Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

hey all,

im new to the forum and im half looking at getting my first import and out of the commodore.

need some advice ont what to get, im considering everything from silvias and skylines, to soarers for some luxury. i dont need a car stupidly fast but i want some creature comforts aswell.

what would be suitable and within a reasonable price range?

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/382089-advice-on-first-import/
Share on other sites

  • Replies 72
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

there are wide selection depend on what you want. may be answer the following questions will help?

what is your budget?

How old is the vehicle that you willing to try?

RWD/FWD/4WD

leather seat?

Turbo or supercharge or V8

2 or 4 doors

Does the aftermarket support important to you or happy to go for custom jobs

what is the KWs you try to get out of engine

Well im looking up to 10k for now i guess. And i know about the KPGC10's being mega dollars these days. I'd prefer a manual coupe of some sort anything back to 1990ish, and i'd want one fairly stock so i can mod it myself, its a better feeling than getting a ready made machine. My mate has a 32 gtst manual which i helped him work on and i love driving it around when i can, and another friend has an 01 wrx which handles on rails. Maybe a 32 GTS4 because i like the shape and AWD grip feels awesome

haha the rb20 cops so much flack, i like it, kind of an underdog. im not looking for too much power right now anyway. that 33 v spec link looks like a scam too, 10k for a very low k's gtr with mods is way too cheap.

My opinion:

10 grand will get you a skyline I think however it won't get you into a soarer that is worth loving.

10 grand will easilly get you a series one twin turbo but of you're chasing a series 3 elec seat update interior update engine update body type then 10k won't be enough,

Same will go for skylines,

Like 91 models etc fine... But you won't get a 99 skyline or a 99 soarer with that budget...

Reason I say this is, you're new to imports, you haven't yet got the connects or the parts Hookups or the work arounds if things go wrong.

And so for your first import car you will want it to be a good experience not a bitter one, best wAy to get a good experience is buy right the first time,

Increase your budget slightly and you will save the money on repairs in the long run.

Not to mention picking up a less tired interior and newer seats etc

I know you're probably looking into "punk" kaido imports like skyline soarer Silvia etc,

But also don't be afraid to look into Lexus IS200 aka Toyota Altezza, they're ridiculously cheap now and with a nice detail (done by me) can really look the part with some nice wheels :)

Happy hunting !!

As a former Soarer owner I would say they are a lot of car for the money. Manuals still command a premium but even they can be had for around the 10k range now.

Not quite as good a handler as a Skyline but they are very easy to upgrade for straight line speed.

As a former Soarer owner I would say they are a lot of car for the money. Manuals still command a premium but even they can be had for around the 10k range now. <BR>Not quite as good a handler as a Skyline but they are very easy to upgrade for straight line speed.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • perhaps i should have mentioned, I plugged the unit in before i handed over to the electronics repair shop to see what damaged had been caused and the unit worked (ac controls, rear demister etc) bar the lights behind the lcd. i would assume that the diode was only to control lighting and didnt harm anything else i got the unit back from the electronics repair shop and all is well (to a point). The lights are back on and ac controls are working. im still paranoid as i beleive the repairer just put in any zener diode he could find and admitted asking chatgpt if its compatible   i do however have another issue... sometimes when i turn the ignition on, the climate control unit now goes through a diagnostics procedure which normally occurs when you disconnect and reconnect but this may be due to the below   to top everything off, and feel free to shoot me as im just about to do it myself anyway, while i was checking the newly repaired board by plugging in the climate control unit bare without the housing, i believe i may have shorted it on the headunit surround. Climate control unit still works but now the keyless entry doesnt work along with the dome light not turning on when you open the door. to add to this tricky situation, when you start the car and remove the key ( i have a turbo timer so car remains on) the keyless entry works. the dome light also works when you switch to the on position. fuses were checked and all ok ive deduced that the short somehow has messed with the smart entry control module as that is what controls the keyless entry and dome light on door opening   you guys wouldnt happen to have any experience with that topic lmao... im only laughing as its all i can do right now my self diagnosed adhd always gets me in a situation as i have no patience and want to get everything done in shortest amount of time as possible often ignoring crucial steps such as disconnecting battery when stuffing around with electronics or even placing a simple rag over the metallic headunit surround when placing a live pcb board on top of it   FML
    • Bit of a pity we don't have good images of the back/front of the PCB ~ that said, I found a YT vid of a teardown to replace dicky clock switches, and got enough of a glimpse to realize this PCB is the front-end to a connected to what I'll call PCBA, and as such this is all digital on this PCB..ergo, battery voltage probably doesn't make an appearance here ; that is, I'd expect them to do something on PCBA wrt power conditioning for the adjustment/display/switch PCB.... ....given what's transpired..ie; some permutation of 12vdc on a 5vdc with or without correct polarity...would explain why the zener said "no" and exploded. The transistor Q5 (M33) is likely to be a digital switching transistor...that is, package has builtin bias resistors to ensure it saturates as soon as base threshold voltage is reached (minimal rise/fall time)....and wrt the question 'what else could've fried?' ....well, I know there's an MCU on this board (display, I/O at a guess), and you hope they isolated it from this scenario...I got my crayons out, it looks a bit like this...   ...not a lot to see, or rather, everything you'd like to see disappears down a via to the other side...base drive for the transistor comes from somewhere else, what this transistor is switching is somewhere else...but the zener circuit is exclusive to all this ~ it's providing a set voltage (current limited by the 1K3 resistor R19)...and disappears somewhere else down the via I marked V out ; if the errant voltage 'jumped' the diode in the millisecond before it exploded, whatever that V out via feeds may have seen a spike... ....I'll just imagine that Q5 was switched off at the time, thus no damage should've been done....but whatever that zener feeds has to be checked... HTH
    • I think Fitmit had some, have a look on there (theyre Australian as well)
    • Hah, fair enough! But if you learn with this one you can drive any other OEM manual. No modern luxury features like auto rev-matching or hillstart assist to give you a false sense of confidence. And a heavy car with not that much torque so it stalls easily. 
×
×
  • Create New...