Smurf

Very tidy mate. I love the grille on the R32, just so classy. I would love to have a drive of the R32 something I didn't do when trying to find a new car, mostly because it was out of my price bracket. Just wondering what colour leather do you have? Enjoy your drive.

I bought it second hand with only 13,000km's on the clock. I saved $12k over buying it new. It was a great deal becaus the guy I bought it from was so vastidious and there are literally no marks on it. He was never game enough to park it in a parking lot. Anybody can say this I know but if you saw his home you too would believe this. He was upset to see it go so I have granted him visiting rights. LOL.

If having an enjoyable drive is your objective then I don't think you can go past the Porsche in this instance. Amazing feedback, chassis, grip, breaking etc. I agree that the R32 has the best fit and finish however all reviews I have read imply it is average given price. I couldn't live with the Evo's interior or current looks. Would be a good choice if you wanted to do track days. As for GTR, an amazing machine however they now hold a stigma that I don't particularly like. Probably the best option if you are willing to modify and want to set the fastest track time.

I've been considering transferring my OZ Racing rims from my skyline to the Golf. If I don't I think I will hold onto them rather than sell them with the skyline. Truth be known I don't mind the current wheels. I know they are standard issue however quite like them. Cheers

I agree with you here. When it was released it was the quickest thing in it's price bracket though over time I believe the GTR has fallen into the grasps of the competition. To back this statement up, I don't know whether you have seen the Skyline Prodogy Best Motoring video. In it there is a race between the R32, 33, 34 GTR's as well as a R35 skyline. I addition they race the latest Evo and WRX STi. It is clear from this video that the R34 was the only one that stood a chance and was actually holding up the EVO and WRX. Also these are cars that cost well below that of the GTR. This is of course stock for stock and they guy with the biggest wallet will win the modded contest. Lets hope the next GTR is all that we expect and a little more. Cheers

It was a dumb thing to say, well maybe not dumb just not intellegent. Lets just make a few things clear here. When you say that GTR's have owned everything in the past, are you saying: 1. They have owned all cars under a certain asking price in standard trim? OR 2. Once the GTR's are modded they own all standard cars or modded cars??? You do realise that many of the jurnos from magazines such as Evo, you know the people who drive all of these cars, call the standard 911 the leading sports car. Well that was until recently when the Audi R8 supposedly stole the crown. You're right I don't know what the new GTR will be sporting however based on rumour and rumour alone I would be surprised if new GTR kicks every competitors but. I would like to see it however given the amount of experience the Euros have I'm not sure Nissan is going to trump them. When you say that the Enzo and Carrara GT's are not fast for the money you a right but also partly miss the point. Ferrari and Porsche could easily make faster cars, hell they don't even have forced induction. They build fast road cars that come at a price to ensure profits and exclusivity. These cars are more than just a quarter mile time on wheels. I didn't think that all the Australian R32 GTR's sold that quickly. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought many were left sitting on the showroom floors. Could be wrong on that one. In relation to you beating anything AMG produce then you must have an absolute weapon on your hands. You do realise that you are comparing an aftermarket modification to something you get off the showroom floor. I bet you some of the modded AMG's that come with 6.3 ltr V8's as standard would like you to take you up on your offer. You do realise that AMG produce a twin turbo (v12 from memory) that comes with 1,000 nm as standard. I'm sure the modders in Germany would love to give your GTR a run.

i haven't experienced any yet. Apparently the steering is electronically controlled which helps to eliminate torque steer, in theory anyway.

No offence, but this is such a dumb thing to say. Some people get so totally caught up with one make of car they can't see the forest for the trees. Let's take porsche for instance. The car is aimed at beating the 997 911 Turbo right, from what I have read the power will be close however the torque will be about 100nm shy. I think the GTR will close the gap to the Turbo however I'm certainly not going to go out on a lim and say it will beat the Turbo. If you compare it to the GT3 I imagine the straight line speed will be line ball, from then on I imagine the GT3 will take the honours in every respect. I will be extremely surprised if this is not the case. In the case of BMW, I personally think it will be very close between the GTR and the M6. If it is able to keep with the Audi R8 then it IS an absolute monster given the potential the R8 has shown on the track. The AMG Merc's these days are improving in most areas of their performance. No longer are they just a big engine in a medium sized car. They now have both feel and dynamics to go with the power. I will be surprised if the GTR beats the current AMG offerring. Bottom line, the cars coming out of Europe are pretty special. The GTR will be doing very well if it keeps up and will be a total surprise to me if it constantly beats the competition. Cheers

