£6500........STI V4 or R32 GTR

[DGMG123]

Hello people,

Having just sold my car it has left me in a situation that I have been dreading for ages....what car to get next!

To give you a brief run down I have recently moved house to a location which enables me to walk to work every day which means my already low annual mileage has gone down from 5000 miles per year to around 2500. I will be using the car mostly at the weekends for some B road blasts and the occasional journey to the shops/parents. I may be interested in occasionally tracking it but that will NOT be high up my list of requirements.

I am in a position to buy a car for around £6.5k and have got a soft spot for anything JDM(I peviosly ran a Motegi Prelude) I have driven ITR's Accord Type R's and CTR's but feel like the last 2.5 years spent in a Honda VTEC has left me wanting for something a little bit different. Although I loved the Honda to bits I feel that I am now in the situation to run something with a little more ooomph without getting hit too much at the petrol station due to my low miles.

Now here is the dilemma, do I stick £6.5k into a Turbo'd rice rocket which has been imported and ran in the uk for a while and if so which one? I have always had a massive soft spot for R32's and still do and I dont see many around where I live (N.E Scotland) The STI is an awesome car but is the image is a bit on the chaff side now(maybe not 2 door versions??)

Insurance isnt a problem as I am now old!, have full no claims and the motor will be garaged, help me try and work out what to do, any pistonheaders with experience of these cars let me know your thoughts..thanks in advance

[GravelBen]

The STi and GTR are quite different cars, so drive both and see which you prefer.

PS Make sure you drive an STi Type-R or RA (as well as a regular STi probably), they have the DCCD adjustable centre diff which really does transform the car, 64R-36F static torque split. I think GTRs are similarly rear-biased but a bit heavier, 2.6 twin-turbo straight 6 compared to 2.0 single tubby flat-4, so you can probably expect the impreza to be a bit lighter on its feet and mroe chuckable, while the GTR better through long sweeping corners and top end.

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 2nd May 13:47

[DGMG123]

Hi,

Yeah I know they are different animals I suppose I am just questioning my sanity plumping £6500 into a 16 year old car!!

I dont know whether it would be a safer(is there such a thing?!) bet getting the STI due to it being around 6 years newer.....but I suppose it is all down to condition/history etc.

I am just in a position where I am thinking sod it go and get the R32 and fcuk the consequences, I have wanted one for sooo long and I think it may put a rather large smile on my face.....anyone from near Aberdeen got an R32 they want to take me for a blast in??....

[trickywoo]

JDM scoobs like to destroy their engines. STI 4 and Type R are known for being the worst offenders.

I think a standard / lightly tuned R32 is likely to be more reliable but if it does go wrong its going to be more expensive than the scoob to fix (and they are not exactly cheap).

[craig2003]

Have you thought about an Evo a IV goes for that kinda money maybe even a cheap Evo V smiles per miles make it worth it

[cactussed]

I've driven both and owned an R33 GTR (and my dad owns the sti).

They are different cars, to be fair. The STI is more for chucking around and has lower gearing.
the GTR has taller gearing and is happier through sweepers than tight twisties.

The sti brakes will prob be better, but the r32, with an exhaust and some minor mods will sounds fabulous and can be meade to really get up and go!
The RB26 is one of the all-time great engines IMHO.

Drive them and see what you think...

[GravelBen]

trickywoo said:

JDM scoobs like to destroy their engines. STI 4 and Type R are known for being the worst offenders.

generally only when driven on low-octane fuel without being mapped for it, or being thrashed from cold etc without complete lack of mechanical sympathy. Besides, isn't it the UK-only P1 thats the most renowned for going pop? GTR's aren't without their problems either, most Nissans are usually pretty solid though and take a lot of abuse.

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 3rd May 03:56

[jonner]

2.6 GTR 32.....

[cardiff]

32 gtr all day, get one form the gtr forum that has been in the uk a while as you know its history, so many for sale you can get a real bargain these days

[trickywoo]

GravelBen said:

generally only when driven on low-octane fuel without being mapped for it, or being thrashed from cold etc without complete lack of mechanical sympathy. Besides, isn't it the UK-only P1 thats the most renowned for going pop? GTR's aren't without their problems either, most Nissans are usually pretty solid though and take a lot of abuse.

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 3rd May 03:56

Not so. As I found to my cost. My scoob was babied and always run on super / optimax. Failed at 50k. Scoobs made around 98 /99 (ie version 4) suffer additionally from piston slap.
Try finding a type r with 60k plus on it that has not had a rebuild, impossible. Very very poor engines IMO. API have made a fortune just from rebuilding scoob motors.

[silversmith]

I have a WRX Sti Type RA for sale if yur interested.......

[DGMG123]

Thanks for all the info guys....much appreciated. Yeah I will be looking at the GTR owners club very closey and try to source one that way. I suppose it is a buyers market for these types of cars. Thanks for the offer of the RA, think it may be a little too raw for me.....please feel free to send pictures/info though.

Does anyone know if the R32 runs fine on Super?

Thanks in advance..

[GravelBen]

trickywoo said:

Try finding a type r with 60k plus on it that has not had a rebuild, impossible.

