Attention Skyline Drivers!!!!!!!

[Hossain_Trance101]

Just when you thought that your hard-earned R33 GTS-T gives out real performance. Did I just say performance? Oh my God, I thought I said...gives out real SHIT!!!

This is from http://www.carsurvey.org/review_69007.html by a guy who got serious crap out of his '95 GTS-T and was forced to give it away:

1995 Nissan Skyline GTS-T from Australia and New Zealand
These cars are fast, but not as fast as people say, for the money, buy a Porsche 944

What things have gone wrong with the car?

Turbo needed rebuilding after 60000 Km. ($2000AU to fix)

Seats were worn easily.

Radiator overheated and leaked. @ 61340km.

Door did not seal properly and was difficult to shut. This cost $1500 to replace the door and re-fit electrics.

Leaver for folding seat forward snapped off on passenger side.

Rust in boot lining, major problem it getting rid of it.

Tire in front drivers side kept wearing out and had to be replaced regularly.

Failure to start on most cold mornings. Had to borrow my brother’s fiat X/19 to drive to work (30km drive around tight bends)

Fuel injector busted and needed to be replaced (replaced with a high flow injector)

Head gasket blew at 65780Km. this was the last straw for me. This car just had to go.

General comments?

This car is quick, but what people say about these cars out running everything on the road is bollocs. I tried racing/dragging Porsche's (old ones at that), a Saab 9000 Carlsson, some slightly modified performance Citroens (BX 16v and a CX turbo), Subarus, a Lotus Elise, a few Ford Falcon XR6 non turbo and turbo variants, the list goes on, this car just could not get going fast enough to match all the guff that people said about it. I feel that my old Citroen BX 16 valve could get going quicker and that was a non turbo vehicle.

13-litres per 100km fuel consumption if driven hard.

All the nonsense that people say about it handling well is ridicules. The Citroen could out pace the Skyline around the twistys easily.

I read the magazines about how you can tune these cars and make them go faster than a Ferrari. Well if you want to kill the engine in six months then yes you can go faster than a Ferrari, but it will pay you back with frequent breakdowns.

Police attention is massive. I would get pulled over twice a week at the least and on one trip home from work I got pulled over 4 times and by the same officer two times in one night. These cars are cop magnets. This never happened in the Citroen.

The mechanical problems were endless and when the radiator went I just had to sell the damn thing. A lot of mornings it failed to start completely and I had to borrow my brother’s Fiat X/19 which would also kill it around the corners and it was built in 1982. Citroen's have a reputation of spending more time at the mechanic than on the road, but I found it extremely reliable in comparison with the Nissan which lived up to the “don’t buy imports as they brake down” reputation.

The seats are uncomfortable, but I can’t judge this too harshly because he Citroen was the best long distance traveler I have ever driven and was extremely comfortable.

--End of article--

Please post reply with any comments or criticism thanks...

[SkylineUSA]

I have had my GTR for 3 years. Only one problem, the alt went out last year. I found a used one for $30, took me a little over an hour to swap it out. Other than that, fuel and fluids, and that is it.

Very quick and dependable car, and its 15 years old.

[GTES-t]

That's one lemon, but definitely not the standard. I know a guy here that bought a Porsche, and it was the biggest POS! He will never buy one again, but that obviously doesn't make all Porsches crap.

I'd also be really interested in what the present/prior owner did/didn't do to maintain that Skyline. From the sounds of it, (turbo at 60K, Radiator at 61+K, Headgasket at 65+K) someone was trying to push out more power then it was properly tuned for. That is a very common mistake by people who think they should be 400hp stock. Like any car it needs to be properly tuned/maintained.

Personally, if he's finding a Citroen and Fiat perform better, that Skyline was not maintained well at all, either from prior or present ownership, who knows which. I know when my shocks were going, the car couldn't handle at all, it was scary. But if someone doesn't know, they think that this is how the car was made, not realizing that things are worn out.

A tell-tale sign is that he mentions "Tire in front drivers side kept wearing out and had to be replaced regularly." That's a big flag that the Alignment was way off! But nothing was done about it, just kept replacing the tire?!

As far as the quickness, he admits that it was quick. But didn't beat everything on the road. Even if it was running in top shape, it is still a GTS-t. People have this idea that any Skyline should destroy every car on the road. But the reality is, that's not true, even for the GTR's.

Now, look at all the reviews:
http://www.carsurvey.org/model_Nissan_Skyline.html

That was one of 4 bad reviews from '89 to 2000. There are 40 well written reviews that show up on the initial page, and when you look at the specific years, there are 21 more reviews available. So out of 61 reviews for '89 to 2000 Skylines, there are 4 bad reviews. That's a really good review rate to me!

Plus if I actually sit down to write a review, it'll be another good one with a big smiling face next to it!

[Hossain_Trance101]

Oh yes...people these days don't seem to bother about reading the instruction manual and just complain about something they happened to stuff up themselves. Well, anyway, just post any other criticism or opinion about the alledged review by the guy (For those of you who saw this thread first, the review has been copied and pasted from the site by me as the first comment on the thread at the very top of page 1)...

[randominsanity73]

There are alot of cars out there that have been neglected you know. As for spending your money on a 944 because skylines don't produce enough power, perhaps you should check out the 1300hp skyline that (i think veilside?) built a few years back.

Not saying that much power is useful, because it kept blowing things on the dyno. Just pointing out that skylines are capable of producing large figures if that's what you're interested in.

[<SSR>David]

seriously sounds like the guy didnt take good care of his skyline. I agree with GTES-t. "Like any car it needs to be properly tuned/<maintained>."
That car sounds like it has been neglected that part.