Buying A V35 Tomorrow

[Nightcrawler]

^^^ yep exactly. A tiny bit of know how and a laptop and you can clock them back.

Doesn't it seem bizarre to everyone that if you go on any of the importers auction lists (I have access to a few), that 2003 V35s with 25,000(ish)km are VERY rare, yet these guys have up to 10 in stock at any given time? And on the rare occasion they come up in Japan people pay a serious premium for them - so they couldn't possibly sell them here for $25k-$30k. They even offered me a silver V35 with those sort of km for $22k. Suuuuuure, so they bought it in Japan for 1M+ Yen, brought it here, complied it and are willing to sell it at a loss? Methinks not.

For example, the black V35 I had professionally checked had seriously lipped front rotors. Simply couldn't happen on a 25,000km car. There were heaps of other giveaways too. They wanted me to list them so presumably they could change them over to fool the next sucker. When I confronted them about the km not being genuine they actually agreed and tried to put me onto another one which supposedly really did have correct km. Yeah right. They did refund my deposit though, so that was good.

[dodes47]

Holy Guacamole! I didn't know it was so common!

In any case it should be checked out then, just to be safe. Especially if the dealer's known to have done these things before.

[Ezy03]

im still under warranty, but if i do go get a pro to look at it and they say its been tampered with and i go to another pro and they say the same thing ( just for a second opinion) what possible could i do? - return the car for wrongful infomation and tampering with the kms?

[James_V35]

Wound back and tampered odometers are common in Japan for the export market, it's rife. Think about it.. if you have a 2003 car and it has 25,000km on the clock that means it only did on average 4,166 km a year which is 80km per week.. as if!! They may drive less over there but you cannot tell me they would buy a car to sit in the garage all the time.. you are kidding yourself.

Even if the car did 250km per week (which is still only moderate really), for a 2003 car that is roughly 78,000km by 2009..

For those that know, is there any way to tell for sure if your odometer has been tampered with or had the km changed (other than physical signs on the car)??

EDIT - here is an example. According to this guy, the odometer was wound back "by accident".http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/jan/2...ing-back-miles/

Edited September 8, 2009 by James_V35

[BLISTC]

one thing have to remember also though is that in japan, the cars spend most of their time in traffic.

so even a car with low amount of kms, actually been running for alot longer. hence why i reakon cars should have a "time" meter as well as a km "meter" also.

most pieces of industrial machinery (eg. forklifts etc.) run on time not kms.

[V35_Paul]

The V35 does have a running time meter.

But it can be reset too

Edited September 10, 2009 by V35_Paul

[worldwalker]

one thing have to remember also though is that in japan, the cars spend most of their time in traffic.

so even a car with low amount of kms, actually been running for alot longer. hence why i reakon cars should have a "time" meter as well as a km "meter" also.

most pieces of industrial machinery (eg. forklifts etc.) run on time not kms.

I agree and on top of that an tacho timmer like in most aircraft. The timer is set 1:1 on an average cruising RPM or just below (in most aircraft about 2300 RPM) if you had the same thing in a car you could see if the rev timer matches the engine ON timer/KMS and see if the car has been thrashed at all.

[Ezy03]

been driving the car for a while, seems no faults with it, runs very smoothly and no engine noise who at so ever and no signs of major wear on anything, ill get my uncles next time to check it out (i will take there say on it since they have had more than 60 years between them on being around cars and being mechs) if they say anything bad ill take it to a pro shop get it all checked out and then go back to the place i bought it off to complain and stuff...but pretty sure there's nothing wrong with the car and does feel like it had actually done that many km's that's indicated on the ode.

[dodes47]

Way to go man. Don't get too worried. As long as it drives well and everything feels good, there's nothing else left to do but to enjoy it.

It's a good drive isn't it?

[Ezy03]

I hate getting out of the thing, because the moment i get out i want to be back in and driving it to anywhere really, its just really enjoyable to drive, especially after watching "love the beast" (documentary by eric bana on his car - really recommend to those who love their car and are a real motorhead and car enthusiast) makes the car even more important to me and just lovin' every bit of it atm.

[xscape237]

I think you were warned about this place, but bought the car anyway. They have an extremely dodgy track record.

Even if you do find out that the kms are dodgy, i would say that its too late now to do anything about it.

Just keep living life pretending it hasnt been wound back and you probably wont ever know any better anyway. You sound happy with the car so thats all that matters.

[Nightcrawler]

Yeah the big problem is with things like your 80,000km service, which includes timing belt, water pump etc which if not gone can completely blow up your engine. So if your car has really done 100,000km, but you think has only done 25,000km, by the time you hit the "80,000km" mark you have really done 155,000km and your engine will have gone KABOOM due to a busted timing belt by then.

Also things like I am experiencing at the moment with my R34 at 160,000km like every second week having a heater hose leak, also the heater core has leaked and been replaced (requires whole dash removal) ..... so instead of those things being many, many years away, if you have bought a lemon with already 100,000km on it, then you don't have long before things start going wrong big time ....

