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Driving An Import In Melburne These Days


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I used to have an R32 when they were rare around 5-7 years ago and sold it to buy property.

I'm interested in an R32 GTR or GTS4 or R34 GTR. The time has come to return to cheap performance so it'll probably be a GTS4 so I dont really care if it gets damaged in a shopping centre and wont mind leaving it alone in the city.

I'm curious whether the revenue collectors are targetting them for no reason. I've heard plenty about bastard cops picking on individuals but I'd like a fuller story;

My situation would be as follows - lets say your car looks stock and is well within the legal sound limits without any stickers, wanky gauges or other aftermarket products or rice crap like neons and blue headlights to attract attention to yourself, you've lost less than 5 demerit points in the previous 10 years and drive an import, whether S13/4/5, R32/3/4 or any of the other cars as portayed by retarded bigots as "hoon cars" on current affair shows, how often do you unreasonably get pulled over and harrassed/defected etc?

Cheers

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luck of the draw really, ive gotten randomly stopped three times in the 7 years that i have owned it, once by one of those flashy highway patrol and the other 2 by a normal cop all doing random checks. unless you stand out like a sore thumb and on your P's your less likely to get pulled over. Even if you do, if your car is legal then there's nothing to worry about. they do the random check to see if your driving suspended or the car is stolen, which i know its bad to hear but id go on the limb and say it is a valid excuse for import drivers.

Yeah i'd say in your circumstances, you are much less likely to get picked on than I would be for example. Mainly being im a P-plater and have lost a substantial amount of points over a period of 2 years.

I say go for it, especially if you plan to keep it sleeper style like you mentioned, you should have nothing to worry about, since you are doing nothing wrong, and have such a clean record :domokun:

Edited by Yawn

With a 32 you should be fairly safe but a lot depends on where you drive it, how you drive it and when you drive it. I have never been pulled over in my Evo in the 16 months I have owned it and nearly 50,000kms. I dont however drive it much at night and if I do its only short journeys locally.

The cars are certainly still targetted, more so in some areas than others.

I would say it will depend on how, when and where as above. :domokun:

Ahaha Bozz mate! welcome back, haven't seen you on here in ages.

I'm 25 and daily drive an R32 GTS4 which looks fairly standard except for mismatched wheels front and back. Only time I've been pulled over "non randomly" is when I made the mistake of driving my mum to church in Noble Park shortly after the riots... my car got the once over and I got defected for bald tyres, which I had been procrastinating on.

Other than that I've been waved into a couple of breath test's and I've been waved past a couple too. In general no hassles at all, and I drive through knox, dandy, thomastown etc all the time. Being on a full license with no loss of points helps a lot I guess.

Ahaha Bozz mate! welcome back, haven't seen you on here in ages.

I'm 25 and daily drive an R32 GTS4 which looks fairly standard except for mismatched wheels front and back. Only time I've been pulled over "non randomly" is when I made the mistake of driving my mum to church in Noble Park shortly after the riots... my car got the once over and I got defected for bald tyres, which I had been procrastinating on.

Other than that I've been waved into a couple of breath test's and I've been waved past a couple too. In general no hassles at all, and I drive through knox, dandy, thomastown etc all the time. Being on a full license with no loss of points helps a lot I guess.

Cheers mate, I'm hopefully back again...

Having owned a "family" car for the past 5 or so years while paying off the house, the most recent being an "upgraded" EL fowl can (I say upgraded, I couldn't bring myself to say improved since it's merely a polished turd :domokun:), I realised you can only go so far with these things. Time for a fun car again, not a whale.

In essence, it isn't as bad as I read on multiple forums of imports regularly being picked on and unfairly canaried if you dont drive like a wanker. I understand there will be a higher chance of randomly being pulled over but I've never been randomly pulled over in my stock looking family car, only the usual breath tests and stuff.

IMO although driving definitely plays a part (if you come around a corner sideways, you are obviously gonna get pulled over), I dont think that is the main factor.

In my situation, my car looks standard from the outside besides the rims and exhaust (no tint even), and I drive even slower on the streets than when im in the daily, but yet I have been pulled over a ridiculous amount of times, im guessing coz of my record of license suspensions (which wasnt from driving dangerously or the like, eg. P plates not displayed, going through an amber light only to be pulled over for 'jumping a red light', etc.).

Perhaps living 100m away from a popo station doesnt help my cause either. I have put a lot of thought into this and I was thinking maybe i drive too slow, therefore looking suspicious? Haha, I can only hope things get better when I get my fulls not long from now :domokun:

This obviously doesnt apply to you so I wouldn't be worried if I were you :P

Edited by Yawn

from what i've seen it's pretty much about the look of your car, and your driving record.

friends with good driving records hardly get pulled up, but others with bad records are constantly being hassled.

if you're driving at night you have alot more chance on getting pulled up.

and if you're near any area that is known for hoons (eg, elwood beach area), you'll get pulled up regardless.

lol and who's the one with the neons and other "look at me" parts?

just giving previous experiences. theres no look at me parts from the exterior, its a clean car with a stock NA engine

I am of the belief only lillydale area bogans in imports, will be targetted by police. But they are on the lookout for 4 door import vehicles posing as "family cars" :(

Edited by 33gtst

omg bozz, sam and andrew in the same thread... all we need is meggala back to make this picture complete.

btw sammeh, the link in your sig doesn't work

im a p plater in a 33

had license for just over a month

pulled up 3 times

Well

Im 43 had my 33 a few years now

Got RCHOO Number plates

FMIC

4 1/4in exhaust

Pod and Blow off

lowered

18s with 235/265

Sorry now neon or shopping list stickers

But never been pulled over..

So it could be a age thing..

used to get pulled over all the time in my skylines.... but since i have sold them and bought a stock as a rock, clean as all hell S15 .... never get touched.... P-plates and all

-Ruffels

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