Only young once... (Pulsar related)

Shock · 4 Aug 2007 at 14:43

I've recently turned 20 and can finally get something more exciting after three years of driving boring cars.

The requirements are a cheapish (£3-4K) silly fast turbo hot hatch that won't cost a fortune to insure.

I was randomly reading about someone's Pulsar GTIR last night and decided to get a quote for a laugh. I nearly did a sex-wee when the company I'm with now came back with £1K. All the others were well over £3K! I've since been reading GTIROC all morning...

I know they will cost a fortune to run but I want to have some for a fun for a bit before I have to start thinking about moving out. So it's not really a problem. Also I thought they would be a lot more expensive than what they are. Not much more than some of the Punto GT's I've been looking at lol.

Has anyone had any experience with them? Would it be best to spend a bit more and get one that has had lots of work done? On the whole are they reasonably reliable? I need to drive 15 miles to work so it's no good to me if it breaks down every week.

Thanks.

Andybtsn · 4 Aug 2007 at 14:54

Reliability really depends on whats been done to them, being Japanese they'll come out of the factory with a good reputation, when people start tinkering with them thats when problems can occur.

I'd advise getting a standard one and then modify it to you're liking, I bought mine with a few modifications, mainly uprated fuel pump, different alloys, mongoose exhaust. Thats it, I then fitted FMIC myself which was fairly easy bt took time, I then got coilovers fitted in Wigan by HiTec who specialise in Pulsars, did a fair few things after that.

Sold it basically due to running costs, insurance at 21 was about £1k like yours but petrol costs we're horrendous!! The more you modify obviously determines this.

Loved the car though, the grip and speed were breathtaking, cornering we're fun and it never let me down. Was a definate head turner and I miss it. Hoping to buy one as a weekend car in the future!

Good luck and don't rush you're buying, there are some bad ones out there, you're budget will get you a nice one.

Don't be fooled though, for young people they are a HUGE car to maintain, I probably rushed into getting one being pretty young and naive and always wanting one.

I like whoring this piccy

DreXeL · 4 Aug 2007 at 15:02

Andybtsn said:
the grip and speed were breathtaking, cornering we're fun

They suffer from understeer though do they not? I'm just going by what I've been told by mates who own them, I've never actually driven one myself.

Andybtsn · 4 Aug 2007 at 15:08

DreXeL said:
They suffer from understeer though do they not? I'm just going by what I've been told by mates who own them, I've never actually driven one myself.

Not too sure, from how I used it I didn't experience such understeer.

Obviously I'm not as hardcore driving wise as you so you'd probably be better to judge but from personal opinion it was great

Wouldn't compare to a Teg cornering wise. :cool:

Enfield · 4 Aug 2007 at 15:11

What insurance company are you getting a quote from for this car then? Would be good to know.

Andybtsn · 4 Aug 2007 at 15:13

I'm guessing Elephant

Shock · 4 Aug 2007 at 15:22

Andybtsn said:
Reliability really depends on whats been done to them, being Japanese they'll come out of the factory with a good reputation, when people start tinkering with them thats when problems can occur.

I'd advise getting a standard one and then modify it to you're liking, I bought mine with a few modifications, mainly uprated fuel pump, different alloys, mongoose exhaust. Thats it, I then fitted FMIC myself which was fairly easy bt took time, I then got coilovers fitted in Wigan by HiTec who specialise in Pulsars, did a fair few things after that.

What were the brakes like? I've read they're terrible standard.

Sold it basically due to running costs, insurance at 21 was about £1k like yours but petrol costs we're horrendous!! The more you modify obviously determines this.

What sort of return were you getting? My little commute is motorway miles. So I was thinking if the worst comes to the worst I could do the magic 55mph.

Loved the car though, the grip and speed were breathtaking, cornering we're fun and it never let me down. Was a definate head turner and I miss it. Hoping to buy one as a weekend car in the future!

How much did you pay for yours if you don't mind me asking? It looked very nice, shame you sold it!

Good luck and don't rush you're buying, there are some bad ones out there, you're budget will get you a nice one.

Don't be fooled though, for young people they are a HUGE car to maintain, I probably rushed into getting one being pretty young and naive and always wanting one.

Yeah I agree and won't rush into it. I need to save a bit more money first anyway so it gives me a month or two to think about it.

Andybtsn · 4 Aug 2007 at 15:31

Shock said:
What were the brakes like? I've read they're terrible standard.

Yeah they are pretty bad, uprated pads and discs are a must really.

Shock said:
What sort of return were you getting? My little commute is motorway miles. So I was thinking if the worst comes to the worst I could do the magic 55mph.

Thats the problem though, it's how I drove it near it the end, just so slow and trying to save as much fuel as possible, it kind of defeats the whole object of having the car! Can't remember the MPG, I'd probably get 30 miles to £10 I would have thought. That was probably driving with foot down mind.

Shock said:
How much did you pay for yours if you don't mind me asking? It looked very nice, shame you sold it!

£2K I think! I bought it when the market was quite busy so you could get them cheaper, was an Import but everything changed over, little history and 'low' miles. Bodywork wasn't the best, although no rust it needed a respray to be fair.

Shock · 4 Aug 2007 at 15:57

Andybtsn said:
Thats the problem though, it's how I drove it near it the end, just so slow and trying to save as much fuel as possible, it kind of defeats the whole object of having the car!

I only meant driving steady on the way to work and back. There's so much traffic anyway that it's not really worth trying to go quick. Did you have to do many miles in yours or were you just generally fed up of it being so expensive to run?

