Never realised how lucky we are here in Australia...

[Sinsteel]

The air is clean, the weather is warm and Skylines are plentiful...
I stumbled across this forum in a search and man-o-man do you guys go through some crap just to drive a Skyline.
You can't walk out the front door here without tripping over one, I saw one major car classifieds website here has them rated as the number one selling used car in the country.
They are, literally, everywhere.
It is very very rare for me to go a day that I travel anywhere in the city here and not see a handful of gts-t's and the occasional gt-r, usually R33s. Quite a few R32s around too, R34s are still quite rare, though more and more all the time. Saw an R34 4-door gts for the first time the other day.
Oh well, at least you guys are getting the R35 right? Hopefully when the GT-R comes out R34 prices will finally start to drop again....in 10 years I might be able to afford one
Actually a good thing here is that R32 GT-Rs were sold new here in showrooms so you can find them with full reliable history rather than imported ones that have had god-knows-what done to them...and they are becoming very reasonably priced now too, I know of two R32 GT-Rs that have changed hands for under $20k Australian...that's about $16k US in current conversion.
The insurance is absolutely killer though...if you're under 30, forget it.

[RazorGTR]

We have the same thing here in NZ. As a matter of fact outside of Japan New Zealand has the highest consintration of Skylines from the R30-R34. There are so many GT-T's coming in now the prices have plumeted. R32 and R33 GTR's are plentiful with quite a few R34's making their appearance.

[Ebola 33-t]

Hey sinsteel,
all i can say is... how good is it!!!! The only problem is, as more and more chevy - ford - valiant powered drivers get beaten by the skylines, the greater the grudge seems to form towards us. Needless to say, these drivers are stereotypically not as smart as the av-er-age bear, and (some) have issues with walking past a parked skyline, and leaving it in the way it was before they got there. While i have nothing against the v8 drivers of the world, i wish the yobbos would give the same respect to us. Thats the only downside i can see to the mass import of this bloody awesome car ;o)

[Cobra01TT]

Damn, all you people who can just buy a Skyline. It has been a dream of my friends and I for awhile now, long before "The Fast & The Furious". It costs average about $20,000 just to leagalize them in the US. That's on top of the actual car, shipping it, 3 months at Motorex, and finding a good one to begin with. I think the rest of the world takes Skylines for granted, but thats just my .

I hate people who do crap to cars(at all), or just talk crap about them just because of where they're from. Our racing group "Street Image" has all types of cars from a '90 CRX, to mine, to a WRX, to a Talon Tsi, to a stroker Camaro. We do have some good discussions though.

[sami]

Well, I considered moving to Australia before moving to USA. I have to say the higher salary level more than makes up for the price difference in a GT-R...

[RazorGTR]

Originally Posted by sami

Well, I considered moving to Australia before moving to USA. I have to say the higher salary level more than makes up for the price difference in a GT-R...

That depends on how you look at it Sami. I'm making nearly 50k as an engineer here in NZ. I didn't begin to make that sort of salery until I got into Robitics when I still lived in Chicago. Overall my standard of living his much higher here than it was in the States, not to mention the huge price difference in Skylines. While that had nothing to do with my descision it does help

[sami]

Originally Posted by RazorGTR

That depends on how you look at it Sami. I'm making nearly 50k as an engineer here in NZ. I didn't begin to make that sort of salery until I got into Robitics when I still lived in Chicago. Overall my standard of living his much higher here than it was in the States, not to mention the huge price difference in Skylines. While that had nothing to do with my descision it does help

Hmmm, I'm a robotics engineer by education but I work as an software engineer. I would say 50-60k USD is a starting salary for a robotics or SW engineer straight out of college. With my 8 year experience it should fall into somewhere between 80-100k annually. This in a fairly low cost state of Texas. California or NY, add at least 20% to the salaries, and it still won't cover the difference in expenses.

I checked the work market in Australia and back then in the late 90's it wasn't even near those numbers. I'm sure the cost of living is cheaper but I doubt it balances it out. Of course you get a much better scenery than I do here, Texas doesn't offer much in that sense. Florida, Oregon, Washington, I think I should consider moving there...

[Zwrangler]

Hey sinsteel,all i can say is... how good is it!!!! The only problem is, as more and more chevy - ford - valiant powered drivers get beaten by the skylines, the greater the grudge seems to form towards us. Needless to say, these drivers are stereotypically not as smart as the av-er-age bear, and (some) have issues with walking past a parked skyline, and leaving it in the way it was before they got there. While i have nothing against the v8 drivers of the world, i wish the yobbos would give the same respect to us. Thats the only downside i can see to the mass import of this bloody awesome car ;o)

uh dude v8s are definetely better than skyline gts's stock for stock so i dunno what yuo're ranting about here. I love skylines and my next car is either gonna be a skyline or a rexi, but stock for stock there is no way in hell a skyline gts would come close to my stock camaro. I've raced plenty gts's that were manuals and beat them with so much ease in my automatic. Of course the GTR is a whole nother story Also, what mass import???? correct me if i'm wrong anyone, but skylines, like other imports, are now illegal coz of the news laws in australia (bloody govt. wank*rs). You can get a license to import cars under the new RAWS scheme but this license is so damned expensive that no one has gotten one in all of Australia (as far as I know) yet. so sadly the skylines that remain in australia will be all that we get.

yeah we HAD it good in Oz but everythings changed now. I'm currently doing uni overseas and wanted to bring back a camaro with me to Oz but now i can't because of these new laws. Guess I'll have to find a GTR or maybe a juicy STI in a years time.

