Are Imports Such As Skyline/supra's Unreliable?

[Fat-magz]

ive always loved supras and skylines, and i will be in the market soon to buy one, but reading some topics on aussie car forums, alot of people saying on that forum, if ur getting somthing thats an import turbo its hard to maintain and they fall apart. (mind you it seemed like most of these guys had xr6's and v8's)

i know pretty much everyone on this forum has a skyline or the like, but whats your verdict on the reliabilty of the import.

cheers

[GTR-N1]

I've had 2X GT-Rs - both Japanese imports - both purchased off importers - yes with scrutiny - a mechanic on my left - a panelbeater on my right.

R33 GT-R 2001-2003 Other than services, the only repair was a tailshaft which cost me $150 from Powerplay + $40 instal.

R34 GT-R 2006-20... Other than services, the only repair has been an oil pump.

Moral:- Whenever people are jealous, they can only think up extreme situations.

Quote by Jim Richards in 1992, "You're a pack of a%s-holes" Can you guess who he was referring to?

Quote by Clint Eastwood 1990s "You're a legend in your own mind" Can you guess who I'm referring to?

Hint: The answer is the same to both Qs

[PM-R33]

Three years counting, never had a failure from something that wasn't caused by me ie. Intercooler pipe coming off, vacuum line coming off etc.

Service the car regularly and don't do stupid things like sit on 8000rpm for a minute doing skids in the middle of the day or run 20psi through the stock turbo and you'll be fine.

[astrotristan]

Three years counting, never had a failure from something that wasn't caused by me ie. Intercooler pipe coming off, vacuum line coming off etc.

Service the car regularly and don't do stupid things like sit on 8000rpm for a minute doing skids in the middle of the day or run 20psi through the stock turbo and you'll be fine.

hit the nail on the head

[jase-r34]

ive always loved supras and skylines, and i will be in the market soon to buy one, but reading some topics on aussie car forums, alot of people saying on that forum, if ur getting somthing thats an import turbo its hard to maintain and they fall apart. (mind you it seemed like most of these guys had xr6's and v8's)

i know pretty much everyone on this forum has a skyline or the like, but whats your verdict on the reliabilty of the import.

cheers

LOL. It's the other way round mate. I've unfortunately owned a holden V8. I won't be doing that again, I learned my lesson.

Get underneath a 10yo commodore and try n find something that doesnt leak, rattle, knock or clunk (unless its been repaired already). In my experience as a mechanic working on many, many of those 'things' I can say without a doubt that the jap stuff in general shits all over anything that holden or ford can produce. Just my opinion though...

[Daleo]

Reliability is is also maintenance based, any car will turn into a sh##box if you don't maintain it.

I've never seen a car engine fail because it had too many oil changes.

That and you can look out into your driveway and smile.

Just make sure you do your research when buying. Good Luck!

[(OO)SKYLINE(OO)]

ive always loved supras and skylines, and i will be in the market soon to buy one, but reading some topics on aussie car forums, alot of people saying on that forum, if ur getting somthing thats an import turbo its hard to maintain and they fall apart. (mind you it seemed like most of these guys had xr6's and v8's)

i know pretty much everyone on this forum has a skyline or the like, but whats your verdict on the reliabilty of the import.

cheers

LOL!

What you expect on a "Aussie Car" Forum...

Any car is unreliable without the right maintenance.

It just depends on which car cost more to fix, which will add to your cost.

Depending on what year model the Skyline and Supra you get, remember some are over 10 - 15 years old, unless the car has remained stock standard and very well maintained for its whole life, things are going to be in need of change sooner or later.

[gt-ahhh!]

i suppose any car has the potential to be unreliable. as far as imports go, skylines have a very good reputation. i often hear them referred to as being 'bulletproof', though my experience would seem to disprove this.

i've had a 1993 R33 GTS25T for a bit over two years now and the following things have broken/need to be replaced:

-engine x 2

-turbo

-clutch

-shocks/bushes (basically a complete susp overhaul)

-manifold studs

-battery

-wheel bearings

-O2 sensor

-the passenger window fell off somehow

-ignition coilpacks

-idle control valve (hopefully just needs to be cleaned)

as you can probably imagine, this has cost $10000+ (emphasis on the +) to date, a lot of it was replaced with upgraded parts. in defence of the car, one of the engines and the turbo were taken out when an oil hose blew off and dumped all the oil. so thats just plain unlucky i suppose. the rest is predominatly due to the car being 15 years old, and can happen to any car!

in amongst that ive replaced/upgraded:

-intake (filter, airflow meter, piping, intercooler, intake manifold)

-fuel system (injectors, pump, filter)

-electronics (ecu, boost controller, turbo timer)

but that sort of nonsense isnt entirely necessary lol

on a positive note, at least the gearbox and diff etc have survived thus far!

