Hi A Reasonable Price For A Stagea And Advice Please

[joshsmum00]

Man you guys are such legends :sorcerer: you know, I was about to go bye byes to the stagea (and I didnt really want to) due to the cost of insurance but thank god I know now that I can shop around and get insurance for under 1000.. id be happy with that..

This car is a compromise, partner wanted a 4x4 drive and as soon as I saw the stageas I knew that is what I wanted..

JVP I know i thought because I was older and I know how hard it was to get insurance at your age, mind you that quote was for justcars..

Webng, that is the reason why I like the stagea series 2 as it has better motor and running gear, and all that.. gooduck wiht your buying let me know how you go and all that :sorcerer:

I have a look at the vigilins site.. thanks guys..

shell

[stagpower]

where did u say your from? my s1 is for sale,in perth,they all sound good prices,and i pay $1500 insurance myself....shocking!

[joshsmum00]

Stagpower Im in brisbane, I wont be able to buy a stagea for a couple of months.. and I was hoping to get one close to where Im situated

SHell

[IMPORTD]

hi, haven't read the whole thread.. sorry

But you can easily get a series 1 for under $18k easy.

I bought mine from SA for $16k last year in July...

good luck in what you decide to get... They are an awesome car!

[Mr_RS4]

Ok, as for insurance I am going through Just Car insurance (have been with them for a while now on and off) and I'm paying $936 per year full comp on agreed value of $20,000 (for a SERIES 1 and that was just in feburary this year when I got my baby back....LONG STORY ). Thats based on a Rating 1 and includes rating one protection. I also have all my Mods listed. Excesses are a bit of a killer though. If I were to be at fault I would be up for....$350 normal excess, $350 import excess and another $400 excess because of Mods etc. But its still pretty good and thats a worst case situation. Keep in mind I have no accidents on record and a clean licence too but if you've got the same record then there is no reason why you shouldn't get a similar price.

Personally these days I wouldn't pay more than $15000 for a great example series 1 in stock condition from Priviate sale or Dealer, but for an average example I wouldn't go more than $11,000. Put it this way I am about to have a respray and a Nismo kit fitted, already have full exhast, intercooler, SAFC, SITC, boost controller, Filter, Stero DVD Playstaion and blah blah blah making 160awkw, very trick alarm too and the list goes. All it needs is a nice set of wheels and if I were to sell it now I would be lucky to get $17,000 (probably more like $16000) even though I paid $19000 for it only 14 months ago and have spent about $6000 or more on it since. A Dealer would probaby try to flog it off for something like $19000 to $20000.

I would look for a nice conditon Series 1 for around the $13000ish mark meaning it would be pretty much stock but thats a better base to start from sometimes as its "probably" had a pretty good life and start from there. Then (considering you origional budget seemed to be around $18000) throw another $5000 to $6000 at it and you'll get yourself and Full Exhaust, Intercooler, Air Filter, Boost Controller, SAFC and (if you can bloody find one) an SITC so you can tune your air/fuel mixtures and timming for better fuel economy and power (believe me and everyone else here this should be AT THE TOP OF THE LIST), and set of wheels (nothing too expensive), alarm and maybe even have some left for suspension upgrades or exterior mods depending on what it came with. This is based on some new and second hand parts and a bit of shopping around but I've done it with less so far. And you'll still come out on top of buying a stock series 2 from a dealer. Personally I don't really find the differences that big between the 2 apart from age. The Neo does make more power and is a little better on fuel but these can be addressed in a series 1. It all depends on what you want for your money really. You could get a better series 1 and do more to it or go with a stock series 2. Both are great cars!!!

Anyway good hunting and good luck.....

[joshsmum00]

Thanks stagegirl :sorcerer:

MR_RS4: Josh sounds like its a long story about your stagea what happened if you dont mind me asking. Thanks ive always had rating one, no claims no accidents etc etc. Thanks for the insurance info thats been a great help and a instant relief..

The information you have given me is wonderful My partner rang me earlier and said go have a look at the price for the series one and I did so I might end up getting a series one and spending some serious cash to boot.. Thanks mate.. We want to put a very good stereo system that plays dvds that we can put the dvd screens in the seat for the child/ren to watch.. theres other things we wanna do too.. your ideas are great..

I wish I was buying the stagea now.. I have to wait though and be patient... but I wish it would hurry up LOL

Ill be away for the weekend leaving my son Josh with his dad but Im sure my partner mike will be reading and posting.. have a good weekend you know he happy that you all agree wiht him heheh.

:laughing-smiley-014:

thanks

shell

Edited April 26, 2007 by joshsmum00

[JVP]

good luck with the search

you have heaps in brisbane i noticed for sale

stuff all here in melbourne.