[Chris Rogers]

Wound back and tampered odometers are common in Japan for the export market, it's rife. Think about it.. if you have a 2003 car and it has 25,000km on the clock that means it only did on average 4,166 km a year which is 80km per week.. as if!! They may drive less over there but you cannot tell me they would buy a car to sit in the garage all the time.. you are kidding yourself.

Even if the car did 250km per week (which is still only moderate really), for a 2003 car that is roughly 78,000km by 2009..

For those that know, is there any way to tell for sure if your odometer has been tampered with or had the km changed (other than physical signs on the car)??

EDIT - here is an example. According to this guy, the odometer was wound back "by accident".http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/jan/2...ing-back-miles/

its 4 10 mm bolts and 3 plugs . takes about 10 min to change out. do the math you would never know.

[dodes47]

Yeah the big problem is with things like your 80,000km service, which includes timing belt, water pump etc which if not gone can completely blow up your engine. So if your car has really done 100,000km, but you think has only done 25,000km, by the time you hit the "80,000km" mark you have really done 155,000km and your engine will have gone KABOOM due to a busted timing belt by then.

Also things like I am experiencing at the moment with my R34 at 160,000km like every second week having a heater hose leak, also the heater core has leaked and been replaced (requires whole dash removal) ..... so instead of those things being many, many years away, if you have bought a lemon with already 100,000km on it, then you don't have long before things start going wrong big time ....

Sorry, correct me if i'm wrong. But doesn't the vq35 have a chain belt? Don't they last longer than 100,000 Ks?

[rex2ce]

I bought my car from the same dealer as Ezy03 and after having had it for two months ,cannot find an indication that it has done more then the indicated klms. I have had two mates, one a detailer and one a mechanic, look at the car and they both say that the klms indicated appear genuine( 33,000) with no obvious signs of extreme wear. In saying this , I am in no way sticking up for the dealer, whose attitude was no better or worse than any other dealer.

I noticed a comment in a thread earlier, questioning the price that the dealer paid for his cars and whether he could make a profit at his sale prices, well profit is calculated against costs and this dealer incurs little cost.

As for lipped rotors that someone mentioned, my mate the mechanic works in an area with a lot of european car owners and says it is common for them to have lipped rotors between 25 - 40000 klms , so maybe on the series 1 v35's the brakes weren't up to scratch.

A bit of history , I have had a S13 and a Soarer before my v35 and with the 91 - 08/93 Soarers there was a lot of problems with the holographic dash ,and Toyota replaced them under warranty, but did not update the klms on the new speedo, so a lot of unscrupulous people/dealers then sold the cars with less than their true klms on them and a reputation was born

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[Nightcrawler]

er yeah dodes now I do some homework you are correct - the VQ35 does have a timing chain. But my logic is quite sound - you don't treat a 25,000km car the same as a 100,000km car in servicing and maintenance.

And I agree with some of what rex pasted, but the simple fact is (as I said earlier) I am on various Japanese auction lists and RARELY see an 03 V35 with only 25,000km on the clock - VERY RARELY. However, these guys have a yard FULL of them, and sell them at rock bottom prices - how can this be? they fetch a SERIOUS premium on the rarity they come up at the auctions.

And the guy I was going to buy my V35 conceded straight away over the phone that the car did not have the 25,000km advertised .... he actually agreed with me.

25,000km Nissans DON'T get lipped front disks - My R34 only developed lips at well over 100,0000km, and all of the V35s I have looked at with up to 70,000km have no rotor wear whatsoever.

[Chris Rogers]

andrew,

I found a car in NSW when I was there that didnt match the distance travelled and it looked on the outside - new.

started by checking things (seatbelts are a good one) and noted the entire car had been apart at some stage. cluster had been pulled (retaining bolts were marked.) at some point and serviced/swapped.

they are out there and I agree with your brake point. one thing to keep in mind though, they do service the brakes on them at compliance if they need doing. have witnessed that many a time.

[tonich]

just wonder if any one still looking at all imports cars and share some experience.

regardless what year that their V35s are. all of them (03/04/05/06) have about 25-28k kms on them.

[Nightcrawler]

Have you read my post above? Dodgy, dodgy, super dodgy. Kms are DEFINITELY NOT GENUINE ON ANY OF THEIR CARS. And most of the cars they have advertised on bay/Carsales have been sold, and they just try to put you onto another one. I can confirm that at least 10 of the cars they currently have advertised on Ebay under the name All Imports, or HCN are gone, yet they leave the listings on Ebay/Carsales.

[tonich]

Have you read my post above? Dodgy, dodgy, super dodgy. Kms are DEFINITELY NOT GENUINE ON ANY OF THEIR CARS. And most of the cars they have advertised on bay/Carsales have been sold, and they just try to put you onto another one. I can confirm that at least 10 of the cars they currently have advertised on Ebay under the name All Imports, or HCN are gone, yet they leave the listings on Ebay/Carsales.

on carsales I see some cars that are under "private seller", pictures are taken outside their warehouse. and you cant ever reach these "private seller" at night as it is not business hours