Surprisingly well. I love the way it gets to 60 km/h without you knowing about it. With the R33 it can be quite noisy even when you are not trying, making people think that your car is noisy and slow. With this car it is the exact opposite. So effortless is the acceleration I was doing 80km/h when I thought I was approaching 60 km/h. When the power comes on, it really comes on. I didn't foresee this and I was spinning the wheels with moderate levels of throttle. I haven't had a chance to test the handling however from all reports it should impress. Thanks for the comments. I like the idea of that power upgrade. 400nm from a 2 litre turbo is pretty good. Given my experience so far you could only use this sort of power upgrade once travelling at speed.

Hey all, I'm now the proud owner of a a Golf GTI. Picked it up today. I under estimated the power and the delivery of the power. It didn't come on as early as predicted and once it did spool it spooled very quickly. Love the easy going nature and the refinement. Here's a link to the add on car sales. Sorry if it has been removed by the time you look at it. http://www.carsales.com.au/used-cars/priva...|1&trecs=16 I checked out pretty much all other hot hatches and it was the only one in my price range that had the right combination of sportiness and build quality for me. I enjoyed the drive in the new Megane with the Cup chassis, it was really fast and smooth though it lacked the interior quality I was after and I'm not sure whether I could have lived with the look. So unfortunately that means good bye to my R33. It's served me well and I have enjoyed every drive. I dream that the next time I own a nissan it will be the forth coming GTR. We all need to dream. Cheers

I think they have gone the right way in terms of overall shape. It's not my favourite hatch but I'm sure it is the fastest all rounder given that the hatch market is largely FWD. BTW my favourite hatch is the black Golf GTI I picked up tonight. Here it is if anyone is interested. http://www.carsales.com.au/used-cars/priva...|1&trecs=16 If the link doesn't work they must have taken it off carsales. Cheers

I ended up testing both the manual and DSG Golf GTI's earlier this week. Both seem like awesome cars. It's very difficult to be caught in the wrong gear as the turbo comes on very quickly and early in the rev range. The car is very refined and would be very suited to a family whereas my GTST tends to feel the bumps a bit more. That said the Skyline tends to be a little more involving though it was only my first drive in the VW with the sales rep sitting next to me. The DSG box is awesome. Holds gears while accelerating until you change, it does however go back down through the box by itself unless you beat it to the down change. it is so smooth and imediate, in a way it reminds me of my first experience listening to Champ cars. Anyway I definitely think it is on the cards however getting so little for my skyline is going to hurt. I was one of the silly ones who paid $31k for a standard model around 8 years ago. Oh well its served me well.

i've been thinking about the type R though my significant other insists on a 4 door car. have also been considering Megane 225 however I am concerned about both resale value and quality of product, I have no doubt it is also a fast car.

thanks bass junky. Until recently I've found it hard to believe fwd cars can be sooo good. I've just had a week with a 206 GTi and it was awesome. If you can live without getting the tail out they can be a great drive. I'll be testing the Golf this week, should easily outdo the Pug GTi, will be interesting comparison though.

Hey guys, I'm growing up and all that and need to buy a four door car to replace the R33 GTST. I am not interested in buying another import and don't like the WRX. It needs to be reasonably frugal on fuel but still fun. So far my readings have lead me to the Golf GTi. Has anyone had any experience driving one of these? One thing I don't understand is why the second hand versions are selling for the same price as the new cars even though the wait is no longer 6 months. Cheers

In relation to the first point, I'm guessing you have driven both to be able to make this statement. It seems unlikely to me though. The Ford as tested by Motor did a 7.4 secs to 100km/h and 15.2 over the quarter. These don't even come close to that of an Evo. I understand that the evo is 4wd which helps with the launch though not that much. The new Civic Type R is $39,990 before on road costs. All these new turbo hot hatches feel fast to those who have a skyline where the real power kicks in high up in the rev range. They come across as being responsive and quite punchy. For instance the Ford's peak turbo kicks in at 1,600 revs and is a not to be sneezed at 320nm. Compare that to the stock R33 GTST which had around 270nm (or 290nm depending on where you look) at 4,800 rpm from memory. I drove the Mazda 3 MPS and was very impressed by the acceleration. I certainly didn't walk away wanting one though. Firstly the styling is a bit bland inside and out. Secondly there was no sense of occasion. The car didn't seem pure or have spirit. No doubt these cars are pretty quick and would probably beat my R33 turbo around a track though I will save my money for something else.

