, reversed (so revs went up) and had another go and the steering went light again. I then went forward, put it in neutral and with the engine now warm (idling at ~500rpm) the steering was really heavy when stationary. I reversed out, took off up the road and went through some roundabouts - all good. Steering was light and felt like it always did. Made it back home and once again, when the revs dropped to idle it lost the power assistance completely. So I don't know much about power steering pumps...but this seems like a pump problem to me. I'm confused because is it's not completely stuffed - it works as long as the revs are over 1000rpm. Can a power steering pump "partially" fail? Is there anything else that could cause this issue? Leaking valves? And finally, what's the best place to get a replacement pump? Has anyone got an old one sitting around? The missus will refuse to drive it soon...

Yeah, I finished the day better than the GT and the SV6s! Hopefully I can sort out the power steering easily. Stock brakes. Recently refaced the disks and ran new QFM HPX pads. Didn't change the fluid though - I probably should have but ran out of time. I'm unlikely to track it again, so I won't bother with the cooler. This was just a good opportunity to see how hard it went. If I was paying for the day and wanted to do more than 10 laps I would have been a bit disappointed - the power steering cooler is a must for anyone tracking their M35 unfortunately. It was surprisingly stable with the HICAS too - I was expecting it to be all over the place, but it felt quite light. It turned in better than the commos.

So I survived. The stagea is wounded... It started off well. We did 3 laps under 100km/h learning the layout then we were off. Body roll was minimal (thanks to the swaybars), and traction was great, but when things got serious the poor old ARX floated a bit. For those not familiar with Mallala, the back straight has a 'kink' halfway along that I was hitting at about 160km/h. It's reasonably smooth, but the ARX was certainly feeling a bit floaty as it got through there at speed. It straightens up and you can keep going to 180, but it runs into a hairpin and by lap 5 the brakes were done. I came in, did a few cool-down laps through the carpark and went back out. About 4 laps in the brakes were still ok, and with more confindence I hit the back straight flat out. At the end of the straight it hit the speed limiter at 180 (which unsettled it a bit), and I just managed to pull up for the hairpin with my foot on the floor. Through the "S" in front of the grandstand the steering went heavy and I pulled into the pits and gave it a rest for an hour while I took one of the SV6s out. The commodore's suspension was much better than the ARX's, but it wasn't any quicker. The best I managed was 170 down the straight in the commodore, but the brakes pulled it up reliably for ~7 laps before it needed a cool down. After lunch I took the stag out again, but it lasted all of 3 laps before the power steering went completely. I got around the rest of the track and parked it in the pits for 3 hours. The fluid in the reservoir cooled down eventually but it's still really heavy. It gets lighter at speed, but it's hard to park. I'll change the fluid and see if I can bleed it tomorrow. Anyway, a great day in the end. We had my Stagea, 5 x SV6s, an SS ute, a HSV GTS, a GT3, the SAGE ute and a race spec Ford GT out there! Unfortunately the GT40 ended up in a wall just before lunch, but the driver didn't seem worried. He jumped back in his Aston Martin and left while the crew cleaned it up! After I left a few of the guys ended up in the sand in the commodores - too clueless to realise they had no brakes left and still pushing for 180 down the back straight! No pics of the stag sadly, I was the only one with a camera... No times either.

A busy weekend on the M35...a full set of QFM HPX pads went in, as well as an oil change and filter. All the Swaybar fixings were checked and tyres rotated, and last night I cleaned out everything that could rattle, move or slide in preparation for a track day on Thursday at Mallala. The forecast says maybe 5-10mm of rain...mine will be the only 4WD out there so I'm hoping it's right! Ryan, did you ever make it out there in yours? Have any other M35s got a lap time I can aim for?

Mine did the same thing when I got - ended up being a couple of coil packs. About $1000 to replace all 6.

I was behind a silver c34 today that VERY nearly got taken out on Britannia roundabout in Adelaide. If that had been me I dont think my hilux would have pulled up as quick as you did!

