M35 Stagea

[tony200]

Hi, it's been a while since I have been on here but am back due to getting a new car.

I'm getting a M35 Stagea 250T RS four with leather interior, elec front seats, and while face dash gauges (speedo etc) and the car is stock unmodified from Japan.

Question is, from everything I have tried to find has indicated that the RS model didn't come with leather interior and elec seats.

So is there something I am missing or this is normal?

Also looking to get some nice VIP style wheels for it, preferably in 20" style to fill out the massive guards.

Can anyone recommend places, forums or shops around brisbane who deal with this?

Only moved to QLD at the start of the year.

Any help would be greatly appreciated ?

[Daleo]

White faced gauges means a Nismo cluster, so that's a good thing.

As for interior spec; the RS is generally lower spec; but you can option any model, with virtually any combination of optional equipment.

The wheel arches will absolutely eat up a 20" wheel; but the ride won't be too special once you do that.
I reckon 19" is probably the optimum, but personal taste dictates.

I'm sure some QLD'ers will chime in with recommended workshops, so I'll leave that.

Welcome to Stagea life.

[scotty nm35]

Means the K's are wrong unfortunately too, but if the condition is all good go for it.

It's a good time to buy, they seem to be selling so cheap these days, and it's a great car for the money.

[tony200]

So nismo cluster being a good thing but K's wrong?

Wouldn't the kms be from the ecu/computer rather from the dash itself if this was the case?

It's all electronic so where are the kms stored?

Ecu or dash cluster?

This is all new to me hence why asking

[Daleo]

So nismo cluster being a good thing but K's wrong?

Wouldn't the kms be from the ecu/computer rather from the dash itself if this was the case?

It's all electronic so where are the kms stored?

Ecu or dash cluster?

This is all new to me hence why asking

The Nismo cluster could have been fitted at any time during the cars life; so the Odometer may not be a guaranteed starting point.

It looks nicer than the stock cluster, and doesn't stop at 180km/h (doesn't change the speed limiter though).

Mileage is stored on the cluster; hence the comments.

If the car is in good condition; there's probably not much to worry about, but if you want to know for sure; there are places that can verify the mileage of the car prior to it leaving Japan, for less than $100.

It's more about peace of mind than anything.

Pulling off a rocker cover and checking the condition of the head and cam lobes will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the engine.

[tony200]

Ok

Well I believe it was checked in Japan before being brought over here.

Then the car was complianced in Melbourne.

The car will go over the pits next week at regency in Adelaide.

Surely through all that it would be checked to some degree?

Also has a nismo badge under the RS four on the tail gate if that means anything or not - I don't know.

Thanks for your information though.

Much appreciated.

[nickrussel]

There's no obligation for any of them to verify the Km's. You can ask them to give their personal opinion based on the inspection but I can guarantee you the ignorant comments will be along the lines of "All imports have dodgy kms" and, "it looks pretty good, but no way to know for sure". Despite having more stringent regulations than Australia, most people will still make those comments. The reality is, it's more likely that a car purchased locally has dodgy km's than a direct import now. Dozens upon dozens of dealers have been embroiled in wind backs covering all makes and models, at least there is a measure for Japanese imports.

The best thing you can do is check relatively obvious things, seat wear, carpet wear (can be masked by new floor mats), brake wear (could have been replaced or could have just been retarded and used EBC pads for street use), shocks, bushings (usually a good indication as it requires high attention to detail most people don't bother with) and then known fail points, turbos, timing belts, leaks and physical wear in the engine. Late 90s nissans were notorious for yield in turbo manifold studs around 120-140,000km, clues like this can demonstrate the true age of a car but it can all be covered up.

The positive side: The fact that people are aware of the prevalence of odo tampering with certain imports that arrived through particular dealers has driven the import price right down below their true value (just look at the cost of importing Vs local), this means, even though the Km's on the odo show XX,000, and it's probably XXX,000, you're paying the price for XXX,000 anyway, so there's actually no loss. It just means for you, you need to be aware Km's are probably higher and you should consider bringing forward preventative maintenance. These cars are a lot stronger than a lot of local crap and an extra 50,000km probably wont hurt it.

The negative side: For those of us who import ourselves, paying a premium for the assurance of Km's we end up losing further through artificial market deflation; but this is the reality of the Australian import market. The government wont have a choice but to step in and change legislation when they open up the import market, but until then imports a fringe group that have little impact on the overall auto industry.

[tony200]

Some interesting points there nickrussel.

You would think that the quality of imports coming into the country would have to be relatively good considering these days.

People are after more for less and people get picky when buying a car.

If importers can't sell cars due to issues or minor imperfections then it costs them as they loose profit or end up stuck with it.

So the quality of car would have to be quite high as the simply can't afford to have issues and makes bad business sense.

Do Japanese export certificates give enough detail into a car's history?

I can't read Japanese so unless I can get someone to interpret one, the information is useless to me.

[nickrussel]

Jump onto Japanese History check's facebook page, there's some really good advice on what to look for. It's hard to tell exactly what is genuine these days as there are dealers selling vehicles with forged dereg certificates.

