Buying R33 for $53,000. What do you think?

Hey guys,

I'm trading my 95' Supra TT and cash for a 95' Skyline GT-R silver on black. It has 30,000 miles on it and it's bone stock. Supposedly it was the only skyline in 2004 that Motorex legalized. Do you guys think that this car is worth $53,000? There is also a highly modified 96' (featured in many magazines) with 28,000miles for $65,000 and there is a 97' with 12,000 miles for $75,000.

I saw in another thread that military guys were able to import them from Japan and register the cars here in the states without a problem. Is this true?

Sorry, I didn't read all the stickies. I guess the some of the military guys are blowing some hot air. I'm planning to close the deal this weekend so any input on if the price is worth it or not would be helpful. I think it's interesting all the cars I mentioned are silver on black. And that 12,000 mile Skyline is supposedly the lowest milegage Skyline ever imported to the states.

Is there a forum site for skylines like the Supraforum? Probably not because of the scant amount of skyline owners.

I saw in another thread that military guys were able to import them from Japan and register the cars here in the states without a problem. Is this true?
Nope...not true...there IS a problem...they aren't street legal in the US.

the last car to come out of motorex was a white r32, the only car legalized and released in 2004. the car is not worth 53, seing as how they were going for 45 from motorex. although, now that mrex is out of business, id expect the price to be in the 50's, if not higher. they are alot harder to come around now that we have to find cars already legalized and for sale in the US.

the last car to come out of motorex was a white r32, the only car legalized and released in 2004. the car is not worth 53, seing as how they were going for 45 from motorex. although, now that mrex is out of business, id expect the price to be in the 50's, if not higher. they are alot harder to come around now that we have to find cars already legalized and for sale in the US.

Supply and Demand, its worth what ever someone wants to pay for it. I would not pay that much though:D

That might not be such a hot idea if that R33 is going to be your only car. Just from the perspective of 'I need parts, now what do I drive?'

Thats kind of how I feel about it VQuick...

But its your money... Spend it however you feel you should.

(And who else thinks its great to see such a composed newbie every once and a while? )

-Wes

I've inquired about that particular car as well. What kind of stops me from considering it is that financing is pretty much unobtainable. If you have the cash to buy it, thats one thing. But if you ever plan on selling it down the line, it will be very hard to find a buyer. I'm the kind of guy that gets tired of cars after 1-2 years, which is what stops me from getting one that expensive. My suggestion: Just buy it so I don't! That way I'm 'forced' to buy a 996TT to keep my wife happy. She looks at it and says "it looks like a 2-door Maxima!", lol

You guys are killing me, I had 51 responses and 1390 views already at the Supraforum site, but I appreciate the input for those that responded. From some of the responses on the Supraforums site there's two shops in the Seattle area, Garage SPL & World One Motorsports, that has several Skylines which they work on. Also do-luck USA is in Kent, WA. So it helps out a little bit with the repair, parts, and maintenance. This car will not be my daily driver, it'll be like my Supra, a garage queen hehe. It was a daily driver when I bought it new ten years ago. Everyone is knocking on the looks and performance of the R33 on the Supra site, I have to agree, it's definately not as good looking as the R32 and R34. I'll take a look at it this weekend and see how it grows on me.

You guys are killing me, I had 51 responses and 1390 views already at the Supraforum site, but I appreciate the input for those that responded. From some of the responses on the Supraforums site there's two shops in the Seattle area, Garage SPL & World One Motorsports, that has several Skylines which they work on. Also do-luck USA is in Kent, WA. So it helps out a little bit with the repair, parts, and maintenance. This car will not be my daily driver, it'll be like my Supra, a garage queen hehe. It was a daily driver when I bought it new ten years ago. Everyone is knocking on the looks and performance of the R33 on the Supra site, I have to agree, it's definately not as good looking as the R32 and R34. I'll take a look at it this weekend and see how it grows on me.

Kent is pretty close to you :D. i did a job shadowing at DoLuck 2 weeks ago. garage SPL, and world one are OK, but id suggest checking out Intec and A&G, they both have years of experience working on straight up JDM cars. but anywho....i almost bought an r33 this last summer, but long story short, i didnt end up getting the job that was going to pay for it. they hired the LAST person they interviewed, and until that guy i was told i was gaurenteed the position, we even went over salary and what not. what color is the r33? the one i was looking at was white and at Auto Gallery Seattle, and it got sold to some kid that just moved to ellensburg to go to central. some middle eastern kid is what they said, his mom payed for it too. eh.

