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.
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.
U must of got a reeeeeeeeeelly bad one probably a ex drift car or something I know of about 60 people with a 1989 to 1999 Nissan Skyline GST-t and they just don't have problems with them ever. I myself have a 1995 GTS-t Auto and it is the best car I have ever driven (I have driven all manner of Australian, British and american Luxury and sport cars) and for cost of ownership and unbeleivable reliablity the skyline has my vote. Oh and it does 4.5 seconds to 60mph. I bet your citrioen didn't do that. I also am a self confessed ratbag in a car and I have NEVER been pulled over by a police officer obviously you are doing something wrong. I hope you have enjoyed my 2 cents.
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.
Dude no... this is one of the lowest model skylines you can get... u don't even kno the true potential of a REAL skyline... get a GTR R34 VSPEC NUR2 then go ahead and try and diss that car...
This is true, these are such good cars; this review seems to sound a wee bit biased?
Wow, you definitely landed a duff one there mate. I know many people with them, and they've been nothing but reliable.
I own a 96 GTS with a few engine mods, which takes the power up from 250bhp (std) to around 300hp at 0.5 bar of boost. I can hand on heart say that with these simple mods, it's almost impossible to go quicker for less!
The only thing that lets the car down is how scary they can be to drive in the wet (due to no traction control) especially when they're up on power. In the dry, with a coil over suspension kit (£500), no fwd car will ever outcorner it. Not a chance in hell!
Dude, you must be thinking about a GTR. How you said your car is supposed to beat anything on the road. A GTS25t won't beat the likes of Ferraris or anything like that; maybe it might if it was heavily tuned, but never standard.. but a GTR (2600cc twin turbo SUPER CAR) can when it's had a bit of tweaking, and if you want a GTR then you are going to have to spend a lot more money.
If you are so against Skylines, why did you buy it in the first place?? I own a 1995 R33 GTST and it has 120000 kms on it. Not only is it reliable, it beats most standard performance cars (F6 Typhoon, GTS Clubsports for example). I have a few small performance mods, and I ran a 12.9 pass on crappy street tyres.
These cars are great. I have NEVER had a problem with mine. If you get a decent tune by a reputable dyno place or tuner, you should have no problems if you have the right mods done for your desired power output. It's only when you cut corners or go with the cheap way out when you will come across problems.
For your car to have that many problems with it after that amount of km's traveled, you must have been thrashing it everyday, or had a very bad tune (if its even been tuned).
I have been very happy with mine, no problems or grief. I'm sure a lot of other people will tell you the same thing.
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