M35 Stagea Questions

[A Corpse]

Heya all. I'm a current Skyline owner and due to being a father and needing some more space I've decided to look at an M35 Stagea. I live in NZ so I don't believe the import restriction on 250s applies, but it's something I'm confirming. I plan to bring in a car myself so I can pretty much put together a shopping list of what I want, but I do need to buy it sight-unseen.

How much of a difference is there in petrol consumption between a 250RX and a 350RX4? I also wasn't sure if it would be worth considering a non-4WD 350, given the extra power. I haven't been able to find any petrol consumption stats about the M35's.

Are any M35's available with cruise control? It'd be a "nice to have" thing.

Any particular gotchas I should be on the look out for?

Thanks in advance!

Edited May 13, 2014 by A Corpse

[Brick]

250 is a 2.5 turbo where the 350 is a 3.5 non turbo. If you are wanting to mod a car for high performance go the 250. If you want a great car straight out the box for taking the family around etc go the 350.

Fuel consumption on both will be around 12-15l/100km. The 350 would be easier to keep more efficient though.

[A Corpse]

Ah, I was looking at the Series 2 M35's, going for as late a model as I can get (likely a 2007), so only NA options according to Wikipedia (taking that with a pinch of salt of course, let me know if it's flat out wrong).

250RX: VQ25DD engine (V6 2.5L NA, direct injection, 158.3 kW), rear-wheel drive

250RX FOUR: VQ25DD engine (V6 2.5L NA, direct injection, 158.3 kW), four-wheel drive

350RX: VQ35DE engine (V6 3.5L NA 200 kW), rear-wheel drive

350RX FOUR: VQ35DE engine (V6 3.5L NA, 200 kW), four-wheel drive

AR-X FOUR: VQ35DE engine (V6 3.5L NA, 200 kW), four-wheel drive

edit: Ugh how can I stop this forum from stripping all my line breaks out and making my posts look like they were typed by a 13 year old with ADHD?

Edited May 13, 2014 by A Corpse

[Brick]

If you are going n/a 100% go the 350. These cars are too heavy for a 2.5 non turbo.

[Hertz Donut]

I have a 350RX Four, which does the family duties and I take it on longer drives for work purposes (Hawkes Bay-Wellington and back). Around town fuel consumption is as stated above, on the open road it'll drop below 10l/100km and I'm not the most frugal driver out there. I was intending on buying a RWD version but was desperate for a vehicle so bought it anyway, and it's been awesome.

Boot space is huge (I've slept in the back on an air bed with the rear seats folded down), it handles very well for a land barge, and can get up and go quite well when you need it to. Beige interior is not child-friendly, I have a chocolate stain in the middle of the rear seat now that taunts me every time I look in the rear view mirror. I recommend finding a black interior. It also has more gizmos than I want to know about.

I believe the DD engines require more careful maintenance and can suffer from carbon build-up, someone else can confirm this.

[A Corpse]

Fuel wise it's similar to my R32 then. I get about 400-450km off a 55L fill around town, and recently 600km off a tank for a trip that was entirely long drives. I can get that past the missus then.

I checked on insurance and there's only about $60/year difference between the 250 and 350, so that's no problem either.

I get my cars serviced regularly (tried getting into it enough to do it myself but I don't have the enthusiasm) so hopefully reliability won't be an issue.

Edited May 13, 2014 by A Corpse

[PN-Mad]

We don't get the 2.5/3.0 NA cars in Australia, they don't meet the power requirements for importation.

It's a bit of a trap really, because you'll have to work a 2.5 car much harder to get up a hill than a 3.5. Therefore you'll find some fuel consumption benefits are taken away.

A M35 is one of the simplest cars ever to do an oil and filter change. Every numpty with simple tools will be able to complete it.

[Hertz Donut]

A M35 is one of the simplest cars ever to do an oil and filter change. Every numpty with simple tools will be able to complete it.

I can confirm this, I did one myself last weekend. Not too many people died. Most onerous part was taking off and putting back on the undertray to get to the filter, but you don't need to do this for just an oil change as there's an opening in the undertray to get to the sump bolt.

[PN-Mad]

Power drill with a 10mm socket.

30 second job to take the undertray off.

[Zedone]

I've got a 3L DD in Tauranga, runs great, fuel is around 10.0l/100km including both town and open road driving since I've owned it.
But if you are chosing between 2.5 NA and 3.5 NA go with the 3.5, my auntie had the 2.5 NAs as company cars and had heaps of problems because they worked too hard pulling the weight with no turbo.

Being honest, I think the 3L is great, its a balance between sizes and power. Somewhat of a shame its DD not DE but if you aren't modding the motor, theres no worries at all.

There are some Stageas with cruise control, but if you don't get one with it from factory, there are some aftermarket options available, I'm sure the guys on the forum will be able to help you out with that, especially as they know how to keep it looking factory.

I'm not really sure about benefits between 4WD and 2WD 3.5L motors/cars. I guess better traction on 4WD cars? Someone else with more experience/knowledge will be able to fill you in on this.

Hope this helps.

[Daleo]

Power drill with a 10mm socket.

30 second job to take the undertray off.

This.

Either that or a bit driver; best money you'll ever spend.

Except maybe a turbo.

[A Corpse]

Hehe well I'm wanting to go for something new enough to last me another decade (I've had the R32 for 12 years) and wanted stock to keep the insurance premiums lower. I've had real issues trying to get decent cover for my modded R32 so that's one headache I decided to avoid this time.

But everything you guys have said has confirmed my lean towards the 350RX4.

[M35woah]

Heh...

A corpse in a stagea . Surprised not a single mention of backpackers .

+1 for 3.5L AWD, if you really wanted to be reckless you could just pull the fuse to the torque distribution module. That way you get RWD for funz.

Edited May 14, 2014 by M35woah

[A Corpse]

Oh, another question, I've seen an Axis submodel on some auction sites, what's the deal with them?

[Hertz Donut]

I would have used a drill but all my power tools (and trolley jack) are holidaying at my sister-in-law's place until I've rebuilt the shed.

AWD can launch pretty well during traffic light drags. Allegedly.

[M35woah]

Oh, another question, I've seen an Axis submodel on some auction sites, what's the deal with them?

Well there are two types in series 2.

The Axis, which is the cross country version with the over fenders and raised height, they also have autech tuned suspension, grill, bumper and different interior.

The Axis S, which is the "sport" model of the two... with axis tuned suspension, half leather interior, different muffler, blackened headlights with a different grill and bumper.

No performance difference between them, one is just gay high. They're just optioned extras from Autech is all.

One thing noted about these cars is that everything is an option.... EVERYTHING. There are Autech series two stageas without the smart key function, bluetooth or bose stereos.

Edited May 14, 2014 by M35woah

[M35]

are you talking about the ARX four Matt? I thought AXIS only comes in RWD.

Edited May 14, 2014 by M35

[PN-Mad]

Nope, Matt has a awd axis.

[M35woah]

AWD and RWD I believe were like optional for all the cars? Except the Autech 350S, but that's a series 1 car with a six speed so it was only RWD.

[A Corpse]

 

One thing noted about these cars is that everything is an option.... EVERYTHING.

 

Does this apply to the non-axis ones too? If so, what kind of features are optional that are worth getting? EG the one I test drove had two temperature zones, but I couldn't actually find a way to control them independently, is that a user error or was that an option that was removed on that one?

There's not a lot of info on Stageas around it seems.