Thanks Kiwi and Tangles, good to hear some other opinions. Those are many of reasons why I asked in the first place - I wasn't sure if they were real concerns or just me being too careful. My car already has front and rear sway bars courtesy of Dale. The brake disks were machined earlier in the year. I'll have to check if the pads were done, but changing pads isn't difficult. 100,000km service was done this year by a reputable workshop and was supposed change ALL fluids, I'll check what was done. It needs an oil change now anyway, and I've got 300V sitting around here somewhere. A trans/oil cooler sounds like a good idea anyway, so I'll look into that one too. I'm aware that the ARX is a long way from a track car, but this seems like a great opportunity to give it a try. The day is really all about driver training with some quick sessions to put it all together - it's not going to be a full day of thrashing. I'll be able to grab one of the hire cars if I really want to go hard or if the stagea gets too hot. I'll check out the DIY section too, hadn't thought of that. I'm told the SV6's can hit 200 down the back straight...

I'm mostly concerned that it will spit the turbo and we'll be without a car for a while (I'll still have my hilux for work), but I guess it's going to happen eventually. The appeal of powering past my boss' GTS commodore as he slides into the sand trap backwards in a cloud of tyre smoke may prove too strong...

So I've been invited to a private driver training/track day/hot lap by one of the directors of the company I work for. I've talked to him about motorsport, driver training and cars in general since I've been with the company, and it looks like he has finally organised something. The invite says "Learn advanced driving techniques from a qualified race driver. You can bring your own vehicle or use one of ours. Then experience the thrill of driving a hot lap in a V8 racing ute." So my question for the SAU crowd is: do I take my M35 or use their (at this stage unknown) car? How likely is it that I bin it or break it? My M35 ARX is fairly stock (3 inch cat back and swaybars), and still on it's original turbo (currently at 110,000km). Based on the other likely drivers for the day, it will be up against an Audi S5, HSV GTS, SS ute, Porsche GT3, Lexus IS250, Jag XK and a John Cooper Works Mini. Outclassed much? I want to take the stagea - it's going to be an awesome opportunity to get some advanced training in my own car, and I'd really like to see how it stacks up against some of the others (we're a competitive bunch). The downside is it's my wife's only car, and if I kill it or blow the turbo she'll be without it while it's being fixed. Oh, and she's 5 months pregnant… I don't know what the supplied cars will be – probably big aussie sedans. Good fun and less responsibility if something goes wrong…but I would like to know how the whale goes on the track. So from those M35 owners that have tracked them, was it good fun? Did the M35 handle it alright and is there anything I need to do before I go (above and beyond changing/checkingfluids etc)? It's in November, so I've got a bit of time to get prepared. You would have to expect high ambient temps at Mallala in November though. So what would SAU do?

We've got one coming in feb! Hoping to make this cruise, gotta give the sway bars a run...

My 100,000km service was done by Boostworx, and included machining brake disks. Seemed pretty good. Sinergy diagnosed my coilpack problem and fixed it while I was out of the country. No complaints there either.

I installed a set of dale's sway bars, adjustable links and big rear brackets yesterday. No real problems, just some difficult bolts and tight clearances around the exhaust for the rear bar. Got it on, but had to drop the exhaust. All up about 3 hours work. Haven't been for a hard drive yet, but did about 40km yesterday and everything seemed good. I'll re-tighten everything this morning and go for a blast through the hills.

Some of my pics from today. Thanks to everyone for a great day - and especially to Mark and Jules for organising everything

^ yep, I've got one, and I know of at least 2 more. I should be on the cruise too. I did exactly the same thing when I bought my m35. I lived in canmore, Alberta for a year and was looking at wagons (Audi s4, liberty, v70) before i came home, but loved the m35 as soon as I saw it. Found one while I was in Canada, and within a week of coming home I flew to NSW to buy it. 2.5 years later and I'm still loving it. I can certainly vouch for getting two bikes (with wheels on) in the back, and we regularly sleep in it. My turbo is still going strong at 110,000, but I've budgeted for a rebuild soon. The wife loves driving it, and it's been super-comfortable on the couple of 15-hour drives to the snow the last two years. I use my arx off road quite a bit (gravel, dirt tracks etc) and I've never bottomed it out. Go for it - you won't be disappointed. Oh, and happy Canada day!

I'm keen. Haven't driven the m35 in about a month!

I bought mine from a private seller in nsw and took it to Adelaide. I had done a lot of research prior to purchasing, and in the end I flew over and drove it home. It was a great way to get familiar with the car (although Ihad just returned from overseas, and I was enjoying being back in Australia). It had nsw rego on it ( 5 months) and it just took a quick (5 minute) identity check at the police station before I could get the rego changed. I got a credit for the unused registration a few months later. The hardest part was finding/reading the engine number!