Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hey guys, new here, new to imports and got a question.

im currenty looking for either a V35 or a Evo as my new daily, Ive never bought an import before.

While doing the rounds of carsales, importers websites etc Ive noticed there is a huge price difference in what appears to be very similar cars...for instance there are 2003 V35 manuals for sale with moderate km on them from anywhere between $19k to $28k, now I understand that mods can have difference but the cars ive been looking at are basicly stock except for wheels.

Has there been a price drop in these cars because of the dollar and people are trying to recoup there money??

I guess the extension to this is what should I be paying for a 2003 white, manual,deluxe with under 50000km?

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/424801-why-the-huge-price-variations/
Share on other sites

New to imports?

There will not be a 2003 car with a genuine less than 50,000kms on it. Forget it. They are all wound back. Shit, there is a advert on YAJ that they can do it for $100. Might be in Japan before the auctions, might be after the auction, might be by the Aust importer. Thats the facts.

Go off car CONDITION. Check all the things that wear on a car, and base your assessment off that. As for the price, I dunno. I don't follow V35 prices.

To add, if your in a major city, you should not have a problem going to see at least 1/2 dozen cars. Go and look and try before you buy. Just go to look. Don't get pressured into anything.

As Paul said, some people selling their cars don't really know what they are worth, I have seen an average 2005 coupe up for sale for about $35k less than a year ago (he was clearly dreaming), I have also seen 2003 coupes for well under $20k with around 100,000km on them.

Do your research and you will get an idea of what prices are reasonable.

If you want to import your own, sign up with a reputable importer, they do all the hard work for you.

If I were you, I would be looking at importing a V36 350GT, the prices are quite good at the moment. the 370GT prices are still up there a bit.

As for the car you mentioned, I would expect a white 2003 Manual Premium in reasonably good condition to sell for around the $20k area, assuming it is a private sale and is already registered in Aust.

Maybe a little more if it is in very good condition.

Edited by sonicii

As Greg said, an early model premium coupe (brembo's,leather,BOSE sound) manual low km's in really good condition will sell for around the 20k mark. Or you can just pick up mine that's got an upgraded gearbox and other goodies for just over 20k :)

Edited by Seano350GT

Why do the import charges change so much ???

Ive got absouluetly no idea how to import one for myself !!!!!...sounds like someone like me would get into trouble or end up with a dud

Talk to Kristian at Iron Chef Imports. He'll organise everything for you and help you find a car that fits your wants and needs. Will most likely save you bit of cash over buying locally too (although there can be private sales that are good value).

Can't recommend him enough (he imported my Stagea) and would use his services again without hesitation.

As long as you dont go to Nagoya you will be fine.

IF you are planning on modding the car fine one that has already been done, it cost ALOT to mod these cars so save yourself some money and find a very well cared one..

Oh and do not use NWC National Warranty Company, they are a complete scam... for that matter dont bother with any 3rd party warranty company !

Edited by R6n350GT

As long as you dont go to Nagoya you will be fine.

IF you are planning on modding the car fine one that has already been done, it cost ALOT to mod these cars so save yourself some money and find a very well cared one..

Oh and do not use NWC National Warranty Company, they are a complete scam... for that matter dont bother with any 3rd party warranty company !

Whats up with Nagoya btw??

Edited by AsM

Whats up with Nagoya btw??

Do a Google search on the word going around. They're not much better than a certain E.Lee.

That's why I opted to import my own through Prestige Motorsports and I couldn't be happier. Despite the fact that I found 4 wire taps on two wires for the LCD monitor and the AV unit wiring while I've been working on it, which suggests that the vehicle had been worked on by the previous owner, it was very well looked after regardless and everything perfectly functional. In other words, truly the 5A grading that it received. I have no regrets and neither will you, as long as you do your homework and exercise a little patience with your decision.

Whats up with Nagoya btw??

Sold me $2000 warranty i could not use, a car that had oil issues, National Warranty Company are the biggest scam i have ever seen... I have learnt 3rd party warranties that have clauses like; consequential damage and normal wear and tear can avoid any warranty issues they like...

Do a Google search on the word going around. They're not much better than a certain E.Lee.

