1986 Nissan Skyline GX 3.0 petrol

Summary:

Poor Man's Godzilla

Faults:

Automatic transmission was blown when I got it.

After replacing the auto, the tail-shaft center bearing began to rattle and slip when under heavy acceleration.

The diff whines. (How many Skylines this age don't?)

There was a 2 inch circular hole in the floor of the boot where the spare tire goes, where something had previously been removed. This was causing a lot of dust and debris to enter the boot.

Some body rust, mainly around the roof gutters and rear window seals.

The Speedometer/Odometer both don't work, hence I don't know how many k's its done since I acquired it.

The engine has lately been cutting out under power load i. e mainly when I turn my headlights on. It's at the workshop being checked out as I write.

Other than that, its fine!

General Comments:

I bought this car for $600 so I had to expect some faults, but sadly I have to say most of the above faults were caused by the previous owner not looking after it very well at all.

It made me angry to see such a nice car being neglected in this way, especially such little commonsense things that turned into bigger problems, such as the hole in the boot (god knows what happened there) not being fixed immediately.

Also, the body rust near the roof gutters could have been so easily avoided if the worn window seals were replaced to stop water being trapped, and the roof side strips being removed once in a while to clean out any debris in the gutters that could trap water.

However, Most of these problems cost me more time than money to fix, except for buying a second hand gear box and having it fitted.

Hopefully after it comes back from the workshop it shouldn't have anything else go wrong.

The general appearance of the vehicle is very nice, with a nice paint finish and exterior trim.

The interior is very clean (no thanks to the previous owner) since I cleaned it all out.

It has very comfortable seats and a good dash layout, with plenty of warning lights etc.

Performance is ahead of its time for a car this old, and the fuel consumption is fairly matched to this.

I still like my car after all this has happened, Like I said nearly all the things wrong with it were due to it not being looked after, rather than poor build quality.

The moral of the story? Look after your car and it'll look after you.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 6th May, 2003

21st Nov 2009, 02:19

The hole in the boot is nothing but a drain plug missing.