Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 71
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

yeah thats the place i was talking about also.

I thought the quality of the few cars i looked at weren't great for the price but that was 4 months ago so i would imagine its new stock now so take it as a grain of salt.

oh thanks Keith, i didn't even see your post earlier - i went google fishing to come up with that site, silly me.

Righto - i'll have a sniff around there on the weekend, thanks for the tips.

Lot of people are saying to me that import is the way to go. Keith, can you PM me some costs from iRev that you faced if you don't mind?

Edited by SMOKEYC34

To be 100% honest, right now I'd say imports are the place not to go. The import market is dying tragically in Australia. It seems cheaper to buy a car here than import it now. V35's used to sell for 25 - 30k stock easily, now you see some selling for 15k. (although not the best condition, but still lowering the market).

The problem with the V35 is that it's not a searched for car, at the moment there are 163 V35's on carsales, all undercutting one another with next to no one buying them. The car market in general right now is getting stomped, and V35's and imports seem to be feeling the brute of that.

To be 100% honest, right now I'd say imports are the place not to go. The import market is dying tragically in Australia. It seems cheaper to buy a car here than import it now. V35's used to sell for 25 - 30k stock easily, now you see some selling for 15k. (although not the best condition, but still lowering the market).

The problem with the V35 is that it's not a searched for car, at the moment there are 163 V35's on carsales, all undercutting one another with next to no one buying them. The car market in general right now is getting stomped, and V35's and imports seem to be feeling the brute of that.

That's a very valid point. There is a downward shift in the local market because of all the undercutting and lack for demand for V35s in general and in such an environment, you should be able to find a good buy. But you have to also be careful if sifting thru a lot of the dodgy stuff that out there from dealers (i.e. clocked back KMs).

Also, the shift in the market from import to local is also being felt by the importers, who may be inclined to give you a better deal during the import process.

For me, I prefer the control that the import process give you but I do acknowldge that there is always a possibility of getting a good deal locally. Heck of a lot quicker as well and less hassle.

Edited by thinktea

To be 100% honest, right now I'd say imports are the place not to go. The import market is dying tragically in Australia. It seems cheaper to buy a car here than import it now. V35's used to sell for 25 - 30k stock easily, now you see some selling for 15k. (although not the best condition, but still lowering the market).

The problem with the V35 is that it's not a searched for car, at the moment there are 163 V35's on carsales, all undercutting one another with next to no one buying them. The car market in general right now is getting stomped, and V35's and imports seem to be feeling the brute of that.

After sussing out some auction sites I tend to agree with you on this.....

Went to look at luxury & performance today - cars were ok but nothing special.

They weren't detailed or anything, pretty much f.o.b. condition. I would suggest they were grade 3.5 auction cars as an average, most wearing a few scars etc. The guy was nice enough to deal with but I think I'll keep searching, although it does make me even more adamant to only buy what I can see, hear and drive.

Just throwing a question out there for those who have made the decision either way before - do I buy something super clean, late model but stock as a rock - or buy something for a similar price that is a bit older, with mods that I would enviably do down the track ......

Starting clean and stock assures me that nothing dodgy has been done to the car that would render it useless and more expensive to fix later on. Imagine you bought a modified vehicle only to find that it was so poorly modified you pretty much have to start from scratch with it? That's a bit extreme, I know but unless you know the quality of the workmanship (and/or the abuse) that went into it, you can't be sure the vehicle will be reliable. Performance modifications tip the balance of reliability vs power so you want to be sure the modifications were done right.

Personally, I don't like buying cars with any mods. If they've done suspension, stereo and maybe intake, I'll consider it. It would also have to the parts that I wanted to put on. So, if someone was selling their V with teins and a fujitsubo exhaust, I'd consider it as those are the parts I want. I'm also a fan of built not bought.

its funny going thru the car classifieds and seeing cars being advertised for $3000 more because people think a few mods make a car worth more. if anything, it decreases the value.

having said that, i'm guilty of doing the same, advertising my previous BMW for an extra $3500 due to the shiny but cheap fitted parts... and even with an excessive amount of KM, a guy was still happy to pay the price without even test driving it. That was a car i wish i never sold.

Yeh - it's always a risk - modifications point directly at an owner who is trying to get 'more' out of the stock package. Some do it because they love to thrash in which case you could just be buying someone elses problems But then some do it just for the love of the car and seeing the improvements that their hard work and research rewards them with in which case the car is often looked after better than a stock car because it gets whatever it needs. I guess speaking to the owner and getting a feel for which side of the fence they fall upon is the best insurance.

