Need To Make A Choice Regarding Stagea Ownership

[AlexCim]

Ok, well as you all know I own a S1 RS4. I was just thinking about everything and ive realized that I will be spending a crap load on my car when it is "finished" which should be in about 6 months.

Now, so far I have spent this

19,000 car

1200 catback

450 cat

500 dump/front

100 EBC

1200 FMIC

400 swaybars

100 strut bar

400 braided brake lines

1000 pfc (not on yet)

300 z32 (not on yet) (useable on any car)

350 manual r33 s2 ecu/loom plug (not on yet)

250 040 fuel pump (not on yet) (useable on any car)

So thats ~26500$ + suspension kit on way ($1600)

To get it to the level I want ill need additional

LSD $1600

GB/other manual stuff $3500 + interior costs (maybe 1500 more)

AP/CSC Bigger brake kit (likelier) $3000 or GTST brakes ~$2000 inc pads discs etc

Injectors for pfc tune $900

GCG turbo $2100

Tyre and wheels etc (for brakes) $1500

Styling $500 (probably wont bother at all)

Rebuild, maybe with Brads 2.6l crank $2000

So thats another ~16000

Therefore, costing me about $40,000 for my car, finished and me happy 100% with it. (And no i wont change my mind later)

Now, my dilemma. Should i sell the car and buy a S2 manual, then mod that, or buy a 260rs instead of modding? Issue i have is that a 260rs i may not have access to cash at the moment and would need a loan to buy it + wait to import. What are the going rates for 260rs's?

The way that i see it now though, with the car being $40,000 worth i may get back what, $28.000 if i sell it, but i want to keep it for a long long time.

Also, with my finished car vs 260rs, the finished car will have better everything(or very similar to) then the 260rs, so i see it, so same cost but better components etc (LSD, gb, clutch, suspension, etc).

I mean, it isnt a money thing, its just a stuff around thing....

As an idea for target, I know the car isnt a race car or anything, but ill go for the occasional track day to screw around, and i am a major major hills lover. So think, handling, target power being around 250-275awkw@all four (topping out the GCG). Dont need too much power getting around corners quickly...

What should I do?

[-FUZZY-]

Let me know if your going to sell and l'll start making u a list of stuff l'll take!! (dump/front & swaybars to start with )

Honestly ... either take it all off .. sell and get a S2 and put on what u can (sell the rest), or just mod what u have atm.

As you say at the end of the day you will have a car that handles, performs and looks how u want a car to look. Your not going to get all that by getting a 260rs thats for sure!!!

Edited December 20, 2005 by [ STAGEN ]

[muck]

just get the 260rs...... u'll end up spending teh same amount on your s2 manual anyway...

[Terminal]

That's what i figured a while back. i've stopped doing major mods to my RS4 until i get the 260RS next year, then i'll start the big mods (RB26's are fun to play with)

I've already spent close to $10k on it and it still looks and goes about the same as when i bought it, it's very easy to spend a lot of money and not get much

[AMS]

I'd say take your car back to standard (keep what you can) and go for the Series 2 manual... I'd love to snap up some of your parts But seriuosly, you would be sastisfied with a series 2 manual modded the way you want, but somehow, if you bought a 260rs, I cant see you not modding it!

[Ska]

Yeah Gary1 (the previous owner of my stagea) spent well up over the $40k mark, and has the reciepts to prove it, yet I picked it up for $25k as is.

Any money you spend on a car is a bad investment, I dont know how many thousands of dollars I poured into my Skyline, and it never made the car worth that much more.

If I could've afforded it, I would've gone the 260rs, but this one I got was just the right place, the right time and at the right price.

If you are squeamish about the price and the devaluation, buy the 260rs, you wont have to mod it as autech think of everything and I think it would hold it's value better than an rs4 simply because I reckon there are more rs4's being imported than 260rs's, well based on my opinion considering I am just guessing at that I wouldnt believe it

If you want to enjoy building up and working on your car and are going to keep it for the long run, (ie 5 - 10 years) then go the rs4 and mod.

If you are only in it for the short term and afraid of devalueation and resell value, go the 260rs as it truely is a GTR Wagon, well as close as a GTR can come to being a wagon

[AlexCim]

The main arguement here is that, if i bought a 260rs, id only have a standard one, where all the parts that will bring RS4 up to the 40k mark will be on par or better then 260rs componentry, infact better than in most cases.

As said before, i want to keep the car at least 5 years. I truely enjoy doing the work myself and learning stuff, and if i got a 260 i couldnt afford to mod it for a long long time (2+ years). Plus, i get used to "power levels" in about 2-3 months of having it.