You guys are killing me, I had 51 responses and 1390 views already at the Supraforum site, but I appreciate the input for those that responded. From some of the responses on the Supraforums site there's two shops in the Seattle area, Garage SPL & World One Motorsports, that has several Skylines which they work on. Also do-luck USA is in Kent, WA. So it helps out a little bit with the repair, parts, and maintenance. This car will not be my daily driver, it'll be like my Supra, a garage queen hehe. It was a daily driver when I bought it new ten years ago. Everyone is knocking on the looks and performance of the R33 on the Supra site, I have to agree, it's definately not as good looking as the R32 and R34. I'll take a look at it this weekend and see how it grows on me.

That because there are a lot more guys over there on the Supra forums. Like I said, if you're willing to pay that much for an R33, go for it, but I would not. I would keep the Supra personally, or wait for a R32 GTR to come on the market, but then again I am biasedhttp://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/649BlackGTR.JPG

I knew someone was going to mention that their were more people on Supraforums hehe. Actually RBmotors has an R32 for sale on Ebay, they say it's the number one horsepower skyline in the U.S. The skylines I'm looking at are at vipimports.com Sorry, I should of posted that earlier. Ya, I don't live to far from Kent. Those guys on the Supraforum site are knocking me pretty hard, especially the looks department or the R33. Though some said they consider it if it was an R34.

Is the skyline site on Nissanforums better than this or would you guys say this is the better site?

i personally think AF is better than the nissanforums, and i cruise both.

rb doesnt have any r32's for sale, they dont sell their cars on ebay. rb is just as tapped out for cars as motorex. half those cars sitting at motorex's lot are RB orders.

and 53k for an r34 would be a steal. literally. those things retailed for $65-$90k.

I knew someone was going to mention that their were more people on Supraforums hehe. Actually RBmotors has an R32 for sale on Ebay, they say it's the number one horsepower skyline in the U.S. The skylines I'm looking at are at vipimports.com Sorry, I should of posted that earlier. Ya, I don't live to far from Kent. Those guys on the Supraforum site are knocking me pretty hard, especially the looks department or the R33. Though some said they consider it if it was an R34.

Is the skyline site on Nissanforums better than this or would you guys say this is the better site?

Go to www.skylinesdownunder.com www.skylinesaustralia.com www.gtr.co.uk www.skylineowners.co.uk those site have a lot more people on them. The US base sites are not that hip, because there are not enough guys that have them.

R33s look better than the Supras. I am not found of the headlights on the supra, it looks like an after thought.

R32s are lighter, a little more nimble, look better in person, less electronics so they are a little easier to work on, cost less so your money a lot further, has the same engine as an R33, you can switch to 2wd with just throwing a switch something you cannot do with an R33, and are just fun as hell to drive.

I knew someone was going to mention that their were more people on Supraforums hehe. Actually RBmotors has an R32 for sale on Ebay, they say it's the number one horsepower skyline in the U.S. The skylines I'm looking at are at vipimports.com Sorry, I should of posted that earlier. Ya, I don't live to far from Kent. Those guys on the Supraforum site are knocking me pretty hard, especially the looks department or the R33. Though some said they consider it if it was an R34.

Is the skyline site on Nissanforums better than this or would you guys say this is the better site?

I like freshalloy.com, its quaint, and there's not many dreamers, its US based, people are mature and have skylines:

http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=UBB4

RB Motoring does have a R32 for sale. Most of the sales price is to cover the endless amount of money in the motor.

How much cash plus your Supra? Is your Supra TT 6-speed or auto? How many miles? You might get more money selling it private party. In fact, I might be interested.

Send me a PM.

[QUOTE=legalr33]I like freshalloy.com, its quaint, and there's not many dreamers, its US based, people are mature and have skylines:
QUOTE]

Most of them over at Kidalloy are complete tossers. While there are a few such as Sean Morris, they are few and far between. Skyline owners ? LMAO, if you want to learn about skylines head over the skylinesdownunder forums.

What cracks me up the most is people who've MAYBE been around these cars for less than a year at best are frucking experts!

[QUOTE=legalr33]I like freshalloy.com, its quaint, and there's not many dreamers, its US based, people are mature and have skylines:
QUOTE]

Most of them over at Kidalloy are complete tossers. While there are a few such as Sean Morris, they are few and far between. Skyline owners ? LMAO, if you want to learn about skylines head over the skylinesdownunder forums.

What cracks me up the most is people who've MAYBE been around these cars for less than a year at best are frucking experts!

You are so wrong. www.gtr.co.uk is the site with GTR owners. There's nothing but GTS owners at SDU. Plus, there's more little kids in the US section of SDU then anywhere else. More US Skyline owners at freshalloy then any other site.

