sy300

Thanks for the advice. When I get back from my work 'holiday' to the US I'm getting the wagon serviced, so I'll get them to check it out. If it is anything major, my mechanical insurance should cover it.

Just today my Stagea has developed an intermittant miss when at idle. It only seems to be present under 1000rpm. The wagon also seems to be using noticeably more fuel. I'm thinking it's a coilpack, but I did drive it a distance with the low fuel light on and it started after that. Maybe it sucked some crap up from the bottom of the tank. Could it be a partially blocked injector? Would that explain the higher than normal fuel consumption? Also, wouldn't a stuffed coilpack cause a miss all through the rev range? Anyone had similar and can help?

I get my car serviced by a local Nissan workshop. They use semi-synthetic 10W40 (unsure of brand, will see if it is listed on invoice). I've heard a lot of talk about using 'X' brand of oil because everything else is sh!t, from various people. I've come to the conclusion that if you are changing it regularly, any decent name brand is fine. Haven't had to get the trans, transfer case or diffs serviced yet. All done by the dealer when it was imported and haven't done enough km's to need it yet.

I quite like my neighbours drive. It's a really nice concrete one. It's a lot better than my half gravel/half concrete one, it gets muddy when it rains. :) :)

There is a late model Stagea for sale on Trademe in NZ that has done 191,000 kms. It has the VQ25DET. I know of someone who bought a Stagea with about 100,000 kms and drove it until about 250,000. The engine was fine, just a dead turbo. Most Nissan engines are overbuilt, and seem to last a long time.

I thought M35 Stageas came in a turbo version as well? That one in on Trademe here in NZ is. The VQ engine is a good engine, even the NA ones put out 190kW for the 3l and 200kW for the 3.5l.

The only 2 things that 'dissapointed' me about the Stagea was how it handles corners (especially down hill). The ride is good, I just have to get used to a bit of understeer in corners. My previous car was a '92 300ZX, so I was used to being able to just throw it into a corner with no worries. As mentioned before, a good suspension upgrade will improve that. The other thing is the brakes, a bit feeble for such a heavy car. They don't take a lot to notce them fade. The stealth and surprise factor make up for that though. I love the looks you get from people in their 'sports' cars when the family wagon gets up and leaves them standing. In my opinion, the Stagea is the best compromise of size, price, power, reliability and comfort if you need a wagon. I'm glad I got one.

Some people hate being beaten by a station wagon. Here in Auckland at the end of the motorway on my way home I stopped at a red light. It was about 1:00am and there was no traffic close to me on the motorway. All of a sudden this standard R32 GTS-t flys up next to me at the red light (almost not stopping). I sat there calmly and then when the light went green planted the boot. The two lanes merge into one about 100m past the intersection and it becomes a 50km/h zone. I left the GTS-t standing and hit the speed limit before I knew it, backed off and got to where the lanes merged. This guy wasn't going to be beaten by a wagon (even though he just had been) and went flying past me after the lanes had merged and just about mounted the footpath to get past me (I wasn't blocking him, the single lane was not very wide). Then he slowed down and turned off at the next intersection. He really showed me not to mess with him (LOSER)

I find that my auto changes are a bit sloppy when it is cold. Once I've been driving for a while, and the trans warms up, it seems to tighten up and changes become a bit sharper. Sometimes it gets confused when I accelerate quickly out of an intersection and throttle off before it changes, it seems to hang for a bit and then change. Auto's are all black magic, smoke and mirrors to me. At least I can visualise what is going on in a manual box when I change gear.

I wouldn't think the benefits would be worth $20. As you say, nitrogen has less expansion/contraction with temp, but with the small volume in a car tyre, it wouldn't be that noticable. They use nitrogen in aircraft tyres because they have a much larger volume and it is at a higher pressure. Also air contains oxygen, so if it is used in an aircraft tyre, it can be bad if a brake fire occurs. If you can get nitrogen for free, go for it. But I wouldn't pay $20 for it. The main advantages of it are lost on road cars.

I sold my '92 300ZX and bought a Stagea, due to upgraded family. I miss the handling of the Z. You could throw it into any corner (in the dry) and it would just go around, no worries. The Stagea (obviously) rolls and understeers a bit more. But on the up side, I can carry about twice as much sh!t in the back of the Stagea! Nice Z, by the way. I love the shape of the Z, much better than other Japanese sports cars from the '90's.

