pixel8r

Having owned a S2 for 2 years and now driving around in a M35 (for the past 3 or so months), I thought it would be a good idea to find out what others think about them - ie. which they prefer, and why etc. I'm really only interested in hearing from people who have at least driven or sat in both - since there's a few things about the M35 in particular that is not obvious until you drive one. Basically, the M35 is a much "nicer" car to drive. The suspension has been "improved" - it hides the bumps much better, and also rides much flatter round tight corners, however it is also softer than the s1/s2 suspension so if you prefer the sportier feel then you may not like it. I'm still a bit torn between different parts of both - wishing that Nissan hadn't changed some things and glad they changed others. The ONE thing that often has me wanting my s2 back is the Automatic Transmission. Yes its a 5 speed but I find it very frustrating for several reasons: - Its very very slow changing gears - ie. kickdown, yet its still sensitive so that it WILL kickdown - all in its own good time. - doesn't seem to transfer power to the wheels very well - very difficult to take off fast - it feels like the torque converter just absorbs all the power (feel free to help me understand this - i could be way off track). - I thought I'd love the extra gear but in light of the above - its just one more gear it has to get through - it really is a chore. Maybe my transmission is slipping or faulty? I dont know - I've had it serviced recently and no issues were found. Anyway, other differences include: the s2 sits lower to the ground, and just feels more "raw" - ie. more like a sports wagon than luxury wagon. The M35 is very "nice" but in my opinion lacks the raw/sporty feel. If you've driven or been in both, let me know what you think?

I've found that almost everyone has a different favourite fuel...and it seems some cars like one fuel better than another... My stageas have both run best on bp ultimate98 - just seems to run smoother, and quieter. I've tried shell vpower but with my last stagea (which had 160awkw) it didn't run as smooth and didn't give any gain over bp, and with my current one (stock m35) i tried it recently on the highway and my fuel economy was about 0.3L/100km worse with shell than bp. Not strictly a scientific comparison but my only advice is that whatever you decide to use, just stick with it, because you'll get the most benefit with repeated use. Using a different fuel every time will not provide any benefit and your car will probably not like it much. I'd steer clear of regular unleaded - thats about 10% RON less than what the cars were designed to run on. Sure it has a knock sensor but the bottom line is that premium is better for your engine (since these cars were designed to run on 100RON fuel or better). The few $ you save on fuel will cost you in fuel economy, performance, and quite possibly engine problems down the track (depending how long you plan to keep it). I've always thought to myself - "if you cant afford the fuel (and the insurance), you cant afford the car". In the end I just consider that its just part of the cost of owning a really nice car.

I might just also add something for those who are confused about why we say 4WD does not equal AWD. Sure, AWD does mean its driving all FOUR wheels, but what we mean when we say they're not the same is that the official labels "4WD" and "AWD" mean different things. The 2 terms are used by car manufacturers etc to refer to how a car drives, and each has a slightly different definition. Its this definition we are talking about here, nothing else. You'll see some cars called one thing and some called another, and it just comes down to how the car's AWD/4WD system works.

?? which model? I have a 2003 rs four and have recently replaced the standard (crap) head unit. is it just a single DIN unit you have? the only difference from any other car is that you need an antenna adaptor - but most audio shops have these.

I think some people are getting the whole thing confused. There IS a difference between AWD and 4WD (please feel free to discuss further if you disagree). Basically, AWD means that the system is permanently driving all 4 wheels, whereas 4WD is used to describe cars that can optionally switch to 2WD (ie. mechanically - the fact that attesa can do it electonically doesn't count). Subarus etc are permanent AWD - hence why they have a badge that says AWD. ATTESA - and hence the GTRs, and pretty much every nissan AWD car (except most of their SUV range) are also AWD since the ATTESA runs permanently and even in RWD mode the front wheels are still technically driven as well - just that the torque split is about 95% to the rear. Hope this makes sense. EDIT: and to confuse the issue further - I believe all 4wd/awd nissans use ATTESA - just that its modified to suit the application. The system is very similar between the GTR, stagea, GTS-4, GT-4, etc...

