![]() However, good doesn’t mean it’s on another level. Look, it’s a relatively sophisticated late-’90s rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive sedan or coupe with a lineup of inline six engines and manual gearbox availability. ![]() I’m sure you expect this rambling to be followed up with a controversial statement, but no. Granted, they weren’t Rocky Mountain long-distance cruisers with fabulous NVH attenuation like the Germans or even an XJR, nor were they out-and-out sports cars, but they made sense as one car to do it all. They were fabulous value and surprisingly refined, plus the aftermarket was tremendous. You used to be able to get a GT Turbo for about what an eight-year-old Toyota Camry commanded in the isolated Okanagan valley, never mind most domestic-market performance cars. You might even squeak into a Holden Monaro-based Pontiac GTO, although it feels much heavier than a Skyline.Ĭurrent Skyline values are a bit shocking to me as due to Canada’s 15-year import rule and British Columbia’s propensity for insuring anything, non-GT-R R34s were just normal cars driven by young enthusiasts when I was in public school. Reasonably nice BMWs are never thin on the ground. If you have a Japanese bent, the Lexus IS300 has aged brilliantly. Even slightly dodgy naturally-aspirated 2.5-liter cars are still in the low five-figure range, and that coin buys a lot of sports sedan. These were brilliant cars when they were around $10,000, but the days of cheap JDM performance cars are pretty much over. Manual models with the RB25DET NEO turbocharged engine start in the mid-20s and go up from there. Now, here lies the rub of the R34: The one you really want will be expensive. Nissan was a sinking ship in the late-’90s, and a financial turnaround wouldn’t come until Carlos Ghosn took the reins in 2000. ![]() According to Whichcar Australia, R34 chief engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno wanted to put a V6 in the engine bay, but the money wasn’t there for a high-performance version of the VQ. Still, the late RB-series inline-sixes are a bit of a miracle because the R34 Skyline wasn’t even supposed to come with the RB-series inline-six. As with most big Japanese cars of the ‘90s, a four-speed automatic was on offer, and it’s aged about as well as you’d expect. The base HR34 GT model with its 153-horsepower RB20DE NEO engine won’t set the world alight, but the 197-horsepower ER34 25 GT and 276-horsepower ER34 25 GT Turbo models really get the fizz on, depending on gearbox choice. See, the legendary R34 Skyline GT-R won’t be legal under the 25-year rule until January of 2024 (The BNR34 GT-R was a Porsche-scaring monster with all-wheel-drive and an RB26DETT 2.6-liter twin-turbocharged inline six making way more than the advertised 276 horsepower), but 3,895 normal variants made in May of 1998 are now legal to import, and some are quicker than others. Mind you, that does come with a big asterisk - not all trim levels will make the boat right now. After years of pining and a handful of special models making it in through Show or Display legislation for the limited importation of historically or technically significant vehicles never officially sold in America, the legendary R34 Nissan Skyline is finally legal for American importation under the 25-year rule. All you have to do is sign on the dotted line before you take ownership of your new right hand drive JDM sports car or daily driver.įrom the initial search to the financing process, JDM Sport Classics has got you covered.May of 2023 is an important month for American enthusiasts of JDM tin. We make sure we know every last detail of each JDM vehicle we import, and we handle all the necessary paperwork. At JDM Sport Classics, we understand the difficulties involved with purchasing and importing a vehicle from outside the US, which is why we’ve dedicated ourselves to making it easier.
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