I''m also a fan of 'built not bought' and i've only bought two cars that weren't stock as a rock - the rest I have done all the parts and the spanner work on myself. The only time my cars have ever been to a mechanic is for RWC.

But i'm getting older, I have less time and energy for this stuff, and I live in a body corporate which prohibits working on cars - so buying something with the parts i want and the work already done has extra value to me.

That being said, I won't overlook the condition of the car. It has to be mint. Normall i would agree that buying the cleanest stock car as a base will always yield the best overall results - but for my reasons above, i'm trying to skip a step....!

Let me know if you spot any nice autos!

Nice car mike, but you're right - too exxy - and black!

Man don't get me started on black! So difficult trying to sell a black car, scratches come up so bad and needs constant cleaning. It does look sexy as hell clean but too much maintenance for the average driver i think.

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

    • Hi, is the HKS  Tower Bar still available ? negotiable ? 🤔
    • From there, it is really just test and assemble. Plug the adapter cables from the unit into the back of the screen, then the other side to the car harness. Don't forget all the other plugs too! Run the cables behind the unit and screw it back into place (4 screws) and you should now have 3 cables to run from the top screen to the android unit. I ran them along the DS of the other AV units in the gap between their backets and the console, and used some corrugated tubing on the sharp edges of the bracket so the wires were safe. Plug the centre console and lower screen in temporarily and turn the car to ACC, the AV should fire up as normal. Hold the back button for 3 sec and Android should appear on the top screen. You need to set the input to Aux for audio (more on that later). I put the unit under the AC duct in the centre console, with the wifi antenna on top of the AC duct near the shifter, the bluetooth antenna on the AC duct under the centre console The GPS unit on top of the DS to AC duct; they all seem to work OK there are are out of the way. Neat cable routing is a pain. For the drive recorder I mounted it near the rear view mirror and run the cable in the headlining, across the a pillar and then down the inside of the a pillar seal to the DS lower dash. From there it goes across and to one USB input for the unit. The second USB input is attached to the ECUtec OBD dongle and the 3rd goes to the USB bulkhead connected I added in the centre console. This is how the centre console looks "tidied" up Note I didn't install the provided speaker, didn't use the 2.5mm IPod in line or the piggyback loom for the Ipod or change any DIP switches; they seem to only be required if you need to use the Ipod input rather than the AUX input. That's it, install done, I'll follow up with a separate post on how the unit works, but in summary it retains all factory functions and inputs (so I still use my phone to the car for calls), reverse still works like factory etc.
    • Place the new daughterboard in the case and mount it using the 3 small black rivets provided, and reconnect the 3 factory ribbon cables to the new board Then, use the 3 piggyback cables from the daughterboard into the factory board on top (there are stand offs in the case to keep them apart. and remember to reconnect the antenna and rear cover fan wires. 1 screw to hold the motherboard in place. Before closing the case, make a hole in the sticker covering a hole in the case and run the cable for the android unit into the plug there. The video forgot this step, so did I, so will you probably. Then redo the 4 screws on back, 2 each top and bottom, 3 each side and put the 2 brackets back on.....all ready to go and not that tricky really.      
    • Onto the android unit. You need to remove the top screen because there is a daughterboard to put inside the case. Each side vent pops out from clips; start at the bottom and carefully remove upwards (use a trim remover tool to avoid breaking anything). Then the lower screen and controls come out, 4 screws, a couple of clips (including 3 flimsy ones at the top) and 3 plugs on the rear. Then the upper screen, 4 screws and a bunch of plugs and she is out. From there, remove the mounting brackets (2 screws each), 4 screws on the rear, 2 screws top and bottom and 3 screws holding in the small plates on each side. When you remove the back cover (tight fit), watch out for the power cable for the fan, I removed it so I could put the back aside. The mainboard is held in by 1 screw in the middle, 1 aerial at the top and 3 ribbon cables. If you've ever done any laptop stuff the ribbon cables are OK to work with, just pop up the retainer and they slide out. If you are not familiar just grab a 12 year old from an iphone factory, they will know how it works The case should now look like this:
    • Switching the console was tricky. First there were 6 screws to remove, and also the little adapter loom and its screws had to come out. Also don't forget to remove the 2 screws holding the central locking receiver. Then there are 4 clips on either side....these were very tight in this case and needed careful persuading with a long flat screw driver....some force required but not enough to break them...this was probably the fiddliest part of the whole job. In my case I needed both the wiring loom and the central locking receiver module to swap across to the new one. That was it for the console, so "assembly is the reverse of disassembly"
×
×
  • Create New...