Fuel consumption with my M35 RS4 in brisbane is about 11.5-12L/100km daily - (thats including about 10-20% driving on motorways) - and 9.8L/100km on the open highway mostly sitting on 110km/h. Thats pretty close to the locally made wagons I'd say - and when you consider that my purchase price was also equivalent to a falcodore wagon of the same year/kms the only thing really that was more expensive is insurance, and only by about $350 a year. Fuel costs a little more because you need to use premium, but you end up with a MUCH better car for your money. Its not worth comparing these to a falcon or commodore. Either you want the cheapest car or the best car...thats all there is to it. Maybe I'm a little biased? but I dont think you can beat a stagea on value for money (in a wagon). Provided you're a safe/responsible driver and dont have outrageous plans to modify it beyond its limits, I dont believe it would be much more expensive than a locally made wagon, and you end up with a much better car in my opinion. My stagea is completely stock btw.

This is what I thought too - and it is true for s1 and s2 stageas. However in the M35, it seems to work the other way - in Drive the throttle is too sensitive and likes to unlock the torque converter as soon as you press the throttle slightly further down - causing the revs to jump up again. Its so hard to keep the revs around 2000rpm at 100km/h in Drive, yet in tiptronic it stays there even up slight hills. The gearbox also seems to still drop back to 4th when needed however, thus protecting the gearbox from taking too much load in 5th - so no fear of harming anything. My s2 used to rev around 2600rpm at 100km/h whereas the M35 is around 2400-2500rpm without the torque converter locked and about 1900-2000rpm with. Basically it translates to slightly better fuel economy on long trips - to the tune of around 1L/100km at a rough guess. The M35 is only 30kg heavier than the s1/s2's but has lots more torque due to the newer engine, so it doesn't need to rev as much to keep the car moving at a constant 100km/h. Also the gear/diff ratios seem to be quite different too. Anyone know what these are for the M35?

Well my holiday in Adelaide went pretty well. Got back to Brisbane last tuesday. No dramas on the road other than driving through a locust plague and getting locusts stuck in the radiator etc...mostly all cleaned off now though...(didn't cause any problem either - just a pain to clean out later). Fuel economy was around 11L/100km on the way there but on the way back I figured out that if I stick it in 5th using the tiptronic the torque converter locks and stays locked, which holds the revs around 2000rpm at 100km/h. When in Drive it is too sensitive and keeps revving back up to 2700rpm with even the slightest movement of the throttle. So yeah, now I use the tiptronic all the time on long trips. Even when its in tiptronic it will still drop down gears as needed ie. if you stop or if you put your foot to the floor it will drop to whatever gear it needs, but with the M35 it will always work its way back to the gear you have it set at. (I remember with the s2 when you stop it drops back to 1st and you have to manually change back up to 4th). My fuel economy then dropped to 9.8L/100km and given that the road was fairly hilly by the time I used the tiptronic, I reckon I could've got better still on a flatter stretch. I was very happy to see the M35 give this result since it revs lower than the previous models at 100km/h and with a newer engine etc I expected it to do better than 11L/100km. Weird that it was less economical in Drive than using tiptronic. One of these days I'd like to head up to North QLD somewhere...that'd be a good drive methinks not in summer though... +1 for stageas and road trips - perfect combination!!

Just got back yesterday from my holiday in adelaide (drove the stagea there and back). Fuel economy was nothing special - about 11L/100km most of the way on the highway. (Its an M35 - my previous s2 used to get ~10.5L/100km in the country). Driving around Adelaide gave me around 11.5-12L/100km which is similar to what I get here in Brisbane (combined motorway/driving to work). However on the way back I had an idea. I discovered that if I locked it into 5th by using the tiptronic, it would drop the revs and hold it just on 2000rpm at 100km/h. It would do this when in Drive too, but it was very difficult to get it to stay there, but using the tiptronic it held it perfectly. This also made it a lot easier to keep the speed constant. Doing this dropped it to about 9.8L/100km but I reckon I could've achieved a lower figure if I'd done this on some of the more flatter parts of the trip. If only I'd known about this before I left... Not sure if this also applies to the earlier stageas - I think my previous stagea wouldn't lock the torque converter when in tiptronic (in 4th), but I could be wrong there. Another piece of info for those interested is that its not on boost at all when cruising at 100 or 110km/h. Boost pressure is related to engine load, not revs, so its actually negative pressure when cruising at 100km/h etc. I still let it run for a minute or so when stopping at a servo - just to make sure.

