Looking To Buy A R32 Gtr

[buggor34]

Hey guys,

Im looking to buy a R32GTR, but before i do i was wondering if some people who have one or had one can tell me if they are worth buying?? What i mean is, are they reliable, easy to maintain, cost of running?? Do they always break down????

Also what should i look for when inspecting one??? Any hints & tips will be great.

Thanks for your time

[Dee 33]

The costs of R32 GTR's are high but not in the purchase price, it's in the maintenance. If you're going to be able to afford an R32 GTR you need to make sure you have a stable income that will leave you with enough cash to spend when shit happens.

Sure, you might be lucky and have no problems at all but the thing about this car is to be prepared or risk having a car you can't drive because you have no cash for new turbos/gearbox/other shit.

[djr81]

Hey guys,

Im looking to buy a R32GTR, but before i do i was wondering if some people who have one or had one can tell me if they are worth buying?? What i mean is, are they reliable, easy to maintain, cost of running?? Do they always break down????

Also what should i look for when inspecting one??? Any hints & tips will be great.

Thanks for your time 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are they worth buying: emphatically YES. It may well be one of the best cars you will ever own.

Are they reliable: Yes - to a point. The more power you screw out of them the more fragile they become. One with 300rwhp or less is going to be pretty much bullet proof as long as it is not worn out.

Easy to maintain: Yes - no worse than most other high performance cars.

Cost of running: Not cheap, but it largely depends on how you drive it. If you hammer it you will use huge amounts of fuel, hurt the brakes/tyres etc etc.

Best advise (IMHO) is to buy a good one, not a cheap one. I look for a car (I have bought three) that is in good condition rather than one that has a heap of add ons. The latter are good, but don't do you any good if the basic car is not up to scratch.

Have a search - you will find heap of tips about things to look for. But generally if it is well looked after, owned by someone who cared about it & has no obvious flaws you are probably onto a winner.

Figure out what you want to do with it (eg daily driver, track car, drag car, bling special, whatever) & search accordingly.

[Mr Italy!]

15+ year old performance car = dont spend all your money on the purchase price, or your prized GTR will be sitting in your garage for a long time when something goes boom.

[cowie165]

I think you'd be happiest with a car that has been in Australia the longest. Mechanical aspects aside, ye olde R32's are likely to have a few niggling things requiring rectification. Things like the clock not working, or a few dash lights out, and things like that. Things you'd never tolerate in buying an R34 like yours.

And 99% of the time you can work out if a seller looked after their car within 5 minutes of meeting them.

If you bought a car that has already been rebuilt and had some maintenance dollars thrown at it, you could barely go wrong. GTR's require pads just like any other Skyline, same with oil changes etc. I don't believe in the myth that GTR=expensive, I think it's R32=expensive (due age). Only an opinion.

[benm]

I owned a 1995 R33 GTS-t for 2.5yrs, 5wks ago I bought a 1994 R32 GTR. From my personal opinion the GTS-t is absolutely no match compared to the GTR in any way (driving, looks, performance etc).

The R33 GTS-t is certainly the weekend cruise car, nice comfortable soft ride, enough room for 4 blokes, decent power options, etc. The GTR is more the weekend trackday warrior. Power is easily obtained, the handling is 100x better and it looks 100x better too.

As for costs (GTS-t vs GTR) i'm still of the opinion that they are basically identical in general running costs. It's not until you starting blowing engines or gearboxes where the costs would be more for the GTR, but then again a rebuild of an engine/gearbox is a rebuild and it costs money no matter what type of car you have. I've created a thread with a 'my running costs experience' thread which you can view here: here

My advice would be to spend as much as you can on the purchase of the vehicle as generally it will be a better quality car. Something in the high 20's for an R32 and high 30's for an R33 should be ok.

