The wife has told me she’s embarrassed by the ratty old 406 HDi on the drive and is keen for me to get a Nissan 350z. I’m not too keen on the ‘Z’ but coming round to the idea of ditching the Peugeot, although I am far from embarrassed by it. Having said that, it will likely need half its worth spending to get it through its next MOT: exhaust is at the end of its life and the middle rear seatbelt has given up the ghost.

I’ve seen a Skyline R32 GTR that really has caught my attention but I know absolutely nothing about them. Are there any owners or ex-owners that can recommend/warn me off?

Otherwise, criteria for me are:
* Quick (because I like to track, not because I’m some wannabe Gumball Rally nitwit)
* Different
* Technically 4 seats (2+2?) as it will occasionally be required to transport myself, The Boy and Mrs Flying Ox
* Less than £15k but preferably closer to, if not the other side of, £10k
* Petrol
* No auto/sequential gearbox shenanigans: I like to change gear myself

I’ve very little interest in having a new (sub-5 year old) car sat depreciating on the drive, and annual mileage is not really that much so mpg doesn’t bother me.

R32 gtr… Had one and a r33 gtr

Remember.. They are old cars… Undersides need sealing as jap imports don’t come done so rust a issue. C02 tests very hard to pass now unless cats placed in exhaust.

Mpg… More like metres per gallon my r32 was a weekend blast 130 quid each sat and sun easy plus oil ontop

R33 was slightly better but not much.
Big grin factors yes but the hunt for power is stupid. Gave up after about 875bhp as even I thought it became silly.

Hard to find a unmolested one now clocks need changing to mph correctly as most just put mph dials over kmh… So you run speed cameras all the time (6points in the r32) and idiots who don’t know how to tune them mess them up.. Can run lumpy and not really ideal on long journeys due to heavy clutches.

Buy a golf r32 instead… Or a newer evo and keep standard. Did love them but its a full time job keeping old liners sweet. Imagine a barge boat with 300bhp…

My mate used to import cars from Japan as a side business, mostly Impreza’s and evo’s. There was the odd rx and skyline. He imported an R32, liked it so much he kept it for about 6 months himself (which is possibly the longest I’ve known him to own a car) it was running over 600 bhp, I drove it a couple of times, while it felt planted the delivery was savage. He sold it was it got too much attention. His girlfriend found it an embarrassing car to be seen in, but he changed her instead. He describes ownership as:

Fuel, oil, nip to shops, get every boy racer starring at it, fuel, go home worry Chav will Nick it off drive, fuel, go to trackday fall in love with it, decide to keep it, fuel, oil, cop pull you over to take a look, fuel, go to bed check out window it’s still there, etc…

So your wife wants to swap the sensible (but boring) family wagon for a sportier number? She sounds great – I’m in the middle of the reverse argument. Oh well.

Are you sure you couldn’t make do with two seats? If so, I’d be going for a Z4 coupe, because I think they look really great, and 265bhp of NA straight 6 should be plenty. I got as far as test driving one but my wife would actually kill me I think.

Top end of budget GT86

An R32 would be a total money pit. If I was in your position I would be looking for a mint S14a 200sx Touring UK spec with out any rust and unmodified. It meets all your requirements and you will most likely make money in it if you look after it.

For me it would be a 130i,

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/bmw/1-series/used-bmw-1-series-3-0-130i-m-sport-5dr-wimborne-fpa-201601190221281?

Depends ‘which’ R32 GTR.

Buy a totally standard one as an investment because it is only going to go up in value; because they’re starting to hit 25 years old, the US Playstation Generation are now allowed to import them and prices are going up.

Or buy a tuned one without worrying about resale value and you’ll have my dream car.

It’s a standard one I’ve seen, other than some pretty special BBS alloys.

Fuel, oil, nip to shops, get every boy racer starring at it, fuel, go home worry Chav will Nick it off drive, fuel, go to trackday fall in love with it, decide to keep it, fuel, oil, cop pull you over to take a look, fuel, go to bed check out window it’s still there, etc…

😆
That describes almost to a ‘T’ my experience of owning an RX7.