Imports are still a niche market, the dealers know what cars they can make a good profit on and at the rate they bring them in it's cheaper to bring in a wreck and a high km grade 4 car then swap out the interior than importing a legitimate low km car. Low km cars in Japan are still fetching a reasonable premium as they're still desirable locally. I went in to importing a stagea thinking I would easily get one around 50,000km but they were all significantly more expensive than a car with 80,000km. Even for the money I've paid mine will only just get on road for similar to locally available models in dealers. Makes you wonder, when a dealer can turn a profit on a car that has the same price as a private importer.

As the others have said, I wouldn't be too stressed if it all looks the goods, but just stay well ahead of maintenance.

[datmoo]

There's no obligation for any of them to verify the Km's. You can ask them to give their personal opinion based on the inspection but I can guarantee you the ignorant comments will be along the lines of "All imports have dodgy kms" and, "it looks pretty good, but no way to know for sure". Despite having more stringent regulations than Australia, most people will still make those comments. The reality is, it's more likely that a car purchased locally has dodgy km's than a direct import now. Dozens upon dozens of dealers have been embroiled in wind backs covering all makes and models, at least there is a measure for Japanese imports.

The best thing you can do is check relatively obvious things, seat wear, carpet wear (can be masked by new floor mats), brake wear (could have been replaced or could have just been retarded and used EBC pads for street use), shocks, bushings (usually a good indication as it requires high attention to detail most people don't bother with) and then known fail points, turbos, timing belts, leaks and physical wear in the engine. Late 90s nissans were notorious for yield in turbo manifold studs around 120-140,000km, clues like this can demonstrate the true age of a car but it can all be covered up.

The positive side: The fact that people are aware of the prevalence of odo tampering with certain imports that arrived through particular dealers has driven the import price right down below their true value (just look at the cost of importing Vs local), this means, even though the Km's on the odo show XX,000, and it's probably XXX,000, you're paying the price for XXX,000 anyway, so there's actually no loss. It just means for you, you need to be aware Km's are probably higher and you should consider bringing forward preventative maintenance. These cars are a lot stronger than a lot of local crap and an extra 50,000km probably wont hurt it.

The negative side: For those of us who import ourselves, paying a premium for the assurance of Km's we end up losing further through artificial market deflation; but this is the reality of the Australian import market. The government wont have a choice but to step in and change legislation when they open up the import market, but until then imports a fringe group that have little impact on the overall auto industry.

So what do you mean by "could have just been retarded and used EBC pads for street use"?

[Brick]

With a nismo dash and a nismo badge(probably stuck on much later) you may be lucky enough to have scored a nismo ecu also. Would be worth having a look

[Daleo]

With a nismo dash and a nismo badge(probably stuck on much later) you may be lucky enough to have scored a nismo ecu also. Would be worth having a look

Good point actually.

The other thing I'd be doing; is once you have it in your hot little hands; I'd be doing ALL new fluids and filters throughout.

I know the compliance places are supposed to do everything; and some may well do, but draw a line in the sand where YOU know everything is done right, and you'll just be able to enjoy a fantastic car.

[tony200]

I have asked the importer to provide me with a copy of the auction sheet and the de-rego/export certificate for this car as what Japanese History Check and Japanese Odometre Check would get.

All details check out to be correct with 85,413km on auction sheet so this is good peace of mind.

So the Ecu is in the front LHS kick panel yes?

What differences would there be if this was a nismo ecu over standard?

More power, better tune, more tuneable?

[Daleo]

ECU is directly in front of the glovebox; bolted up on the firewall. There's a plastic cover which hides the A/C fan; pull that down and look up from the footwell.

The left kickpanel contains the trans ECU.

[nickrussel]

So what do you mean by "could have just been retarded and used EBC pads for street use"?

They're very hard pads and chew through discs abnormally fast. Makes it hard to gauge brake wear because you don't know how long they've been in there.

I didn't notice the difference when I swapped the green stuff out for bendix pads in my brembos. No doubt if I drove hard for more than 30-40 minutes there'd be a huge difference, but it's an expensive waste for street cars.

Tony, it's still worth doing a check with an independent company and most legitimate importers will support you doing that to improve the integrity of the industry. At the very least read up on all the stuff about how to check the documents are legit.

[tony200]

Tony, it's still worth doing a check with an independent company and most legitimate importers will support you doing that to improve the integrity of the industry. At the very least read up on all the stuff about how to check the documents are legit.

Do you know how to read them?

Could just post them up on here or pm to you?

[nickrussel]

Nah, I've just been reading up on how to check the authenticity of the documents.

This facebook page gives you a fair bit of info.

https://www.facebook.com/CarsImportedFromJapan/posts/1552399758374634

A few of the other companies also give tips and tricks on what to look for with the documents too but that page has more than enough info. If it passes that test I'd be pretty confident, just don't lose the certificate because it seems very few people hold onto them and it could limit your market.

[scotty nm35]

Even if the k's look close on the last two shakken results, they only store the last two in their system apparently, which can be another issue altogether.

With a Nismo dash that was never a factor option, you can be guaranteed it's out, but do you really want to know by how much? Almost every import owner I know has relied on the fact they are all wound back, and goes by condition rather than K's.

[tony200]

It doesn't bother me too much either way but sometimes it's better the devil you know rather than the devil you don't.

Hopefully get the car by next week.

Anyone know any good workshops for stageas in brisbane?