For the past few years I've been visiting Trax now and every time I leave there I keep thinking I really NEED to own something like these. I love how much they stand out from the crowd compared to modern cars (in my opinion). Perhaps a little bit sad but the stuff there turns my head in a way the skimpy dressed girls simply cannot compete with.

 

This isn't a "spec me" thead but I'm genuinely interested in how ownership/driving experience was for any of you guys who've owned things like skylines/evos/supras/200sx/anything else in this category etc. I would love to own something like these as a weekend car someday but are they hard to live with? Do they still feel good to drive even though they're getting so old now? Is the cost to keep them running  outrageous?

I had an F plate 2000GSX, one of the best engines I have ever had in a car TBH. But the heater matrix was rubbish, and foglights blew every time I put them on and I could only pick up radio 1... but the seats were really comfy and the car was a nice smooth ride.

Look in the "Members' Cars" and "Non Skoda Projects" sub-fora. There's a fair bit in them, particularly on Skyline R32 and later.

I had an F plate 2000GSX, one of the best engines I have ever had in a car TBH. But the heater matrix was rubbish, and foglights blew every time I put them on and I could only pick up radio 1... but the seats were really comfy and the car was a nice smooth ride.

Tried looking this up but only pictures of motorbikes seem to come up ?

 

Look in the "Members' Cars" and "Non Skoda Projects" sub-fora. There's a fair bit in them, particularly on Skyline R32 and later.

Cheers (completely forgot about that section!)

Calling BossFox

Had a couple

 

'94 R33 GTST with around 475hp

 

 

'99 Evo 6 with 400hp 400ft lbs

 

 

'98 R34 GTT with about 300hp

 

 

Then moved to later stuff , briefly dallyed with a 350z

and now own a 370z

 

Edited 17 February, 201511 yr by Richf

Nice cars there RichF. My mate used to take a few of us to college in worcester in a Celica gt4 , was a great car and sounded epic. Just can't beat old jap cars !

  Funnily enough the R33 GTST is the one I've been looking at the most! It seems that fairly powerful decently modified ones are sitting around £4-6k on one of the skyline forums I looked at. What was it like to drive? How did the evo compare? Green fabias aside, you have fairly awesome taste in cars!

 

 

Nice cars there RichF. My mate used to take a few of us to college in worcester in a Celica gt4 , was a great car and sounded epic. Just can't beat old jap cars !

 

Lucky. I used to have to catch the bus :(

Rust is the big problem with early 90's Skylines and they are moneys pits , no worse than Evo's though

 

The Evo was quicker on 99% of roads than the Skyline , the Nissan really comes alive past 100mph though they are high speed cruisers  a GT car , the Evo is short geared light and responsive, an indecent amount of grip as well , the skyline was more of an event since in the Evo it always felt so easy and Skyline owners are generally more friendly and the club scene is better

 

http://www.skyline-owners-club.com/forums/forum.php

 

Oh and I upgraded from an Octy VRS to the Green Fabia

Edited 17 February, 201511 yr by Richf

Rust is the big problem with early 90's Skylines and they are moneys pits , no worse than Evo's though

 

The Evo was quicker on 99% of roads than the Skyline , the Nissan really comes alive past 100mph though they are high speed cruisers  a GT car , the Evo is short geared light and responsive, an indecent amount of grip as well , the skyline was more of an event since in the Evo it always felt so easy and Skyline owners are generally more friendly and the club scene is better

 

http://www.skyline-owners-club.com/forums/forum.php

 

Oh and I downgraded from an Octy VRS to the Green Fabia :(

Cheers. Did you run these as dailys or "special" cars? When you say the skyline is a money pit, do you have any examples? I know the evos need oil changes every few thousand miles but I thought they were meant to be pretty reliable?

 

So the Skylines are a little bit lazy at "normal" speeds? Are they fun to drive on public roads?

 

Fixed that last sentence for you btw^

Put at least £18k into the Skyline and £10k into the Evo owned each for three years and did about 12000-15000 miles in each that's on top of buying them

Skyline was more reliable and better made than Evo both did low 20's on vpower and both would do mid to high 20's if driven reasonably on a trip but they are sub 4 second to 60 cars

Evo engine failed at about 60k due to historical damage from a broken spark plug , fitted an Evo 8 engine , that cost £3500 alone , gearbox needed replacing as well

Neither were daily drivers solely weekend toys

Not exactly performance, but, a good mate of mine had an FTO.

Short version of the story - don't buy an FTO.

