An R32 Gtr?

[Ohnoes]

G'day I'm new here so go easy, I'm looking to put this out to the crowd for some general information, anything that is viable is appreciated I've been meaning to do this for a while.

Ok heres the deal I'm looking to purchase my first skyline an R32 gtr but I'm not yet sure if the car is applicable to me.

I currently own a xr6t lightly modded, and previous SS 5.7 and I'm tired of the holden and Ford stuff and I've always been in seriously love with the Gtr specifically the R32 which is the model I'm looking to purchase.

I enjoy Cruising frequently and head up to the twisties quite often, I've test driven two and love nearly everything about the car.

Ok my questions are as follows.

Work is about 40K's to work and back 5 days a week, I'm planning to use the Gtr as an everydayer and is that right for a Gtr do many people use them here as dailys?

Running costs isn't really a problem as all my cars see regular servicing but I've been told that when things go wrong on a gtr there usually expensive.

What is the most common expensive thing to go wrong with this car and how much are we talking, also I'm aware that the car has alloy front quarters and bonnet are these repairable from dints and whats the replacement cost and or availability?

Whats the general reliability?

I'm extremely carefully where i park specially after watching a woman play pinball with her trolley down 6 cars hitting every single one. After that I nearly need a taxi to get me to a restaurant from their car park.

Fuel consumption, you've probably been asked one million times but one more won't hurt, the xr6t gets about 15lt/100km on avg and I'm just looking for a comparison out of curiosity. And yes I know it all depends on how heavy you drive it so lets say "cruising".

Buy here or import?

For those that own the Grey gtr32 whats it like to keep clean as in color wise?

My ambitions are to lightly mod the car, how good are the ceramic turbo's I'm aware of some history do many people keep the standard ones and what kind of set-ups do you have eg; power/mods?

Anything imparticular I should look out for when buying one? any experiences?

Is there any particular changes between Years of production, the info seems to be hard to gather.

I mentioned earlier that i've test driven two but unfortuantely was unable to obviously go to hard, what do these cars really hand like through the corners with hicas and awd when active in comparison to ya evo/wrx?

Anything i need to know about this car?

As i stated any information would be appreciated and thank you for your time.

Regards Ohnoes

Edited September 3, 2010 by Ohnoes

[Tangles]

you wont regret owning a GTR as a daily

chat to Iron Chef Imports about getting one to suit YOU direct from japan, or look at a number of examples for sale in your home state. take an experienced gtr-owner with you if possible

Once you have gone over a few and not settled on one then open the search nationwide or japan for the car of your dreams

fuel useage really comes down to state of tune, modifications, application of right foot, general upkeep (for example, new oxygen sensors in the dump pipes / new coilpacks & sparkplugs) etc

suspension wise, you'll love the surefootedness of the awd attessa system in the twisties, so sure and stable in feel and performance

the grey paint shows dust/dirt and scratches but looks great when all washed, polished and waxed.

[Ohnoes]

This is what I'm after people, info.

Thanks Tangles, the bit about owning a Gtr 32 as a daily is I'm afraid of shall we say because I see it as I'm driving a car thats apart of history as a daily...

I'd really love to hear from some gtr drivers.

[biddy]

I've owned my 32 gtr for 12 months now. I love driving it as a daily. I do about 80-100 k's per day. First thing I did when I bought it was replace the ceramic turbo's and get a nistune. Tuned to 280kw.

It can be quite expensive as a daily when you have to change the oil every 5000k's. Plus when things do go wrong they're usually expensive. Things that have gone wrong over the last 12 months are:-coolant pipe burst, Exhaust pipe corroded beyond repair and the clutch went. All replaced and fitted by myself. Also insurance isn't cheap either. I'm not sure about fuel economy but I had a Holden 5 ltr v8 ute before the gtr and it was about the same but the gtr is 10 times more fun to drive.

[Ohnoes]

Thx biddy, what turbo setup did you get, out of curiosity. Also what was the price along with that.

Keep the post's comin!

[Ten Four]

Fuel comsumption.

My stock 33GTR used to get 400km/tank (Daily driven for a good year, put on 11k kms)

My highly modded 32GTR used to get 500km/tank cause it was tuned with a power fc. (Did 1000kms in 4 months, weekend warrior, hks twin plate = no thx in rush hour)

Rest of your queries, use search mate...

[Ohnoes]

Thanks ten four, but I'm hoping for members info compared to google search.

[GTR-N1]

Buy here or import?

Regards Ohnoes

In short, I'd buy here on SAU whilst the enthusiast mentality will have already ironed out problems/rust etc.

If the car is relatively unmodified, it won't be too expensive to maintain depending on your right foot.

If the car is modified, and you do a lot of spirited/track driving, be prepared to budget for extra servicing/parts.

If you get a good 'un it won't depreciate like most other cars.

[GTRsean]

My 32 was a daily for 5 years. Great all round car, street, drag, twisties. Wet weather traction is great too.

Gearboxes get tired, replace all rubber pipes, cv boots etc but other than that was pretty good. Just keep it well maintained and they make a good daily too.

I used to get 400-420km around town and 550km on the highway, I did have cams, and that dropped economy a little, stock cams was 450 and 600.

Got hailed on, paintless dent removal got all the dents out of the aluminum bonnet and guards, etc.