[Beer Baron]

are they reliable? the short answer is standard = yes. modified = no.

[Jay_stylz]

i suppose any car has the potential to be unreliable. as far as imports go, skylines have a very good reputation. i often hear them referred to as being 'bulletproof', though my experience would seem to disprove this.

i've had a 1993 R33 GTS25T for a bit over two years now and the following things have broken/need to be replaced:

-engine x 2

-turbo

-clutch

-shocks/bushes (basically a complete susp overhaul)

-manifold studs

-battery

-wheel bearings

-O2 sensor

-the passenger window fell off somehow

-ignition coilpacks

-idle control valve (hopefully just needs to be cleaned)

as you can probably imagine, this has cost $10000+ (emphasis on the +) to date, a lot of it was replaced with upgraded parts. in defence of the car, one of the engines and the turbo were taken out when an oil hose blew off and dumped all the oil. so thats just plain unlucky i suppose. the rest is predominatly due to the car being 15 years old, and can happen to any car!

in amongst that ive replaced/upgraded:

-intake (filter, airflow meter, piping, intercooler, intake manifold)

-fuel system (injectors, pump, filter)

-electronics (ecu, boost controller, turbo timer)

but that sort of nonsense isnt entirely necessary lol

on a positive note, at least the gearbox and diff etc have survived thus far!

wow u have had some real bad luck ive had my 33 for 5 years never had any problems beside ur basic services thats the only money ive spent on repairs

[(B1) MR_fanny]

bought mine stock 9 yrs ago. Only problem I 've had with it was a dead original battery, changing super old spark plugs and clutch which let go early last year. The usual wear and tear stuff really. Car is now lightly modified and only thing that needed attention was the 100k service and stuff that I've banged up myself. I dont fang the car unless its a track day and thats once in a blue moon.

If you buy a modified one expect issues, its a given. Unless you buy from someone like myself that looks after their car, but everyone says that when the sell dont they.

[eeiko321]

well put it this way dude.......my opinion...those are most likely Ocker, Bogan, Redneck, inbred, narrowminded hillbilly v8 lovers for you....

ask any mechanic....

they will all tell you Toyotas are one of the most reliable cars ever built... they are renowed for it.

in my opinion...holdens are shit..... so are fords...

not because i dont prefer the cars...its what i hear and see from the quality of the cars.

a mate of mine had the VY Clusport R8.... from brand new...to 3 year period he had it...he went to the dealer 7 times! for numerous faults under warranty.

another friend of mine has a VE V6 UTE... brand spanker... he turned the ignition and couldnt get the key in...

called holden road side assistance... the mechanic bashed a screw driver in and told him to head straight to holden otherwise he wont be able to turn it on again & get the ignition barrel replaced under warranty... like wtf is that for a new car.

i know this can happen to any car manufacturer...but like i said..... jap cars are renowned for reliablility...even more reliable than euro cars... toyotas especially.

I recall knowing someone who bought a 550,00km hilux...that hasnt been serviced for donkeys years...it was petrol ...but the oil came out black like black tar/gunk...the previous owner never rememberd when he changed oil..... it still was running strong.

read this article on top gear about the 80's model toyota Hilux.

The Hilux has gained a reputation for exceptional sturdiness and reliability, even during sustained heavy use, and is often referred to as "The Indestructible Car". This was further reinforced when on the BBC motoring show Top Gear, a 1988 Hilux with 190,000 miles (308,000 km) on the odometer was subjected to extraordinary abuse. This consisted of driving it down a flight of steps, scraping buildings, crashing headlong into a tree, being washed out to sea and completely submerged, driving it through a garden shed, dropping a caravan onto it, hitting it with a wrecking ball, setting the cabin and bed area on fire,^[6] and, finally, placing it on top of a 240-foot (73 m) block of flats that was subsequently destroyed by a controlled demolition.^[7] Although it was now suffering from severe structural damage, the truck was still running after being repaired without spare parts and only with typical tools and equipment that would be found in a car's toolbox, such as spanners, motor oil, and a monkey wrench (adjustable spanner).^[8] The Hilux currently resides as one of the background decorations in the Top Gear studio.

