Skylines being undersold....

Is it just me or are skylines in general starting to be undersold? It seems that the market to sell these cars is getting smaller by the day in terms of geniune buyers. More and more oweners seem to be people with a few quid who are told by a friend of a friend that a skyline is the way to go for power and status. There doesnt seem to be the same enthusiast type of owners about anymore. R34 skylines which were selling for 30k upwards last year are now lucky to fetch 25k, in general unless you have a UK car people seem to steer away from investing in them.

Are Skylines still rare?

So when I first purchased my R34 GTR in Jan 05 I knew I was buying a car of high calibre, however I wasn't quite ready for the huge amount of attention the car would bring....

Literally 15mins after picking the skyline up from the dealer I had a van pull up alongside me on the M25 giving me the thumbs up! 2 miles later a ferrari tailed me for a couple of junctions and then after parking in town a swarm of kids surrounded the car with their mobile phone cameras clicking away.....(no exaggeration) The months that followed meant I could never leave a shell forecourt without someone coming over for a chat or passing through the town centre without a few waves or beeps. Did I care? No not really.

So is that still the case? I wondered if any of that cult following around the skyline was fading or if it was actually getting stronger. I must admit I still hardly ever see another skyline on the road let alone another R34. There really is nothing else which I have driven which feels as good or looks as good in my opinion.

Are all garages the same?

I have had some good and bad experiences with various Skyline garages but one thing seems to ring true with all of them and in fact any garage I have ever used!

They NEVER communicate with you. What is so difficult about keeping a customer up to date on the progress of a service or repair? I have used now the two top skyline garages in the south east recently and both provided an awful level of customer service.

Whilst you may have knowledge about the cars guys it doesn't hurt to look after your customers as well. The attitude seems to be... well theres so much business out there we can do business as we please. Oh well, as the skyline fades, as it will at some point I am sure you will change your business ethics....

New Jap car forum and info

Just found a new site which offers a forum for Japanese Performance cars and mainly the Nissan Skyline. It is new but looks good and seems to be getting busier...

Check it out - Japanese Car Imports (J-Car)

Nissan GT-R Rises

Nissan's iconic GT-R has come to be defined by big numbers, but at the unveiling of the GT-R Proto, the company refused to be drawn on any figures. We know that the production version of the car will be launched at Tokyo in 2007....More [Auto Express]

Shell Optimax Cards Again....

Looks as though nobody has the Lotus then......

Skyline Servicing at Abbey Motorsport

I have recently been down to Abbey Motorsport in Oxted after many recommendations from various people. I can certainly say that from my own experience Abbey are very helpful and do an extremely professional job.

Chekout their website here: Abbey Motorsport

Oh dear....Shell Optimax Dream Cars Cards

For those who fill up with Shell Optimax petrol you have probably been given some of the new Dream Cars cards.

I picked some up with my petrol the other day and had a quick look, seeing there was no info on the card as to how the competition actually worked I checked out the web site listed.

The web site is actually a page on the Sunday Times website and it was down...great competition guys! Today there is actually some info up but the web page isn't even finsihed...theres text at the bottom saying "Teaser text here teaser text here teaser text here teaser text here" How can two massive operations like Shell and the Sunday Times mess this up so bad?

Of course like many things I may have just been unlucky when I visited......