1997 Nissan Stagea Turbo .. 5 Speed Manual

[CruiseLiner]

worth a look for anyone wanting one

http://www.j-spec.com.au/list/index.php?ID=6623

[cogs]

$9500 is just the FOB price, it's $17,400 landed and complied.

[Terminal]

if you can comply it, similar problem was found a few weeks ago. series 1 didn't come in a manual, this has to be a conversion.

[AlexCim]

stageas are getting too cheap

[cogs]

if you can comply it, similar problem was found a few weeks ago. series 1 didn't come in a manual, this has to be a conversion.

Yes, it says "Converted to 5 speed from automatic".

[AMS]

stageas are getting too cheap

its a shame hey

[R33stagea]

lets help that resale price by starting a new post evry time someone is giving one away cheap or brag about how cheap you imported one for.

[munchstagea]

lets help that resale price by starting a new post evry time someone is giving one away cheap or brag about how cheap you imported one for.

As popularity grows and demand out strips supply (of landed Stageas anyway) I would expect the price paid locally will become stable or even increase some, the cost of compliance has increased recently as demand grows so I wouldn't expect this downward trend to continue, most of the really dirt cheap cars in Japan are just that, you get what you pay for, sure there is the odd bargain but the low price cars are more often gambles than bargains... We will all be watching with interest I am sure.

Cheers

Luke

[tRUkbOY]

Is it just me but does that Centre Console look a little different (Handbrake cutout appears to be barely there)

Edited June 28, 2006 by tRUkbOY

[darrinspencer]

Is it just me but does that Centre Console look a little different (Handbrake cutout appears to be barely there)

Looks right to me

[agent_felix]

almost bought this lol

[66yostagea]

kan u c three pedals?

Edited June 28, 2006 by 66yostagea

[tRUkbOY]

Looks right to me

Oh my bad. It must be 260RS console's that are different then

[imaspy]

most of the really dirt cheap cars in Japan are just that, you get what you pay for, sure there is the odd bargain but the low price cars are more often gambles than bargains...

sorry luke but i feel i have to disagree there from my experience in japan, i can ascertain the following:

1. k's: most low k cars in japan are just that: low k's. because obviously, the country is smaller so there is less distance to travel. if you want to travel to antoher city, train is by far the cheaper option, i will never complain about the cost of citylink again after driving through japans overpriced highways. also, if you live in anything resembling a city, usually the train or subway works out cheaper than driving all the time.

2. most japanese people offload their cars after one or two cycles. a cycle is a when the shaken (some people say shyokan) is due to be renewed on the car. basically the car must pass an environmental test. if it fails, then the owner has to pay even more money to take the test again.... so it all adds up to be quite expensive. it often works out better (and sometimes cheaper) in the long run to get a new car from toyota at 4.2% financing.

3. the interiors are damn good, because thats how it is. people in japan are surprised when i tell them that the lacey seat covers (or seat covers in general) are not that common in australia. here, virtually every other car has seat doileys or some other protectors.

4. dealer service programs are a bit better in japan. this compensates for the lack of mechanics compared to home. obviously in australia, we have more harsh and adverse conditions to contend with.

5. an interesting difference between here and australia is that japanese people seem to smoke a lot more in their cars. so that could be an issue, we all know how hard it is to get that smell out if we dont like it.

6. japanese speed limits are looooowwww....... my girlfriend lives 21kms from the city.... it took us 50 minutes to drive to the city. at home, we would take a a highway and it would take 20 mins tops. cars like stageas (and many, many countless others) dont seem to be thrashed.

so yeah, in my opinion, i would say there are more bargains (from an australian price perspective) than lemons, to be found in japan. just my 0.02c.

[CruiseLiner]

hey IMASPY thanks for that info it actually gives us all an insight into the world of car owners in japan and now i realise just how different there country is to ours in every way

[munchstagea]

sorry luke but i feel i have to disagree there from my experience in japan, i can ascertain the following: ...

