Help Please :) Just Put A Deposit On A Stagea

[Stooge007]

hi all

been lurking and asking a few questions of late

anyway, yesterday i put a deposit on a 1999 RS Four S

pretty much the same as this one http://www.nagoyamotors.com.au/zoom.php?id=849 except that is a 1998 model, mine is a 1999

it's from Nagoya, so price is $15,400 ready to go, with apparently a "free" 3 point immobiliser, 1 year rego, 1 year road-side assist and 5 year warranty. Nagoya looks to be ok from here http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Na...rs-t205213.html and http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Go...uy-t225069.html

i have driven a couple of M35's, and to be honest they were a nice smooth drive and with the leather were a pretty sweet luxury cruiser, but i really really wanted a manual and one came up (albeit in a C34)

anyway, i am new to owning an import (have a fair idea about them having subscribed to Zoom and HPI for a number of years), however i have a few questions which i hope someone can help with:

1) the car lands in about 3 weeks. anyone that has a pretty good knowledge of C34's want to come down to Caringbah/Taren Point and help me give it a once over?

i've read this http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Bu...n-C-t92065.html but would love an experienced set of eyes to look over it if possible.

happy to pay you petrol money and maybe a 6 pack of beer for the trouble

my deposit is fully refundable if i am not happy with the car for any reason

2) has anyone had any recent dealings with Nagoya? they seem to be OK from what i've read on here and on the net.

anyone had to claim on their 1 year road-side assist, or 5 year parts and labour warranty?

3) what's actually involved in the compliance process?

from what i gather from here http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Di...nce-t41327.html and various other sources, during compliance the shop will:

- change all fluids

- install child safety points

- check seat belts

- change tyres

- install rear brake light (if needed)

what else is done?

do they throw cheap and nasty tyres on there?

even after compliance, should i be taking it straight to a mechanic for a service/tune? or will the compliance/rego process iron out most of the bugs?

4) what sort of fuel have you guys been running in your Stagea?

- E10 91

- 91

- 95

- 98

5) what are some good mechanics in the Sutherland Shire area?

do just jap do servicing?

what are the service intervals on an RB25DET Neo?

i think that's all the questions i have for the moment, i'm sure there'll be plenty more in the next few weeks

thanks in advance guys

EDIT:

6) Nagoya claims only 52,xxx km's. now i know this is dodgy for a 10 year old car, but i hear pretty much every import has had clock wound back?

should i be worried at all?

do you normally get japanese log books with them?

Edited September 29, 2009 by Stooge007

[RubyRS4]

1) the car lands in about 3 weeks. anyone that has a pretty good knowledge of C34's want to come down to Caringbah/Taren Point and help me give it a once over?

happy to pay you petrol money and maybe a 6 pack of beer for the trouble

2) has anyone had any recent dealings with Nagoya? they seem to be OK from what i've read on here and on the net.

anyone had to claim on their 1 year road-side assist, or 5 year parts and labour warranty?

3) what's actually involved in the compliance process?

4) what sort of fuel have you guys been running in your Stagea?

5) what are some good mechanics in the Sutherland Shire area?

6) Nagoya claims only 52,xxx km's. now i know this is dodgy for a 10 year old car, but i hear pretty much every import has had clock wound back?

Firstly, congrats on your purchase.

1) I'd be happy to assist ... if you're paying for petrol from Adelaide and back

2) I purchased my Stagea from Nagoya and they're above board and top service.

3) The compliance process is all in their court. You need not do anything.

4) 98+ no less.

5) No idea.

6) I purchased my car from them with 32,000kms and they were genuine kms. I had the car checked out when I drove it back from Sydney.

[180fan]

Hey mate, I bought my C34 from Nagoya, although it had been traded in by someone else rather than being imported. They were pretty good, although they did say it was being sold with a 3 year warranty, and then once the sale papers had been signed, they suddenly never offered a warranty on traded in vehicles . . .

My old man also bought a V35 sedan from them, and he has had no problems with it.

I'm pretty sure tyres will be changed at compliance, they wont be terrible tyres, but they wont be the best top of the line either.

For fuel, try to always run premium unleaded (98 octane), or if you really have to use normal unleaded with some octane booster.

I think Just Jap does servicing, but I may be wrong. I plan to take my stag to Autosport in Kirrawee for my rego check and a service.

Most imports have had their clocks wound back, check the seats and steering wheel for excessive wear, if it is fairly worn then the car has done a bit more than 52k km's. Sometimes the cars will have jap servicing stickers on them as well, which will say the km's and date of the last service.

Edited September 29, 2009 by 180fan

[QWK32]

cant help you with Q1,2,3.