Over here in NZ there has just been a huge dump of snow in the South Island. 6"+ down to sealevel! Unfortunately, I live in the North Island. I want to go to the South Island to drive the wagon in the snow!!! Wet roads are boring in the Stagea, although since no one knows the car, they all think you must be a good driver to take the corner at that speed and not slide. The Stagea makes you look good in bad weather.

I got 18x8 Koya Rush with shadow chrome spokes, and 235s Nankangs. Cost NZ$2300. They have a nice big lip. I wanted Kumhos, but dealer said they don't stock 18's. Maybe he didn't stock them. Kumho Ecsta's are good tyres. 711's last a bit longer than 712's though.

Never really found drag racing on GT4 that exciting. I love taking the wagon around the dirt tracks. But my favourite is the Nurbergring. You have to set your car up spot on to get a decent time on that track. If the car is too low, and suspension to hard, it is impossible to control over the bumps. If it is too soft, it just wallows and handles corners like a boat. From memory, I managed a sub 10min lap in a standard RS4. I don't have a lot of time to play these days. The PS3 is out in November (at this stage) and will cost NZ$1000.

Mmmmm, VQ25DET. Mmmmm, torque to burn. 2001 RS4 for sale over here in NZ. Good price but done over 200,000 Km, so probably not good to buy.

I've got an RS4 and an RS260. The RS4 is able to be tuned to get more power than the RS260! Take them for a spin in the dirt, lots of fun.

Most tyres have a max pressure to pump them up to printed on the side wall. I generally pump them up to about 5psi less than that to account for the increase in pressure when the tyres warm up. I put 40psi into my Nankang NSII's (235/40 X 18"). I'm not sure if the 4WD is hiding anything, but the Nankangs are pretty grippy. I had Khumo Ecsta 711's on my old 300ZX, they were fantastic in the dry, but not too good in the wet

I only engage it when I'm doing about 80 km/h, I just hate how it constantly chopping between gears when you put your foot down a bit.

The clicking is the interlock releasing. It stops you putting the car into gear without having your foot on the brake, therefore stopping you leaping into the garage wall, etc. All auto's have it. You cannot move the shifter out of 'P' (and 'N', I think) without the ignition on and the brake pedal pushed. It's not a fault, it's just an auto.

It confused me as well, ironically I was just telling everyone in the car about how reliable it has been since I bought it. Is checking the error code on the ECU the same as other Nissans? Turn the little screw one way then back the other and count the flashes. Anyone got a list of the error codes? All I can remember is 55 = no faults.

Last night I was driving the wagon and I accelerated onto the motorway, got to about 90km/h and flicked the O/D on. All the trans lights went out (gear position, and 'O/D off') and the car would not drop below about 3200rpm, I could accelerate over 3200, but when I took my foot off the accelerator, the rpm dropped to 3200 and would not go any lower. I flicked the O/D on and off a couple of times, and cycled the 'Power-Snow' switch a few times, nothing changed. Then all of a sudden, it was back to normal. I experimented with it a bit later, but could not get it to do it again, and it has not done it before last night. What would/could cause this? Why wouldn't the engine drop below 3200 and why did all my trans lights go out? Has anyone had anything similar happen to them? What did you do?

I almost bought a Dayz, but I hadn't sold my old car and didn't have the cash. The one I looked at was a manual conversion. Don't know if Dayz did it, or the previous Japanese owner. The one I got has the Dayz body kit. I like it better than the standard.

Haven't driven the wagon in snow yet. I once drove a Mk 5 Cortina I had about 50Km through snow, without chains. You just have to drive very smoothly. The Stagea is good fun on loose gravel, I just put it in 50:50 and it holds drifts really easy. It must look funny a large wagon going along at about a 30-40 degree angle down the road!

Mine doesn't make any kind of noise when I lift off. Should I be concerned? Engine is stock (stock filter, turbo, BOV and exhaust, etc.) Should I remove it and give it a clean?

I still wouldn't get one unless it was a manual. That Mitsi Trip-Tronic is not a good box. I have been told by 3 different mechanics that it randomly fails. Not like a cam belt that can be replaced at 100,000Km, it can go at 50,000, 120,000, 200,000 you can't tell. When it does go, it costs your arm, leg and first born to fix. If you do get one, make sure it is a manual. VR4's have been around in NZ for quite a while, so people know all about them over here. Enough bad, now some good. They do look a lot better than the Stagea, a lot more aggresive in the front. They are a bit lighter and have more power. On the whole a good wagon, except for the gearbox.