That's why I opted to import my own through Prestige Motorsports and I couldn't be happier. Despite the fact that I found 4 wire taps on two wires for the LCD monitor and the AV unit wiring while I've been working on it, which suggests that the vehicle had been worked on by the previous owner, it was very well looked after regardless and everything perfectly functional. In other words, truly the 5A grading that it received. I have no regrets and neither will you, as long as you do your homework and exercise a little patience with your decision.

LOL i thought Nate was talking about Nagoya in japan, as in the the auctions there lol......yeah there are heaps of dodgy ones out there!!!!

Edited by AsM

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

    • I came here to note that is a zener diode too base on the info there. Based on that, I'd also be suspicious that replacing it, and it's likely to do the same. A lot of use cases will see it used as either voltage protection, or to create a cheap but relatively stable fixed voltage supply. That would mean it has seen more voltage than it should, and has gone into voltage melt down. If there is something else in the circuit dumping out higher than it should voltages, that needs to be found too. It's quite likely they're trying to use the Zener to limit the voltage that is hitting through to the transistor beside it, so what ever goes to the zener is likely a signal, and they're using the transistor in that circuit to amplify it. Especially as it seems they've also got a capacitor across the zener. Looks like there is meant to be something "noisy" to that zener, and what ever it was, had a melt down. Looking at that picture, it also looks like there's some solder joints that really need redoing, and it might be worth having the whole board properly inspected.  Unfortunately, without being able to stick a multimeter on it, and start tracing it all out, I'm pretty much at a loss now to help. I don't even believe I have a climate control board from an R33 around here to pull apart and see if any of the circuit appears similar to give some ideas.
    • Nah - but you won't find anything on dismantling the seats in any such thing anyway.
    • Could be. Could also be that they sit around broken more. To be fair, you almost never see one driving around. I see more R chassis GTRs than the Renault ones.
    • Yeah. Nah. This is why I said My bold for my double emphasis. We're not talking about cars tuned to the edge of det here. We're talking about normal cars. Flame propagation speed and the amount of energy required to ignite the fuel are not significant factors when running at 1500-4000 rpm, and medium to light loads, like nearly every car on the road (except twin cab utes which are driven at 6k and 100% load all the time). There is no shortage of ignition energy available in any petrol engine. If there was, we'd all be in deep shit. The calorific value, on a volume basis, is significantly different, between 98 and 91, and that turns up immediately in consumption numbers. You can see the signal easily if you control for the other variables well enough, and/or collect enough stats. As to not seeing any benefit - we had a couple of EF and EL Falcons in the company fleet back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The EEC IV ECU in those things was particularly good at adding in timing as soon as knock headroom improved, which typically came from putting in some 95 or 98. The responsiveness and power improved noticeably, and the fuel consumption dropped considerably, just from going to 95. Less delta from there to 98 - almost not noticeable, compared to the big differences seen between 91 and 95. Way back in the day, when supermarkets first started selling fuel from their own stations, I did thousands of km in FNQ in a small Toyota. I can't remember if it was a Starlet or an early Yaris. Anyway - the supermarket servos were bringing in cheap fuel from Indonesia, and the other servos were still using locally refined gear. The fuel consumption was typically at least 5%, often as much as 8% worse on the Indo shit, presumably because they had a lot more oxygenated component in the brew, and were probably barely meeting the octane spec. Around the same time or maybe a bit later (like 25 years ago), I could tell the difference between Shell 98 and BP 98, and typically preferred to only use Shell then because the Skyline ran so much better on it. Years later I found the realtionship between them had swapped, as a consequence of yet more refinery closures. So I've only used BP 98 since. Although, I must say that I could not fault the odd tank of United 98 that I've run. It's probably the same stuff. It is also very important to remember that these findings are often dependent on region. With most of the refineries in Oz now dead, there's less variability in local stuff, and he majority of our fuels are not even refined here any more anyway. It probably depends more on which SE Asian refinery is currently cheapest to operate.
    • You don't have an R34 service manual for the body do you? Have found plenty for the engine and drivetrain but nothing else
×
×
  • Create New...