Q4 - use 98ron fuel

Q5 - i'm not from that area so cant recommend anyone but as far as service intervals go, at least every 10k for plugs, oil and oil filter is recommended. if your abit more pedantic about your servicing, some people including myself will do it every 5k.

Q6 - even though its a 10 year old car i wouldn't doubt the 52,000 km was genuine, most S2's seem to be coming over with around that, mine had just under 60k on the clock. japan isn't a big place so you don't have to drive very far to get where your going, hence low k's on imports. a good way to get an idea is to just take a look at the rest of the car, do the seats, gear knob, foot pedals and steering wheel look in good nick, like you'd expect from a car with 50k on the clock, or do they look completely hammered and shagged out like the car has +100k.

[chef_stagea]

check usual stuff... under door mirrors and strut towers for rust... check the rear lights... if its only got one reverse light (other one will be red) its from a snow region in jap... check under the car as it may have rust u might not have seen... check all panels.. make sure they line up and paints semi lygit... not dulled or rough/obviously crash repair. if its got super low kms... maybe check a few bushes to see if the ware on them matches the kms... same with seats n stuff.

with any luck you wont get ur xenons hacked up. may be an idea to get them to swap them to normal globes b4 so u can one day switch back....

check all dash lights work... eg hicas is shagged to rip out the globe spec lol

take it for a good drive etc etc.

good luck and welcome aboard sau!

mine have both had random stickers in engin bay or books with the kms. so just make sure they line up.

Edited September 29, 2009 by chef_stagea

[mike40sydney]

make sure thay dont butcher your zennon headlights at compliance be paranoid about it

[Stooge007]

thanks all

how would i go about making sure the xenon's don't get hacked up?

also, should Nagoya be able to provide me with the auction reports?

[CL11QE]

how would i go about making sure the xenon's don't get hacked up?

Just tell em "dont f**k my xenons u c**ts!"

Nah just ask them to look after them, and keep telling them everytime u speak to them.

Thats what i i did, and tbh they didnt touch them at all, i left the yard with them all hooked up

and working Wasnt the same place though.

[Appealing]

Hi Congrats on your Stagea purchase.

Rather than prat on about the joys and woes of various dealers and compliance companies, it might be better that you understand what you have bought, and how they come through the Jap system to us.

Nissan without doubt make some of the finest cars you can buy, and you just bought one of their best models.

I have a 2000 model Australian Maxima, and the 2000 Stagea RS4 Prime Edition (wood and leather). Both are great cars. The Stagea would beat the Maxima hands down in just about every dept.

Finish is a bit better, (not much) but the level of extra's is amazing. In that dept the Maxima kinda sucks. In Japan the Maxima (mines a TDI = top of range) would be the lower class car. When you consider that the Maxima in Aust was $49,700 + on road costs....!! it shows that the Stagea is even better value.

Your compliance shop will do what they have to, as you posted.

Ask them about the Xenon lights, they should remove them, but some will leave them, if you fail at the pits on rego, it will then be your responsibility. Mine were left in (at my request) I took mine to a less busy rego place just for that reason.

Ask around you will soon learn where the picky bastards work! Avoid them.

Servicing is really up to you. If you run fully synthetic oil you can get away with more km's between servicing. The only real servicing to do is filters and oil anyway, renewing plugs can be a good idea.

If your car has only done less than 60,000 (quite feasible) then be prepared to "go hard" and see a lot of shit blown out of the exhaust. When you do see a big black cloud appear behind, don't be dismayed.... it's likely all the years of "Tokyo Trafiic", there is so much grid lock in the major cities that it isn't worth taking a car. That is the reason that most of them have low km's NOT because it is a smaller place. The timing belt, water pump and timing belt bearings (along with fan belts) should be changed at 100,000 kms. So if Kms are genuine, (you'll know!!) you have plenty of time. Don't put it off too long after the RB25 is an "interference" engine. Meaning that the valves will hit the piston if it lets go. 20 - 25 % over is about the max risk I would take. Be prepared to spend about $1000 on this service.

You can also run a std Stagea on 91 octane quite well, but expect a small drop in power. The ECU will detect any pinging and dial in a bit less advance to the ignition. When going on long runs it doesn't hurt at all. Same goes for 95 octane, I doubt that you will ever hear or notice any difference. If you run more boost then don't bother trying this.... you may well get pre-detonation.

The importer should be able to supply you with the auction sheets. But lots won't.... it will show all and any faults in the car, but you may have to get it translated. If you do get it and the km's are marked at all, (usually with a "$" sign) then the km's are NOT genuine. Anyway, really all of that is too late now.... this should be done before purchase. The japanese inspectors are A1 at picking faults AT THE AUCTIONS. Lots of less inscrutible companies employ 16 yo students, and really couldn't care less. That is how come some cars fail compliance. It isn't the complier's fault either, but the choice of exporter in Japan that is often to blame.