Can't remember the MPG, I'd probably get 30 miles to £10 I would have thought. That was probably driving with foot down mind.

That's about 13MPG unless I've done it wrong. Drive it like you stole it eh lol!

£2K I think! I bought it when the market was quite busy so you could get them cheaper, was an Import but everything changed over, little history and 'low' miles. Bodywork wasn't the best, although no rust it needed a respray to be fair.

Cool cheers. Could probably get one a bit cheaper on the run up to Christmas.

Andybtsn · 4 Aug 2007 at 16:01

Maybe it wasn't that bad actually, ha ha! I loved the thing but I do a lot of miles so it was pretty impratical and when I had it I had a few debts so my outgoings we're quite high, wish I'd got it 6 months later as I could have enjoyed it more.

Andybtsn · 4 Aug 2007 at 16:01

Stonedofmofo (other something like that!!) on here had a real nice black R, I'm sure he'll offer sound advice when he sees the post.

Shock · 4 Aug 2007 at 16:11

Enfield said:
What insurance company are you getting a quote from for this car then? Would be good to know.

It was Bell. But I think them and Elephant are all part of the same group.

Andybtsn said:
Maybe it wasn't that bad actually, ha ha! I loved the thing but I do a lot of miles so it was pretty impratical and when I had it I had a few debts so my outgoings we're quite high, wish I'd got it 6 months later as I could have enjoyed it more.

Sounds to me like you need to start looking for a new one.

Andybtsn said:
Stonedofmofo (other something like that!!) on here had a real nice black R, I'm sure he'll offer sound advice when he sees the post.

Yeah I remember reading about his before it was sold.

Lopéz · 4 Aug 2007 at 16:22

The brakes really are pretty shocking.

Ev0 · 4 Aug 2007 at 21:37

Don't standard calipers bolt right onto a Micra or something? Pretty underspecced I think, can something like 300zx/200sx 4 pots can be fitted?

L0rdMike · 4 Aug 2007 at 21:40

Andybtsn said:
Stonedofmofo (other something like that!!) on here had a real nice black R, I'm sure he'll offer sound advice when he sees the post.

Everyone gets his name wrong.

The_Dark_Side · 4 Aug 2007 at 21:49

DreXeL said:
They suffer from understeer though do they not?

It's audi-quattro syndrome, and incidentally the reason they withdrew from rallying.
too nose heavy, the engine is too far forward.
it can be engineered out of the car though.

The_Dark_Side · 4 Aug 2007 at 21:51

Lopéz said:
The brakes really are pretty shocking.

as usual, you hit the respective nail on it's head.
even the then-head of Nissan admitted in an interview years later that they were appalingly bad at stopping the car.
solution? replace the lot. pads/discs/calipers.

The_Dark_Side · 4 Aug 2007 at 21:54

@the op.
in standard trim it's very reliable.
in modified form it's also very reliable if it's been modded by a reputable tuner.
it's when they get modded by nuggets you have problems.

Lopéz · 4 Aug 2007 at 22:10

The_Dark_Side said:
as usual, you hit the respective nail on it's head.
even the then-head of Nissan admitted in an interview years later that they were appalingly bad at stopping the car.
solution? replace the lot. pads/discs/calipers.

You know when you're a passenger in a fast car, and you think "Hang on, we're going to have a big off here in a minute"

Every time I've had that feeling, a crash has soon followed. The only time the crash didn't happen, I was in a Pulsar and I really really thought we were just going to plain run out of road. Luckily it ground to a halt with not much black stuff left. The standard brakes are scarily bad, they DO NOT stop the car in anything like the fashion they should on a performance car.

Sonea Fifer · 4 Aug 2007 at 23:03

Shock said:
I've recently turned 20 and can finally get something more exciting after three years of driving boring cars.

The requirements are a cheapish (£3-4K) silly fast turbo hot hatch that won't cost a fortune to insure.

I was randomly reading about someone's Pulsar GTIR last night and decided to get a quote for a laugh. I nearly did a sex-wee when the company I'm with now came back with £1K. All the others were well over £3K! I've since been reading GTIROC all morning...

I know they will cost a fortune to run but I want to have some for a fun for a bit before I have to start thinking about moving out. So it's not really a problem. Also I thought they would be a lot more expensive than what they are. Not much more than some of the Punto GT's I've been looking at lol.

Has anyone had any experience with them? Would it be best to spend a bit more and get one that has had lots of work done? On the whole are they reasonably reliable? I need to drive 15 miles to work so it's no good to me if it breaks down every week.

Thanks.

Hi there

They are actually pretty good cars - I had mine for a few years before eventually selling it on. Like previous people have mentioned standard brakes aren't the best especially if the engine has been modified.

Also if the engine has been modified check the pistons have been upgraded as the standard ones become fragile with too much boost (iirc standard boost is set to 0.7bar / 1bar = 14.7 PSI)

I'd also check whether the clutch has been replaced or upgraded as the engine has to come engine out to change it.

Am sure I was paying in the region of £600 ish fully comp with Bell Direct insurance wise, that was with the wife as 2nd driver and she was under 25 then. Like you've said yourself your only young once - if you can afford the 15mpg i was averaging I'd say go for it

One last thing I'd advise is if your planning on modifying then move the intercooler to the front as its more of an "interwarmer" when sitting on top on a hot manifold

Only young once... (Pulsar related)

Man of Honour