Can you buy a reliable Nissan 200sx S13 for £2K?
Discussion
stu_the_flat said:
Is it possable to buy a reliable Nissan 200sx S13 for £2K or under? If so could somebody point me in the direction of a buyers guide?
What else would you recommend (doesn’t have to be jap, Does have to be reliable)
What else would you recommend (doesn’t have to be jap, Does have to be reliable)
You could get a good one but it all depends on how it has been looked after. These cars are starting to get snapped up for the drifting seen and are getting harder to get. What do you mean it doesn’t have to be Jap. Are you looking for a cheap rwd car?
The GMan said:
stu_the_flat said:
Is it possable to buy a reliable Nissan 200sx S13 for £2K or under? If so could somebody point me in the direction of a buyers guide?
What else would you recommend (doesn’t have to be jap, Does have to be reliable)
What else would you recommend (doesn’t have to be jap, Does have to be reliable)
You could get a good one but it all depends on how it has been looked after. These cars are starting to get snapped up for the drifting seen and are getting harder to get. What do you mean it doesn’t have to be Jap. Are you looking for a cheap rwd car?
I want a fun reliable car. I like the 200sx, I'm trying to persuade my Gf that we can fit in an Mr2 but basicly I'm looking for a good car for under £2K, I'm concidering Beemers but I don't know much about them.
You need to get yourself over to the owners club where you will find buyers guides and all sorts of information.
www.sxoc.com
www.sxoc.com
You can easily get a reliable S13 for £2k 
I bough my first one in Jan this year, and have since had 4 of them. They are great cars.
Things to look out for.
1) Big end knock. If you dont think you can identify it by yourslef, take someone with you who can, otherwise you're looking at a rebuild
2) Rot . Sills, rear arches, bootlid (all of them are ), front strut tops, footwells. Take a screw driver and have a good poke about.
3) Smokey/noisey turbo's. These cars dont make any form of smoke. Any smoke, white, blue or grey and either haggle on price, or walk away
4) Det/Pinking. Pre-detonation. Comes from badly set up timing
Thats it really. So long as it drives straight, no clonks, and stops promptly you should be ok.
You might hear a light tinny rattle from cold start up, but if it goes away after a 10 secs or so its nothing to worry about. Most do it.
There are 2 models of S13, Facelift and Pre Facelift (from here on known as FL and Pre FL)
Pre FL- Square ish front bumper, integral headrests in the seats (ie not adjustable) and open rear diff (non LSD). 1988-1991 ish
FL. Rounded bumper, adjustable headrest, if the car has headlight washers poking out of the front bumper, chances are it has the Viscous Limited Slip Diff (VLSD). 2 ways to test for LSD's. 1) Do a burnout. If you ge 2 lines you have LSD. 1 line means open diff.
2) Jack the back of the car up with g'box in neutral. Spin one rear wheel. if the other spins the same direction, LSD, if it spins opposite, its open. Fl's were from 1991 -1994 ish
There are some cars around 1991 with the FL bumpers, but no VLSD. So if you want any drifty type fun, make sure you check.
Before starting, check the oil. On the CA18DET engine's its not as simple as most cars due to a stupid dipstick tube design. Take it out and clean it, place it back to the bottom of the handle, take it out and clean it again. Do this until it comes out clean, then test the oil. Make sure you do it on a cold engine. If the seller says "I had to use it to pop to the shops", tell him to put the kettle on until it cools again
Standard tyre sizes are 195/60 15's. For some unknown reason, alot of people run Nankangs in this size. I can only assume they are cheap, but sold as performance due to Nankang being owned by Yokohama. They are rubbish tyres. Known as Ditchfinders on SXOC. Best bet is to reduce to 195/50 15. Much more choice, and much cheaper size (Yoko's and F1's are £36 each)
If I think of anything else, I'll let you kow
Oh, and if you're looking at one in the midlands, I'll be more than happy to come along and help you look
Ed
I bough my first one in Jan this year, and have since had 4 of them. They are great cars.
Things to look out for.
1) Big end knock. If you dont think you can identify it by yourslef, take someone with you who can, otherwise you're looking at a rebuild
2) Rot . Sills, rear arches, bootlid (all of them are
), front strut tops, footwells. Take a screw driver and have a good poke about. 3) Smokey/noisey turbo's. These cars dont make any form of smoke. Any smoke, white, blue or grey and either haggle on price, or walk away
4) Det/Pinking. Pre-detonation. Comes from badly set up timing
Thats it really. So long as it drives straight, no clonks, and stops promptly you should be ok.
