Importing A Gtr For My P's

[Ben C34]

That's a well written post but seriously needed another tldr at the end of it!

[Anfanee]

You would be surprised how many people on this forum had to wait exactly like you have to. These laws have been around for years.

[Trex]

9 yrs to be exact

[Anfanee]

9 yrs to be exact

Thar ye go. 9 years.

BLOODY YOUNGINS AND THEIR CARS.

Oh on a side note. You could just move to Canberra. We have no laws restricting us here. I know a 17 year old with a 400kw WRX. 100% legal.

[Hadouken]

Or. You buy pulsar. Because pulsar> skyline.

Then when you are off your p's you buy skyline. Then you have pulsar and skyline. Then you win the Internet.

[RBrennan25]

OP as suggested, do a search for gts4. It is exactly the car you wanted to build. GTR running gear with a small non turbo motor. If the 4wd is the bit you like that will give it to you. They even come in R32 33 and 34 so you can even pick your favourite shape. Then as soon as you hit full licence, drop in a 25det or 26dett and you're done.

But don't do up the motor before you put it in, you won't be able to control it and you WILL crash and ruin your car

[James51]

9 yrs to be exact

Huh. Didnt know it had been that long. I have friends 2 / 3 years older than me that tell me they didnt have any of these rules when they were on their ps. I do live in qld though so maybe we adopted it later? Im originally from the uk so it all seems over the top to me though.

[Trex]

In nsw it's been 9

[Ak-kronos]

I've been in a similar boat mate for the last couple of years. End of the day, without taking major risks its not feasible. I'm not willing to risk my licence over it, I enjoy driving too much.

I'm on the home straight now, 2 months until I get my opens. I'm going through the purchase of my new car this week (rb26 S15). My plan for the next 2 months is to work on it every chance I get, however I'm not doing power mods - I'm doing reliability/safety mods (oil returns, catch can, baffled sump, oil pump, braided lines, brakes, alarm etc.).

The biggest thing to realize in our situation is that no matter how good a driver of your current P plate car you are, if we go and build an all-singing all-dancing beast of a car for the moment we get our opens that car is going to bite us in the ass at some point. The last thing I want to see is this car damaged because I wasn't a good enough driver to handle it. It'll devastate you emotionally and financially.

This car has had work, but I'm purposely going to be running waste gate level boost until I get used to the car (estimating 3-6 months of daily driving), and then slowly creep it up to what it's currently running as and when I feel I can deal with it. Only then will I look at power upgrades. I expect that process to take 1-2 years.

Everyone here wants a nice car, and the frustration of being legally told you cannot drive the car you want to is something a lot of people here wouldn't understand (it's very easy to say "wait wait wait" when you've not been in the situation yourself) and honestly it makes you want it more.

That in mind, May 8th (opens day) is going to roll around for me, and it's going to be a fantastic day finally being able to drive this car.

TL;DR - Don't be discouraged by everyone telling you you're going to wrap your car around a tree, just be sensible about the whole process, don't go and hop into a 400HP car as soon as you get off your Ps. Educate yourself as much as possible and try to keep yourself busy with quality of life / reliability / safety mods, rather than go-faster mods. From my experience you'll gain a lot more respect and positive opinions from people on forums taking this route.

Thanks for your input mate,

I'm glad to see there is someone else here that isn't just looking down at a newbie. -_-

Now i wouldn't say i'm being unreasonable here I'm after educated opinions not people telling me i should be in the 5th grade.

I'm now probably leaning more to the waiting option after hearing what a few of the people taking this serisously have had to say. also dropping an N/a into a GTR will do my head in just in the whole idea of degrading it....

I'm thinking instead i'll arrange the shipping 4-5 months before opens that way i'll get it about 4-6 weeks before my opens.

That will give time for these safety mods to be done before i get onto the road with it... but i'll have to keep the golf until opens.

[James51]

Absolutely. The worst thing you can do is buy another "It'll do" kind of car (almost did that with a WRX I got an exemption for, god am I glad I didn't!)

Keep an eye on Yahoo Auctions and some other Japanese auction websites. Familiarize yourself with good importers, the process and what to look for as well as what kind of money to put aside for it. If you can afford it earlier, by all means go for it. If you're not doing the work yourself, You'll find a lot of garages will do things cheaper for you if you allow them to do it in their down time (I.e. take a month to install XYZ rather than 2 days, You're in no rush anyway and it's free storage!). Just make sure it's a garage you trust.

I'm lucky some close friends of mine are great (understated) mechanics. They're happy to get the stuff I want done within the timeframe and hold onto the car for me until I need it. It's also nice for other customers to have something to gawk at when they come in

[Anfanee]

Oh noo ill "have to keep the golf"

Is this the world we live in? What happened to the days where people were just happy they had a car to drive.

Spoilt little brats

But seriously are you even aware as to the coin required to keep a GTR (especially a 32) on the road as a daily driver?

