R33 GTR Price

[evolution]

hey guys, ive got a query.

why have the R33 GTRs come down in price so dramatically? i see very nice ones going for 40000 and the R32 GTR still holds at like 35000. whats with this

[pentae]

You're not looking hard enough. If you look very hard you can find a r33 GTR for as low as $34,000 and an r32 GTR for as low as $25,000.

The reason they are coming down is because:

a) the R34 GTR has come down in price, pushing the price down.

B) the 15 year rule will soon have R32 GTR's coming in for as low as $14k which are pulling down the prices in anticipation

c) the car is getting older and less mysterious

d) riceboy kids in their GTST's are putting on GTR body kits, badging their car up as a GTR and bringing down the value of GTRs' in general.. the general publics best friends son has a gtr! duh!

ps. if you know one of these kids.. do all GTR owners and future GTR owners a favour.. take a baseball bat and beat him down like you are Tony Soprano.

[R_Thirty_Four]

I suspect another reason contributing to this: hideous insurance costs. A lot of people would be looking elsewhere who would otherwise be buying because of this factor alone (Count me as one of those people for now). So, down go the prices, supply vs demand style.

[T0nyGTSt]

horrid running cost inc. insurance.

also negative media exposure.

The Nissan Skyline is now the preferred playmate of the Subaru WRX.

The last R32 is a 1994. Last R33 is a 1997.

As it is, that's an old car.

I'm not slagging GT-R's off. I still want one. But you have to see the cold hard facts.

T.

[pentae]

Hey Tony,

I agree.. keeping any performance car on the road (running costs) can be dear, but I don't really see how a GTR could be all that much more to keep on the road than a GTST..

Assuming you get an oil change every 6000km's and don't go overboard with performance mods, and treat the car with respect.. not dumping at 6000rpm at every set of lights or winding the boost up to ridiculous levels. But the same applies to a GTST

Personally with a GTR i'd be less inclined to wind the boost up or do masssive clutch dump's because the GTR in base form is such a powerful drive.

I know guys who have Silvias (as well as other cars..) and are constantly getting new clutches, gearboxes, new turbo's after blowing them all up. I've probably done 100,000km's between my two Silvias and never had to replace any of those parts. I drive quickly but smoothly, and respect my car. And yeah.. i do the ocassional launch.. and I rarely get beaten at the lights..but I still have the same clutch

ps. this is mechanical repairs.. yes our insurance for these cars stinks.

[Blitz]

And what a fine example of an R33 GTR you would find for $34k

[R_Thirty_Four]

Well, with the sport car market, the price is often determined by the owner's desperation to sell rather than quality because the market is so damn small. I saw a very nice R33 GTR for $36k and the owner really needed to sell for an overseas trip. Also, with imports you have no guarantee that a $50k example is any better than a $36k example, since you don't have much chance of being able to know exactly what kind of a life the car has ever had. I say this all from personal experience since my last car (an import) didn't fetch anywhere near the premium it deserved and there was bugger all I could do about it because potential buyers in the ~$50k bracket for an import are relatively rare. Also, when someone sees a ~$35k example, expectations adjust, not only from buyers, but also from insurers who put appropriate agreed/market value ceiling prices on the cars. I personally would never get a 'market value' policy on any import for that reason as it is now so easy for them to make it look like the market value is as low as they like.

[pentae]

Blitz: That's a fairly common generalisation. Like most generalisations a lot of the time its true, but for those members who are looking to buy a GTR.. high quality bargains can be found if you are persistent and look hard.

I agree with R_thirty_four. I have seen 60k r33 gtr's that even though they had low km's.. you could tell they had been driven as a racing car their entire life. The white one I drove had a stuffed gearbox, the engine was flogged and had laggy and inconsistent boost spool.. it had a big bodykit and all the nismo + apexi GFB's. Load exhaust.. massive BOV's.. I didnt want to pay some idiot for their modifications.

The two R33 GTR's i've inspected have both been very close to stock. One even still had the original exhaust system. Low kilometers, very smooth drive.. tidy interiors, no massive gauges or holes in the dash.. and had been regularly serviced, at least since it had landed in Australia. Both had been desperate to sell.. they'd had their cars listed for 40-50 for months with no buyers, only tyre kickers.

I know this because I am in the market to buy one quite soon, and have done MUCH tyre kicking. LOL

Also i'm sure you could get Greg over at Prestige Motorsport to import one of these cars for you, for his fixed price service fee, at this cost.. and it would be a bloody excellent GTR. You're not paying a broker or middleman, helping a car yard pay the rent and wages.. you just pay a fixed $1000 importing fee.

Of course its a long wait until May next year

[R_Thirty_Four]

One thing people should be weary of when buying imports from the Japanese auctions is that in general those condition codes are determined from visual inspection. My ex bought herself a nice looking Mitsu FTO which had auction grade 4, only to find that it was so riddled with rust underneath that it's major structural members will only be able to hold out for a year or two at the very most. And there was apparently nothing she could do for recourse from her broker. Basically she ended up with a worthless heap of rust, which nobody sensible will buy from her. Importing a GTR or the like under a 15 year rule is a very risky proposition, not just for all the other potential problems, but also for this one. Japan has a much harsher climate than we have here. Snow can be a killer, especially after all those years. I wouldn't be surprised to start reading more reports of this kind of happening once those 15+ year old cars start arriving in volume (if they can).

