Newbie Wanting To Buy Stagea - Advice Needed Please!

[GoldZilla]

Firstly, welcome to Skylines Australia, and in particular the Stagea section of SAU!

It seems as though most of the crew are doing a good job of answering your questions, and as you've noticed we're a pretty helpful bunch in here. Doing a quick scan, here's some of the questions which might not have yet been addressed already...

• yep, a Stagea should quite easily out-perform a Subaru Liberty wagon, unless it's one of the turbocharged B4/GT models, then I'm not too certain...
  
• reliability should not be an issue as long as you find one that's been well looked after, and you continue to do so. There are a few minor issues here and there, but that's just like any other car, no matter who makes it or how old or new it is. Most parts are interchangeable with Skylines (R33 and R34 Skylines for the series 1 and 2 C34 Stageas respectively, and V35 Skylines for the M35 Stagea), and quite a few parts are shared with other Nissans in general, such as the Silvia/180SX/200SX range.
  
• choosing which model is best is totally up to your taste and needs! Personally, I love my s1 C34, and if anything were ever to happen to it, I'd probably replace it with another s1 in 260RS spec, or get a factory manual s2.
  
• you really SHOULD get your manual license, it'll only add to the enjoyment of being a car enthusiast.
  
• a $35K budget should easily get you into even an M35 with change for insurance, registration, an alarm and a few mods.
  
• as far as insurance goes, yep Shannon's have been great in my opinion, but you should still shop around and make sure you're comparing apples with apples (premium, NCB, excess, what's covered, etc.)
  
• Japanese auction gradings are on a rising rate, i.e. the higher the number the better the quality of the car. Grade 4 covers the majority of cars worth bidding on - I think Grade 5 is a used car in exceptional condition with very low kms.
  
• if you choose to import a car, you can pretty much give your chosen importer a list of parts/options you want your potential purchase to have before they even consider making a bid on your behalf. If you like sun-roofs, a body kit, nice mags, etc., add it to the list of things you'd like your car to have already fitted - sometimes you manage to even get a few unexpected bonuses thrown in!
  

Like Ian Xmetal said, have a read through the Buyers' Guide he linked to, and there's also a guide for Skylines in general which will also likely point out a few different things I may have forgotten.

Happy hunting!

[andy65b]

Andy - yep I spoke to Jetwreck today and he was great in answering the main questions I had, great advice Jetwreck - thanks. And yes I found out that you cannot comply models later than 03, which is not of a big concern to me as I prefer the earlier models than the 04 models and upwards, was just curious as to what these later models looked like and why you couldn't import them, now I know. Side curtain airbags and active head restraints sounds good, where did you get that done? Thanks for the tip.

I bought my car through Ben at Nortshore prestige. As a first import car I decided to buy an already imported car from a dealer to ensure I had good after sales support. Which has definatley worked. The side curtain air bags are a factory fitted option so you just need to check what extra options were fitted.

Mine was a bit of luck, was going to buy one car but it was damaged by vandalism and the next car available with low k's and other options I wanted happened to have the side bag option. All worked out for the best in the end.

[KiwiRS4T]

Safety: Stageas got 6 stars out of 6 in the JNCAP crash tests. All Stageas have ABS braking, pre-tensioning seat belts and two front airbags. Most have the superior Atessa four wheel drive system and some (?) series 2 have more air bags.

Have a read through the forum and 2 patterns will emerge - most people wish they had bought a manual and if you have a need for speed (like most Stagea owners) and the money go straight for the RS260 (Autech if you can find one).

Otherwise the attraction of the Stagea is the RB motor which enables you to go from the stock 240bhp to 300- 400 for a modest investment or if you have the big bucks the sky's the limit ...there are two or three in NZ with 600bhp or more and no doubt even more in Aus.

Good luck

[juggler]

Thanks guys! You've all been so helpful so far, much appreciated!

XMetal - that sounds like a good idea, thanks for the tip. And that's a cheap joining fee too, plus I like the idea of the snazzy extra stuff you get with the membership hehe.