There is an old saying for these cars....

"If you can't afford two, don't buy one"

Put it this way, I have a second car that paid itself off in a year in fuel costs alone. Wasn't even counting service etc....

[Bennis]

Hahahahaha, jesus christ some of these p platers come up with wild ideas.

Option A: Caught, loss of liscence, fine, record

Option B: Still illegal because the car is still a registered turbocharged vehicle, regardless of what engine is in it

Option C: See above answer

Wake up, use your brain and drive a LEGAL p plate vehicle. Believe you me I went through the same thought process 5 years ago when I was a 16 year old kid beating my dick over GTR videos on youtube. Its not worth your time.

[BoyWhoCriedWolf]

I started with a 930 turbo. Taught me real car control.

Then I entered racewarz.

[Anfanee]

I started with a 930 turbo. Taught me real car control.

Then I entered racewarz.

I bet a car like that would have to fetch a premium a week before reacewarz.

[Cowboy1600]

You can hit someone in an excel and THAT will be considered an accident, not manslaughter depending on the circumstances (i.e speeding, drink driving). If you are driving a car you can not legally drive YOU will be charged with manslaughter and see jail time. In the eyes of the law there is a big difference.

Just wait until you are off your P's and go nuts it honestly is not worth the risk.

I don't say this to encourage the OP, but you don't know what you are talking about. If you hit someone while driving a car you shouldn't have been, you'll get the exact same penalty as if you were driving the Excel plus one for driving a car you shouldn't have been. The initial charge won't be upgraded because you were driving something you shouldn't have. That's fact.

To the OP, I concur with the general consensus. Wait till you're off you P's then buy a 1000hp R32 GTR and go spastic.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Cowboy1600

[Ak-kronos]

Oh noo ill "have to keep the golf"

Is this the world we live in? What happened to the days where people were just happy they had a car to drive.

Spoilt little brats

But seriously are you even aware as to the coin required to keep a GTR (especially a 32) on the road as a daily driver?

There is an old saying for these cars....

"If you can't afford two, don't buy one"

Put it this way, I have a second car that paid itself off in a year in fuel costs alone. Wasn't even counting service etc....

The reason for the "Keep the golf" being a bad move, I'm getting Financial pressure plus peer and family pressure to get rid of it.

However as others have said, I'm not keen on an In between car.

As for "Spoilt brats". My golf is a MY01 gti which i've paid for by myself, had to get a loan at the start of my p's. Worked and earned that money to pay for it legit.

Its not like its a 25k mummy and daddy present...

I get masses of shit from the JDM community for driving said golf despite what its got...

in the last 3 months i've spent nearly $5k just on repercussions of the diff and gearbox breaking...

Thats 5k which was sitting in my "upgrade car fund"

Absolutely. The worst thing you can do is buy another "It'll do" kind of car (almost did that with a WRX I got an exemption for, rajab am I glad I didn't!)

Keep an eye on Yahoo Auctions and some other Japanese auction websites. Familiarize yourself with good importers, the process and what to look for as well as what kind of money to put aside for it. If you can afford it earlier, by all means go for it. If you're not doing the work yourself, You'll find a lot of garages will do things cheaper for you if you allow them to do it in their down time (I.e. take a month to install XYZ rather than 2 days, You're in no rush anyway and it's free storage!). Just make sure it's a garage you trust.

I'm lucky some close friends of mine are great (understated) mechanics. They're happy to get the stuff I want done within the timeframe and hold onto the car for me until I need it. It's also nice for other customers to have something to gawk at when they come in

As for this, This is what i will probably do,

As I work in logistics i'm starting to get familiar with Automotive Import (I don't do it yet, I just have frequent contact with the people that do)

So I'll probably just import the car myself or through my company for a cheaper rate

.

But i can see where the others have concerns about someone who hasn't had access to high powered cars for a few years then jumping into something that has 300-400 awkw. I mean my golf is currently sitting on around 160-170 FWKW, which If i swapped into an tuned AWD with rear wheel bias I can see the room for error....

As for the modifications... I'd like to do alot of the work myself, However its a steep learning curb as I've only really dealt with smaller engines and in no way full done scale modifications.. so i guess i'll have to see what extent i'm willing to modify it myself...

[TM7GTR]

400kw wrx owned by Panayioti here in ACT?

If so I know the kid too. His dad owned RH9 lol

[iseekool]

Buy a corolla, lancer or pulsar, if you really hate the VW.

You will not lose much once you sell them off

[The Baron]

Peer pressure should never be a reason to do something - just sayin......

Cheers

The Baron

[RBN1]

in the last 3 months i've spent nearly $5k just on repercussions of the diff and gearbox breaking...

Thats 5k which was sitting in my "upgrade car fund"

$5k? Wait till you get a GTR. That number is just a drop in the great GTR maintenance ocean