Put at least £18k into the Skyline and £10k into the Evo owned each for three years and did about 12000-15000 miles in each that's on top of buying them

Skyline was more reliable and better made than Evo both did low 20's on vpower and both would do mid to high 20's if driven reasonably on a trip but they are sub 4 second to 60 cars

Evo engine failed at about 60k due to historical damage from a broken spark plug , fitted an Evo 8 engine , that cost £3500 alone , gearbox needed replacing as well

Neither were daily drivers solely weekend toys

18k! Does this figure include alot of mods or is this purely the cost of keeping it going? Shocked the evo cost so much too. I was aware that these weren't cheap cars to run.. but wow. The fuel economy wouldn't worry me so much if it was a weekend car.

 

I've heard of some evos being particularly worse for reliability. Was it the 4 that had a bad reputation?

 

Not exactly performance, but, a good mate of mine had an FTO.

Short version of the story - don't buy an FTO.

Haha, I'm going to presume he didn't have much luck with it then

Had some mates with Supras and Celica GT-Four's of that period. None of them have them anymore but they all miss them.

I never separated the cost but will usually replace worn out parts for uprated stuff ie worn shock absorbers with new coil overs etc but I replace tatty components to make the cars mint

Big things with the Evo was the engine, clutch, flywheel, ice install but it had a long spec list

These cars are getting older but no cheaper to run , they have always been relatively cheap to buy

Had a couple

 

'94 R33 GTST with around 475hp

 

 

'99 Evo 6 with 400hp 400ft lbs

 

 

'98 R34 GTT with about 300hp

 

 

Then moved to later stuff , briefly dallyed with a 350z

and now own a 370z

 

 

It seems like you've owned at least four of my top ten cars there.  Can I request that you stop posting pictures like this as I've got a bathroom and kitchen to save up for and this isn't helping at all.....

I've been very fortunate .

Right place , right time as well , that R34 gtt , I paid £4600 for it and spent very little on it , a fair bit of time and effort but not a lot of cash

I know a couple of guys who had/have classic, bug eye and blob eye imprezas. They've never had problems with any of them. One was bought for 2k on eBay and he's done nothing over the last few years other than regular oil and tyre changes.

Had some mates with Supras and Celica GT-Four's of that period. None of them have them anymore but they all miss them.

Do really like Supras. I think it's amazing how well they've aged along with alot of other 90s jap cars.

 

I never separated the cost but will usually replace worn out parts for uprated stuff ie worn shock absorbers with new coil overs etc but I replace tatty components to make the cars mint

Big things with the Evo was the engine, clutch, flywheel, ice install but it had a long spec list

These cars are getting older but no cheaper to run , they have always been relatively cheap to buy

Sounds like you replaced a full car between them both . Would you say these cars could be owned by someone who isn't exactly... mechanically minded (to put it nicely )

 

I know a couple of guys who had/have classic, bug eye and blob eye imprezas. They've never had problems with any of them. One was bought for 2k on eBay and he's done nothing over the last few years other than regular oil and tyre changes.

I've actually been in a classic. Thought the sound was pretty nice and it gave a decent shove as it accelerated. Weirdly though when I watched it accelerating from the outside it didn't go half as fast as it felt inside.

I like Supras as well , got a friend who bought a scooby before Xmas , it's just had a new gearbox and engine rebuild , it can be a lottery on these cars

They are simple to work on but wouldn't recommend then unless you can do a lot of work yourself

One of my mates has had FTO, FTO GRX?, & modified P1..........................

 

 

basically they all handle....................& go like stink......................the P1 you need ear defenders for a long motorway journey......but on the back roads how big are your balls???........................

 

 

but have the bodywork & interior quality of a cardboard box by todays standards......................& finding one that doesn't require a total proper strip back & re-spray is hard as a lot have been "patched"................

 

However if you do find one then hang to it & make it a keeper.......................

I helped a guy with his nitrous set up on a fto gpx I think it was , quick little car

My mate has a Twin Turbo Supra that he has had for 4 years now. He uses it pretty much on a daily basis.

He has never really had any major issues with the car other than problems which we have caused ourselves by playing about with it.

He did however manage to wrap it up on Castle Combe racetrack so we ended up re-shelling the car and built it back up the way he wanted it. Currently running around the 400bhp mark, much like the comments above regarding the Skyline, he gets around mid 20mpg, infact he used to use the Supra daily instead of his scooby as it was better on fuel, and the car doesn't really come into its own until it hits 100mph+, doesn't mean it's a slouch however, once the second turbo spools up it certainly flys.

Not exactly performance, but, a good mate of mine had an FTO.

Short version of the story - don't buy an FTO.

 

 

 

Haha, I'm going to presume he didn't have much luck with it then

One of my mates had an FTO MIVEC; Like a VTEC but not a Honda, oh and it had a 4-speed slushbox so it really wasn't quick in real World driving.

His wasn't even particularly fast in a straight line. It seemed to have a big-ish number of bhps at the expense of torque.