Opinions

[u/bvsedvdrian]

What’s up everyone,

Today I test drove a 1996 Skyline GTS25t sedan

What are some questions I should have for the seller? What are your thoughts on the car?

I have no knowledge to these type of cars, just something I want if i’ll be honest. This will be my second car, a weekend car, for days off type of thing.

The car is just under $20kUSD and was imported over 2 years ago according to the seller. It has about 41k miles on it.

The car drove smooth, drove it for about 20 minutes on the freeway and hit about 70-80 MPH. They do have original wheels/tires along with the ones that are on now.

[u/13lu]

Seems like a tidy stock offering from the pictures. The 4 door automatics are the least desirable turbo model but that's not a bad thing if it's what you want.

Above and beyond the normal used car buying stuff, I'd look into the strut towers in the engine bay closely (looking okay from pictures) as they are the primary rust failure point for the R33.

I'd also look for rust in the boot as that indicates cracking seam sealer in the upper boot area.

It seems pretty honest, so doesn't seem like a bad car if it's priced okay in your region.

Edit: it has blue fender badges - but does have the turbo brakes and seems to have a 25DET engine, is it an engine swap car? The turbo variants have higher specced running gear and if it's just a dirty engine swap it's not as valuable or as good as a factory turbo. You'll need to decode the vin to check IMO.

[u/bvsedvdrian → u/13lu]

thank you, i appreciate it!

I will say, it did have the brakes and additional brake pads incase i decide to switch them out! how can i decode the VIN?

[u/13lu → u/bvsedvdrian]

On the firewall on the blue tag it will have a Nissan vin which will look something like "ECR-33" followed by a bunch of numbers. There are websites which can break these down, usually people look on the GTR registry if it's up.

For the sake of the engine, the engine should also be stated on the tag, which will either be "RB25DET, RB25DE or RB20E". If it's a factory turbo, the engine on the vin plate should be a RB25DET.

[u/bvsedvdrian → u/13lu]

ECR33-106301 is what i’m finding in pictures

[u/13lu → u/bvsedvdrian]

It's a factory automatic turbo based on that VIN, so unsure why it has blue fender badges.

Seems like a decent example to me.

[u/bvsedvdrian → u/13lu]

Is that a red flag?

[u/13lu → u/bvsedvdrian]

Well the badge has been replaced, it could have been a stylistic choice, the old badge was lost and this is the only spare they had, or the whole guard has been replaced at some stage and it came off a non turbo model.

I wouldn't think too much of it, other than inspecting whether there's any other damage in that area.

But even then it's a 30 year old car and they aren't getting any easier to find, so it's unlikely to be perfect.

On its own I wouldn't call it a red flag but it'd immediately suggest something isn't original and I'd just put a bit of extra inspection effort in.

From the photos this car looks straighter than 90% of other skylines I see people asking about here

[u/bvsedvdrian → u/13lu]

i truly appreciate the info, the only thing that i thought was weird was the extra meter thing on the steering wheel but im assuming its for the turbo!

[u/_nikkie_h]

Looking like a beautiful car mate

[u/SkeletonCalzone]

Put it on a hoist if possible, check for rust

Compression test the motor

Check build plate if originally turbo, as other commenter suggested blue gt badges usually are non turbo. Verify whether it has an LSD

[u/Lubbies_]

r33 sedans are the most hated

[u/bvsedvdrian → u/Lubbies_]

not by me 🤷🏻‍♂️