Being Told To Get A Holden

[GTR-N1]

Alright sweet man I'll look into those places. So there specilist mechanics thatservice cars but they also sell cars tht they've worked on??

Those specialist places don't sell cars. Some (but not all) might have customers who want to sell their cars and use the workshop as a referral. This would only be a symbiotic relationship called goodwill or a two-way referral system (ie that the customer sells their car for the right price + the workshop still gets the chance to continue to service that vehicle).

They have top-of-the-line technicians who can diagnose as well as service. They can tell you if your potential buy has had its best days.

They also charge heaps less in labour $$/hr than a dealership; don't cut corners; use original/best avail. parts + best lubricants/fluids; don't try and sell you stuff you don't need; have a high work/customer satisfaction ethic; and they love what they do.

[MBS206]

Jarrod, Everyone has a passion for particular things. It seems as though your friends seem to love their Commodores.

Now, in 2011, your friends will most likely have the money to buy VZ/Early model VE SS for the same price you're buying a 10 - 12 year old car for.

Bang for buck, a VZ/VE SS should shit all over a R34 GTT (Stock for stock) in a straight line. Cornering, the base model commodores have rubbish suspension that makes it feel like they'll roll over, the S, SS, and any other "S" variant runs FE2 suspension, that is, it's 20% firmer. What you'll then start to find, is that the person to go through a corner quickest, will be the one who can steer better.

When buy the GTT, you need to think "What is my lifestyle like?" "Will this car suit my lifestyle?" "Do I have any special needs from a car?" "Will this car suit my special needs?"

For instance, I have a couple of friends, and we ALWAYS go away on trips together camping etc.

So, what we need, is room for 3 Adults minimum, plus luggage from a car. Now we also want a bit of comfort on these trips, and we don't mind sharing cars.

Other than that, my daily runs have either just me, or me and a single passenger. So, I was fine with having my R33 GTS-t back when I bought it. Why? Because my mates had two "Family" sized cars, and no one was bothered about sharing the keys when we went away. I had no every day needs of carrying loads of people, I didn't go cruising with a car full of people all of the time.

Unfortunately, now, we have an issue of, my mate has a company car (Crewman ute) so only he can drive it, and the back is bad as hell.

My other mate has a fagna that drives like a bucket of bolts, isn't that reliable, and me and my crewman mate HATE his driving. So we don't take his car on holidays.

I have as a daily, a Honda Jazz, although, it's a company car too (No sharing keys) and it's not that big (And shit with 3 people on the freeway!). I still have my skyline, but unfortunately, it's in pieces.

I've thought of buying another car, and honestly, a Commodore has crossed my mind, ALTHOUGH, I hate their build quality. I find that they feel so fake and plasticy inside, even their leather "luxury" seats are terribly uncomfortable etc.

Now my two mates are both Holden lovers, the funny part, when they're being serious, they'll admit, that performance wise, my R33 shits all over any commodore, and is more fun to be in... But then again, I can't tow a boat down the coast with 4 adults and luggage

Oh, and ask BenM, turn up to a place with skyline lovers in a Commodore, and you'll get the same rubbish about "Should have bought a skyline" from the skyline owners as you're now getting from the commodore lovers...

Buy what makes you happy, not what others tell you to...

Best way to find out, get in them, test drive them, make sure it suits your needs (And don't buy the first car you get into!).

When it comes to looking at them, if I'm still in the Gong, give me a yell, I'll come looking at them.

But: Don't buy an R32 or R33 in my opinion, unless you're a bit mechanical savvy or like to tinker (At which point, you'll want to make sure you can walk to work ) as these cars will have minor issues regularly if they haven't been tended to.

Although, the R34 GTt is starting to have some minor issues, such as coilpacks at the moment.

Do some reading on this forum, then jump on other model specific forums and find out the common issues about them and see if it's a cheap fix...