You might hear a light tinny rattle from cold start up, but if it goes away after a 10 secs or so its nothing to worry about. Most do it.
There are 2 models of S13, Facelift and Pre Facelift (from here on known as FL and Pre FL)
Pre FL- Square ish front bumper, integral headrests in the seats (ie not adjustable) and open rear diff (non LSD). 1988-1991 ish
FL. Rounded bumper, adjustable headrest, if the car has headlight washers poking out of the front bumper, chances are it has the Viscous Limited Slip Diff (VLSD). 2 ways to test for LSD's. 1) Do a burnout. If you ge 2 lines you have LSD. 1 line means open diff.
2) Jack the back of the car up with g'box in neutral. Spin one rear wheel. if the other spins the same direction, LSD, if it spins opposite, its open. Fl's were from 1991 -1994 ish
There are some cars around 1991 with the FL bumpers, but no VLSD. So if you want any drifty type fun, make sure you check.
Before starting, check the oil. On the CA18DET engine's its not as simple as most cars due to a stupid dipstick tube design. Take it out and clean it, place it back to the bottom of the handle, take it out and clean it again. Do this until it comes out clean, then test the oil. Make sure you do it on a cold engine. If the seller says "I had to use it to pop to the shops", tell him to put the kettle on until it cools again
Standard tyre sizes are 195/60 15's. For some unknown reason, alot of people run Nankangs in this size. I can only assume they are cheap, but sold as performance due to Nankang being owned by Yokohama. They are rubbish tyres. Known as Ditchfinders on SXOC. Best bet is to reduce to 195/50 15. Much more choice, and much cheaper size (Yoko's and F1's are £36 each)
If I think of anything else, I'll let you kow
Oh, and if you're looking at one in the midlands, I'll be more than happy to come along and help you look
Ed
£2k is my absolute max and I'm wondering about the insurance of one. (what’s reasonable to pay of a 22 year old male with no points and no “no claims”?)
I need a car to visit my fiancée in York so all it needs to do is a Glasgow to York run about once every two weeks.
I do want to go drifting but at the moment I need a good road car. Because Lanny is going to start to learn to drive and I don’t want her to worry about happy backsides. And once I bought the car I won’t have any money!
I’m also looking at the BMW 3 series I’ve never considered these cars before (being obsessed with Jap cars) but it looks like more what I need right now.
So are these road friendly cars? Or should I leave it for a couple years? Again I appreciate all the advice you can give me?
P.S. how does this look on paper? As he is close to me?
www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/112789.htm
Cheers
Stu
I need a car to visit my fiancée in York so all it needs to do is a Glasgow to York run about once every two weeks.
I do want to go drifting but at the moment I need a good road car. Because Lanny is going to start to learn to drive and I don’t want her to worry about happy backsides. And once I bought the car I won’t have any money!
I’m also looking at the BMW 3 series I’ve never considered these cars before (being obsessed with Jap cars) but it looks like more what I need right now.
So are these road friendly cars? Or should I leave it for a couple years? Again I appreciate all the advice you can give me?
P.S. how does this look on paper? As he is close to me?
www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/112789.htm
Cheers
Stu
£2k for an SR20'd S13 
Its pretty much standard elsewhere, but thats still a good price.
I dont know what you'll class as reasonalbe insurance, but I was 24 when I got mine, 3 yrs NCB, stock UK S13, 9k miles PA, £540.
You're best bet would be to pay the £15 registration fee and join the SXOC, then you can make use of the deals us members get with insurers As an SR20 conversion is quite a hike in risk from an insurer's point of view
Its pretty much standard elsewhere, but thats still a good price. I dont know what you'll class as reasonalbe insurance, but I was 24 when I got mine, 3 yrs NCB, stock UK S13, 9k miles PA, £540.
You're best bet would be to pay the £15 registration fee and join the SXOC, then you can make use of the deals us members get with insurers
As an SR20 conversion is quite a hike in risk from an insurer's point of view stu_the_flat said:
P.S. how does this look on paper? As he is close to me?
www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/112789.htm
Cheers
Stu
I noticed that one on the classifieds. Looks like a lot of fun for 2k! If i had more beans thats where they would be going.
NB - Dont know anything about that particular car and have not seen it.
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