[Mr_RS4]

Well basically I decided that as great as the Stagea was I really wanted a thrash around car (something that I could take out to the track etc. ) so I ended up swapping it for a sileighty (180sx, silvia front end). Was a good car and lots of fun but being heavily modified it was constantly needing something done to it and there was more and more that I wanted to do to it and became a big hole in my pocket for a car that wasn't worth it. So I ended up contacting the person I swapped with and they were quite happy to swap back. So I was VERY luck to get her back, not quite in the condition that it was before but its almost back to its former glory. Once the kit is fitted and painted that is. I was lucky there was no mechanical damage done

[EGA41T]

cheers for all the free plugs guys n girls.

[pixel8r]

Just thought I'd add my 2c with regards to the low ODO readings...

As others may have said, try to ignore the kms and go by the overall condition of the car, particularly wear and tear in the interior, and also the usual stuff under the bonnet - oil leaks etc. & check under the car around the front etc.

Another thing to note is that even if by some chance it HAS only done 30,000kms, it would therefore mean its been sitting doing nothing for a long time. Its possible the car may have been owned for only 3 years (most japanese cars are sold every 3 years due to registration costs apparently? something like that) and then ended up in a car yard for the rest of its life.

So either its done more km's than it claims to have done, OR its been sitting around for about 4+ years. Either way its not going to be like new.

Still, they are a very reliable car so as long as you check it out first and if importing it then go for at least auction grade 4, then you'll likely be fine.

Good luck with it, and post some pics when you make your purchase

[joshsmum00]

Mr Rs4 wow glad you got your baby back and goodluck with finishing to like you had it..

Thanks Pixel8r

you guys have been so great

I am looking at series ones now due to I can seriously do some playing with..

Question for you, do the stagea's 2.5 litre turbo's have a ceramic turbine or is it steel or other ?

[Mr_RS4]

^^^ Its a ceramic turbine wheel so that means keep your boost at no more than 12psi however I would recomend personally keeping it at 10psi as they're still known to suffer from turbine wheel in cat converter disease even at 12psi. There are a few companies doing high flows now and the prices are getting lower all the time. Once I recover from the kit and respray I am considering this next.

[GoldZilla]

Shell, you mentioned that you'd probably get an extended warranty from the dealer - don't bother! Most of the time it's not worth the paper it's written on...

Instead, save that money and keep it safe for if anything does occur. Maybe spend it on having an import-friendly mechanic to go over it before you buy it.

Even if something happens to a new car, sometimes it's hard to get a dealer to pay for mechanical defects and/or problems you have, so trying to claim against a warranty on a used car is often (but not always - there are some lucky people) a recipe for disaster.

[joshsmum00]

Mr_Rs4 Thanks again, we were quite sure if it was or not and that. thanks

Goldzilla, you are right there warrantys aren't worth anything at all these days I agree with you there. Thanks

shell

[Red Sky II]

I would disagree about the warranty issue. When I bought my Stagea from a dealer it came with the 3 year warranty (think you buy it for less than $1,000 for any car)

To date, it has paid for itself with some repairs including radiator, water pump and coil packs.

So just look into it before deciding it isn't for you

Cheers, Al

[Stinky Rooster]

The problems with the extended warranties are the things they don't include - which is pretty much anything that wears out. If it fails, you have to prove it isn't from age and that isn't always possible with a second hand import. I was offered one by my dealer at his price (about $495 from memory) but after reading the fine print I still didn't think it was worth it. I don't regret the desicion either.

[joshsmum00]

Thanks guys,

I know that warranties dont cover everything but only cover somethings, I will read teh small print and all that before fully deciding..

BUT can I just say that I found a insurance that will insure the s2 stagea for 20,000 for just under 900 dollars a year comprehensive so I have also kept that in mind

NOw to decide to get a S1 or A S2..

S1 i can have more cash to do more stuff,,,

s2 not much cash to play with..

shell

[JVP]

well, going by that, can they insure an S1 for cheaper? or same price?

[Mr_RS4]

just keep in mind it doesn't matter if you talking about a series 1 or 2 but as soon as you start preforming mods your insurance will be affected. Thats what I like about Just Cars. Unlike a lot of other insurance companies they don't affect your premiums but they do add extra on your excesses. But seing as this will only affect you if you need to make a claim instead of every year, 6 months or monthly then it will save you (unless of course your unlucky )

IMO go the series one and spend spend spend on mods, better looking front end (also imo) and you can always buy the rear lights or even the whole bloody interior and other series 2 bits (good old yahoo auctions ) if you want to update it a bit. And although its not the same as having a tiptronic shift you can get a MV automatics shift kit for about $400 which will make the world of difference. After having the tune this has now become my next MUST DO as the sluring and delayed shitty shifting is much more noticable now. Espically when I'm shifting manually. I'm chaning at like 4000 just to get it to shift before the limiter

[stasis]

if you like a manual which is more fun to drive get S2 and save up again for mods.