No, its very possible. Plenty of type-R and RAs around down here that haven't had rebuilds and still going strong with more miles than that. Subarus can be quite sensitive to running-in though and with imports you never really know how they were treated when new.

[trickywoo]

GravelBen said:

trickywoo said:

Try finding a type r with 60k plus on it that has not had a rebuild, impossible.

No, its very possible. Plenty of type-R and RAs around down here that haven't had rebuilds and still going strong with more miles than that. Subarus can be quite sensitive to running-in though and with imports you never really know how they were treated when new.

Its very rare in the UK. What octane fuel is standard in NZ? P1 engines seem to fail with around 40k on the clock.

Edited to say miles not Km.

Edited by trickywoo on Thursday 3rd May 13:41

[GravelBen]

trickywoo said:

Its very rare in the UK. What octane fuel is standard in NZ? P1 engines seem to fail with around 40k on the clock.

Edited to say miles not Km.

We get 91,95 and 98. With an STi I'd be running it on 98 whenever possible (some places don't have 98 yet), and unless remapped I'd contemplate using an octane booster too just to be safe especially if I had to put 95 in it, as Japan runs 100 octance fuel I think.

Most of the blown-up Imprezas I hear about here have been mistreated or badly modified, like one belonging to a friend of a friend which let go when he bought a cheap boost controller and put 18psi through an otherwise standard motor. I think because they're so cheap and accessible now more people can buy them who treat them badly, so its worth being careful about history etc.

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 3rd May 21:31

[sparkyhx]

what about a Nissan 200sx - you'd probably struggle to pay £6500 even for a late low milage one.

Spend £500 and you will get 270bhp, another £500 to sort out the handling (its set up as a grand tourer, so is a little on the softer side of sporty).

Will see off standard STI's and give M3's a run for thier money. If your paying that kind of money it will be very low milage and they are pretty reliable I personally know of plenty running well over 100K and one I know of is running 196K with the last 80k at 270bhp.

The trouble is once you get the modding bug, it can get silly with 300bhp, 350bhp, 400bhp all within relatively easy reach with a big enough cheque book.

have a look round at the guys in SXOC.com - you may even see an already modded one for sale.

[Stu R]

for 6500 I'd be weary of most GTR's. Prices aren't great at the minute for Skylines (from a sellers POV) but you're definately at the (top of the)low end of the market. Scoobs I don't really know much about price wise, but there's so many of them about I think you stand a much better chance of finding a decent one than a skyline. That's not to say there isn't any good cheaper GTR's out there, but a lot (i.e most) of the ones I've seen at the lower end of the price range have had problems not long after. I'd budget a minimum of 7500 ideally 8500 upwards for a clean 32GTR that's going to be reliable and (compared to a 6 grand one) easy to run.
200sx is a good idea, should leave you with pleanty money to spend elsewhere or on mods too for 6500, obviously the same applies to most cars though, you won't get what you spend on mods back, and it's often the case that selling the bits seperately and the car as standard is the only way to recover losses.
Another one that might be worth considering is the celica GT4, should pick a great one up in your budget, and they just don't seem to age at all for me, still love the look of them. And they're a bit of a hoot to drive too, more so with a few mods

[trickywoo]

GravelBen said:

Most of the blown-up Imprezas I hear about here have been mistreated or badly modified, like one belonging to a friend of a friend which let go when he bought a cheap boost controller and put 18psi through an otherwise standard motor. I think because they're so cheap and accessible now more people can buy them who treat them badly, so its worth being careful about history etc.

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 3rd May 21:31

Abuse is undoubtly a factor but there are some serious design flaws which make failures more likely.

The scoop for the intercooler suffers a massive drop off in air-flow above 80mph.

No3. cylinder (which is often the cause of problems, piston / bigend) is last on the fuel rail and often runs too lean as a result.
It is also the closest to the turbo and therefore runs hotter.

Lots of people say the oil pump is not up to the job.

In short I'd advise thinking very carefully before buying a scoob about how happy you would be spending around £4k on a rebuild.

[R33GTST]

You only live once so buy with your heart, just make sure it's not a dog thats going to cost you loads!!! R32GTR by the sounds of it...........

Hence i got the R33 GTS-T and they wouldn't insure me on an impreza????

[vixpy1]

trickywoo said:

GravelBen said:

Most of the blown-up Imprezas I hear about here have been mistreated or badly modified, like one belonging to a friend of a friend which let go when he bought a cheap boost controller and put 18psi through an otherwise standard motor. I think because they're so cheap and accessible now more people can buy them who treat them badly, so its worth being careful about history etc.

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 3rd May 21:31

Abuse is undoubtly a factor but there are some serious design flaws which make failures more likely.

The scoop for the intercooler suffers a massive drop off in air-flow above 80mph.

No3. cylinder (which is often the cause of problems, piston / bigend) is last on the fuel rail and often runs too lean as a result.
It is also the closest to the turbo and therefore runs hotter.

Lots of people say the oil pump is not up to the job.

In short I'd advise thinking very carefully before buying a scoob about how happy you would be spending around £4k on a rebuild.

Oh and the air flow meters fail...ALL the time