[oweban]

Jarrod, Everyone has a passion for particular things. It seems as though your friends seem to love their Commodores.

Now, in 2011, your friends will most likely have the money to buy VZ/Early model VE SS for the same price you're buying a 10 - 12 year old car for.

Bang for buck, a VZ/VE SS should shit all over a R34 GTT (Stock for stock) in a straight line. Cornering, the base model commodores have rubbish suspension that makes it feel like they'll roll over, the S, SS, and any other "S" variant runs FE2 suspension, that is, it's 20% firmer. What you'll then start to find, is that the person to go through a corner quickest, will be the one who can steer better.

When buy the GTT, you need to think "What is my lifestyle like?" "Will this car suit my lifestyle?" "Do I have any special needs from a car?" "Will this car suit my special needs?"

For instance, I have a couple of friends, and we ALWAYS go away on trips together camping etc.

So, what we need, is room for 3 Adults minimum, plus luggage from a car. Now we also want a bit of comfort on these trips, and we don't mind sharing cars.

Other than that, my daily runs have either just me, or me and a single passenger. So, I was fine with having my R33 GTS-t back when I bought it. Why? Because my mates had two "Family" sized cars, and no one was bothered about sharing the keys when we went away. I had no every day needs of carrying loads of people, I didn't go cruising with a car full of people all of the time.

Unfortunately, now, we have an issue of, my mate has a company car (Crewman ute) so only he can drive it, and the back is bad as hell.

My other mate has a fagna that drives like a bucket of bolts, isn't that reliable, and me and my crewman mate HATE his driving. So we don't take his car on holidays.

I have as a daily, a Honda Jazz, although, it's a company car too (No sharing keys) and it's not that big (And shit with 3 people on the freeway!). I still have my skyline, but unfortunately, it's in pieces.

I've thought of buying another car, and honestly, a Commodore has crossed my mind, ALTHOUGH, I hate their build quality. I find that they feel so fake and plasticy inside, even their leather "luxury" seats are terribly uncomfortable etc.

Now my two mates are both Holden lovers, the funny part, when they're being serious, they'll admit, that performance wise, my R33 shits all over any commodore, and is more fun to be in... But then again, I can't tow a boat down the coast with 4 adults and luggage

Oh, and ask BenM, turn up to a place with skyline lovers in a Commodore, and you'll get the same rubbish about "Should have bought a skyline" from the skyline owners as you're now getting from the commodore lovers...

Buy what makes you happy, not what others tell you to...

Best way to find out, get in them, test drive them, make sure it suits your needs (And don't buy the first car you get into!).

When it comes to looking at them, if I'm still in the Gong, give me a yell, I'll come looking at them.

But: Don't buy an R32 or R33 in my opinion, unless you're a bit mechanical savvy or like to tinker (At which point, you'll want to make sure you can walk to work ) as these cars will have minor issues regularly if they haven't been tended to.

Although, the R34 GTt is starting to have some minor issues, such as coilpacks at the moment.

Do some reading on this forum, then jump on other model specific forums and find out the common issues about them and see if it's a cheap fix...

^^^^^^

And that's the Matt that has helped me out

[GTR-N1]

^^^^^^

And that's the Matt that has helped me out

...and he has a high standard of ethics too

[malcolm]

..... go the R34 GTT ... build quality ... performance ... handling ... resale ... smiles on the dial ... all a notch up on the Commodore in my opinion ... ...

[cogs]

Buy a DeLorean. Cheap. Reliable. Easy to get parts.

[Ruxis]

Matt,

Thanks for the info and thought first of all.

At the moment with my lifestyle all I need is room for a bodyboard. And maybe a sub aswell. I think a gtt would suit me as it's usually just me and one friend or my girlfriend in my car.

Work is a about 14 kms away so I could always bike ride haha Or get a lift maybe, if it were to ever breakdown. How much are coilpacks to buy/ get them replaced?? Dads heaps handy so I could defer to him if need be. But it is a f

good thing to think about. I've been considering the non turbo impreza 08 for economy and durability. But I figure I'm young and I don't have a house loan over my head right now so I thibk it's a good time to have fun and muck around.