In the 2006 series (Series 8, Episode 3), a Hilux was chosen by Jeremy Clarkson as his platform for creating an amphibious vehicle. With assistance, Clarkson rigged the truck with a massive outboard motor and steering mechanism in the pickup bed. The truck, redubbed the "Toybota" (a portmanteau of "Toyota" and "boat"), was driven by Clarkson over several miles by road and two miles (3 km) across open water, before capsizing during a quick turn. Once recovered, the vehicle was moved back to the Top Gear Studio, where a confident Clarkson stated that he would be the only one capable of driving his car home, since it was the indestructible Hilux. However, Clarkson could not get the Hilux started which led his co-hosts to believe that Clarkson had finally destroyed the "indestructible". In the 2007 series (Series 10, Episode 2), Clarkson opted for a Nissan pickup instead of a Hilux in a second amphibious challenge, successfully crossing the English Channel in the vehicle.

In 2007, Top Gear ran a special program in which Clarkson and James May raced a customized 2005 model Hilux to the magnetic north pole from Northern Canada against Richard Hammond using a dog sled. The race, known as the Hilux Arctic Challenge, made the truck the first car to make it to the magnetic North Pole.

Outside television, these vehicles have been known to exceed 300,000 miles (~500,000 km) with regular maintenance. It is also infamous for being used as an improvised fighting vehicle - a "technical" - by militias and irregular military forces, especially in Third World conflicts. The Toyota War between Libya and Chad was so named because of the use of Hilux trucks as light cavalry by the Chadian army. These vehicles have also been used in the Iraq war as Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). Militias have been known to outfit this vehicle with stolen, post-Soviet missiles and equipment. The Toyota War saw use of the Hilux as a pulling vehicle, serving as an aircraft tug and tank pull for the T-62 heavy tank. There are currently 37 customized Hilux used by the People's Liberation Army in the Southern region of China.

never had problem with nissan... previously the toyota supra i owned for 4 years... not 1 thing went wrong with it..

so if anyone says jap is crap... tell em they are a inbred ocker......

[FrangaR33]

are they reliable? the short answer is standard = yes. modified = no.

Exactly right just like any other car there designed to put out a certain amount of power and they do it brilliantly once you start modding your going well passed what its designed to do then the problems happen. Its the same with any car Commodores, Falcons etc. I've seen a Modded LS1 Commodore go through a power steering pump, 2 tail shafts, 2 gear linkages, a clutch and a new head in a little over a month from street driving a few trips to the drags so its not just imports. Its also alot about how you treat your car, for some people its just bad luck others just thrash the shit out of there car and think it will be fine.

Edited April 15, 2009 by FrangaR33

[funkymonkey]

This is gonna be a long post, so bear with me.

I was in the same boat where I questioned reliability vs cost and local vs import when i had to get a car for my old man. He's not as mechanically minded as I am, nor does he have the patience to shop around or modify his car.

We ended up picking up a 15 year old Cefiro, which was completely bog stock... even had the doileys and log books n all. We got it with 40,000K's on the odo (genuine too, with books and dated receipts to prove it). As soon as it arrived we did a aircon retrofit, and did a 100,000K service on it (just cos it was so old and I wanted my dad to have a car that would'nt give him trouble). In the 5 years he owned it, we had to changed the shocks cos they wore out, the sparkplugs a few times, the alternator cos it wore out and some door lining rubber that came loose. My dad chammied it every time it got wet when he parked it in the garage and topped up the battery every fortnight and got the oils changed on the dot every 5000 K's or every 3 months whichever came first. The car never gave us any grief.

Then someone reversed onto the road he was driving down at 70 k's and he wrote off the front of the car. Insurance wrote off the car, and gave him a payout. Shaken up, he insisted on buying something local so he went out and bought a new commodore. I've since bought the wreck, fixed it up and the ceffy's still going strong with about 170,000 K's on the engine.

In the 2 years he's owned the commodore, the auto gearbox shat itself and needed to be replaced, the fuel tank sprung a leak around one of the seals, moisture buildup in tail light, car's gone back to base about 3 times due to problems with the ECU or wiring, air con stopped working 2 months after purchase and got fixed like 2 trips to the service centre later. All fixed under warranty but WTF... I could cobble a more functional car together using my McGuyver skills, a rubber band and some chewing gum wrapper. And I knoew these problems aren't attributable to wear and tear, plus I know how well my dad treats his cars.

Anyone who bleets on about aussie standards and quality can suck the big one. as far as I'm concerned the great aussie dream turned nightmare a long time ago when the bottom dollar became more of a concern over producing great cars that could withstand the average aussie thrashing. That is if you can still buy an aussie made car, seeing as half the shit peddled by Holden comes out of Korea.

