Buying: Within ACT or Sydney?

[sl33py]

Hi. I am looking at most likely buying an R33, gtst. I'd like to know whether ppl think I should buy within the ACT, or if it's fine to go to Sydney and have more choice.

A few ppl now have recommended two things:

1) Don't buy from the local dealers in Fyshwick. (Having had a brief look already, I can kinda guess why, i get a seedy impression).

2) Buy locally from someone I know.

A few things that I cross my mind are:

1) I don't properly know anyone local with a skyline yet

2) I'd feel weird about getting to know someone, just to buy their car, after deciding "this is a person I can trust". Because, regardless of trust, a car is a car and they can still mess up.. and it's not like ur gonna throw it back at the person anyway! even less so if they're a friend! (just my opinion...)

3) There's a heap of places in sydney that appear to have skylines that haven't been owned in australia yet. less kms on them, 3 year warranties... and at comparable prices to the third hand ones here. usually dealers would be more $$, but because all cars in canberra are a lil more expensive, it works out kinda the same, minus travel costs to get there and back. They also comply the cars themselves, which I've learnt on here is an Australian wide thing, so means it works for ACT as well). The biggest "issue" I can think of is the transfer of registration. Which I'm hoping would be a non-issue, since I plan to buy as stock condition as possible. I'd expect more trouble transferring ownership of a modded local car..

Pls tell me if this isn't right. Currently I'm thinking of looking at the local cars to see what's out there, then going to sydney for more choice, to actually get one.

Thanks.

[Frink]

well, i bought mine from sydney, from a sales yard. saw it and fell in love. the used car market was slow when i bought my car, so i did the hard deal on them and got $3000 off the price. not sure what the market is like now, but i dont think that it wouldve improved much.

basically, i think you'd better off looking in sydney, the market is much larger up there and your more likely to get a better deal with so much competition. be careful though, make sure it will pass rego in the ACT.

[Bluprint]

Well I didn't buy an R33, but I find that if you're buying from anywhere (local or interstate), you're better off buying private.

Dealers are too often just willing to say anything to get your money and offload the car.

That being said, I'm sure there are dealers in Sydney that are a worthwhile place to buy a 33 (or any import) from. I had a little bit of involvement with the purchase of Frink's car (i.e. I was there when he first saw it ), and he seemed to have gone through one of the better car yards.

[rumble]

having bought 2 skylines over the years- one local & one in NSW-my advice is to make sure everything is in writing and dont rush into it-do your homework 1st-whether its a dealer or private.

[race_snooze]

Trojan motor sport they can get you a good deal on one ring them on 62426277 or go and see them in mitchel near the shops accross from the roundabout

[sl33py]

Sweet! thanks race_snooze. Did you buy from there?

Anyone else know places? Has anyone dealt with this place or any others? Should they be lumped in automatically with the "don't buy from fyshwick" statement, regardless of postcode?

[Bullet32]

My advice is, in both cases (dealer or private) if you dont know what you should look for in a car for sale, take someone with you who does... You cant trust anyone, even an old grandpa, Private: if you buy a lemon you have to wear it unless you want to go to court, Dealers: most used car dealers offer warranty, but most warranty's arent worth the paper they are written on as they have large loop holes in them...

Just take your time and make sure you get what YOU want... I used to work for a car dealer and you would be surprised how far they will go to make a sale, you just have to push them.

[Veilside R33]

For christs sake guys did everyone just magically forget im selling my R33 at the moment???

poor form!

rincewind: have a look a little down the 1st page of the ACT section, and you'll see my R33 for sale. Its in great condition, had plenty of mods, its very cheap, and all of the local guys will vouch for its condition, how nice it is and how well i've looked after it.

[sl33py]

Sorry mate, too many mods, I'm after as stock as possible. It's too low for me, and ppl have told me hks bov's are for the sound. Thanks all the same

[Maurice]

does anyone have r34gtr seats they wanna sell?? im in sydney . thank you

u can email me at [email protected]

[sl33py]

Uh can u say hijack? Surely there's a better thread for mate!