[darkness]

Originally Posted by Zwrangler

uh dude v8s are definetely better than skyline gts's stock for stock so i dunno what yuo're ranting about here. I love skylines and my next car is either gonna be a skyline or a rexi, but stock for stock there is no way in hell a skyline gts would come close to my stock camaro. I've raced plenty gts's that were manuals and beat them with so much ease in my automatic.

well yeah of course you would beat the GTS skylines, because they are non-turbo.

but when you move into the GTS-T's and GT-T's you would find it a challenge with a stock v8.

[Sinsteel]

Originally Posted by Zwrangler

yeah we HAD it good in Oz but everythings changed now. I'm currently doing uni overseas and wanted to bring back a camaro with me to Oz but now i can't because of these new laws. Guess I'll have to find a GTR or maybe a juicy STI in a years time.

Well I don't know too much (well, anything really) about the new laws, but as far as I know they only cover private imports? Compliance now issued on a vehicle by vehicle basis by qualified workshops. As long as you go through a broker of some kind I don't think it would be an issue? Personally, I'd probably just buy a car that had been in Australia for a little while if I was after a Skyline. Importing one, from Japan for instance, would be a fairly difficult and risky proposition anyway I would think unless you spoke fluent Japanese, knew the laws there and here covering imports etc etc....all round it would be money well-spent to pay a few grand extra and get someone like http://www.sakuraauto.com.au/ to do all the legwork for you.
That's if you want an R34 GT-R or something else special anyway...hell if you're just looking for a GT-T or an older model I'd just buy one of the thousands already in the country.

[Ebola 33-t]

Hey Zwrangler,

"Mass import" was my bad, but compared to other imports, there are literally double the skylines,to anything else. I dont know a great deal about the specifics of the new scheme, however, i know the major cost factor of importing cars now is the equipment required to test the safety of the car. Every car that is imported has to be clean (aka never been in an accident) and the equipment to test this, im told, has to be on site. Not only that but the initial setup costs to get a licence to import one specific model of car is huge. I understand that a company has to crash test a car, just to get its ticket. I know that sounds a bit far fetched, but it would explain why so many compliance companies are going down to ONLY 1 or 2 makes of cars. I know of a few places which are only doing R33's GTS-T's for instance.

[Zwrangler]

well yeah of course you would beat the GTS skylines, because they are non-turbo.

every single skyline i have raced, around 5 so far, have all been turbos. from r32's to r33's, they were all turbo gts-t's. sorry if i didn't make that clear but it doesn't make a difference anyway what kind of gts it is. still either way i don't know how you could seriously think a turbo gts-t could beat a camaro stock for stock. the camaro's run low 14's stock standard. i think gts-t's have like a 15 or 16 second 1/4mile stock standard. not sure exactly what the figures are, but definitely not in the 14's.

The reason i wanted to import a skyline from here instead of buying one in Oz is coz an r34 gtr costs around $40000Aussie. you could barely get an r34 gts for that price in Oz. BUt they're dirt cheap here. I live in the emirates by the way. no taxes on cars you can get a 2002 modified wrx sti for like 20,000 aussie here too so i wished i coulda imported them to oz coz it woulda been cheaper, even after the taxes i pay in Oz. I heard though that if its a car for personal use then it can be imported with not too much hassle. gotta read up no that though.

[darkness]

Originally Posted by Zwrangler

every single skyline i have raced, around 5 so far, have all been turbos. from r32's to r33's, they were all turbo gts-t's. sorry if i didn't make that clear but it doesn't make a difference anyway what kind of gts it is. still either way i don't know how you could seriously think a turbo gts-t could beat a camaro stock for stock. the camaro's run low 14's stock standard. i think gts-t's have like a 15 or 16 second 1/4mile stock standard. not sure exactly what the figures are, but definitely not in the 14's.

My old GTS-4 ran a 14.3 stock. admittedly the gts-4 is 4wd so it gets the launch.

I haven't run my new GT-T yet, but it should be able to do mid 14's

[Sinsteel]

Originally Posted by Zwrangler

I heard though that if its a car for personal use then it can be imported with not too much hassle. gotta read up no that though.

I'm not 100% sure but I've heard that if it's for personal use and you're in a position to have owned it for like 12 months or more overseas and then move back and bring the car it's much easier.

[Zwrangler]

Okay, i just got this email from some member on these forums with the subject titled so nicely as "you're full of sh*t" and heres his lovely message:

said by schork_j: your camaro ain't smokin no nissan skyline and if you live in the us

This kinda crap is seriously unappreciated. Look, bottom line is that 4th gen camaro z28's (like mine ) in stock form have around 300hp where a skyline gts-t has 250hp. not to mention that camaro z28's run low 14's stock standard off the factory floor. Oh, and did I mention the top speed of over 160miles per hour. schork_j if you're reading this, Grow up and keep it in the forums next time. Oh and I don't live in the U.S., I live in the emirates where skylines are a dime a dozen here. my next door neighbour has one as a matter of fact...... he too has lost to me, but his is a non-turbo rb20e anyway so that doesn't count

strangely enough i searched the name schork_j in member search but nothing came up.

Sorry to bring this thread up again everyone, but it really got to me is all. hope y'all understand.