To Buy Or Not To Buy A Skyline

[sheriff]

I am new to Skylinesaustralia as I have a passion to own a Nissan Skyline one day. My heart is looking @ a 96-98 GTS R33 Nissan Skyline Series II M-Spec.

I currently drive (please don't laugh) a 2002 Mazda SP20. Its a great 5 door Hatch as I can throw people in the back when I have to & it has room to be able to move stuff around once the back seats have been put down. It also has very low km's due to the distance that I drive from home to work. It currently has about 34,000 km's on the clock. The down side is that it must run on Premium Unleaded fuel at all times, great km's you might say but not so good on the hip pocket when it comes to fill her up! If I were to sell her (if I could sell her) I reakon I would get between $20,000 - $23,000 for her, but who wants a car that runs on Premium Unleaded fuel these days?

With that figure in mind am I looking at the right Skyline to buy? I dont want a massive turbo, a fully 'souped up' mean machine, I just want a clean nice looking Skyline with perhaps a differnt exhaust system & bigger wheels, say 17-18" rims. What's the cost of insuring one of these cars as a 36 year old male? Are spare parts readily available on demand & where? What sort of fuel economy would I expect out of a GTS R33. Do they also have to run on Premium Unleaded?

I have a very supportive girlfriend who keeps telling me 'go & buy your dream car, you only live once'. Un heard of I know but she is a gem who is pulling at my heart strings, hence why I have called this topic Decisions, Decisions!

So any constructive feed back would be much appreciated, in the mean time I will try & read more of the forums to try & increase my knowledge of Skylines.

[krzysiu]

when you say gts, are u actually refering to a gts-t?

gts = non turbo

gts-t = turbo

Edited October 24, 2005 by krzysiu

[sheriff]

Oops, yes I meant GTS-T, thankyou.

[RellikZephyr]

mate to run a japanese turbo car you will need to run it on PULP at the VERY minimum(retune to PULP good idea) i have a 32 gtr and i can run on nothing less that optimax (or similar 98RON)

insurance for me (23yo male) for a 32GTR was $1200 a year so i think urs will be much cheaper

aftermarket parts very available genuine parts little harder but if willing to pay and wait not hard to get

and fuel economy depends on how u drive it if i drive hard and on boost lots i get rather bad fuel economy but when i behave (rarely) i get not to bad fuel economy around 450-500 kms to tank (city driving) but thats the point of buying a turbo skyline FUN! and thats the price fuel bill

but at the same time R32 GTR is MY dream car and i LOVE driving it

hope this helps

RellikZephyr

[madbung]

What sort of fuel economy would I expect out of a GTS R33. Do they also have to run on Premium Unleaded?

Long runs about 10ltr per 100klm, giving it some stick a hell of a lot less economical. Yes you must run theses cars on 98 ron fuel or higher if possible.

If you're overly worried about any or all of your questions..running costs, insurance, fuel consumption, parts and service costs forget about skylines.

If you want a well balanced car that is a little different from the generic crap pumped out here and dont mind paying a premium for the priveledge then I highly recommend these cars.

Either way it's still a hellava car for the money and cheaper than say your average euro import to keep on the road.

[foznice]

hmmm well if it's your passion and dream, go for it. There are a few things that you might not have considered.

Police, expect to have a lot of attention from the police, I drive a 32gtst and haven't had too much trouble *touchwood* but there are many people on here who complain about police and modifications and their legalities ect ect ect...

insurance tends to be pretty expensive for imports, but at your age it might not be too bad.. be careful if you plan on buying an already modified car or even when doing modifications as you have to list them on your policy, and (there is much debate on this) insurance companies may refuse to pay out if your modifications are illegal.

Also, owning a skyline isn't exactly good for the bank balance as someone said.. fuel + insurance + modifications + EPA's + defects... having said that, theres no better hobby

[sheriff]

Thankyou for your reply's, I'm learning new stuff already!

As stated in my opening I'm not looking for a heavily modified machine but just a nice clean near stock standard GTS-T. The only mods that I would look at is exhaust & rims. I believe that these cars must also have an alarm fitted which must have 'all black wiring' fitted. Is this true?

[foznice]

do you mean for insurance purposes? I think you will find that it depends on the individual insurance policy, I haven't heard anywhere that an alarm is mandatory, but I have *heard* that your premius can be reduced if you have one.. can anyone back that up?

