nissan skyline r33 gts-t - road rocket for less than the price of a 1.2 punto on finance. (Nissan Skyline)

Member Name: anthonymcgrath

Product:	Nissan Skyline
Date:	16/03/06 (14764 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very fast, very bada$$, very practical, real headturner and very original

Disadvantages: fuel costs can make it expensive if you do alot of miles (I dont), be CAREFUL in rain n snow!

"okay, okay.. ant you can handle this - its your dream car, you've waited 4years to turn the key in one of these and your sat in the drivers seat of what is quite possibly the most stunning example of an R33 gts-t you've clapped eyes on since making the decision to buy one. reet here goes. *turns key* ...whoah thats a seriously meaty engine - I can feel it right under the car burbling away. reet - follow Pa who dropped me off in his 1.1 punto out of bradford. wow the suns shining - nice day! ..hang on ..whats everyone stopped dead in their tracks on the pavement for? ..oh they're ogling at the car in amazement and pointing! reet - keep eyes on the road ant, theres dad turning left out of the city centre, you can handle this ..oh my god the car is gorgeous to steer - it just doesn't feel like a big car... and that roar from the engine when you touch the gas pedal and I'm only doing 30mph! this car is stunning. whats that button do? whats that button do? oh never mind I'll figure that out when I get home, gas, brakes, clutch etc are all where they should be you'll be oreet driving it ant.. okay.. dads just turned onto the mway - the oil temp light is on so maybe I'll just push the gas pedal a notch annnnddd.....WHHHOOOOAAA-HOOOOO-HOOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!! ! omg thats comical I'm doing 70 already and it didn't even try!!? didn't feel that fast looking out the front screen but EVERYONE in my rear view mirror has become dots!! hang on!!! theres 4th and 5th to go through as well!!?!! right behave ant ..I better let dad catch up so I can follow him home - **drums fingers for a coupla minutes while dad in punto catches up** there he goes past me now with his jaw on his lap hahahahahahaha man I love this car!!"

I picked up my Nissan Skyline R33 gts-t about 3weeks ago now
having collected it from Bradford. I just wanted to write an
initial (sort of) review as I'm still in the honeymoon stages with it and cant take it out on the road enough. The above is a series of thoughts on my first drive home in my new car. Up until now the fastest car I've been in was a 3.4 audi and I thought that was quick but this thing has just
destroyed any concept of what I thought was quick and still
continues to do so 3 weeks later. heres a breakdown:

performance:
very very fast, engine sounds beautiful (I've a 4.5inch can on the rear so it helps make it snort but you can feel the power being sent to the rear wheel drive. half a pedal is more than enough to have it storming down the mway with the turbo whistling gently in the bg - honestly you'll never bother having the music too loud again with an engine that sounds this fantastic. getting used to driving it in 2nd and 3rd around busy city centres is strange at first as the car sounds really viscious but its nothing to the engine - turbo isn't even spooling up - above that is motorway gears really but for short shifting about town nothing will have heads turning more with that "what the hell is that monster" look on their faces than gently pootling this around town at 20mph in 2nd gear! handling is nothing short of superb - it clings to roads brilliantly and the HICAS (rear wheel steer) is strange at first but very handy on tight corners. in the wet the car is VERY difficult itching to rear wheel spin out first chance it gets - you'll be being overtaken by everyone at first but who cares your in a skyline man!

comfort - very comfortable to drive - I'm 6ft3in so a bit of leg room is very handy, little details like the extra fat interior door trim allows you to rest your arm on it comfortably whilst driving, the central arm rest allows you to hold the gearstick and rest your arm, even your clutch foot has a rest for when its not being used (my left leg circulation is chronically bad from driving older cars so this is a boon!!) rear seat space is good and leg room also good I'm told - its as practical a 4person car as it is a 1person commuting motor or track day beast! I've got adjustable coilover suspension on mine which is set to 2nd softest so it absorbs some of the road bumps. Britains roads give you the odd 'ooffff!' moment but no worse than any other motor I think :-/

style - are you kidding me? I had the choice of an equally immaculate twin turbo supra parked next to it for the same cash and I went with this hands down after seeing it! Its full on Miami haha! The lines are gorgeous, its a big long car with the recognisable rear afterburner lights but the front are equally nice quad light style affairs hidden under a nicely shaped and long bonnet that looks quite badboy from low down. the whole car is gorgeous and I like it even more than the R34 now altho all skylines are stunning shapes. Its a low car too which is strange as all photos n pics tend to make it look like its sat quite high up. only let down on standard models is the rims - get some nice deep dish 17's or upwards on it and you've done all the mods you'll need to - they're that sexy!

okay so theres faster still on the road (there always is) -
the R32 gtr will do a 0-60 in 4.5 seconds and a high spec porsche will redefine Gforce for you in 3.2 or something but we're talking 5.5 to 6 seconds 0-60 for under 6k folks! you pay that plus interest on a Corsa or Punto over 3yrs an its worth NOWT once you have finished paying out!

I'll write a more solid review a few months from now as I live with it in the meantime if your thinking about picking one up, shop about, go to an owners meet, hell contact me (anthonystephenmcgrath@msn.com) and ask me some questions about it (I looked at a good few of em and have seen a couple of lesser models but nothing I'd be ashamed to climb in) but get in one and have a spin if you get the chance you'll love it straight away.

in the meantime can everyone who reads this please pray for no rain (its not the best car to have in the rain but at least it makes you behave hehehe!)

cheers
ant

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MAY2006 - review update.
okay so I've had this motor a few months now and thought i'd put a little bit more info, try and adjust a coupla comments and the like. sorry if my notes and comments seem a bit scatty here and flitting from one to another - I'm writing it as I think about it too.