Hey I reckon I saw ya!! (well the cars anyway). I was in Adelaide for a couple weeks - got back yesterday. I was driving along Montague Rd just near TTP and spotted the 3 stageas done up as wedding cars. Was so tempted to go round the block to have a closer look but i had other people with me so had to keep going. Hope it all went well...

TV/DVD - probably cheaper to buy your own than use the factory one, although Chris Rogers will most probably be happy to set you up with an Aussie TV/DVD player wired to the standard screen (I think thats what he does). Xenons are legally supposed to be disconnected during compliance. Depending on how they're disconnected it may/may not be easy to reconnect. For most of the features you mentioned you'd be looking at the RX model or if you want to spend a little more you could go for the AXIS model. If you're interested in offroad - you could look at the AR-X model (it is possible to buy this model and lower it I believe). A few months ago, before the economy crash, it would certainly have been possible to find a RX for under $20K landed & complied. I bought mine a few months ago (RS model) for a VERY good price - Now however, I worked out its generally about $3-4K more expensive, not sure what the exact percentage is. Adjusting the estimate - I think you should be able to find one in very reasonable condition (ie. auction grade 4, interior B) with < 80,000kms for under $25K. Alternatively, have a look around at examples that are already in australia, since these will now be battling the used car market over here and may well be cheaper than importing one.

I'm hearing ya buddy!! Picture this... I flew from Adelaide to the Gold Coast to pick up my previous stagea (s2) over 2.5 years ago. Everything went smooth, we paid for the car etc. then drove to brisbane and stayed at my parent's place that night - they live in brisbane - then we drove back to adelaide the next morning. Anyway, a family friend who lives in Dubbo wanted us to drop by on the way and show him the new car. So we did, and as I was backing out of there I somehow managed to back into the gate and put a scrape right down the rear quarter panel. It did polish out weeks later but yeah less than 2 days after we picked up the car and I put a major scratch on it.

All I know is that a shift kit is otherwise known as a "valve body upgrade" which should give a vague idea of what is changed in the transmission in order to speed up shifts. I know that some other cars can have shifts improved by some tweaking of the computer etc but this method would concern me a little since most of the time the slower shifts are to protect the gearbox. A valve body upgrade actually achieves a good result whilst also strengthening the gearbox and it can be done in a way thats still not too harsh for everyday driving (mine was only barely noticeable on the 1st-2nd gear change but other than that it was pretty much undetectable unless I was driving hard).

When I got mine fitted at MV Automatics on my previous stagea, I lived in SA so I actually dropped off my car there and picked it up that afternoon. Cost me $440 and that included new oil & filter. If there was one mod I would DEFINITELY do again it was that one! Their prices may have gone up since, that was back in 2006.

