Buying A Skyline, Thoughts On This One Please.

[surubaa]

Hello everyone.

I'm looking at buying my first car/skyline and after searching for a while have come across a particular one, that to me seems like a very genuine deal. Although I have to admit my knowledge of motor's and cars isn't so great.

I think usually skylines with these kind of kilometers go for a lot more money hence it's very attractive to me, also the guy says his been using genuine Nissan parts for work that was carried out and he bought it himself off an importer and has had the car ever since.

I'd really appreciate it if a few owners here good give me their thoughts on this deal maybe a run down on any information I should know when buying a skyline or what questions I should be asking and what I should be looking for, I will be phoning the guy later tonight and so with your help maybe I will get myself a bargain. the asking price is $5000 but as he says, any reasonable offer will be accepted. I will be using this car to drive to work everyday, and If I purchase it will be taking a loan out to pay for it, so can't really afford for any major stuff ups in the near future. A friend of mine suggested buying a cheap $800 run about and to wait and keep looking until something better comes up thats more modified, But for me I find it better that its not completely worked as It seems then that it may not have had such a rough life, but who knows. I definitely can't afford anything more than $5000 thats really my maximum limit, as i'll need to pay for rego and insurance still. and I know for a quality skyline thats hard to come by.

Here is the information for the car as listed.

Vehicle1993 NISSAN SKYLINE R33 GTS-TPrice$5,000*Kilometres119,658ColourWHITEInterior ColourGREYTransmission5 speed ManualBody2 door 4 seat COUPEDrive TypeRearEngine6 cylinder Petrol Intercooled Turbo 2.5L (2498cc)Engine NumberRB25089951ARoad Worthy CertificateNoVehicle ID9929089Brief CommentsNEEDS TO GO!!! R33 GTS-T, Minor mods, mechanically excellent, selling due to family commitments.CommentsR33 GTS-T SERIES 1 LATE 1993 BUILD.

Car is unregestered but blue slip will be included once interest is shown.

Mechanically the car is very sound. it has been serviced at 5000km intervals and still runs like the day i recieved it. I recently replaced the thermostat and waterpump as a precautionary when i found a leak in the waterpump gasket, both replacement items are genuine nissan. . Vehicle had 100000 km service and timing belt was also replaced.. Belt is a gates item. Clutch was replaced about 6000 km ago with a standard item. and front shocks replaced less than 100km ago with genuine nissan items. THIS VEHICLE IS MECHANICALLY SOUND.

I bought the vehicle stock standard seven years ago from an importer. Since then i have added front mount intercooler, pod filter, 3 inch trust power extreme exhaust, 3 inch stainless dump pipe, engine strut brace, lightened flywheel(exedy), aftermarket coilpacks, aftermarket sparkplugs, greddy e manage digital boost controller, turbo timer, alarm with central locking, new stock steering wheel, new gearstick and handbrake boot leathers and various other new interior parts.

The paint work is very faded, worn and chipped. i have included photos of this.

I have also kept and will include all the original standard parts of the car so it can be returned to stock standard and also included will be a set of 19 inch 6 spoke gloss black rims with nearly new rubber. One wheel has a puncture that i have never fixed. These are not on the vehicle but i have included a photo of the rims on the car. All spare parts are pictured also.

Price is $5000. But Reasonable offers will be excepted. THIS CAR NEEDS TO GO. WITHOUT FAIL ANY REASONABLE OFFER WILL BE EXCEPTED.

Thanks guys, I'm eagerly awaiting your responses.

Kind regards,

surubaa

[DarkRyda]

I suggest you see the car in person and get it checked by RACV or a Mechanic they will let you know engine compression, rwc requirements, gearbox, engine, exhaust etc... condition if you have a limited budget i suggest you dont buy a Skyline they are NOT cheap to run nor maintain and your most likely going to want to mod it hence they become money pits!. On your budget id suggest looking for a different car...

[ZED X]

That does look very clean!

My suggestion (given the low milage) would to note down the following:

- Wear on the drivers seat / foot pedals / Gear boot - These will give you a rough idea how old the vehicle is. May also give insight as to how accurate the mileage is on the vehicle and as to whether they are genuine.

Also take a look under the car and check along all of the chassis rails for damage, check rear CV boots and power steering boots for cracks.

Close all of the doors and line up the distances between the door and the body - ie the gap between the door and the door frame. Check both sides and make sure they are similar (this may prove a bent chasis) or perhaps give you idea of previous incident history.

Theres a hell of a lot more you can check aswell, however given you arnt very mechanically minded i would suggest you either employ a mechanic to properly check over the vehicle.