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performance/handling:
good god its fast it really is. at present I cant boot mine as I'm having alternator probs (below) but nothing this coming wkend and a few cups of tea wont help me fix with any luck! the car is comical - i've left most things standing with half throttle and that were only because the car was detting (explained why below).. now its sorted she can really be floored and the push from the rwd is abolutely ballistic! It corners brilliantly tho I've never pushed it as if anything were to ever go wrong I'd end up crashing it (i'm no Colin McCrae). Despite all that ability/power tho the car can be driven in a very refined manner and I'm much more fond of doing that - its just very very handy to have that power when you wanna overtake a truck on the A6-bloody-9!!
a friend took me out in his gts-t which is tastefully modded and running 1.3bar of boost and this was like being aboard a missile - 85mph in 2nd gear and top speed above 160mph - trust me if yer after a liner, if you've got the readies to hand get a gtr but I reckon you'd be just as blown away with a gtst - they're no slowcoach and certainly not with a few bits under the hood!!


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maintenance:
a few things have given me a spot of bother - most recently the alternator bearings went on it but i'm told its common so dont know. anyhow replacement weren't hard to find from a breaker and fitting it aint too difficult either.

Changed oil (5w40 full synth) and oil filter - easy enough but with my bumper being so low its a bit difficult getting under to the nut - however all in all its not much different changing oil on any other motor!

Sparkplugs changed last week - this made a bit of a difference and smoother idling - cool. get NGK iridium 7's 8's or 9's (number=hardness) and get em off Ebay for 65quid or something - halfords wanted 27quid each?!

the big one for me at the minute is the air/fuel mixture which is slightly off thanks to the orig owner having a boost controller fitted. he also fitted an apexi AirFlowController too. he then removed the boost controller which had the turbo boost set to 0.7bar max putting the car back to standard 0.5bar boost. (I only know this because the memory button on the boost gauge flicks the needle to 0.7bar).
however he hadn't removed the AFC which had air flow offsets causing the car to detonate at higher boost/rpms - I set this AFC back to zero setting and it seems to be running alot better with very little detting now - I'm taking it to a tuner anyhow for a full remap and new ecu soon so that should sort the problem out.
I know this doesn't really help readers but if nothing else it should give you something to be aware of should you be looking at a non-standard example (and very few are left alone now). anyone can up the boost very easily on these cars but your lookin at probs down the line.


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comfort/build quality:
this is one I feel I have to update - a few months of driving it back n to to work are catchin up with me now - britains roads aren't the best are they really?!! I've found myself avoiding potholes in roads, slowing down for bumps and wotnot. sideroads are a worry with their speedhumps/traffic calming measures.
The bucket seat is a bit low for me now (tho not as insanely low as a friends of mine - cant see the bonnet sat in his!!) and messing around with my gammy left leg circulation. HOWEVER - mine isn't standard so be sure your comfy in one your looking at buying :) overall the comfort is great, everything is where you need it to hand, indicators on the right which is strange at first but much better as you can steer, flick indy stalk with right and operate gearstick with left :) all pedals are easy to reach, handy clutch-foot rest and the interior trim on the right door is fat enough to rest elbow on whilst holding steering wheel
suspension is good but like I mentioned - a harsh pothole will make the car feel like its gonna rattle to bits. my coilover suspension however and puts the car very low to the ground.

I have a real issue with ppl slamming car doors and these simply dont need you to do that as they sound like their gonna fall off if you do!! give them a gentle pull tho and they'll very elegantly suck into place.

cabin noise is quite minimal - i recently had a decat pipe fitted which really makes the zorst roar (kakimoto zorst - 5inch exit I think).. I was a bit worried with the windows as their frameless so I were expecting outside noise to easily make its way into the car but the windows suck up nicely to the roof and around the door aperture keeping noise to a minimum - you'll only start to get a bit bothered after a few hour drive I think.

back seats are comfy, very low down making only the tallest rear passengers appear in yer rear view mirror but had no complaints doing a coupla mway journeys.

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economy:
Dont get one if your worried about this kind of thing - simple as that. The thing will suck a bp garage bump dry if you want it to - it runs off Optimax best - putting morrisons road chowder in it aint gonna help you in the long run. I'm also told a bottle of octane booster with every full tank will make a difference too but not tried that yet. I dont know much about fuel economy figures but I do know that if you put 40quid in in the morning and boot it round rounds all day most of it'll be gone! it can guzzle it dry ...but you'll have a riot of a laugh and a beaming grin at the end of it!!

my journey to work is 15miles each way and half of that is town driving lowering the economy but it still isn't criminal really - probably put about 50-60quid a week in and thats with some spirited driving and evenings out in it too.
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insurance:
crazy but then its my first yr owning a turbo motor and they've rogered me good as i also have 3points. however I'm on a 10month accelerator and as soon as this yr is up I've been given quotes from insurance companies that are half the 1600quid insurance cost admiral have stiffed me for :(

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overview:
the liner is a fantastic car, stupidly fast, more than enough power and handling for a british road and very comfy for one or four passengers. running it aint cheap and certainly not if your gonna fly everywhere in it and insurance will hate you for owning one but if you only get one for a few years (as I planned to) you'll have a permanent smile on your face.

Summary: very fast, very controllable and sturdy, very original shape - dont follow the sheep

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