P.s I might take you up on that offer of coming with me in about a years time if you are still around hah !! Thanks for your help.

Thanks malcom I'm hoping to achieve the same satisfaction

[DR 32R]

At the moment I drive a Ford F6 while my Skyline is being restored. The XR6turbo/F6 cars have the bogan easy parts supply and servicing, but many of the turbo car interesting features - "boost". I thinks it's somewhere in the middle. Your money drive what you want.

Edited October 23, 2010 by WHITE gtt

[typevu]

Get a REAL car, get a Holden.

[Munkyb0y]

take a few cars for a test drive and see which one does it for you. include an evo 8 and 9 in that group.

then buy the car you like, and tell everyone to go fk themselves

[oweban]

You can get Yellow Jacket coilpacks for about $400 or so, and they're a piece of piss to swap out.

[MBS206]

Coilpacks on an R34, depending on brand, $350 - $1000 depending on what brand you buy and what the exchange rate is like at the time.

They basically all do the same job for 90% of people.

On an R34 GTt it is a bit of a longer more time consuming thing to swap them out over an R32/R33 but if you want to learn to service it yourself, you'll need to learn how to get them out quickly so you can swap plugs.

The R34 boot *might* be big enough for a body board.

The other thing you'll need to be aware of, the Skyline is one of the most often pulled over cars for a "random check". This can get annoying especially if it isn't dead standard.

Something like an XR6T, or an EVO often goes unnoticed even when modified.

[R34Liner]

Coilpacks on an R34, depending on brand, $350 - $1000 depending on what brand you buy and what the exchange rate is like at the time.

They basically all do the same job for 90% of people.

On an R34 GTt it is a bit of a longer more time consuming thing to swap them out over an R32/R33 but if you want to learn to service it yourself, you'll need to learn how to get them out quickly so you can swap plugs.

The R34 boot *might* be big enough for a body board.

The other thing you'll need to be aware of, the Skyline is one of the most often pulled over cars for a "random check". This can get annoying especially if it isn't dead standard.

Something like an XR6T, or an EVO often goes unnoticed even when modified.

^ i Disagree with the pulling over part (of cause there are heaps of variables, how you drive, if you have loud music pumping, if your exhaust is loud, BOV sounds coming from your general vicinity, ethnicity ) only due to my own experience of owning my 34 for 3 years now (having it on my p's and my full's) I have only ever been pulled over for NO reason whilst driving once in the 3 years and the 3-4 other times i was doing something wrong or they thought i was doing something wrong. Besides that it has been RBT's on the side of the road (maybe half a dozen) and i drive my car everyday. I Drive a lot in the hills area (i think they might have gotten used to me ), and since i DJ as a hobby I'm driving around at times when cops are most likely to pull you over for no reason (aka RBT)

as far as room: i fit 2 JBL EON 2 15" speakers, a mixer (in carry case) 2 decks, 2 laptops, smoke machine, stands, strobe, cables (lots and lots of cables), lasers, lights and i have a massive sub in my boot at all times and still have the front seat free for a passenger

as far as reliability: the car has never broken down on me (that wasn't my own stupid fault, hydrolocked engine in a flooded carpark and low mounted pod, very stupid of me) i got spitfire coilpacks at 80,000 and never had a problem since and cost me $600 ive done 40k since then.

so yea thumbs up for the R34

[evil_weevil]

buy what makes you happy!!

but...

what do you want out of a car? dont know if you mentioned it before!

daily driver? weekender?

towing? kids?

family?

you?

Ive had the skyline, v8 commodore, mx5 now and they all have their good and bad!

[Ruxis]

Ah ok 400 dollars isn't that bad. I'm thinking if I can save up 16000 ish dollars in a year I'll be able to maintain it fairly easily.