Goldzilla - firstly, thanks for the welcome. Secondly, you really are a plethora of knowledge aren't you? Have read some of your other posts on here and have been most impressed with your comprehensive research, thanks for that! Yeah I thought the Stagea would most likely out-perform a Liberty and they're cheaper, hence the Stagea being my first option. I do know that the new GT/SpecB Liberty is very fast but too expensive for me brand new and finding them second hand is almost impossible, and the second hand ones are still around 50K and usually manual...and yes I've found out that most Stagea parts are interchangeable with Skyline parts and quite accessible so that's a relief for me also. As for insurance I'll probably choose Shannons but will still have a good look around, and as for the model, I will most likely go for the M35AxisAutech or M35Arx-four. A Series2 is also another option for me as I've seen some fantastic series 2 also...thanks for also telling me more info about Japanese auctions, have also heard from Appealing that they are a great option to get a really good Stagea around $5-10k cheaper than normal...if I have the time to do it,then I'll definitely look into that, but at this stage, I will most likely go through and importer, and having heard some negative reports about other importers so far, Northshore Prestige seems the way to go..I also like the idea of giving my importer the list of options/parts I want in my car, it'll save me time which is great when you have 3 kids lol to look after! I've also looked through the link Ian Xmetal gave me and found it to be most helpful. So, once again, thanks for your help and guidance!

Andy - Yep, I've heard nothing but good things when it comes to importing cars through Ben at Northshore Prestige so will most likely go through him if I go through a dealership which I probably will.

Kiwi - thanks for telling me about the safety rating, I thought Stageas would've scored fairly high, but wasn't sure - hearing that they scored 6 out of 6 is most impressive and yep, I know what you mean about the manual - I would go for a RS260 IMMEDIATELY if I had my manual license, but I don't , but it will happen in the near future lol hehe.Thanks.

[juggler]

Oh and one more thing, this isn't related to the Stagea lol, but I was wondering how do you put up a personal photo on your profile, just went through my profile and managed to set my gender, age, location etc but couldn't find the option for uploading your photo?? And adding features to your avatar? Thanks.

[Xmetal]

Should be an upload thingy on the page however it won't take the image if it's outside the dimensions required.

PM me if you haven't got Photoshop to resize the image and i'll do it for you.

[juggler]

Ian - yeah that's what I was looking for, the upload thingy lol and it didn't come up? Maybe I should ask one of the mods on here? Thanks.

[jippa]

hi juggler

firstly.. good choice. Have u driven a stagea yet? my gf reckons its to big for her round carparks and tight situations, like our old driveway but loved the cruising side of it untill i fitted my exhaust and now its to noisy in her opinion . i have a red s2 and its my second stagea. feel free to come around and see it if im not to far away. i live in southlake. south of the river. inserted a pic of what she looks like

[GoldZilla]

Thanks guys! You've all been so helpful so far, much appreciated!

XMetal - that sounds like a good idea, thanks for the tip. And that's a cheap joining fee too, plus I like the idea of the snazzy extra stuff you get with the membership hehe.

Goldzilla - firstly, thanks for the welcome. Secondly, you really are a plethora of knowledge aren't you? Have read some of your other posts on here and have been most impressed with your comprehensive research, thanks for that! Yeah I thought the Stagea would most likely out-perform a Liberty and they're cheaper, hence the Stagea being my first option. I do know that the new GT/SpecB Liberty is very fast but too expensive for me brand new and finding them second hand is almost impossible, and the second hand ones are still around 50K and usually manual...and yes I've found out that most Stagea parts are interchangeable with Skyline parts and quite accessible so that's a relief for me also. As for insurance I'll probably choose Shannons but will still have a good look around, and as for the model, I will most likely go for the M35AxisAutech or M35Arx-four. A Series2 is also another option for me as I've seen some fantastic series 2 also...thanks for also telling me more info about Japanese auctions, have also heard from Appealing that they are a great option to get a really good Stagea around $5-10k cheaper than normal...if I have the time to do it,then I'll definitely look into that, but at this stage, I will most likely go through and importer, and having heard some negative reports about other importers so far, Northshore Prestige seems the way to go..I also like the idea of giving my importer the list of options/parts I want in my car, it'll save me time which is great when you have 3 kids lol to look after! I've also looked through the link Ian Xmetal gave me and found it to be most helpful. So, once again, thanks for your help and guidance!

Andy - Yep, I've heard nothing but good things when it comes to importing cars through Ben at Northshore Prestige so will most likely go through him if I go through a dealership which I probably will.