Power target is topping out the GCG and i dont really want/need more power as its a work horse/hills thrash car, where 500kw doesnt really help much

Id think if i wanted a faster car then a 250awkw RS4, i might as well save up and buy a 2nd car that is much more agile then a wagon anyway (think, track s14 import or something)

keep the ideas flowing guys, thanks

[illusiVe]

mod teh funk outta it..get some serious power and a laggy ass turbo.. mmm sleeeper

[Sydneykid]

A philosophical discussion is always stimulating, my 20 cents worth………………

Knowing just when to stop modifying is very difficult. It is ever so easy to go too far and then realise the car is not what you really want. It’s too lumpy, laggy, hard riding, has poor throttle response, is unreliable and it’s a gas guzzler. Plus I bet it will be unfinished, always a work in progress. Until the very day it is finished then it will be up for sale, like so many modified Skylines.

It roles of the tongue so easy, 275 awkw……….that’s a FAST waggon. It is much faster than the fastest production HSV or FPV, it’s above M5 or RS4 territory, it is a real weapon. Do you really want/need something that fast and where are you going to use it. If you think about it, it will break every speed limit in Australia in under 6 seconds, that’s 1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 4 .. 5 .. 6 go to jail.

I have almost all of the parts lying around that would be necessary to get my Stagea to 260 awkw, but I realise that 210 4wkw is more than enough for my purposes. A highly response, auto, 4wd with 210 4wkw is going to take some beating. It will have to be a pretty special road car to beat it to the speed limit on our crappy streets.

As a comparison, you could get a 260RS to 250 4wkw with very little in the way of mods. Turbo back exhaust and a Power FC, maybe throw some steel turbines in there, that’s about it. The suspension would be the same upgrade as you have now. Slotted rotors, braided lines, some decent pads and the brakes are up to scratch.

The 260RS already has the fuel pump, injectors, FMIC, gearbox, LSD, body kit, wheels, interior trim etc etc. Best of all, when you go to sell it it’s still an Autech 260RS, not just another modified Stagea.

Personally I would have long think about what it is that I am actually trying to achieve. If I wanted a manual Stagea, then I would buy one. If I wanted an R33GTR waggon then I would buy one. Making one (instead) is going to cost twice as much in time, pain, effort, heartache and a lot more money.

cheers

Edited December 23, 2005 by Sydneykid

[AlexCim]

Good points there,

The more I think about it, the more I think ill keep my car and just modify it until people dont want to go for a ride with me.

The main factor is that i dont have lump sums of money to fork out for a 260, rather, its gradual spendings over time.

To be honest, the main reason that im leaning more towards continuing to modify is because i want to learn things along the way. I want to learn what each part of the engine does, how to do things properly, working my way up. If it just a 260 + a few minor mods and i was already where i wanted...wheres the fun in that ?

You are right, 275awkw is a LOT of power, but i guess ill only know where i get there. I feel now that it will be enough, as it will be a daily, and your right, there is no such thing as a "perfect" car, but when i get there (having suspension, brakes etc done) i think ill be happy enough to make a life choice and decide i need a house more then a more powerful car. Albeit, im still 18, i know where my long term priorities lie.

PS, i partially only started this thread because the stagea section was down on good discussion topics

[AMS]

So I'm assuming you have made up your mind Alex?

[-FUZZY-]

on another note .... that logo in your signature alex, got a bigger version??

I reckon it'd be great to get some stickers made up like that for us stagea owners. Its something l've thought about for a while just haven't had time with uni.

Edited December 23, 2005 by [ STAGEN ]

[jake32]

just my 0.2 worth...no modded stagea is the same as a 260RS ..a lot more was done to this car than bolt on bits: ie ..body stress plates in c pillar ...,undercar chassis brace,tunnel brace all unique to this car.. all this is something "stagezilla" will find out why once his 2.7 is dropped into std shell.... bodykit is "functional" autech R& D for cooler flow high speed downforce..not the prettiest but it works..brakes have been perfectly matched to power and weight

having owned the 260 for 18mths now 12 mths on the road and have driven the 2.5 auto there is no comparison really ..you just wouldn`t bother modifying anything when autech have done such a excellent job allready..they are different cars altogether..and to think you or anyone could build the same or equal in your backyard or mates workshop is at best .."dreaming"..

just save up the peso`s and buy the REAL thing ....

then modify that

[AlexCim]

I made the logo myself

I dont have any bigger then what is there, but yes, its a good idea to make them into stickers and sell, however, i dont have access to sticker facilities etc.

Anyone interested?

[neostagea]

if you can send me a copy of the file the logo is in i have a friend that makes up vinyls in any colour and size. don't know what costing would be but i can find out.

wait til u see the pics of mine when i get the body sticker done cause i am sick of being called a volvo

[kudos.motorsports]

Hey Mate,

I would personally say go the 260RS, if you are looking at spending the figures you are talking about. Even if your only thinking of resale value. They are just a better car, plain and simple. As has been said these cars have better brakes, handling characteristics and of course an RB26DETT. It's like comparing an R32 GTS-4 to and R32 GTR. There's no comparison, the GTR is always going to be the better platform to build on and not only that will not depreciate anywhere nearly as fast.

