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Tough Decision

NISZILA

By NISZILA,
in Western Australia

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NISZILA Grand Master

NISZILA

Posted
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Hey guys,

I'm after some opinions on what to do. I'm about to finish my degree and have landing myself a good job that will pay quite well. I am keen to put a lot of money into my car when I start up full time, and have everything planned out.

I want to first do a turbo conversion. I have done research and I can get a wreck from KYP for between $3.5k and $4k. Then of course it all needs to get swapped. That is engine, gearbox, diff, the lot. After this I have a list of mods that I would like to throw at it. I have once again done a lot of research and feel that I have found a nice balance of mods that will give me reliability as well as about 250 to 300 rwkw. This will cost around $10k to do.

Now this is where the problem comes in. I was looking at R33 GTR's, and I was drooling over them. I would love to have one. Now the question comes in. Do I spend no more on my car and save that money and buy a GTR in about July next year, or do I continue with the mods planned.

The reason this dilema has come up, is because I've noticed the prices of R33 GTR's have come down a lot in the past year and can be imported for less than $25k. If you add the value of my car plus all the mods, this figures comes pretty even.

What I want to know is, how good is a GTR as a daily driver. If I get the GTR, the engine would stay fairly stock (or so I say now :P) so it should be ok. I know the maintanence cost is higher, but thats ok. I just want some opinions from GTR owners at what they think would be the best way to spend my money.

Sorry for the long essay ;)

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R DIRTY 3 Grand Master

R DIRTY 3

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In my opionion, GTR's dont make great daily drivers. Running cost and the value drop by putting the kilometres on them is a definate negative side. Plus, if it breaks it can quite often be a costly and time consuming excerise. Thats not to mention things like tyre wear issues that you will never solve 100% and overall wear on the rest of the car like the interior etc etc. Thats some of the reasons i didnt go a GTR and went GTS instead.

If you are making as much money as you say, would it be an option to keep your GTS as a daily driver, and have the GTR as a play/weekend car? That way while the "R" is being built/fixed/modified etc you wont be with out a decent car to driver to work etc....also i wouldnt want to park a GTR in a car park with careless f**kers with trolleys etc. Just a thought.

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Yawn Mentor

Yawn

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Also, a GTR is as good a daily driver as a gts-t is. Just higher fuel consumption I guess, but comfort wise and reliability wise is about equal, stock for stock.

Just keep in mind that not only is the maintenance higher, but basically every aftermarket component meant for the GTR is almost double the price than one for a gts-t. There's 2 of everything, 2 LSDs, 2 turbos, bigger everything else as well (cooler, radiator, wheels, tyres, etc.). But its worth it :P

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NISZILA Grand Master

NISZILA

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In my opionion, GTR's dont make great daily drivers. Running cost and the value drop by putting the kilometres on them is a definate negative side. Plus, if it breaks it can quite often be a costly and time consuming excerise. Thats not to mention things like tyre wear issues that you will never solve 100% and overall wear on the rest of the car like the interior etc etc. Thats some of the reasons i didnt go a GTR and went GTS instead.

If you are making as much money as you say, would it be an option to keep your GTS as a daily driver, and have the GTR as a play/weekend car? That way while the "R" is being built/fixed/modified etc you wont be with out a decent car to driver to work etc....also i wouldnt want to park a GTR in a car park with careless f**kers with trolleys etc. Just a thought.

Buying the GTR and keeping mine would be awesome, but I also want to save for a house. lol It never ends. I want to get into the market and owning two cars makes saving a bit harder. Thats another negative for the GTR too as the costs to maintain etc are higher.

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Yawn Mentor

Yawn

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R DIRTY 3: You have some valid points there but with regards to the value dropping, so do all cars. Also, we all modify cars knowing we will be losing money anyway, not about getting the highest resale value. Or else we would all be driving Corollas :P

Also, IMO careless mofo's with trolleys are going to be careless anyway no matter what car you drive.

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phenline Mentor

phenline

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i found in experience that if you keep changing you will never be happy:) There will always be another car you want you will sell you car you have worked so hard on to get a gtr, then you will have a gtr and want a M3 or something may aswell just stick to your guns will save money in the long run and if you make it the way you want it from scratch will be unique as well. Also if it was cranking 300rwkw you would probably be sayin bye bye to some gtrs.

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NISZILA Grand Master

NISZILA

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Thats a good point phenline. It such a hard choice. I love my car atm. I think it looks hot, just in need of some suspension to bring it a bit closer to the ground :whistling: and then the mods I was talking about.

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infamous_t Veteran

infamous_t

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I drive my R32 GTR(mild) daily, does a tank a week (currently only getting 350km to a tank).

Maintenance in my eyes is no greater than any other car putting out similar power, and of similar age...

Get a quote for insurance tho..

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Dani Boi Grand Master

Dani Boi

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I wouldn't drive a GTR as a daily but thats just my opinion. But on the other hand I would rather buy a GTR than convert a 33. You probably already considered these but you got fuel, car parts, insurance, 4 tyres to replace etc.

Eh just remember houses make money cars dont , but you can always sleep in a car :whistling:

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taynewguy Community Regular

taynewguy

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If you get a GTR be assured that your running costs will increase in every way, including the insurance premium hike as mentioned above.

In my opinion they are not the best daily driver. But then again I am a bit precious with mine so I tend not to want to park it anywhere remotely dodgy. I have a mazda astina sh!tbox to brave the trolleys in shopping centre carparks etc

And as for "when I get a GTR I will keep it stock(ish)". So so wrong - you'll mod it just like the rest of us! And in doing so, empty your wallet repeatedly.

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R DIRTY 3 Grand Master

R DIRTY 3

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At the end of the day its purely up to you. So far this thread has given pro's and con's. The main thing is if you want to buy a house, are you sure you can afford a GTR "comfortably"? Many people have sold GTR's for that reason. I would rather drive a GTS and pour more money into my mortgage to get it out of the way....then buy the new GTR that is available at the time (might be something like an R68 by then ha ha)

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tjandriesen Proficient

tjandriesen

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You can spend plenty of money on a GTST, match the HP of a GTR, and you still will fall well short on perfromance. A GTR is not a higher horsepower GTST - a GTST is an Skyline built to sell to those who couldn't afford GTR performance. Think Porsche Boxster & 911. You can't make a Boxster into a 911 no matter how much money you throw at it. Its is still a good car in its own right - but not the same.

GTR's do cost more to maintain - no doubt. They will cost more to mod. You really need to decide what you want the car for. Nice looking street car? Incremetal value is minimal. Fast street car? Thats a tough one as thats not hard to do with GTST . Track weapon? Absolutely no comparison.

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