Top end of budget GT86

My sis has the Subaru BRZ and if I’m honest it’s very underwhelming. Plus, it is realistically out of budget for a decent one.

Unfortunately, the BMW suggestions don’t quite fit with my “different” criteria. I’ll have a look into S14 though. Are the S15s better, cos I think they are very slightly better looking.

Just throwing stuff out there. An older Audi S8? BMW 850? A classic merc saloon AMG? VW Phaeton W8? Or Audi W8? Or an older Bentley?

They’re appealing aren’t they, I had an RX7 FD3S but I got sick of the chase for modifying it and every trip becoming a saga, although ironically they were the two best things about it as well!

I couldn’t find an R32 that wasn’t a classic car in all but name or totally destroyed. R33 seemed a much easier buy.

I think I’d go for A Monaro or an import newer US V8.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-HONDA-INTEGRA-2-0-TYPE-R-MUGEN-SPEC-DC5-COUPE-/301800396201?hash=item4644b495a9:g:9w8AAOSwT4lWSdMI

An S15 would be nice but I was trying to keep you on the right side of 10k 😉

Subaru Forester sti,ideal for all the above plus bike carrying duties.

Lexus isf. V fast and v diffetent and unlikely to have been chavved up.also pretty bulletproof.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/lexus/is-f

Might get oe for 14 or 15…….

I had an S13 200sx and it was a total money pit, I was glad I wrote it off in the end (350bhp+turbo lag = crap in snow) 😳 I know many people who have has s14’s, nearly as much trouble, and will be pretty rough now. S15 is a bit less exciting and not that quick unless you tune it up (the previous would then apply also).

For my money I would get an unmolested impreza. If you want to be more subtle a spec b legacy would be great and just as practical as the Peugeot.

350z is ok, considering most modern cars are dull as dishwater.

All about Japanese import cars

Get this chap to import you something.

Friend has a subaru impreza p1. Think it was a 2000 model. Quite fun and seats 4!

I owned a r33 a few years ago. A very nice car to drive, reliable but heavy on fuel and especially rear tyres

The Skyline’s are good solid, reliable cars with bombproof engines of massive potential. But as above, the R32 is a good 25 year old now. Some of them older. They’ll need a bit of love.

They are not cheap to run. Think around 20mpg, on a good day. The cost of even second hand parts is savage (often referred to as Skyline tax). And it’s naturally going to have some age related issues. I’d say, unless you have a good disposable income where you can spend and not worry about it too much, then it’s very much a full time hobby, where you invest serious time and money, and it becomes a big part of your life. It’s not a car you just buy. It’s probably more like having a child… Albeit one that you can sell again at any time.

My oldest bestest mate has one. He’s a bit of a specialist, he also has a R32 GTST (i think) and a 90’s Porsche 911 (whatever they were called back then). He rebuilds gearboxes for fun.

I love gtr’s ever since Gran Tourismo. Got to drive a 400+bhp R33 when i was in my 20’s. Got a corner all wrong down a country lane and actually closed my eyes and braced for impact but the car sorted it out and got around the corner for me! My mate asked me along to a charity track day in November at Silverstone with Abbey Motorsport who used to be the GTR importers back in the era of R32/33/34. Loads of R34/35 but 32’s are rare nowadays.

I’ve spent years wondering whether i should get one seeing as i have a mate who knows how to fix them, but everytime i ask him he strongly advises me against the whole idea. He reckons they are horribly complicated and expensive to fix when they go wrong. Eg. He was telling me about a braking issue that had prevented him taking it to track for 6 months. He couldn’t fix it, Abbey didn’t know, another specialist was flummoxed, the forums were at a loss. My mate spent £10,000s changing every part of the braking system and abs and I think it still plays up!

It makes my bits of carbon i buy for the bike seem an absolute bargain! So i suppose it comes down to how deep your pockets.