[ish]

i just bought mine and finished servicing it plus ironing out a few bugs...

the fluids alone colst $280

plug replacement and filtercharge plus labor on the fluids $456

Ac $200 and a few revisits with blowing fuse that i ended up nailing,

All i have left is to upgrade to Apexi airfilters.

there such wiked cars, if you have the money and patience to find someone that knows what their doing ...which is what i have found the hardest,

You gotta interview the mechanic... lol

the biggest plus i think is a bit of mechanical aptitude and being able to spot things before they break etc

Also Insurance is the killer if your young but for me it was all worth it when i took it for a drive ...

Edited February 3, 2006 by ishh

[Morgs]

Buy a modified one which has been rebuilt, thats the major problem/expense with 32 GTRs as theyre getting too old.

Mine will be on the market shortly

[ish]

hehe i dont see me selling mine ... tryed my first 6000 launch last night against a subby..whoa!!!

[2510s]

Two pieces of advice:

-Take your time searching, don't buy the first one you see or go for a ride in.

-If you are by no means mechanically inclined, take someone with you who is, or have any potentials inspected by someone in the know....(hint, not RACQ, NRMA etc)

It took me 6 months to find our GTR, came close to buying others, but I luckily I waited 'till the perfect car came along. After 9 months of daily driving it has been 100% reliable.

And hell yes, they are worth it. After owning 23 cars, nothing comes close to the enjoyment of owning/driving the GTR.

Edited February 4, 2006 by 2510s

[buggor34]

Thanks for all your help,

general consensis seems to be to buy one. I have looked at about 6 already & they have all seemed to be clapped out & in crappy condition. (although in the ad "its the cleanest reliable GTR arouund")

If anyone can reccomend a GTR that is being sold, i would also appreciate it too.

I suppose its just a matter of waiting around for the right one??? Are there many R32 GTR's out there in good reliable condition??? The longer i seem to look at them the less my bank balance seems to be I waste it on other crap..

Anyway thanks heaps.

B)

[RNGTR]

No, most are garbage.

Just make sure you have 10k or so sitting around for when it all goes pear shaped (which it will )

Or as suggested buy one that's had everything rebuilt, they are getting very old now, not just the engine is worn out.....

Good luck with your search.

Edited February 7, 2006 by RNGTR

[[WLDCRD]]

Buy a modified one which has been rebuilt, thats the major problem/expense with 32 GTRs as theyre getting too old.

Mine will be on the market shortly

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

short answer: No!

in regards to buying a modified one...thats no better. i bought a huge lemon that was modified. found out the previous owner lied about half the parts that were on it and it ended up dying on me 3 times (clutch, engine, then turbos in that order). about 80% of the time i have had it, its been off the road. its hard to do your research if you havent owned a skyline (or any japanese sports turbo car) before as a lot of it means nothing to you. if back then, i knew what i know now, i wouldnt have bought the gtr. and that is my biggest regret.

[cowie165]

(although in the ad "its the cleanest reliable GTR arouund")

Funny you mention that. I bought a dd in October last year and I took a trip to see a low km 'immaculate' V6. Turned out to be a four cylinder car that was dented, scratched and the interior was covered in the owner's dirty washing, chocolate wrappers and other junk strewn throughout! Immaculate my ar$e!

It's amazing what people do to entice a sale...

[N1GTR]

They are great when everythings working as its meant to be

If i was looking at buying one today i would definatly go for one towards the 25000-30000k mark with new turbos and a bit of work done

[benm]

I wouldn't buy 1 under $25k fullstop.

[RNGTR]

Yet nobody wants to pay for a good one...... funny that.

You get what you pay for.....

Edited February 8, 2006 by RNGTR

[buggor34]

Hows is yours goin Ben?? Any dramas yet??

[marchGTR]

although it wasnt an r32 gtr, my r33 gtr was the most reliable car that I have owned. I had it for about 1.5 years and all I had to replace was the standard clutch (after many hard launches) and just general maintenance such as oil and plugs. I payed good money for it and got a quality car...I would be cautious when buying one that is really cheap as it could be a time bomb, but then again you may come across a genuine bargain..so I guess have a good idea what you are buying and if you dont go with someone who does.

[sigsputnik]

so how much is a rebuild? let's say it all goes to hell - what's the damage?