Fresh alloy and GTR.co.uk would be way more suitable for this potential buyer than SDU. If you want to learn about GTS than go to SDU. If you want to learn about GTRs than go to GTR.co.uk. If you want to chat with fellow US Skyline owners go to FA.

You are so wrong. www.gtr.co.uk is the site with GTR owners. There's nothing but GTS owners at SDU. Plus, there's more little kids in the US section of SDU then anywhere else. More US Skyline owners at freshalloy then any other site.

Fresh alloy and GTR.co.uk would be way more suitable for this potential buyer than SDU. If you want to learn about GTS than go to SDU. If you want to learn about GTRs than go to GTR.co.uk. If you want to chat with fellow US Skyline owners go to FA.

Wrong! You really need to go to all the sites listed. Good info on all of them. Skylinesaustralia is very good as well. I know Razor has it out for freshalloy, not sure why, but there are few guys on there that are from japan, that are pretty knowledgable, beside Mr. Morris.

Don't stick with one site, move around. I frequent about 20 different sites, and gather data from. Some of it will conflict, that is why you go to more sites. Never take the word of ones site, bump that info by using the search engines from all the sites. Lord knows I do engough of that.

I mean there are few guys that I know I can take their word, but very few. Razor is one of them.

Razor,

Sorry to hear about your move, man. Good Luck.

You are so wrong. www.gtr.co.uk is the site with GTR owners. There's nothing but GTS owners at SDU. Plus, there's more little kids in the US section of SDU then anywhere else. More US Skyline owners at freshalloy then any other site.

Fresh alloy and GTR.co.uk would be way more suitable for this potential buyer than SDU. If you want to learn about GTS than go to SDU. If you want to learn about GTRs than go to GTR.co.uk. If you want to chat with fellow US Skyline owners go to FA.

Wrong!!!! You're missing the point. This guy is in the US. He wants to buy a US GTR. He doesn't care about prices of GTRs in the UK or New Zealand. Duh!!!

Usually it takes quite a few posts of stupidity to get on my nerves but leglr33 you're already there.

I've just browsed the freshalloy forums and 90% of it is bullshit with people trying to sell crap.

As far as the SDU forums being full of GTS owners you're wrong mate. Most are turbo owners, but most of the bullshit posts are by people who don't even own a skyline ffs.

There are also a lot of VERY knowledgable people on those forums, who've been around, worked on, built and own skylines longer than anyone outside Japan. Considering they were sold new here from the R30 range, and outside of Japan, New Zealand has MORE Skylines than any other country.

Its the arrogant US tarts that give the rest of us a really bad name. Shape up or ship out.

Wrong!!!! You're missing the point. This guy is in the US. He wants to buy a US GTR. He doesn't care about prices of GTRs in the UK or New Zealand. Duh!!!

I am talking about information posted about the cars, not just cars to buy. He already has a car lined up to purchase, not to shop on another forum http://www.modularfords.com/forums/images/smilies/chair.gif

I can't believe you all are arguing over which website to go to.

Go to all of them. If you are in the U.S., speak to Sean (tyndago on almost all the sites mentioned).

The R33 was indeed legalized in 2004 (as I mentioned in SDU in November). I saw Sean working on that car in January over at RB and he can give you all the information you want about its condition.

Wrong!!!! You're missing the point. This guy is in the US. He wants to buy a US GTR. He doesn't care about prices of GTRs in the UK or New Zealand. Duh!!!

The guy wants advice on what the car is worth and if it sounds like a good deal. US buyer, buying a US car.

You're still missing the point.

Well guys, I drove both the stock & modified R33 today and you guys will be glad to hear that I decided to purchase the stock R33. Tough deicision though because the car was in the same price range as a 993TT, Vipers, new M3, etc. I'm all about JDM though so let the good times roll!

Well guys, I drove both the stock & modified R33 today and you guys will be glad to hear that I decided to purchase the stock R33. Tough deicision though because the car was in the same price range as a 993TT, Vipers, new M3, etc. I'm all about JDM though so let the good times roll!

It looks like I see springs in your future. Go HKS with the stock shocks, unless you want to spend big bucks on some Teins, HKS, etc coilovers. I will say the car looks to be in very good shape, 170 across, engine is strong.

Nice buy, a little on the pricey side, but you can blame the US gov't for that.

You read my mine. I'm going to start off by replacing the steering wheel, wheels, and putting on some down springs or coilovers. I don't think I'll would do much adjusting if I had coilovers so the down springs probably would work better for me. Any recommendations where I should get this stuff, used parts maybe.

Try

www.takakaira.com

www.rinkya.com type in skyline

www.greenline.jp

I run HKS springs on my GTR, very nice ride, and almost a 2" drop all the way around.

Thanks, these are great sites.