[Veilside R33]

if you'd asked you would have found out i have the stock springs in perfect condition sitting in my garage. and i dont know what people you've been talking to but they are designed to release excess pressure from the turbo and reduce turbo lag. Hks are not for sound, but please yourself.

[geordie]

I personaly would buy from the state/territory you live in for ease of redgo transfer. If you buy from sydney im pretty sure the act redgo requires pits etc etc (correct if im wrong, im in NSW). This had a big influence on my decision to buy in NSW

[Veilside R33]

yep i'd agree, it was an annoying hassle trying to get my car rego'd from nsw to act

[race_snooze]

yes i bought from there and there is plenty of ppl here who can vouch for them, but do stay away from some of the places out at fyshwick. Too many bad storys. Some of them have to be true

[sl33py]

Just got back from trying a black gtst from Evo motorsports, simply to drive one and give me some starting point for comparison. The salesman seemed to treat me with respect, but when I was signing the "yes i'll be responsible for speeding tickets" papers, the boss walked in and ended up asking him "did u tell him about the rear tyres?" My ears pricked up and I'm like "... what about them??" and he proceeded to tell me it had GT-R size rear tyres and that they rub the tyre well when u push the car hard enough or if it's got a heavy load. I asked if they still had the stock rims and he said yes, so i just said i'd probly want the originals back on, if there's some issue with the rears. anyway, took it for a drive. I went "wtf is that?" at a little switch on the underside of the dash, and he told me that many imports don't have headlight dimmers and that to get complied, they all have to have them installed. Does this mean all of u have some dodgy lookin' switch sticking out of somewhere to dim the lights? Hang on..... I also test drove a private sale one this morning, and the indicator switch was MILES away from the wheel.. until I noticed it came back closer, and the guy said "oh.. i left the high beams on" so obviously there IS low and high beam built into these cars!! i wonder what that switch was supposed to be then! weird. These cars were both R33 series 1 (both did the auto passenger door lock thing).

Right now, I'm put off by the local representation of dealers for imports, but that's to be expected from what's been said on here. Nevertheless, I think I'd rather buy from a dealer with a reputation to keep, than some guy/girl who might not give a rats ass.

With that in mind, I'm gonna make the trip to sydney (hopefully in the next month), and hopefully get a wider impression of what's available. Bit of a shame about Evo and that black gtst, it seemed to be in very good nick, wasn't lowered, and the only other mod was the exhaust (though it was a bit of a tooth rattler.. i'd hate that for long trips), and the cruddy too-large rear tyres. They were 17's. Is this scraping/rubbing something that happens to all tyres that big? I think they said it was teh thickness that made it rub, cos the tyres was just +1's.. no change to overall diameter.

With respect to going over the pits, if I find a very close to stock r33, eg not lowered, or only a little bit, and the exhaust done (but quieter than 90dB), then surely I could bank on it easily passing through dickson? (since as others have pointed out, it will most likely have to go over those particular pits if it's coming interstate).

I wanna find out about the dimmer switch rubbish that guy was talking about.. can anyone verify this?

Thanks.

[Gus-]

i think ull find if its already registered when u take it over the pits it can be taken anywhere not dickson?

[sl33py]

If that's the case, I think there's even less reason to worry about purchasing interstate...

[NJR 34GTT]

The reason the rear tyres was rubbing is due to the GTR having a completely different offset to the GTS-T. You can fit plenty wide tyres in the guards with the correct offset, but the GTR offset is not what you want.

As for the dimmer switch, its for the dash lights only not the headlights, and can be done quite proffessionally. Mine had one added as part of compliance and you can't tell it from a factory job.

And Angus is comment is wrong, there is certain stipulations about a car having to go over Dickson even if it has been registered elsewhere. This use to be all imports and all cars 10 years or older. Worth double checking the exact rules at the moment.

[LTSJayce]

does anyone have r34gtr seats they wanna sell?? im in sydney . thank you  

u can email me at [email protected]