Question About Buying A Skyline

[Garafruit]

hi, i have several questions about buying a skyline

1. the Odometer obviously they must be rolled back right??? i'm considering buying an r33 gts-t from autoworx car yard but its impossible to have that low kms for so many cars right??

2. how reliable are they?? as a first car i honestly don't want to be stuck with expensive repairs

3. has any1 dealt with st james auto trader before?? i saw a car there that i was interested in.

thanks

[viet_boi]

autoworx? I've only heard good things about them and no bad. so i would recomend to go with them.

if your still scared about expensive repairs and that, pay the extra $600 for 3 years warranty.

[R32 Driver]

autoworx ftw

all imports have no log books coz japs cant keep logs for shit (could be just a myth )

just it by the condition and as said above

just take out the warranty, ur most likely gonan chase for more power (who doesnt?)

so factor in cost for upgrading supportin mods

[hoony]

modification to the car voids warranty so if you want to do modifications later don't bother with the warranty...

to make a dealer car > private car = warranty...

in regards to the km's reading, check out the interior, usually you can see the interior condition to match the amount of km's on the clock...

blah blah blah, guess it's always safe to go with dealer though as they have a reputation to uphold

my2c

Andrew

[Ehgriez]

Problem with dealer warranties is they generally contain loopholes and its unlikely any problem you have is gonna be covered.

e.g. A car my sister bought off a dealer had the remote central locking screw up after a couple months, they said it must of been failing when we bought it and as such wasnt covered under warranty.

Really in most cases i wouldnt trust a dealer warranty as fas as you could throw it.

[SCR34M]

as far as imports go, its basicly luck of the draw, you never know what ya gonna get later on down the track... But again if you plan on modifying, who cares anyways. If you plan on keep the car stock(and to this i say ) then get the extended warranty...

As for Autoworx, you cant really go past em, i detail there cars so i know what some of there cars are like straight off the boat... i say go with them for your import, but then again each to their own!

[Noobs for Life]

check around the odometer, in between each number, there should be some very small clear plastic bits, if they have been snapped off, then something (allowing the person who is doing this is careless) might have been rolled back. i only know this as it happened to my car, took it in to get fixed and the guy discovered that they had rolled back from 6*,***km to about 4*,***km (the six had been snapped all the way back to 4)

didn't really matter as when everything was fixed, we discovered that the speedo cluster was from a newer model r33 (i don't have airbags, so stop trying to tell me i do !!!!!!!) so it's anybody's guess how many km's the car has done

[gazza750]

buy from Autoworx you wont have a problem

[Garafruit]

thanks for all the feedback guys. so in general, since autoworx is quite reputable, most ppl generally don't encounter a problem with the cars they buy from there?? its tempting to buy a 96 white gts-t from them.

[R32 Driver]

autoworx is one of the better import dealers around town

most common problems with the 33s are just coil packs

ez covered under warranty

[lucifer]

Gday

I Bought my 97 R33 Gts-t from them few years back

they were nothing but helpful in everyway even months

after i bought the car the customer care was excellent I would definetly recommend

[SkyDragon]

I wouldn't touch St James autotrader with a barge pole. I can vouch for Autoworx, their cars are good and they show interest in them.

R33's are generally reliable cars all round. Coil packs, power steering, factory clutches can be a bit weak, but hey that's not bad for a 12 yr old car. If it’s your 1st car then I wouldn't worry about doing many mods, you may want to learn how to control the thing first. High powered RWD cars + inexperience can = disaster!

If something catastrophic does happen, then yes you may be up for pricey repairs. At the end of the day (no matter how many are floating around) it is an import you are buying, parts can be expensive and they may not be available immediately. However, that said things are much better than when I had my first skyline!

Have you factored in insurance? Petrol costs? If you have, my advice would be to get one with a warranty and forget about mods for a while.

[Garafruit]

^yeh i heard St James is a bit iffy, but any personal experience with them or any particular reason u wouldn't buy from them?? (i know it has a dodgy atmosphere, but say theres a car there thats been inspected by REVs and a car mechanic to check everything is ok, not much can go wrong right??)

if i do get an r33 i'd be happy with it at stock, not looking for any mods. like u said i'm worried about things like the clutch breaking which will be costly to fix. insurance will be under my parents name, so won't be as expensive. petrol, it uses 98 RON right??

[R32 Driver]

clutch kit from slidin performance or any fellow traders

would be like 500-600 for the kit 300-400$ labour?

coilpacks if they shit themselves go shitfires for 500?

series 1 R33s would be more common in panels etc if u do have an accident

series 2 (96 onward) is still fairly expensive

[br3ndan]

yea parts are getting cheaper, esp with all these online traders.

Most of them are reliable and will get the parts to you fairly quickly.

Save money on DIY.

And you learn things along the way.

And yes skyline GTS T will use 98 ron

If you get a R33 GTS (na) You will be able to get away with 95ron

P.S. I said the same as you when it came to mods on my skyline... But look at my skyline now... far from stock =x

Dam modification bug. Killing my university budget!!

[Garafruit]

damn, sounding more and more tempting to go to to autoworx and take a look at whats in the yard (it is around a 30min drive from where i live). btw, i have no idea of the typical costs to get parts replaced, so would the classic advantage warranty listed here be good enough to cover most problems an r33 might face?? thanks

[autoworx]

one major thing we find on the awn warranty not covered thats common is clutch . Also some minor electrical stuff can be problematic on the r33 and some of thats not covered (power mirrors not folding etc, faulty AC control unit. sunroof electrics etc)

Clutch - (Claim limit: up to $750 per claim)

- Items covered: Slave cylinder & Master cylinder (excluding clutch plate & pressure plate).

most major things are covered . Coil packs are covered , this is pretty much the cost of the warranty right there. Fuel pumps are covered also , they are getting on a bit on most skylines . Turbos are covered . Mods are ok within reason , if your mods caused the issue they wont cover it , ie over boosting turbo caused turbo death.

The warranty is not a scam or filled with loopholes , whats on that list is covered and whats not is not. We can happily show you previous warranty claims. You dont have to come back to us if you dont want to either and the warranty is transferable to the next owner. Its the largest after market warranty in australia.

also 3 year warranty is free until the end of the month with some nice end of financial year sale discounts too!

km are a thorny import question . All I can suggest as others did is check the condition of the cars and make sure its matched to the km . Its very easy to tell the difference between a car with 150000km vs one with 80000km . We try to buy nice clean no accident low km skylines , we dont tamper with anything and if our agents ever feel km is not genuine we walk away from the car.

and thanks for everyones support !

[Redback]

are you really sure you want a skyline as your first car.. insurance can be a killer and they are quite a powerful car..... not giving a lecture its just maturity is essential... dont get me wrong you can still have shit loads fo fun in them but just do it smartly.... like grabbing the handbreak at the top of 4th instead of second. lol .....

[R32 Driver]

Insurance with Just Cars, $1200 full comp when i was 19 excess $1800

premiums not much more then another car of equal value @ that age

powerful maybe but we all adapt then chase for more power anyway

top of 2nd = 80km

top of 4th = 150kms

i know what speed i rather lose it in

[Dani Boi]

$1200 for insurance? you must be talking about a 32 right? Im paying 2100 for mine for a '96 33 mildly modded at 19... Plus there not really that fast stock