In terms of the mods you mentioned, you should be fine with those in terms of insurance as long as you list them... and with police and EPA, you need to make sure that the exhaust dosn't get any louder than 90db.. and the wheels don't stick out too far from the gaurds.

[xRHETTx]

Straight from my Just cars policy:

"The following must be fitted to the car for any claim to be payable in the event of theft or attempted theft:

IMMOBILISER"

So you dont need an alarm, just an immobiliser. But that said you should get one, you dont want your pride and joy to be stolen. Plus the excess on theft (for me at least) is about $2000

[Snowman]

My insurance simpy states that unless I have an alarm/immobilizer with all black wiring installed my theft excess is higher. (Shannons)

If the plan is to keep the car on the stockish side with mods more on the asthetics side (aka rims, stereo etc) then service costs and fuel costs won't be that prohibative. But the hard part with skylines is not giving in to the modifying bug.

If you start modifying, you'll have to service them more regularly, you guzzle a lot more fuel and you'll run the risk of more things breaking. Otherwise I don't see too many issues for you. And at 36 I see far less Police issues than your average 21yo will get. I'm 30 and have never been pulled over (touch wood) - except a couple of time by guys just wanting to have a look at my car just to check it out (which should be illegal!!!!)

[foznice]

Rhett, are you on third party or full compy? Because I can't find that in my third party fire, theft insurance policy.

[Mean_R34]

My insurance policy states that they will only insure my vehicle if I have a black wire alarm installed - period.

Also, some crap about no being insured if I park it on the street within 500m of my house.

Theft excess is

Until recently I have never been pulled over by the cops, until Knox TMU caught sight of me on the roadside, but that was nearly 12 months after I bought it.

If you live/drive near Knox driving an import could be a hassle for this reason, but at your age, I can't imagine too much hassles from the boys in blue.

Insurance I would imagine might be less than $1000 for you with a fairly stock R33, but depends on company.

The killer with insurance is theft excess. My std excess is about $450 + "import excess" of $700, so any crash is $1,150.

If it's stolen, then it's another $700 bucks, so that's $1,850. Owwwch!

[thommo]

go on, sell the mazda and buy a skyline.

listen to the missus, you may not get a chance like this again

[CNR33]

The only mods that I would look at is exhaust & rims.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've heard/said that before! :lol:

Go for it mate, if its your dream car, then why not. Your Mrs approves, so you don't want to go against her do you??

They are a lot of fun and a great hobby if you treat them well.

Shop around a bit and see what tickles your fancy.

Good luck!

[GTRgeoff]

Decisions??? There are none. Screw the cost of fuel, just buy and enjoy. I have one of each of the R33 Turbo collection and somedays I just can't decide which to drive.

[sheriff]

You have all given me some great advice...thankyou!

I haven't heard much debate on whether I'm looking @ the the right Skyline for the $$$ I wish to spend. What's the general consensus out there these days on which Skyline is the best?

What is the most popular model at the moment out on our Melbourne streets thses days?

Whats the best place to get one? Second hand (private seller), dealer or import your own? I reside in the lovely Western suburbs...

Also can anyone tell me what the dyno shootout schedule is for the Auto Saloon Show thats coming our way in November 12-13. Will it be on at Geoff's Shed again? A few of my mates from work want to go but they dont want to get to the show @ around 10am to find out that the dyno runs dont start until 3pm. Can anyone help me out?

[dezz]

R33 is probably the most popular on the roads atm...and $20k you can get a decent 1. series 2 R33 GTS-T

[sheriff]

Thanks 'dezz' for your coments. I see that you mention that you are waiting for 'MY 33'. Whats the go there? Are you waiting for one that is being imported?

[dezz]

yep. its in japan. 1998 R33 GTS-T (40th anniv edition) . very last of the R33's before they started on the 34's

here's some pics to make your decisions easier/harder

http://www.j-spec.com.au/clients/index.php?ID=40th_Anniv

[sheriff]

Nice looking machine 'dezz'. Hope you don't have to wait to much longer. Had a look at the pic's, thanx, I am now green with envy!

The only Skylines that I own @ the moment are my x5 1/18 scale Autoart GT-R JGTC's and my 1/18 scale Biante 1991 GTR Bathurst Winner by Skaife & Richards!

I'll just keep dreaming on for the moment...