Kiwi - thanks for telling me about the safety rating, I thought Stageas would've scored fairly high, but wasn't sure - hearing that they scored 6 out of 6 is most impressive and yep, I know what you mean about the manual - I would go for a RS260 IMMEDIATELY if I had my manual license, but I don't , but it will happen in the near future lol hehe.Thanks.

Not a problem with helping out - that's what we're all here for!

What Xmetal has mentioned (the lanyard, stubby holder, stickers and membership card) is what we automatically give to new members here in NSW when they join, I'm not too sure if WA's club would do the same.

I can't claim all the credit for the information I've compiled in that thread and others- it's been a combined effort from past and current members and owners. I have done quite a lot of research, but probably a majority of that information is just me compiling and combining the information we've ALL learnt from each other and put it into one thread for easy reference.

[KiwiRS4T]

Safety: Stageas got 6 stars out of 6 in the JNCAP crash tests. All Stageas have ABS braking, pre-tensioning seat belts and two front airbags. Most have the superior Atessa four wheel drive system and some (?) series 2 have more air bags.

Have a read through the forum and 2 patterns will emerge - most people wish they had bought a manual and if you have a need for speed (like most Stagea owners) and the money go straight for the RS260 (Autech if you can find one). Sorry - posting when I should have been asleep (I work at night)...they were all made by Autech i meant the Nismo version but on doing some checking not all that many were made and they are very hard to find...

Otherwise the attraction of the Stagea is the RB motor which enables you to go from the stock 240bhp to 300- 400 for a modest investment or if you have the big bucks the sky's the limit ...there are two or three in NZ with 600bhp or more and no doubt even more in Aus.

Good luck

[AndyD]

http://www.tradecarview.com/

Hey juggler have a look through this site this will give you an idea of whats available from japan and prices and such then you can use the import calculator from sites such as prestige motorsport this will give you a ROUGH idea of what your up for in terms of cost. Im in the middle of importing my s2 stag i picked it up from japan with the help of Iron Chef Imports who is a member of these forums i gave him a list of specs i wanted and he sent me photo's and auction sheets of nearly 100 diff cars b4 i picked the one i ended up buying. Give Kristian from iron chef a call (0402904069) he is top bloke and will help you out with the 1 million questions you have just like he did for me.

This is my car and is on the boat cuurntly and due to arrive on the 15th of this month

[juggler]

Hi again guys, once again I can't thank you enough for all your help, you've all been fantastic so far. Maybe that explains why I've always gotten along better with blokes than girls hehehe.

Jippa - no I haven't driven a Stagea yet but there's a couple of them here in Perth at dealerships that I will test drive to see if I like the 'feel' of them. But I don't think I"ll have a problem with them, as I said I LOVE fast cars lol - been a chickie revhead from waaaay back lol. As for any problems with 'tight' spots in parking bays, that doesn't worry me either as my nickname at home is the 'parking queen' hahaha, I can get into almost any tight spot without any major issues haha. in fact I find that to be a fun challenge lol, yes I'm not your typical female in that regard hehe. And I LOVE the idea of a noisy exhaust, hearing those makes me even more excited to drive the car hahaha. That's probably why I also love the sound of a V8 engine lol..the noisier the better imo. I love GRUNT! Would love to come and see your car, by looking at in the pic, wowee it looks so damn hot! As I said in my earlier post, I was looking for an M35AxisAutech but having seen some of the fantastic series2 Stageas some of you guys have... I could be swayed lol if there what I'm looking for.

Thanks again Goldzilla and KiwiRS4T

AndyD - LOVE the look of your Stagea too, and thanks for the link, I'll be looking through that this arvo. Thanks for the number for Iron Chef, will give them a call and find out some info. Thanks for that, much appreciated!

[jko_one]

For insurance go with LSV (lumley special vehicle's) they're really cheap and they cover everything if you ask.

dunno if they have them on the west coast though

[andy65b]

For insurance go with LSV (lumley special vehicle's) they're really cheap and they cover everything if you ask.

dunno if they have them on the west coast though

Got to agree with LSV. Insurance cost was marginally cheaper but excess was 1/3 of JCI and less age restrictions on drivers or having to niominate drivers.

[Wildcat]

wow its nice to see another chickie getting into Stageas..and you wont be disappointed by their performance, even the kids will love them as do mine ... if your interested juggler we live in Darch/Kingsway area and have 2 stageas if you ever want to come by and have a looksie your more than welcome too