Nissan Skyline?

Question

I want to get a Nissan Skyline in the somewhat near future. I live in New York State and was hoping for one made after 1998 and a GT-R model. I heard about some company in California that was importing but sued, and that importing is illegal. I also can't afford anything too expensive, buy any and all information would be helpful. No links please

Answer 1

jccjr1982 is dead wrong. god, i cringe when people dont know what they are talking about. infiniti G35s are NOT THE SAME CAR. the easiest difference? the name. duh. if it has an entirely different name, its different...end of story. the G35 has a nice 3.5L VQ engine with double cams and fuel injection, good for about 280 ish HP...slightly similiar to the skyline. however, the aerodynamics, suspension, chassis, transmission, and body style are all extremely different.

the skyline is a COUPE. its a very long coupe, but it is a coupe. only this year have infiniti g35 coupes come out, and they are quite expensive. the skyline is more of a racing car, it comes with brembo brakes (stock) and a stiffer suspension. it also comes with 300+ hp (R34), despite the gentlemans agreement. (fact: people have bought nissan skylines and dynoed them after driving them home, doing no tuning, and they produced well over 280 HP. the most was about 330, give or take 5, by the R34 VSPECII. Ttoyota did the same thing with later versions of the Supra, but not exactly as much as Nissan). the skyline GTR has a twin turbo engine system and is all wheel drive. ATTESA-ETS and SUPER-HICAS are on the skyline, whilst only the ATTESA-ETS is on the infiniti G35x (which is 4WD).

ok, ill stop ranting. to answer your question: you can LEGALLY import any R33 skylines that were made in between the years of 1996 and 1998. if you wish, you can look it up on the US importation list, i dont have the link on hand. GTS, GTS-T (or whatever they had) and GTRs are all legal from that time frame. however, they still have to pass emissions, which requires a great deal of work. if you buy the cheapest skyline, the 96 GTS (or GTS-T i think), itll cost you about 10k at the least, excluding shipping to some east coast port. then emissions and legalization...but itll be under 20k, maybe under 15k if your very picky.

Motorex was the company in california. in a nutshell, they arent up and running anymore, so dont even worry about them, they cant help you in any way..the owner is in jail. so yeah.

oh, by the way...any and all upgrades to the nissan skyline GTR, no matter how mundane, will result in a relatively large boost in horsepower. exhaust systems, *any* turbo upgrade (stock turbos are ceramic), throttle body, computer chips...for some reason, they provide like 150% horsepower to the skyline compared to any other regular car. and the RB26 engine is remarkably resilient.

good luck getting it into NY...i live in CNY, ill get one eventually haha ;) i hear theres only two or three legalized in NYS, all in NYC i believe.

edit: its not a ceramic engine. its a cast iron block engine with an aluminum head. and to add to that, you dont need to have it changed to left hand drive, you can keep it in right hand drive, it is perfectly legal. why? post office trucks can drive on the road, and they are RHD. (plus theres no law that says they cant =P)

Answer 2

RB Motoring is like the new MotoRex...I believe they have the ability to import a Skyline now that MotoRex is out of the picture.

That one dude is way off...the R34 is in no way the same as the G35. The G35 in Japan is a Skyline though...to be exact its called the Skyline 350 GT...but it nothing like its predecessor. It built on a completely different platform and is powered by the VQ powerplant.

Your best bet would be to contact RB Motoring and see what they have to say.

Answer 3

its all marketing. i mean if they sold the g35 as a nissan in the states it would obviously cost less so they made it an infiniti to make some more money. But a g35 is a skyline basically, except for the right hand drive same everything.

Answer 4

Importing a skyline is very expensive and frustrating. If you want the power of a skyline I would just get a 240sx and swap in a skyline motor. That would be sweet. Im pretty sure there are many speed shops in New York that would be able to do that swap.

Answer 5

ok...if you're going to accuse someone of not knowing what THEY are talking about, YOU better spit out nothing but facts...

i just wanted to clear up that the infiniti g35 (coupe AND sedan) are the same as the current nissan skyline in japan...although the interior differs...i do know that the '07 infiniti coupe is re-styled, but i don't know if the skyline was re-styled at all to match...

and yes there have been previous skyline sedans offered, even r34 sedans...

the new v-series skyline does not really follow the tradition with skylines in my opinion, but i still like the styling...i used to want to get a g35 and badge it like a skyline, but it's just not the same, i would want a true skyline...motorex was a b.s. company...

there's a couple of ways to get a skyline, but most of them are just a pain, and if you go about it 100% legal, it is going to cost a bit of money...if only there was nothing to do to the car, because you can buy gt-r's cheap in japan...

Answer 6

The CA company you're referring to is called Motorex. Their website is still up and running but the company is supposed to be closed down and the rumor is that owner is in jail (I have yet to confirm that).

The model that you are probably looking for is the R34 and trust me. It ain't cheap. Motorex, back then, was asking for about $70k roughly for the GTR R34 and the only one that I ever saw for sale in my city..........the guy was asking for $75k.

I saw a R32 up around Toronto a month ago or so for $11k but it was not NHTSA and DOT compliant, so it would have been illegal to drive it on US streets.

Answer 7

Importing a Skyline is very expensive. One, you gotta get it shipped here. Two, you gotta get the vehicle emissions friendly for the DMV, which requires a TON of expensive modifications + certifications. I seen one website that does this entire process for $10k. One way people get around this is to keep "Dealer Plates" on it and hold off transferring the vehicle to their name/state for the longest time possible.

Just get an Infiniti G35, they are the EXACT same vehicle (Engine, Drivetrain, etc. even body style). If you really want a "Skyline" just rebadge the G35. I'm sure you can get all the badges off eBay. It's kinda poser style, but IMHO its not worth it getting a true Skyline imported.

Answer 8

Don't buy a 10 year old Japan market only car you cannot get parts for! Nissan is comming out with a GTR next year and todays 350z is just about the best sports car ever. Drive one and see!

Answer 9

Oo..you want gtr 34?importing is not illegal la.why you don't want to buy brand new skyline r-34?because it is too expensive?relax,that's nothing to be afraid of.ok?

Answer 10

Ok this is what you do, become an english teacher and move to Japan. There buy your car and drive it till your sick of it.

The problem with the GTR coming to the US is the best design was a ceramic engine, with ceramic twin turbos. But as I looked into my friends engine, I knew this would never make it to the states!, The second turbo was right where the steering would be mounted.

So remember this a movie is a movie and the reality is that cars crash after they make the jump over the river, thru the building ect. ect. Your driving will never be as good as any of us see in the movies.