Anyway, just something to bear in mind.

[pentae]

I'm just curious if there is any way you would have been able to determine the car had rust 'underneath' if you had actually bought the car locally?

I would be more concerned buying a car from an import yard that has fixed the car up.. in most cases these guys have to buy the cheapest peice of junk in Japan for close to nothing, then fix it up to make a huge profit margin.

At least these guys see the cars in the condition they are in before they are 'tizzed up' as most import yards have a tendancy to do.

[usuckpoo]

I would tink that there are alot less risks involved when purchasing the car locally....since you would be able to personally inspect the car urself. (Of cos u need to know what u r looking at in the first place).

Every car looks great in photos so its hard to guage condition simply from looking at pictures....thats the danger involved with importing a car youself i guess.

Of cos the problem with import yards is that they either have heaps of junk tidied up to look spanking new....or a real jewel which u'd have to pay through your nose for.

I personally believe that most, if not all of the older imports that enter the country have had their mileages clocked. Think about how difficult it would be to achieve 65k on a 8 year old car....you would barely have to drive it.....its not to say its impossible, but just look at the sheer number of imports that have listed mileages between 65k and 85k and you would start to question it.

[pentae]

usuckpoo..

theres a few problems with your argument.

First of all, even though I know a substantial amount about cars, looking at cars, etc. I think that a highly trained professional inspector who looks at THOUSANDS of cars a week and is employed TO INSPECT CARS on behalf of his employers is going to know more than you or I.

"Cars always look better in pics".. Every single inspection where there is cigarette burns on the seat, a spot of rust, dints, mechanical history.. all photo's are taken and everything is reported. These guys have no reason to lie like an import yard does.. they are not making a huge profit from selling you a dud.. they get paid a set amount to get you the best car for your money.

What do you think import yards do? Buy the cars locally? No.. they get them in from Japan and make anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000 per car.. I'd rather keep that money for myself thanks!

Second.. I agree, a lot of cars do come out of Japan which have had a haircut. Saying most or all is very extreme.

It's highly believable to receive cars up to 10 years old with 60,000km's because most of them drive their cars a couple of km's to work and back every day. Japan is a very different place geographically compared to Australia, mainly due to population reasons.

I have a friend who lives in the inner city (not in the suburbs) and he puts about 5,000km's a year on his BMW.. he works in the city, lives in the city.. plays in the city. Most Japanese are like this from my understanding.

[usuckpoo]

Apologies for not stating myself properly....i too believe firmly believe that import agents would have substantially more experience in vehicle inspection than the average joe(me).

The point i wish to express is that nothing exudes more confidence and assurance than having seen and inspected the car in the flesh.

Yes i have seen inspection reports and must admit that they are resonably concise, but the problem is that everyone generates different expections from simply viewing pics of the car alone, and some are dissappointed when the actual car does not meet those expections.

In this case here perhaps i should probably explicitly define that term "risk" as used in my previous thread, as the chance of ending up unhappy with your purchase. (im pretty sure this "risk" would then be higher when purchasing a car through an agent...a car u have not seen before... compared to purchasing it locally)

Personally, i would rank the following purchase methods in the following order: Private local owner, import agent, import yard (i think they are mostly rip offs too)

Finally, after some consideration of your input, i do admit that saying all or most of the imports have been clocked is a little extreme...but many of the imports i've seen are in conditions that are unlikely to match the stated mileage...perhaps this should be viewed on a case by case basis i guess, since owner care plays a large part in the condition of the car.

[Blitz]

Some very valid points guys - there have been a lot of cases where sellers do get desperate and sacrifice their GTR's or other models for very low prices. When this happens it also leads some to believe that cars such as the R33 GTR are worth less than they really are. Thats my feeling anyway

[pentae]

Blitz: For the record, I LOVE r33 GTR's.

When one drives past.. and it's REAL.. damn I can't take my eyes off it. Such a bloody excellent steer.. it's the closest thing to driving perfection i've ever experienced.

Who's with me?!!

[usuckpoo]

MEEE!!

[R_Thirty_Four]

Yeah, I may be in the market for one soon. I was originally looking at getting an R32, but the price differential isn't so great these days (for reasons noted above). I don't think such cars should ever be offered so cheap as it takes away a lot of exclusivity and quite simply, the car deserves to go for more, but time always catches up with everything. Only catch is the insurance though...that might ultimately kill the idea for me. I may move to a nicer suburb so I can insure it for a planet earth price, hehe (I want to move anyway). I've owned a couple of other hipo imports from the other stables (and sold them to buy a cheap runabout for the meantime) and it might be time to step up to the R33 GTR experience soon (despite my user name, hehe). It will feel pretty strange driving something so big again though (my current car is tiny), but I do feel safer when I drive something nice and solid...

[Blitz]

I agree - thus the pic in my signature