Yeah I'll definately be servicing it, I work on locomotives. LOVE getting dirty and tinkering.

As for getting pulled over all I want is a bov a sound system not to loud, and a sports exhaust not loud a just a clean sorta purrrr. Hah. But I don't intend to be driving reckless on the roads.

I don't really min having chin wags to the odd cop every now and then haha I'll just do the right thing and nothing can go wrong (I hope). I work 7-330 so rarely see cops then anyway.

A bodyboard is 34 inches long about 15 inches wide. So should be ok. I'll look into that.

An evo. Hmm I don't mind them. Haven't looked into them much I'll have a look at prices. I thought they coated a fair bit though.

Thanks for the info r34liner sounds awesome

usage of the car will be. To and from work 15 min drive, umm just a sporty car that looks good, sounds good, and if I want can put my foot down every now and then, also I want to take it to tracks maybe once a month? And then just need it to get to the surf. So I spose I'd need high performance oil for when I do take it to the track etc.

[oweban]

Ah ok 400 dollars isn't that bad. I'm thinking if I can save up 16000 ish dollars in a year I'll be able to maintain it fairly easily.

Yeah I'll definately be servicing it, I work on locomotives. LOVE getting dirty and tinkering.

As for getting pulled over all I want is a bov a sound system not to loud, and a sports exhaust not loud a just a clean sorta purrrr. Hah. But I don't intend to be driving reckless on the roads.

I don't really min having chin wags to the odd cop every now and then haha I'll just do the right thing and nothing can go wrong (I hope). I work 7-330 so rarely see cops then anyway.

A bodyboard is 34 inches long about 15 inches wide. So should be ok. I'll look into that.

An evo. Hmm I don't mind them. Haven't looked into them much I'll have a look at prices. I thought they coated a fair bit though.

Thanks for the info r34liner sounds awesome

usage of the car will be. To and from work 15 min drive, umm just a sporty car that looks good, sounds good, and if I want can put my foot down every now and then, also I want to take it to tracks maybe once a month? And then just need it to get to the surf. So I spose I'd need high performance oil for when I do take it to the track etc.

dude, if you want, i'll come take you for a quick run; my system is fairly quiet (exhaust), and with the stock box and bov on it, pretty quiet at the engine bay. I think the R34 boots are a lot larger than the 33's though, so my boot isn't a good example (plus the huge sub). PM me if you want me to roll round, not doing anything else at the mo.

[Ruxis]

dude, if you want, i'll come take you for a quick run; my system is fairly quiet (exhaust), and with the stock box and bov on it, pretty quiet at the engine bay. I think the R34 boots are a lot larger than the 33's though, so my boot isn't a good example (plus the huge sub). PM me if you want me to roll round, not doing anything else at the mo.

sorry Owen I'd love to but I'm at my girlfriends in kiama ummm sometime soon?? During the week? On the weekend? If you give me notice I'll be keen Im at tafe on Wednesdays so I could even meet you somewhere during my break or after it?? 12 or 430ish? Or when ever suits you

[oweban]

sorry Owen I'd love to but I'm at my girlfriends in kiama ummm sometime soon?? During the week? On the weekend? If you give me notice I'll be keen Im at tafe on Wednesdays so I could even meet you somewhere during my break or after it?? 12 or 430ish? Or when ever suits you

I work in Sydney and don't get home till 7.30pm, heh. Weekends are better for me; next Sat arvo? Will be busy in the morning.

And stiff shit to the missus, she can wait

[fib]

CPD can take you for a drive and the missus for a ride after

[Ruxis]

I work in Sydney and don't get home till 7.30pm, heh. Weekends are better for me; next Sat arvo? Will be busy in the morning.

And stiff shit to the missus, she can wait

no problem. Ummm I'm going to Sydney for booze ups. My buddy is back from the army for Melbourne cup . I'm sure I'll be free before a year is up hah