Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Images and documents have been re-hosted to protect their origin - happy to confirm the origin of the originals via PM from community members of good standing.

http://www.tradingpost.com.au/Automotive/Used-Cars/AdNumber=D1028602536543

Only 64,077 km's!!!

Here are the same photos - taken 'in the light-tube timemachine' by an exporter in Tokyo, Japan:

Bpo706xl.png

Full collection of Tokyo photo's per the trading-post ad plus a few extra that didn't make it:

pcQPOMyl.jpg

bK64Tjfl.jpg

fSsWwMXl.jpg

DMEBg13l.jpg

3oAnJsxl.jpg

jdr4OWul.jpg

OmDW6c6l.jpg

VFc7jIMl.jpg

1qED4Asl.jpg

jElD0PPl.jpg

TGeVP6Wl.jpg

JM2oN9bl.jpg

QO7ribxl.jpg

nM5VM2Dl.jpg

fHqFxOzl.jpg

Confirming the chassis # matches should be pretty simple if someone is to visit/call the dealer.

Edited by dodgyimports
  • Like 1
Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/428307-buyer-beware-2004-nissan-stagea/
Share on other sites

This is a disappointing but sadly, not uncommon occurrence. :no:

While ever there's an opportunity to make a quick buck; there will always be people ready and willing to fleece the uninformed.

Good on you for doing the detective work; hopefully people will arm themselves with this information, and only choose to deal with a reputable importer or dealer, that has nothing to hide.

This just highlights the need to support guys like Iron Chef; who clearly have scruples and a conscience, and supply only the best cars; regardless of what type of vehicle customers are looking for.

1st rule of imports. It is clocked or has had a dash swap.

Unless you are have access to Japanese de-reg paper, auction reports, import paper etc. the car will be clocked. Even then the original owner may have clocked the car to sell it.

Most likely it happens when the car is in "no-mans land" -

the Australian dealer pays the exporter for the car and requests the new mileage, the japanese exporter gets a de-registration/export certificate for the car, still with original mileage. after this official document has been issued they get the odometer changed, just prior to the vehicle being shipped. so when the car arrives in Australia it magically has a different number!

Or a person in Japan can do it, because they put their car on consignment. So it's just an individual selling a car, through a business face.

Check the r34 GTR thread in general auto discussion.

Within aust, it's perfectly acceptable to change instrument clusters. You have to notify the state authority of the Kms when you changed it, and the Kms on the new cluster as I understand it. And have a valid reason, which is, it broke.

How many people would check prior to purchase? I know of a work mate that knocked 150k off his Getz prior to selling. Not that I condone this behaviour.

Oh, and how do they get away with it?

Some dealers are well known through the legal system. They find themselves in front of the law 3 times a month. But the number of cars they sell far exceeds the cost of ones people make claims on.

I was at a workshop recently, and noticed that they had 3 Stagea instrument clusters on a bench;

What could be the possible reason for having that many clusters? I've never seen, or heard of one failing.

Perhaps they were changing the globes? Yes, I'm sure that's it. :yes:

My solution even cheaper. I used a label machine to print out the desired km's & stuck it on the front plastic.

It doesn't change, but gives me the fuzzies when I see my car's only done 26K !

  • Like 1

You showed him what??? No doubt he'll find his way to this post - putting us all in the spotlight, very clever. :angry:

I was bored and emailed the seller lol. Played dumb

But did openly admit that he didnt think they were origional ks b4 i showed him the above lol

Sounds like he played dumb a lot better than you did. He got some handy information on who he should keep an eye on.

it happens here, its not exactly rocket science to do it.

it would happen when the car lands and is taken away to the dealer/importer shop.

dash removed and thus taken to a instrument calibration place who asks how many km's

Just a but of theory:

K's are noted when you receive a pink slip and sent to the rta each year. Take out the k counter cog and wind in a small amount if k's for that year when receiving a new pink slip. <--- that is untraceable. Yes it's f**king rediculous but there is nothing the rta can do about it and I know it would happen to a lot of people.

My brother bought an '02 wrx for a good price with 130k on the clock. He had a phone call from the police regarding the real k's that were on the car. It had a speculated over 250k's. the owner of the dealership was sent to gaol for defrauding a lot of his customers. God knows what else he had done.

If something is too good to be true, it probably is.

Buying any car is a gamble regardless of the year made and how good of condition it is in. So when you find something good, hold onto it because you never know what troubles you're paying for.

My girlfriend bought an '06 Holden with 120k on it, everything seemed fine and had all the paperwork. When I tried to do a plug change I noticed the head was threaded and it was burning 3L of oil every 1000k's. yes I'm furious, no she won't give me the address of the seller. I called the mechanic who had done the services and he played dumb and blamed the owner but he wouldn't give me an address or phone number. He went from knowing the previous owners quite well, to not knowing who they are and has never seen them again.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I haven’t taken them out of the cases yet    inside the box is this packaging which is pretty much like a massive blister pack 
    • Purchased a NC MX5 a while ago Basic suspension mods done, BC coils and Whiteline sway bars  New DBA calipers, discs and pads Added some 17 x 8 Konig Decagrams with 215/45 17 PS5's Added some typical NA bolt on's, i.e. full exhaust and intake  Added 0.5ltrs with a MZR2.5 swap, nice bump in torques  Found a detachable hard top which is locked in for a colour match with my local paint shop in Feb 25, this also includes some PDR as it has received a few love taps from parking in the local shops when in the hands of my Minister for War and Finances, me, I park nowhere near other cars and typically park on the street The little thing is awesome, I drive it everywhere, it handles like a dream whether I'm up it or just cruising  But now,  because I'm a idiot, I keep looking at turbo kits....... did I mention I'm a idiot Why is dose so appealing  All of the NA 2.5 glory, well.......until sometime in 2025 anyway....🤪  
    • I would not be surprised if you are the only person on earth that has the interest/desire to do that lol.  The Haltech base map is a really good starting point, the car will fire easily and drive very well, even on mild boost levels. To me, following your advice sounds like some sort of ancient Chinese water torcher lol (this is not an insult Josh, never change <3)
    • Those car show concepts from the 2000's and 2010's like the Floria and IDx were brilliant and should've gone ahead, at least one of them. But neither Honda nor Nissan are thinking about affordable performance any more, which is truly sad.  Even if Toyota's liquid hydrogen ICE development reaches the point where it's commercially viable and the infrastructure to support it, Honda/Nissan would have to wait until Toyota allow fee access to their patents to offer it with any smaller performance models they released to take advantage of it.  
    • A sporty manual RWD coupe with a IL4 Honda engine would only be a good thing I assume we won't see anything released for a few years though, unless informal talks and designs have been going on for a few years,  and due to the current, and future, emmisions and safety requirements, I assume anything "sporty" they would do would be at least some hybrid thingie And hopefully anything they are thinking of has nice lines, without lots of plastic and fake bits hanging off it like that horrendous FK8 that looked like it was designed by a 13 year old The other issue of course in the current market is cost, currently the type R is around $70k, a twin is around $50k Meh, I'm old and grumpy and would rather buy a older model car and waste my coin on that than buying anything currently available new  
×
×
  • Create New...