[Beelzebub89]

I've had my GTR for close to 2 years now and I love it. I used mine as a daily for about a year and racked up about 40-45k kms. Got about 450km to a tank. I bought the car pretty much stock with just a catback. Since I've owned it I've put in some new Bilsteins and superpro bushes but thats about it. I've had no problems with the turbos but my car is still running stock boost so I never expected any.

If I was looking to buy a GTR now that is close to stock my criteria would be:

1994 model. They have the wider oil pump drive like the R33s and 34s

Replacement turbos. -7s, -9s or N1s they're all pretty similar,

After market computer - Power FC, Nistune etc

Good service history

That would give you a solid base to work on and should be fairly reliable. The good thing about buying a GTR now is the market is dead so there are a lot of really nice modified examples for fair prices. Have a look in the For Sale section on here and you will be suprised what you can get for your money these days.

[Ohnoes]

Thanks for all the advice its helpfull stuff

[MrStabby]

I've used my 32 GTR as a daily. I did take out the twin plate giken clutch that it came with and replaced it with an organic single plate to make it comfortable in stop start traffic, but other than that it was fine. Some will come with jap suspension which is often too hard. Reliability wise, turbos are a maintenance item at 100,000kms and they can trash the motor when they let go if you're unlucky, so its worth changing them to -7s or -9s if that hasnt been done already. As mentioned old coolant lines can go but generally they're pretty good for 20 year old cars. Agree with pretty much everything others have said.

[N1GTR]

I used mine as a daily for about a year. Then you get over it, cause there's nowhere to put your foot down and not get caught.

So like everyone else, wanted it built and much quicker, so did that.

Now it sits at home and i use a commodore everyday which is FAR less expensive to maintain and run, plus it doesnt get attention from the wrong crowd.

If i drove from home to a secure car park everyday then id try to live with it, but the triple plate makes that quite annoying.

Advice? Get a shitbox daily and the GTR for weekends. There's a heap of GTR owners with multiple cars

[biddy]

I went with the HKS GT-SS's. There running at 1.2 bar. Still got the standard injectors on which is the limiting factor. But I'm happy with it as it is at the moment.

[r32line]

Work is about 40K's to work and back 5 days a week, I'm planning to use the Gtr as an everydayer and is that right for a Gtr do many people use them here as dailys?

I can catch the train most days but sometimes have to drive and in heavy traffic it can be a pretty annoying car to drive with its heavy clutch, loud exhaust etc. So it depends on what the traffic is normally like on your trip to work if it is mostly flows well then it would be fine.

Running costs isn't really a problem as all my cars see regular servicing but I've been told that when things go wrong on a gtr there usually expensive.

Its an import, and its got a fair bit of stuff in it, like awd, twin turbo etc etc so yeah if things break it can be expensive.

What is the most common expensive thing to go wrong with this car and how much are we talking, also I'm aware that the car has alloy front quarters and bonnet are these repairable from dints and whats the replacement cost and or availability?

Oil pump failure, blown bottom end but these are normally when the cars get tracked or driven pretty hard

Yes those panels are aluminium and no they can't really be repaired. Cost can be pricey because people with gts-t's also are after those parts.

Whats the general reliability?

Its got a lot of technology and its getting quite old so every now and again its going to let you down, but thats just how it is. For the most part mine has been very good with only real thing to let me down being the clutch master cylinder and the alternator in about 2 years. But the better example you get the less likely it is you will have issues.

Fuel consumption, you've probably been asked one million times but one more won't hurt, the xr6t gets about 15lt/100km on avg and I'm just looking for a comparison out of curiosity. And yes I know it all depends on how heavy you drive it so lets say "cruising".

I average 14lt/100km using BP ultimate.

Buy here or import?

Pro's and con's to both. But for me i could not buy one off a screen but that's just me.

For those that own the Grey gtr32 whats it like to keep clean as in color wise?

My previous car was a grey 32 gts-t and it was actually really good for staying clean. The dirt doesn't really show up as much on the grey.

My ambitions are to lightly mod the car, how good are the ceramic turbo's I'm aware of some history do many people keep the standard ones and what kind of set-ups do you have eg; power/mods?

I wanted to keep mine relatively stock so all I have is an exhaust, pod filters and a boost controller set @13psi and it makes 200kw at all 4 wheels which is pretty decent. The controller has 2 settings though so i don't always have it at 13psi, but for the stockies thats about as high as you want to go.

Anything imparticular I should look out for when buying one? any experiences?

Is there any particular changes between Years of production, the info seems to be hard to gather.

In 1992 there was an update with minor changes inside like the finish of the cetre instruments but I dont know what else changed mechanically. The main thing to note is for the buying one here that quite a few of the older models still got in under the old 15-yr rule. This was a lot more laid back than the full SEVS compliance and cars with visible rust for example could come in under 15yr rule so that is something to watch out for.

I mentioned earlier that i've test driven two but unfortuantely was unable to obviously go to hard, what do these cars really hand like through the corners with hicas and awd when active in comparison to ya evo/wrx?

I have coilovers on mine with wider rims and tyres plus and underbody HKS chassis strengthening kit and it handles REALLY well. It is so direct and one of the things I love about the car the most. It may sound biased but it is one of the best cars I have ever driven. When I hop in other cars now the handling feels so vauge and there is so little feel by comparison.

Hope that all helps you with your decision.

[Ohnoes]

Well thank you for the feedback, r32line wicked post mate.