Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

I had a Celica back in the day, I'm not anti FWD or hatch/liftback, I just don't see something like that as being a special weekend toy for a guy in his 30s. 

You're talking about using it as a cheap daily, which makes much more sense. 

@ActionDan have you considered an older RS4 or an E46 or E92 M3? I love those things, but have no idea on reliability. They're not new, but they are still pretty awesome.

On 10/31/2016 at 0:55 PM, ActionDan said:

I dunno, I asked a few Qs in the 35 section and got crickets. Have they all moved to FB?

Might be worth joining one of the 35 GTR pages and asking a few questions. 

 

From memory there is a specific 35 owners page in Aus and there are a few 35 owners in the GTROC's FB page (mostly from the UK). 

 

I was doing some Euro vs Jap research last week (bcoz boredom) and found nothing that even resembles an argument the say Euro is reliable.

I'll just say that not ALL euro cars have an issue, but the sheer number and importance of the malfunctions are too large to ignore.

I was using this website, which was handy. http://australiancar.reviews/reviews.php#!content=recalls

Yes, a lot of reviews and forum posts are negatively skewed because everyone has the energy to complain but few praise. Just compare the types of recalls issued for common Euro models and then compare to common jap models. Its often chalk and cheese.

Person at work has a 2015 Mini Cooper S. The new mini has been around for quite a while now. Each series has had a different motor, usually shared with a 1 series BMW. The second series had an issue with timing chains letting go, so now its on the maintenance list to be replaced every 30,000kms. Anyway, latest Mini's had incorrect main bearing tolerances and a huuuuuge amount of mini's got new motors. This particular owner was told it would need a new engine when it went in for a service at 13,000kms. When replacing that many motors, no doubt BMW was using the iPhone philosophy of repair the broken and then use them as "brand new" replacements.

When my ex was looking at getting a Mk4 Golf GT Sport, I spent a lot of time researching because they had massive problems with the injectors. VW did everything in their power to avoid making an official re-call. You go to the leading VW OZ forums and there are dozens of pages of owners reporting their cars getting done, some being out of pocket $1500 an injector. 

Then theres the audi's firmware updates that get applied when getting serviced and causing all sorts of problems.

Mercedes would be my bet for Euro. From what I've experienced and people I know who work on them have said their diagnostics and design are really good. And yeah, there are a lot of daily-driven 400kw audi's floating around, which is impressive.

 

Anyway, compare that to all the lexus recalls, and in typical Lexus fashion, most of them are just complaints from nit-picky owners. (the LS series is basically designed from customer feedback every series. Which is great, but it also means that almost every production month LS is different, even if theyre the same series. Toyota part numbers are a bitch on the luxury cars). Common problems include: annoying accessory belt noise, rear view mirror discolouration, wind noise from door mirror, an in-line filter added to the aux port to stop interference noise.... :| 

  • Like 1

I would take an LS600hL over any euro luxury car. any of them. and not just because I like VIP.

I've always wondered if some Euro do this:

 

 

Lexus has been doing it since the 90's. so bawler.

  • Like 1

lol easily amused I see ;)

I did consider something leaning more towards luxury than performance, but I know stuff all about cars in that space. Plus they're generally big 4 door things and ideally I just wanted a 2 door. 

I dunno i wouldn't bother going a half ass euro if i did.

A good friend of mine sold her 2013 M3 like 2 months ago for 80k and it had f**k all KM's on it. Was a bit of fun. 

Apparently the 2013 M3 wasn't good enough. Got a 2016 M4.

2 hours ago, ActionDan said:

Daily = work car(free). 

Think I will keep the 34, put a nicer clutch in it and maybe some Cams and just sit back and see what what the R35 market does. 

Getting some well built & matched coilovers. Will certainly change your perception of comfort in the 34. I have Tein Super Street's (Aussie modified versions) set 5 clicks from full soft. They are only a poofteenths harsher than my stock 04 Accord Euro on the street. Obviously prob not the best for track duties, but my car is 99% on the street.

I previously had an Evo 7 with BC BR's, and it was still bone shaking on 8/6 kg spring rates.

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

    • Hooley Dooley these things have some history! If i sell them they will need a certificate of providence to prove they have been in the hands of verified RB20 royalty! They have been stored in a plastic tub, away from sunlight and moisture. They are in mint condition. And they will stay that way, as i have sprung the money for a set of shockworks coilovers. I'm just working on getting them in at the moment, after rebushing the rear of the car, and while the subframe was out i welded in the GKtech reinforcement bracing as well.  They will get a workout at Ararat King of The Hill in November. I ran 48s on the short course there a few months ago, and i am hoping with new bushes and shocks in the rear i can launch a bit harder. There was a fair bit of axle tramp when i tried too hard off the line. a few of the corners had dips mid way which also made the car feel a bit unsettled, hopefully this will help there too.   
    • Food for thought, the stock oil filter thread is a 3/4-16 UNF, which has an ID of about 10 to 12mm (according to ChatGPT lol). Now compare than to an 10AN, which has an ID of about 14mm (Raceworks is 14.2mm, Speed flow is 14.27mm).  
    • Yep, totally get that. However hooking in for Generator back up is only a few hundred bucks for the wiring. You could put a couple of those in (for different circuits explicitly) and run a couple of baby generators. Bonus, you can balance them across different circuits, and now have backups in your backup. I'm looking at buying places that won't even have water etc, and I don't mind the idea of getting off the electric grid either, even with everything you've said. This country already has enough power outages that even the mains grid isn't that reliable anymore. I do agree though on spending a bit more to get better gear, and to add some extra redundancy in to the system too.
    • You can set hard reserves on your battery system, and it can't be discharged past that.  
    • That sounds like an excellent idea. But total self-sufficiency means exactly that. You have no-one else to blame when your system faults out and you have no power for a week or two while it gets fixed. You'd have to go the whole hog and get a diesel genny and all the switchover gear, to get you through such times. And, despite the fact that over 20 years, my system has been pretty reliable**, I have seen so many inverter explosions (or less dramatic deaths), panel and roof JB fires, and so on, over that time, to know that the stuff is the same as any other bulk Chinese manufactured stuff. The failure rate is well above zero - both on the equipment and on behalf of the meth addled installation labour force. And then..... warranty and means of redress against the supplier you bought the gear from. Best I can tell is that only a handful of solar companies are still around within 5 years of starting their advertising pitch. They disappear and phoenix like crazy. So, as per 1st paragraph, I suspect the only way to is go balls deep and spend maybe 2-3 times as much as you might think, so that you have every base covered. Plus, know and understand your gear intimately, so you can diagnose problems, sort them out yourself, etc, etc. Plus, probably have to consider upgrading various parts as the years pass, to maintain compatibility with newer stuff, performance and reliability, etc, etc. Whereas, remaining attached to the grid has an ongoing cost that keeps going up even if you use bugger all power from it. But it does provide the fallback in case of the worst case with your own gear. You either pay up front or as you go, I suspect.
×
×
  • Create New...