There will never be a solution to street racing though I'm sure if the majority of these people did something like the Dutton Rally they would get over their need to race. I went and watched the WA Dutton on the weekend and I was very impressed by the lack of ego's and the great fun these guys get to have. When driving from one event to another all these guys take care, no racing and from what i saw most were doing the speed limit. I'm not pretending to have the solution but I'm sure it would cure a few peoples need to speed. Cheers

I think they look pretty good. Finally Australia is producing cars that don't simply look like blobs with too much plastic, and yes I did see the plastic around the headlights. If I were to be given one of these cars or something with the same power from Germany, I would definitely go for the German product however if I was buying it I would most likely be paying 2 to 3 times as much. Pretty good value for money I say.

R33 GTST to be replaced by 996 911 S. Probably a year or two away. That said the BMW 335i has caught my attention of late especially in it's performance during the Bathurst 24 hr. My charade 1 ltr is to hopefully be replaced by a Renault Clio Sport. I'll finally be happy with my garage (I hope).

It's interesting that you bring up the dinosaur argument. This is one of the reasons (one of many) why I have been anti Holden for a long time. As far as I can tell one only the reasons why they are called dinosaurs are because they are push rod engines and tend to be rather large given the power they offer. When I was looking at buying my skyline the HSV Clubsport was producing 185kw. I think the dinosaur argument was relevent back then. One recent morning I woke up with completely different view. Just because they are old it doesn't mean they are not effective. For one the HSV's are producing reasonable power, certainly more than most manufacturers produce for the same price. In addition over the whole of the test the HSV returned a 13.9 litres per 100km and that seems reasonable given the fact that they would have been pushed pretty hard during the test. Anyway I think a lot of arguments are ill-founded or not properly considered. Anyway horses for courses. This was never about this cars better than that car however it is interesting to compare similar facets of different cars. Rock on.

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate your help.

Please do not compare these cars to a GTR. GTST/GTT may be a better comparison..rear wheel drive. A stock gtr does..or did...13.4s 1/4 mile I believe all the above cars are 13.7s and above..most around 15s..LOL. I have no idea what you are after....do you want to buy a gtr, and just want to know if they are better at the track? It was more out of interest than trying to source a definitive answer as to which car is better, the answer to that question lies in the eye of the beholder of course. Just in relation to your comment, you are saying that I shouldn't compare a GTR to the cars in the list however one of your reasons for this is the quarter of a mile time. This is surely only one form of comparison. It is interesting that you state the quarter mile as a worthy method of comparison when your signature states that performance can only be measured from 0 - 1,000 metres, which leads me to my next question, where do you think they would all stand after the 1,000 metre mark. The GTR would get the jump no doubt and would most likely make it to 400 or 500 metres first though the torque may allow the others to catch up. Once again I am not trying to really acheive anything, just providing info for those who are interested and also making some mild comparisons. So does anyone have Calder times?

Here's a point of reference for future comparison. Lap times around Calder park from the same bunch of cars were: HSV GTS (manual)1:10.96 HSV R8 (auto) 1:09.90 SS Comm (manual) 1:11.01 SS V Comm (auto) 1:10.80 FPV Force 8 (auto) 1:11.93 FPV Force 6 (auto) 1:10.06 Falcon XR6T (auto) 1:20.20 Points to note, times are not in order. Also I think there was a misprint for the XR6T, I think it should have been 1:12.20. Are there an sub GTR's (i.e. GTS25T) that can top the R8's time. if so what mods did they have. Is there anyone who has raced at Calder in a stock GTR. Cheers Will

The only problem I have with my car is that it has boost spikes. I haven't made any changes to my boost settings however when close to redline it will suddenly go from around say 6 psi to 10 or 11. I realise this is something I need to fix before I hit the track. I'm obviously no expert so need your advice. Do I simply need a boost controller or that plus a new ECU or just a new ECU? Cheers

Hi Snowman, Off topic you have some pretty handy lap times at the bottom of your signature!!! With a 1.04.07 at calder, that's 5 seconds faster than Motor magazine were able to do, with a paid driver, in any of the current Ford/Holden v8's or blown 6's. Well done.