If your close to your budget before paying for insurance/rego/vehicle, you may need to either put further funds aside or hold off, Ideally after buying a new vehicle you should be performing a full service specially if you plan to use the vehicle as a daily driver.

Thats my 2c im sure others will add more, good luck with your decision, looks like a clean example

[surubaa]

Thanks guy's I did also read over the buying a skyline thread started here which gave lots of use full tips. The problem for me is the car is around 8 hours drive away, So I cant really go and check it out without committing to buy, obviously apon inspection if I felt it was really a bomb waiting, then yes I could pull out but if I drive those 8 hours I'm more than likely going to buy it. I have a friend who is a mechanic, so will bring him along with me to go over it, however what is RACV darkryda?

The problem with my budget is really on start up, just getting the funds to pay for the car and rego etc a few weeks later, once I have transport again, I will be back at work 6 days a week and should be able to give it some tender love eg a check up/service. although your logic really does make sense.. and I wish I would follow it, as like you mentioned I could see myself catching the modding bug, but now my heart is fairly content on getting one of these things as I figure worst case scenario, its too expensive to run in a years time when I've paid it off I can re-sell it and get something more sensible.

Now seeing as I'm so far away from the seller that I don't want to drive up there to just check it, is there anything I can do from back here at home?

regards,

surubaa

[ZED X]

Perhaps post the location of the vehicle up here, see if anyone lives close by

Unfortunately im in Adelaide so im not much use to you.

[UWISSH!]

man thats cheap.

id be warry of a car soo cheap and that the person is desperate to get rid of.

honestly with $5k as your total budget i wouldnt look at a skyline maybe a corolla or sumthing that is cheap to run fuel wise and maintenace wise.

Also in my opinion taking such a small loan to buy a car is as waste. why not up the loan size and get sumthing that is better?

also are you taking out a personal loan or car loan? coz if its a car loan u will nedd to pay full insurance which will be over $1k

lastly if you cant afford for anything to go wrong with it then you shouldnt realy be buying it

[surubaa]

Car Location is Armidale, if anyone is nearby that would be great. as I'm 8 hours away.

UWISSH- Im not an active tuner, and I know this may appear as the wrong car and in some way's it is, but the fact is I will be able to pay it off. the loan is with a friend not a bank. But I am very keen on owning a skyline, I do not wish to get myself in any more debt and this car will be more then enough for me in the time. If I Did up the loan, I wouldnt really be after anything more modified then what this car currently is. and seeing as it allegedly has a good service record and part history it seems the best for me.

I rang up a Nissan dealership there in armidale today, who said they do Pre purchase inspections. so I will be speaking to the owner of the car and seeing if his able to drop the car off at the dealership for an inspection sometime next week. if his not prepared to get it inspected than I won't be buying it. as its to much of a risk to buy a car without seeing it yourself at least once before hand or without an inspection.

Hopefully all goes well, and this car doesn't sell before I get it inspected

Ill give updates on how I go thanks for the help guys.

[surubaa]

Update: Guy said reason its so cheap is, that the paintwork really is in a badway, and that he couldnt sell it for the usual price of 7500 due to the paint, it also has a minor power steering leak, which I've been told are easy to fix. and it was out of rego for 12 months and hasn't been driven during that time. Also he claims it's not been driven too hard as it was his daily driver and he wanted to keep it reliable.

hoping to get some more pics of the paintwork from him.

UPDATE2: guy is happy for the car to be inspected by the Nissan dealership and will drop it off If I make an appointment, understandably said he wont pay for the check, but if there is anything wrong its possible that he will work some kind of deal out with me eg discount or pay for some of the labor to be carried out. Said that the photos on carpoint.com.au don't do the paintwork justice and that it really does have almost something wrong with every panel eg bonnet has crack in paint. and thats the sole reason his selling it cheap as he wouldn't want to make someone pay 7500 for the car with the paint in this shape. also electric mirrors aren't working he doesn't know why and the drivers side window is a bit "Sticky" but just needs a new button. air con works great, and all other windows fine. small powersteering leak which he has seen, but must have happened while sitting in the shed as he drove it back from cairns and never noticed it then.

I asked for some more photos and he said he will send them through on Saturday when he gets a chance.

