1995 Nissan Skyline GTS-T 2.5L straight 6 from Australia and New Zealand
Summary:
These cars are fast, but not as fast as people say, for the money, buy a Porsche 944
Faults:
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 is 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.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 14th November, 2004
10th Mar 2006, 13:27
Hmmm...I agree with the other comment poster in that you must have bought an abused car, as I myself own a '96 auto GTS-T, purchased at ~50,000 km's and have driven another 12,000 km's so far without one single problem.
A few things I would like to mention:
- In response to the comment poster, the official 0-100 km/h time for the *manual* is something like 6.4 seconds, certainly not 4.5. The auto's official time is around 7.0 seconds. Standing 0-400m times are ~14.4 seconds for the manual and 15.5 for the auto, although I have heard of a completely stock auto (including tyres, air filter, etc.) running a 15.0 dead at the drags. Seems to me that Nissan were fairly conservative about their performance claims.
- I am quite happy with how the car drives, in terms of suspension compliance (fairly stiff, but liveable), handling and driveability, however I wish there was less road noise! The sound deadening was certainly used sparingly in this car!
- If you really want a car that feels "fast", then don't go with the auto. Sure, it will out-drag most other cars out there (if that's your thing), but that's limited to, say, most non-turbo 4 cylinder cars and the average 6 cylinder family sedan. It's certainly no match for most turbocharged manuals or local V8's (Gen III onwards). If you're going for all-out power, then the auto is good for "only" 200 rwkw - the manual can withstand a lot more power.
- As with any turbocharged car, high quality synthetic oils must be used at regular intervals, say between every 5,000 to 10,000 km's. Failing to do this can easily damage the turbo, which may well be the cause of the reviewer's blown turbo. However, this usually gives one the excuse to get their original turbo "high flowed", which costs between $800 to $2000 (Australian dollars) and will be good for up to 300 rwkw, depending on the specs.
- I have never, ever had any problems whatsoever with cops with this car. Since owning the car, I have been RBT'd once and the cop didn't treat me any differently to the other five times I was RBT'd driving an '89 Ford Telstar.
- Overall, I am very happy with this car, however I wish I had purchased a manual instead (and am planning to sell my car and purchase a manual in the near future). This is only because I believe that a Skyline is a car that is designed to involve the driver, and an auto takes that little bit of driver involvement out that you would otherwise have in a manual. That, and I have decided that I am going to start chasing big power outputs. Reliability-wise, the RB25 is one of the most reliable engines out there - it is virtually bulletproof if kept within sensible power levels. Visit any Skyline forums and this will be proven time and again.