Thanks Drew,

It is refreshing to have some "real" first hand info! I'd like to think that in general that the low Km cars are honest examples, seeing sub 100k cars for sale that have worn out steering wheels and hand break covers has jaded a few of us I guess... I guess low kms means different things in different places, under 150km in aust for a mid 90's car is pretty low...

Gambles can pay off too, that's why I said gamble and not disaster!

[GoldZilla]

I think, considering what Drew is saying, the biggest difference between Australia and Japan is that in Australia, we cover huge distances at decent speeds (hence the high-kilometre averages here), whereas in Japan they don't have much distance to cover, and most of that is at low speeds or spent stuck in traffic (hence lower yearly distance averages and less general wear-and-tear).

THIS IS TOTALLY HYPOTHETICAL, BUT WORTH A THOUGHT...

Jap car, typically stuck in traffic most of its life:

- engine is probably running most of this time, but is probably at or near its idle speed, so the running time might be similar to an Aussie-market car, but the wear-and-tear due to running stresses would be much lower. Distances covered each year are definitely way lower, but there is undoubtably still wear-and-tear occurring, just in a different way.

- seats, pedals, steering wheel and general interior show little or no signs of wear, because - basically - they haven't really been used much in their intended purposes.

- suspension, chassis and driveline would also have little signs of wear-and-tear because they're not really being put to use when you're stuck in the bumper-to-bumper grind. And (correct me if I'm wrong) Japan seems to have a pretty flat landscape, and a lot of high-quality, fairly straight highways in the cities...

Aussie market car, with typical running:

- engine is under a totally different kind of stress, what with the varied landscape, traffic and distances we have to cover in this country. So running times and distances covered are both higher and more "equal."

- seats, pedals, etc. are subjected to lots of movement and use, hence greater signs of wear.

- once again, due to our varied landscapes, traffic conditions, mixture of highways/freeways and suburbs, and generally shitty road surfaces, wear-and-tear to suspensions, drivetrains, chassis, etc. will be higher and more punishing in less time.

So I guess the balancing equation is whether your low-kilometre mid-90's Japanese-owned car, which has probably spent most of its life stuck in traffic, running at or near idle is equal to your late-90's or early 00's Aussie-owned car with double or triple the mileage. In a way, it's not fair to compare them, really...

[imaspy]

And (correct me if I'm wrong) Japan seems to have a pretty flat landscape, and a lot of high-quality, fairly straight highways in the cities...

yep, high quality highways is right... except the speed limits are lower than home (they arent covering as much distance). see point 6 in my post about speeds! however, roughly half the country is pretty mountainous. but once again, a car like a stagea (or the majority of them) wouldnt have been pushed that hard on the mountains, as i think the typical stagea owner tends to be your average 40-something guy on the street. if youre looking at importing a stagea (as i will be eventually, when i get back to oz), it would be easy to tell if you should buy it or not. like one jspec, there is that red one with the gold wheels and mismatched bodykit. i would say that one would have been neglected (read: neglected; not 'abused'). however most of the stock (or close to stock) examples, i probably wouldnt think too long about buying.

im not trying to be a smartass or anything by preaching all this info to you but hey, if it can help then maybe its not too bad.

HOWEVER, one thing i am not too sure about re. driving conditions is the weather... of course oz is damn hot... but on the other hand, japan is damn humid (in the biggest cities).... for example yesterday it was only about 31 degrees, but no joke, i couldve sworn it was darwin, the humidity was so high. i thought i would be able to cut the air. would this constant high humidity in the summer and a little bit of spring have some kind of adverse effect on the engine etc? i wouldnt really know....

and i think one of the main things you need to worry about with a car from japan is the dashboard... they always have holes or adhesive pads where various things have been attached, eg navigation/dvd screens, cup holders, radar detectors, copious amounts of figurines etc

[AlexCim]

I think the biggest thing with japan is rust.

snow + salted roads = salt thrown up into gaurds + metal gaurds = rust