The only "aussie" car I'd buy now is probably a Ford Focus or Ford Mondeo. Because neither of them are engineered in australia, they're basically euro's.

Needless to say, dad's gonna be buying an import when it comes time to sell the commode. Which will be soon... hopefully. The way I see it, it'll spontaneously combust about 30 seconds after its warranty period finishes.

I'm working him up to a nice M35 Gloria or F50 Cima... maybe a JZX110 Varossa or soemthing if it becomes available.

[jase-r34]

-the passenger window fell off somehow

LOL, wtf is up there???

[madbung]

The info you have been given is as good as the source it came from.

I don't love my Nissan, I use it as a runabout.. The thing is almost 15yrs old and apart from regular servicing and a few upgrades I chose to do the car I've never had to touch it. 60k in 5yrs isn't high use but it hasn't missed a beat in all that time.

I really should wash it or something as a reward, maybe a vacuum....there's a first time for everything

Maybe I do love it, I just don't pamper it cosmetically.

Long live the Ratline!!

[bozodos]

Strangely enough, I've noticed that some Aussie models seem more prone to others. I had my VN SS for 4 years and due to being a slack flamin mongrel I never flushed out any of the fluids other than oil every 5000km and the trans oil when 80 000km after I bought it, it started slipping cause the oil was burnt. Other than that and things like a battery and filters, it never gave me problems apart from needing to have a windscreen replaced and the ignition barrel wearing out. Bearing in mind though, the previous owner had a full rebuild of the motor and new radiator fitted When I sold it, it was still going strong, though the fuel pump was starting to worry me with its erratic buzzing.

Most VN's i've seen being thrashed around have sustained some frankly awesome amounts of abuse, mainly in the form of burnouts or just general thrashing. The V6 especially seems to be damn near bullet proof for a Commodore.

On the same note, I've noticed all my mates with E series Falcons having never ending hassles with the cooling systems, autos and electrics. Same thing again with VL's, and if you're a lucky bugger with a Calais the electricals too. Not to mention rust.

The LS1's I've seen don't seem to be *too* bad, apart from needing nearly every bloody sensor replaced on them, and the nylon ends of the selectors on the gearbox wearing, making it impossible to get into some gears first go, and needing gearbox removal and disassembly to fix.

I've noticed that apart from issues caused by modifications, Skylines and Nissan / Toyota's in general, whether import or not are pretty damn reliable full stop. When i think about it, most of the problems with my car specifically are from it being modified, apart from dicky climate control. The only imports I've seen which have had issues are ones which have either had dodgy mechanics/tuners go loose on them, or have literally been driven by people who have no clue about manual transmissions.

I've had bogans try and tell me this absolute bullshit (especially in the case of an R32) about parts being impossible to find bla bla bla. I can get quite a few things from Nissan, but buy from import wreckers or aftermarket due to the insane prices Nissan charge for parts. The main thing is that parts are often more expensive, but if they are going to last signifigantly longer, it's not so much of an issue. Its funny though, this prevailing negative attitude seems to run through not only dealers, but mechanics I've spoken to!

[gt-ahhh!]

LOL, wtf is up there???

when you went to wind down the window it would fall down into the door section, unless you held it very firmly on its way down! the same thing would happen on the way up.

and then, would you believe it... it fixed itself and has been working fine for more than 6 months now!

i imagine it fell off its rail, or whatever its mounted on. bizarre...

[some_cs_student]

when you went to wind down the window it would fall down into the door section, unless you held it very firmly on its way down! the same thing would happen on the way up.

and then, would you believe it... it fixed itself and has been working fine for more than 6 months now!

i imagine it fell off its rail, or whatever its mounted on. bizarre...

Weird, if you ever take off your door (pretty simple) there are a few bolts that may be a little loose....

Oh, back on the Ford Focus, nice cars, difficult to service like most modern cars though

[Johnny]

So far out of the cars that ive owned, it seems that they car is only as reliable as you treat it (driven and serviced)

my r34 gtr hasnt given me any problems but honestly the amount ive spent on servicing rivals repair cost on my other cars.

my 03 bmw 325i was bought new and driven like a dream but it still didnt stop the coilpacks from going at 15000kms

s15 broke the cams and rocker arms + the gearbox went at 30,000kms

r33 gts was the most reliable car i had; 30,000kms of thrashing without a single issue

ummm i just bought a hyundai getz as my daily; couldnt pass up on the 5 year warranty