That is why seeing the auction is so important .... before making the decision.

Also understand that not every car has to come through the auction system. Many dealers in Japan KNOW that some of their stock cars, wont get a good price if they go through auction, so they don't try. They do however get unloaded to unsuspecting foreigners!!

The real testament is that Nissan built such a bloody good car, one that should last you a long time.

The 4wd system is awesome, but don't go throwing into bends a 100kph + otherwise you find the limit of traction like so many others have done on here. The car is one of best available and a steal for what they are going for now. Enjoy.....

[pixel8r]

When I bought my s2 years ago I was told by the dealer that they dont keep auction sheets so I couldn't have it. Later I found out that they are required to keep them by law so it sounds like I was being taken for a ride. Probably because it "apparently" had only 28,000km on the clock...but who knows?

I'm pretty sure you as the buyer have a right to a copy of the auction papers but I'm not 100% on that. Either way, most importers wont touch anything below auction grade 4 and quite often nothing below interior grade A, or maybe B.

I went through an importer for my M35 and so I was shown auction papers for all cars that came up for auction before even making a bid. Mine had a C grade interior only because of 1 single cigarette burn mark in the driver seat, and one on the cieling above the driver seat. Other than that it was perfect. I had it inspected before auction so I knew this in advance.

But having owned 4 nissan imports now, and 3 of those being turbos, I'd say you should be fine. Sometimes when the car arrives there are a few little issues that need to be fixed, but usually nothing serious and its pretty much standard when buying a 2nd hand car anyway.

[Stooge007]

thanks Appealing, great post

my deposit is apparently FULLY refundable if i change my mind (it even says so on their website), but even if it wasn't, i didn't put thousands down

is it worth the risk with the xenon headlights? how much would it cost to replace them?

i'll pretty much be running stock everything for the moment, as this is the family car for the incoming baby, and the wife will be driving it most of the time.

as such, will probably switch it up between 91-95-98.

in a couple of years, hoping to put some work into it

what are the common niggles you guys have experienced on your C34's?

thanks for the help guys, really appreciate it

[_Ryan_]

always run it on 98... only niggle is you bought that instead of lowballing me on mine and doing a manual conversion

if wife driving it all the time, is she gentle on clutches when you start modding and ad a HD clutch? they are great cars... my mrs drives mine daily.

[gebba54]

I bought mine from Alex at Nagoya. I found them ok to deal with.

Had a pre purchase inspection by statewide, which Alex had no problems with.

Got the 3 year warranty (and have made a claim for $400 no problems)

Xenons weren't ripped out

mine had about 51000 on it when I bought it, its now up to 83000 and has been great.

When you check under the mirrors for rust look inside the doors as well. Mine has no rust around the mirrors but theres a little inside the doors at the front.

Any secondhand cars a bit of a gamble, this was my first import and I haven't found it any harder to live with than a domestic, you just need to do your own research in regards to parts. Luckily we have Skylines Australia. (and fast )

[Stooge007]

I bought mine from Alex at Nagoya. I found them ok to deal with.

Had a pre purchase inspection by statewide, which Alex had no problems with.

Got the 3 year warranty (and have made a claim for $400 no problems)

Xenons weren't ripped out

mine had about 51000 on it when I bought it, its now up to 83000 and has been great.

When you check under the mirrors for rust look inside the doors as well. Mine has no rust around the mirrors but theres a little inside the doors at the front.

Any secondhand cars a bit of a gamble, this was my first import and I haven't found it any harder to live with than a domestic, you just need to do your own research in regards to parts. Luckily we have Skylines Australia. (and fast )

thanks mate

did you use Statewide cos they're local to you, or cos they have a good rep?

how much did it set you back? worth it?

do you think your 51,xxx kms were genuine?

which Stag did you end up with?

cheers

[Stooge007]

apparently car hits the docks on 7 October (next Wed) so should be at Nagoya within a week of that

getting excited!

[gebba54]

thanks mate

did you use Statewide cos they're local to you, or cos they have a good rep?

how much did it set you back? worth it?

do you think your 51,xxx kms were genuine?

which Stag did you end up with?

cheers

I used statewide because they came up in a google search, they seemed ok, they give you a 5 page report which was pretty comprehensive, I paid $180 which I think was well worth it. There will always be things you miss on inspection so its worth having a professional check it out.