So I mean some details there that wouldn't hurt to have been mentioned online. But I guess with older model car's like these eg 93 model you have to make a compromise right? theres not going to be any perfect 93 skylines left out there they all have a bit of character these days and if its only things like a sticky button and electric mirrors not working these are little things I can play around with and learn to do i guess. He said the motor in the mirrors work but that they just don't adjust. and that in the last 12 months he has run about a tank of fuel through it as a few times he started it up for people he was going to sell it too. He said He will get the blue slip done if i go to buy it but they are only 30 day slips and he doesn't want to get it done as he advertised it in case nobody was interested in the car.

Thoughts now guys? I guess if purchased I would have to drain the fuel out, and change the oil and oil filter and maybe the coolant? other than that is there much needed to be done for a car thats been sitting around for 12 months?

thanks again.

kind regards,

surubaa

Edited February 24, 2011 by surubaa

[DarkRyda]

The year of the car does not really make a difference to be honest iv seen 93 models cleaner than some of the later S1.5/2 (95/96 and up) models it's just a matter of how the original owner looked after the vehicle e.g. garaged, regularly washed, polished,waxed, vacuumed etc... another indication of wear and tare is normally seen through the driver side seat common upholstery tearing occurs there.

RAVC is an insurance company but they also do vehicle checks on the go which is handy if you cannot get to the car. Im in Vic not sure if there the same around Australia. Get the car inspected there is nothing more people can say! the rest is your decision. eventually the fading roof will need to be resprayed or surface rust might occur.

Edited February 24, 2011 by DarkRyda

[Stevoss]

i looked at that car on carsales and to be honest, expect to pay 9k for a car that isnt going to cost more than first glance.

[KamikazeNinja34]

Sounds like a couple grand to make it roadworthy just based on windows mirrors and not sure what it's like in qld but in Vic only one intake mod is allowed ie only pod OR fmic. If that's the case where u are a stock airbox or sidemount intercooler would have to be sourced and fitted. I dunno about u buddy but I have alarm bells going off in my head on this one. If u can't afford more than 5k u can't afford a skyline...as said above, it's not all purchase price. It's maintainance. And that is just as expensive. Also...a 1993 will not have any airbags. If that's a consideration.

[thejedilestat]

if you dont have the cash better to wait why risk spending all your cash. it sucks but just wait i feel your pain though

i only just bought my r34 25gt and the lowbeam lights dont work just highbeam. maybe not the bigest issue but still an issue for a car i just payed for and havent even sat in yet

not having air bags stoped me from buying a 1992 GTS-T for $7000

[Galois]

Lost my first fkn post argh

If you have to take out a loan for the 5k you'll be in rough shape when things start going wrong, and they will, fast. The car is cheap because it's in bad nic, I'd be wanting another 5k in the bank to throw at it.

Say your clutch goes in a month, you'll go to replace it and find you have to upgrade, 700 for the kit, and 500-700 for labour, even more if the mechanic doesnt know what he's doing, which is likely with imports. I didnt read all because my battery is about to die, but if its still got the original coilpacks they'll be, in all probability, due for an upgrade soon, thats 400-600 if you install them yourself.

Then consider servicing. Most owners service every 5000km, maybe a little longer if they use good oil. That includes $40 for park plugs, $60-120 for oil and $20 for a filter.

You're also probably buying a car in need of some tlc, so you'll want to replace the gearbox and diff oil ($50-70 each), and maybe the coolant (lets say $40 for a couple of bottles of nulon llc). That's all assuming you do it yourself, if not add 200 on for the service and another 200-400 for the fluid changes.

See how it's starting to get into big numbers.

I went the loan road for the last 6k of my old r34 gtt (this was when they were worth 18k not 14k), I neglected to remember that insurance cost me 1900, to replace all tyres with shitty nankangs was 800 (spend more than that mate). I also neglected to remember that the following year I'd be working a different job (I'm finishing off uni) and was earning $400 a fortnight less. Now I have sold the skyline and have a run-around magna. Still paying off the personal loan though, and that stings everytime they take a payment.

Not that I'm dissing the magna, in fact I strongly recommend one if you're just looking for a decent, well equipped car for $3k (3.0L auto's with 160k km and in pretty good shape, manuals again are even better).

If you immediately go into loan it's likely be a world of financial hurt, sorry to say mate. But i wish you the best with whichever road you go. I cannot wait to buy another fun car.

[PM-R33]

Such a low budget for an import all on a loan is a bad idea.

[adamskill]

had a look at the pics, and to be honnest its junk mate. you have to remember that its just a car. its in bad shape, the paint is f**ked, despite what he has said, it would have been flogged. on a super tight budget like you have, dont buy an old clapped out skyline. wait til you can afford to buy a decent one. you wont ever forgive your self if you buy a dud.