J-spec currently has two 260RS that they have access to, both are 2,700,000 FOB (about $45,700 landed & complied)

http://www.j-spec.com.au/list/index.php?ID=3763

http://www.j-spec.com.au/list/index.php?ID=2688

I have used their services to imported several cars over the last few years. I don’t have one complaint, terrific guys to deal with. I have dealt with Craig, Ben & Gareth all were extremely helpful

Regards,

Andrew Sullivan

Kudos Motorsports

[ian]

J-spec currently has two 260RS that they have access to, both are 2,700,000 FOB (about $45,700 landed & complied)

You should be able to do a 260rs cheaper than that - I saw several when I bought my 4S, and they were more in the 1.8m to 2.2m range. The main reasons I didn't buy one were

1) I wanted a bit newer car

2) they are based on the R33 GTR engine, and the R34 NEO engine (in my series 2) is noticably more fuel efficient (remember, I do long distances in the car..)

3) I didn't need the extra power in the family station wagon (NEO engine again, noticably better than the series 1 engine..).

4) I'm probably going to get a R34 GTR in a couple of years anyway.

Ian

[StageZilla]

just my 0.2 worth...no modded stagea is the same as a 260RS  ..a lot more was done to this car than bolt on bits: ie ..body stress plates in c pillar ...,undercar chassis brace,tunnel brace all unique to this car.. all this is something "stagezilla" will find out why once his 2.7 is dropped  into std shell.... bodykit is "functional" autech R& D for cooler flow high speed downforce..not the prettiest but it works..brakes have been perfectly matched to power and weight

having owned the 260 for 18mths now 12 mths on the road  and have driven the 2.5 auto  there is no comparison really ..you just wouldn`t bother modifying anything when autech have done such a excellent job allready..they are different cars altogether..and to think you or anyone could build the same or equal in your backyard or mates workshop is at best .."dreaming"..

just save up the peso`s and buy the REAL thing ....

then modify that

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

all the braces are transferable from the 260rs to the rs four as ive got the 260rs tunnel brace already on there, and there are threaded spots for the front brace under the gearbox bellhousing, and only thing is the c pillar mods, nothing a roll cage wouldnt fix when it does a high 10 one day :lol: got r34 brembos too, and all gtr axles, so its missing the kit, which i'd rather get something better looking imo. (no im not saying the 260rs is crap, just the rs four isnt as far behind as u make besides the driveline) and im sure the 260rs stock susp would be 100 times better than the rs four making the handling "soo much better" as u said. anyone with a rs four would be planning suspension mods to lower it and fix the handling anyway

[AlexCim]

Where did you score your tunnel brace and what it set you back?

As far as structual rigidity, i plan on gettin the doluck rear cross brace (front seat belt anchor to anchor) and a towbar should help heaps too.

To be honest, from this discussion i think many people just assume that the 260RS is just better full stop, but in the end, how much could autech ACTUALLY do to it. Also many people may not be wanting to modify a car and prefer to have a "ready to drive" car.

For my power target, i am now seeing that its probably better to keep my RS4 and modify it. Sure 270awkw isnt hard in a 260rs, but considering the fact that i would still probably need to swap a few things out anyway, the RS4 will teach me a lot more and also be on par/better in many aspects (suspension, SOME driveline parts, brakes (maybe, we'll see))

hmmm......

[StageZilla]

Where did you score your tunnel brace and what it set you back?

As far as structual rigidity, i plan on gettin the doluck rear cross brace (front seat belt anchor to anchor) and a towbar should help heaps too.

To be honest, from this discussion i think many people just assume that the 260RS is just better full stop, but in the end, how much could autech ACTUALLY do to it. Also many people may not be wanting to modify a car and prefer to have a "ready to drive" car.

For my power target, i am now seeing that its probably better to keep my RS4 and modify it. Sure 270awkw isnt hard in a 260rs, but considering the fact that i would still probably need to swap a few things out anyway, the RS4 will teach me a lot more and also be on par/better in many aspects (suspension, SOME driveline parts, brakes (maybe, we'll see))

hmmm......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

came with the car, and i didnt realise it was autech (thought it was stock rs four) until jake32 posted the autech mods pics and list and its the tunnel brace halfway between the diff and the gearbox. so much for a stock car hey, found a few wires coming off the factory ecu for a SAFC that must have been hooked up in japan, and it had autech version and 260rs badges on it, plus mirror tint on the rear window. some young hoon wishing he had the 260rs hehe, or should i say ricer with the badges