I don't know if the Kms are genuine, If its wound back I don't think its more than 20,000. (having said that, I haven't done the timing belt yet, my mechanic inspected it the other week and we're doing it next service, 90,000k, so who knows)

Mines a 25t x four, has the neo engine but no tiptronic comes standard with the xanavi set up, twin sunroofs, velour trim and electric drivers seat and different grille, otherwise its pretty much the same as the rs four

[DaveB]

...

is it worth the risk with the xenon headlights? how much would it cost to replace them?

...

My xenons got butchered at compliance; they also cut all the waterproofing off the back to do the re-wiring, nicked my xenon inverters ('ballasts'), and glued the face on the lights, with some glue dribbling down the back of the light covers and baking on there going nice and brown. Not all of this I realised when going through the compliance process.

Set of new xenon lights is upwards of $1,000.

apparently car hits the docks on 7 October (next Wed) so should be at Nagoya within a week of that

getting excited!

You should be!! The wait is the killer... but yours is a very short one by the sounds of it, so you're lucky !

[pixel8r]

do you think your 51,xxx kms were genuine?

Put it this way, if they ARE genuine, then it means you have a 10 y/o car thats been sitting around doing nothing for a LONG time which could be worse than a car thats done 10,000-20,000km a year for 10 years.

I bought a s2 a few years back which had apparently only done 28000km. the interior supported the kms but the engine bay possibly didn't (hard to say). Either way it lasted until 100,000km without the timing belt being replaced so it had either done 28,000 as advertised (and had been sitting in a caryard for 5+ years) or it could have actually done 120,000km with a refurbished interior...

Just something else to think about too - they dont "wind back" the kms in these since the dash is digital. All they do is find a wreck with less kms on it and swap the dash out. Its most often done AFTER the sale in japan but before the car goes on the boat. Its like an extra "service" they offer the importers...and unfortunately there are a lot of dishonest people in the industry.

With my M35 I imported it through a guy my family has known (and trusted) for years. However even with the questionable kms on the s2, it was a nice car and I owned it for 2 years before moving on. Had a few teething issues same as any 2nd hand car but after that it was very reliable.

[Stooge007]

My xenons got butchered at compliance; they also cut all the waterproofing off the back to do the re-wiring, nicked my xenon inverters ('ballasts'), and glued the face on the lights, with some glue dribbling down the back of the light covers and baking on there going nice and brown. Not all of this I realised when going through the compliance process.

Set of new xenon lights is upwards of $1,000.

hmmm . . . looks like i need to make some phonecalls to save the xenons

should i find out who is doing the compliance and ring that workshop?

or should i be talking to the importer?

Put it this way, if they ARE genuine, then it means you have a 10 y/o car thats been sitting around doing nothing for a LONG time which could be worse than a car thats done 10,000-20,000km a year for 10 years.

I bought a s2 a few years back which had apparently only done 28000km. the interior supported the kms but the engine bay possibly didn't (hard to say). Either way it lasted until 100,000km without the timing belt being replaced so it had either done 28,000 as advertised (and had been sitting in a caryard for 5+ years) or it could have actually done 120,000km with a refurbished interior...

Just something else to think about too - they dont "wind back" the kms in these since the dash is digital. All they do is find a wreck with less kms on it and swap the dash out. Its most often done AFTER the sale in japan but before the car goes on the boat. Its like an extra "service" they offer the importers...and unfortunately there are a lot of dishonest people in the industry.

With my M35 I imported it through a guy my family has known (and trusted) for years. However even with the questionable kms on the s2, it was a nice car and I owned it for 2 years before moving on. Had a few teething issues same as any 2nd hand car but after that it was very reliable.

yeah, i have thought about that

i guess any 2nd hand car is a bit of a lottery, but apparently Nagoya have a 5 year warranty, plus 12 months free road-side assist, so hopefully that's enough to keep me out of trouble

getting pretty excited, the car is supposed to hit Australia tomorrow

thanks for all the help guys

[atomaly]

i guess any 2nd hand car is a bit of a lottery, but apparently Nagoya have a 5 year warranty, plus 12 months free road-side assist, so hopefully that's enough to keep me out of trouble

getting pretty excited, the car is supposed to hit Australia tomorrow

thanks for all the help guys

Hey man,

i got the same deal on my S2 RS4S 5 year + 12 months roadside. (doesnt help tho as i already have Racv)

the 5 year covers mainly parts only (including the turbo though), but no clutch!

i've had it for ~4 months now and hasnt missed a beat.

it was complied AFTER i put the deposit on it. which included BOV, 3" exh, FMIC, POD, Carbon Fibre Hood, and Xenons

also had my timing belt done when i got an engine cover changed, and they supplied the parts and some of labour costs.

quite happy with the deal so far

hope you enjoy it, cos i know i have enjoyed every moment of mine!

Tomas.

Edited October 6, 2009 by atomaly