Skyline R32 GTS-t

My previous car was stolen, and after a drawn out and protracted settlement from the insurance company, it was time to choose another car.

I looked at everything from VL Commodores through various Falcons and Fairmonts.

I had a test drive in an imported Nissan Skyline HR32 GTS-T. I had never driven a turbo before...it was stunning with it’s acceleration. I had to have one. The original yard couldn’t cut a good deal on the car I had tested so I hunted around and found another. A lot cheaper thanks to a noisy turbo, but well equipped with air conditioning, full electrics, and cruise.

Ownership notes:

I owned that car from 1996 through to June 2000 when I traded it on another Skyline. I covered 71,000 km.

The car still impressed me after four years of driving the thing. Sure it could use a bit more torque for the hills, but you couldn’t wish for a quieter, economical, high performance car. Still have to be very careful in the rain and going around roundabouts!

The auto has two programmed modes - power and hold, in power mode it makes changes at around 5000 rpm, in hold, it hangs onto gears before changing down. Without either of these selected, the auto seems to read your driving style, eg if you stand on it, power mode will come up on the dash. High tech eh?

One of the modification I did to the R32 was to add an intercooler water sprayer that I made. The sprayer worked quite well - I removed it just before trading the car in on my next Skyline.

Issues:

Turbo

Virtually straight away I booked in for a new turbo to be fitted. The original turbo had ceramic blades and exotic roller bearings - a non-serviceable unit. A conventional steel Garrett turbo found it’s way into the engine bay. It takes a bit longer for the turbo to spool up, but the workshop said it would make more power - to what I don’t know. Stock they make about 155KW.

Coils

On the R32 I had two coils fail. The symptoms were sporadic missing. The first coil that I had replaced was quite expensive, even second hand - like no change from a couple of hundred NZ$. In the past few years, the price has come down substantially.