I've driven between Brisbane and Adelaide quite a few times over the past few years. Done it both ways in a n/a silvia, then a turbo silvia, then a couple trips in my previous stagea, and in a few weeks I'll be driving to Adelaide for a holiday (and back) in my M35 Stagea. The main things I take is my toolkit, bottle of water, and one of those air compressor thingys that plugs into the cigarette lighter (although I'm not sure how useful this would be). Fortunately, I've never had to use any of these and my cars have all coped brilliantly. The only issue I had was with my previous stagea - being fairly finely tuned to 98 octane fuel, it did ping a little whilst overtaking when running on 95 octane fuel (very hard to find 98 octane fuel between Tailem Bend and Parkes). Not a major problem at all - only happened under heavy throttle so I just had to tone it down a little and it was fine I cant speak for Adelaide to Darwin - I'm guessing there are far fewer major towns on your trip so your emergency pre-planning probably does need more thought than mine...I always figure at most I'd be 50-60km from the nearest town and have mobile reception most of the way. From personal experience, unless your car is prone to breaking down, you should be fine. The most likelihood of any trouble would normally be external to your car anyway (ie. wildlife / other drivers etc). That and a tire blowout - so yeah the spare is pretty important. I'm a huge fan of the road trip. Its an awesome driving experience...and becomes a part of your holiday. Its one of those odd things in life where you look forward to the road trip for weeks/months beforehand, then during it you just cant wait to get to the next town, bored with all the driving, impatient to arrive at your destination, but then afterwards you look back on it with very fond memories, and begin planning your next trip.

Very interesting... However, I can definitely say the transmission is now very much improved. Everything just feels so much smoother. The workshop didn't mention any "problems" with it. I'd say it just needed new oil. The oil was replaced with synthetic transmission oil so that may have contributed to the smoother shifts. All up I'm pretty happy with it now. The gear shifts are still not as quick as I'd like but that should be fixable down the track. Anybody know if MV Automatics in SA can do shift kits for these as well? I had one in my previous stagea (s2) and loved it!!

hmm already tried my local nissan dealer (moorooka). They dont service imports at all. They said they can do a very basic service but in general they normally dont touch them. I haven't tried any other dealers - I have the feeling it would depend on their technicians and how confident they are with imports. I was originally keen on the satchel you mentioned, but finding out the above I decided just to go elsewhere. Maybe I should have tried other dealers...? if anyone else has been to a nissan dealer in brisbane it'd be helpful to everyone to find out. I ended up going with Western Suburbs Automatics (www.wsautomatics.com.au). My transmission has been very sluggish right from the start and has showed some unusual behaviour, mainly around if I lifted my foot gently when cruising and then gently put it back on the throttle, I could feel the gearbox disengage and engage. I realise mostly this is normal but it felt too harsh to be considered normal in my opinion. And it was frustrating at times due to it feeling like it had to "wake up" again if, for example traffic cleared in front of me and I wanted to speed up. Mainly I think just the oil change would have been what it needed but I felt it couldnt' hurt to have an auto specialist have a look at the same time. When you say it should be "maintenance free" I assume you would still agree that a transmission oil & filter change is necessary every 12 months or so.

Hi Guys, i've posted in the QLD section and had a few workshops suggested for general servicing but none of these do transmission servicing on these cars. I need my transmission serviced (oil/filter changed etc) in the next 2 weeks and have no idea which workshop(s) can do this. If anyone knows of a reputable place to get this done please let me know. I also need the engine serviced as well but it should be easier to find places to do this. At the very least does anyone know what parts are required/suitable for transmission servicing on M35's, and also what oil/filter is recommended for the engine as well...? Thanks! P.S. i'm on the south side but at this stage I'd be happy to just find a place that will do it without waiting 2 weeks for nissan to import parts (surely there are aftermarket parts for these that are good quality).

