Do Skylines Really Suck Your Wallet?

[JI34GT]

Terry does make a good point. Im 21 and even though some of those points arent as applicable to me, it makes sense.

If you're scraping by every week to pay the bills then I would not suggest getting a skyline.

Better off buying something more reliable and cheaper like a corolla...not have to worry and spend as much.

Coz once you start you cant stop

[JimmyRickard]

I bought a 32 GTR in March, and since then i have spent just under $10k getting it safe for track days etc, and i still have at least another $5K before its bulletproof, and then i need to budget for the gearbox blowing up (fingers crossed it doesn't), and possibly another engine rebuild (hopefully not for a few years as its just had one), along with a few cosmetic things such as dings getting pulled out and a respray, maybe gut the interior and put a cage in blah blah blah.

Note that these aren't costs incurred by owning the car. It is simply my hobby and passion to modify the car the way i want it and drive it accordingly. the running costs i think are fairly negligible, not much more than most other 6 cylinder cars.

At the end of the day, you need to sit down and really think about what you want out of this car, look at the price of the car, and then say to yourself "how much do i really want to spend here", because the listing price is only half of the story. The faster you want to go, the more expensive it will be end of story.

[Sparkys]

Modification is the dividing line IMO. Heck, I had a GTti (Daihatsu Charade twin-cam injected intercooled turbo etc etc for those who don't know what one is) and it didn't cost anything at all to keep and run...until I started modifying it, then I racked up nearly $10,000 in no time and that's only on a Charade!!!

A mates 32 was bought for $12,000 as a clapped out example, and with what he's spent on it in maintenance, modification, tuning, paint etc he's nearly spent $25,000 (including the cost of the car)!!!!!!! And it's still probably only worth around $12,000 ish.

IMO, if you do a lot of work yourself you can get away with modifying cheaply. I've just bought an R32 with an RB25DET NEO for $5,000, and I've done extensive research and broken down my build into three parts:

1. What I have to do to get it engineered, repainted and registered (brings total cost including purchase price to $9,200)

2. What I would like to do in the way of simple mods (brings total cost to $14,000)

3. What I would love to do but probably wont because of money constraints (brings total cost to $26,000)

I figure with Stage 1 and 2 completed a cost of $14,000 for an R32-RB25 with a new paint job, killer sound system and a low k motor is pretty good and then maintenance will be around the same as an average car, especially since I'll do most myself.

BUT, I'll probably get the modifying bug again and do stage 3!!!

[33drifter]

I hope to do some these modifications to the car. I.e. Rims, Brakes, Tyres, Tinting, Possible paintjob/detailing, Sound System, Suspension, Interior, Air Intake, Intercooler, Exhaust, Dump Pipe etc

What would those mods be defined as? These would all be done steadily over a couple of years I imagine.

I'm not planning to touch the engine internals. Like pistons, crankshafts..

Driven on the weekend; maybe not trackdays for a couple years after I buy until I've got the dough. I plan also to save up for a motorbike to drive to combat fuel prices and to lower the mileage and running costs of the Skyline over time

I havent touched my internals either, but i have still spent $25K on top of the original purchase price. Bolt ons are still expensive.

my advice would be to buy the bike first. then save for the line, if you do it the other way around you'll never own a bike

[DRD-00F]

I found the most economical mod you can get for a skyline is a daily

If you only drive it on the weekends you appreciate it so much more, you pick out it's bonuses instead of it's flaws and obviously most of the costs are less... ie fuel, wear and tear etc...

I absolutely love my car... I was driving it all weekend and there wasn't a single moment that I wasn't extremely happy that I owned it

If i had a girlfriend, she'd kill me...

But yes, normally, whenever I have a spare couple of hundred dollars, it goes straight to the car...

[wilorichie]

If i had a girlfriend, she'd kill me...

lol, fully agreed.

I baught mine for 11 (talked him down from 12,900 thanks to a RACQ report)...

- I still replaced my exhaust becuase the stock exhausts on your non-turbos make that crappy metalic sound.

- Fixed the front spoiler and had it modified becuase it had 1 little crack (I swear I have OCD).

- Couldn't help myself but buy the little things like seat covers and little danglies and shit like that. (I gave myself false reasons why to buy it... "My little brother sits in my seats and spills his coke's and food". Hes been in there once.)

- 100km service

- Alarm

I need to replace 2 front tyres soon (110$ each + $65 allignment)

I want to buy rims and even looked at turboing becuase I friggen caught the mod bug... damn you SAU and spending to much time on these forums.

I am also engaged and my misses wants to get married this time next year. So she helps keep me in line... I do give shit excuses why I -NEED- to buy things for my skyline lol, but she picks those out.

Otherwise, I love my skyline! Wouldn't want any other car... unless its a brand new m3

Edited September 15, 2008 by wilorichie