As someone that's owned both (owned a s2 stagea with 4sp tiptronic for 2 years and now own a M35 with 5sp), I think it would be wise to actually drive a M35 before assuming that the 5sp auto would be automatically better than the 4sp. Before I bought my M35 I thought the 5speed auto would be one of the killer features. But as it turns out its actually starting to frustrate me a little. I'm pretty sure my gearbox is badly in need of a service, so dont take my experience too seriously, however I would be interested in what other M35 owners have to say. Firstly, my previous stagea did have a shift kit (MV automatics in SA) installed so that does shift the balance in its favour already. That 4speed with the shift kit was the best auto I have ever driven. Gear shifts were near-instant and quite snappy. Just a small movement of my right foot and it would kick down very quickly - which was great for changing lanes to get out from behind slow drivers (not that I do this often). However, my M35 is almost the opposite. Its ok once it actually starts moving, but if I jam my foot to the floor from when the car is stopped, it takes at least 2 seconds to even start moving - its as if it actually jumps into neutral when not moving and then has to find 1st gear again. Then 1st gear is actually very short so it runs out of puff very quickly, before hitting 2nd and I find 2nd is where it really starts to move. The later gears seem ok. The gear changes are completely different to the 4speed - I wonder if this is due to the car being drive-by-wire?? allowing it to blip the throttle much more effectively during gear changes? Overall the M35 drives very nice but occasionally I find myself wishing for my old 4speed auto back. Due to the slower gear changes, the extra gear means even more time spent changing gears. This is something I hadn't thought of before. The kickdown is also very slow. If I plant my foot in order to overtake, its a good 2+ seconds before it actually changes gear, and even then it seems to be so loaded up at this point (since it hits full boost at the same time) that it really doesn't go all that quick, certainly not as quick as its capable of. When cruising at constant speed, it feels like the gearbox disconnects or something - maybe someone could help me understand this? As soon as I touch the throttle again, ie. to just ease the speed up a little if it starts slowing down, its like the gearbox has to re-engage which you can feel through the whole car. I dont know if any of this relates to the drive-by-wire or just the transmission...but its little things like these that make me a bit disappointed with the 5speed auto. Dont get me wrong, the car is still nice to drive - and the above is just little things I've picked up - when compared to my old 4speed auto stagea. So yeah whilst it is a nice concept to have 1 more gear in your stagea, I think in practice it may be otherwise since the two gearboxes are VERY different (at least to drive). I welcome any further feedback on this from other M35 owners. Hopefully my experience is due to a fault somewhere along the line since I would like to improve the M35 gearbox behaviour if possible.

Hey I was told mine were warped and I had the discs machined during compliance. It still makes a funny grinding noise very briefly when I take off from a standstill sometimes - and there is noticeable vibration at the rear when travelling at over 80km/h... would this be the same issue? My other feeling is that maybe I just need a good wheel alignment on it.

Sorry mate, wasn't intending to label anyone. I happened to also notice on the weekend that the V8 supercars (the sequential shift ones) have it the way you describe as well - and thats when I realised the whole G-forces thing. You see I rarely use the tiptronic just because I dont find the gear shifts quick enough to make it worthwhile. But now that the above has been explained I stand corrected and agree with the logic. Cheers

Hi all, I think the subject line said it all but yeah basically I need to get my automatic transmission serviced. Its a 5sp auto tiptronic - I'm pretty sure its the same as in the V35 skylines. I'm hoping to get it done fairly urgently (ie. this week if possible) since the gear changes are very sluggish. I've only had it a couple months (fresh import) so have no idea what the trans oil is like. Apparently that's not changed during compliance. I'd prefer somewhere that specialises in these sorts of cars or has at least worked on some before. I spoke to Moorooka Nissan but they told me they dont do much servicing with imports. Only really basic stuff. Anyone have any recommendations? cheers.

I disagree that the standard setup is wrong or illogical. I figure that UP = FORWARD and DOWN = BACK. I think the only reason people want it the other way would be to simulate the manual 1st - 2nd shift when acclerating. Is this true? To me it just makes more sense the way it is, not because either way is easier, but purely because I think it makes sense for the lever to go in the same direction as the gears - ie. up/forward and down/backward. Maybe the people that want it the other way have come from Ford-land? I'm just curious as to what makes shifting the other way feel any better?

I'd say the single biggest difference between s1 & s2 is a HUGE 60NM MORE TORQUE in the s2 and at 1000RPM LESS!! Basically its going to get up and go a lot easier and feel a lot more effortless. The extra ~20kw is just icing on the cake. In comparison to both, the M35 is only ~30kg heavier and has ~70NM more torque again than the s2, and at the same revs as where the s2 makes its peak torque. So as you can imagine the M35 feels a lot more nimble than the s2. Torque makes a big difference, particularly in such a heavy car. It also is one of the reasons for the better fuel economy.

hehe if you want your stagea to feel faster, drive an old falcodore for a couple of months...