not sure about buying a legnum

[Guest]

Hey guys, my name is andrew im new to the forum. My dream car has always been a vr4 legnum, within the next year i am thinking about buying one. Some people have said buy it if it makes you happy, but other people have advised me not to buy such a car eg hard to buy parts for when something goes wrong, the car is not reliable........ so on and so forth.
Any way im writing this post to find out the pros and cons about these types of cars and there history, i would like to make an informed decision before diving in and buying one!
Any info would help!
Hope to hear from you all soon
Andy

 

[snickells]

Welcome to the site Andrew, a few questions if you dont mind...

1) Who exactly are these "people" telling you VR4's are:
A) Unreliable?
B) Hard to buy parts for?

2) What exactly is it your looking for in a car?

3) HAVE YOU EVEN SEARCHED THE BLOODY FORUM? READ THE BUYING A VR4 GUIDE? LOOKED AT THE CLASSIFIEDS SECTION? READ THE GUIDES?

If not I'd suggest you do before you get flamed to death seeing as this shit has been covered so many time it's almost painful.

 

[Guest]

1) A) father; he has been in a car trade for over 20 years
mate; is a mechanic
B)Because legnums are an import parts are harder to come by and are more expensive

a legnum is what i am looking for in a car, a monster under the hood but i also have the space to throw a surfboard of skis in the back

 

[Guest]

If you participate on this forum you will not have any problems finding parts or information.

In its stock state the car is very reliable, but if you intend to make modifications then of course the situation may change depending on what you are doing and your experience level.

 

[montgomery]

I Refuse to take my car to mechanics , something always goes wrong.


20 years in the car trade? , and i bet he still missed out on all the good cars that were made.

Ie , most things from japan.

Leggy's are great , esp manual ones..

Tuff as , happy to putt around town , and when you want to , open it up and with a fijitsubo exhaust you will have one of the best sounding crs on the road.

Parts wise , If you cant get it through this forum or from someone on here , then id say you have brain damage.

 

[snickells]

1) A) father; he has been in a car trade for over 20 years
mate; is a mechanic
B)Because legnums are an import parts are harder to come by and are more expensive

a legnum is what i am looking for in a car, a monster under the hood but i also have the space to throw a surfboard of skis in the back

Response:

A) He's old. Enough said

A1) Your mate has no idea and obviously isn't a fan therefore isn't going to spend the time to read up on the ease of access to spare parts from either Japan or New Zealand.

B) Almost every bloody car on the road is an import! You think Honda have issues getting spare parts? You think Toyota have trouble getting spare parts? No... they dont. And neither do we.

If your honestly that timid about buying an import, because there WILL be problems, then dont bother. But if what I'm reading in your "a monster under the hood but i also have the space to throw a surfboard of skis in the back" statement correctly, then you just might have the inclination to actually deal with the shit for the pleasure of owning an amazing 4WD TT wagon....

Come down to the car show tomorrow and see some for real! You wont be disappointed.

Parts wise , If you cant get it through this forum or from someone on here , then id say you have brain damage.

GOLD!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Or go take one for a test drive somewhere.. you'll probably buy it on the spot!

 

[Gary31]

^ thats what happened to me.

I looked at her and said "I hate Mitsubishi's."

Took her for a drive and fell in love...

 

[mookers]

Where in Melbourne are you located, Andrew?

 

[unclepaulie]

pfft, parts are easy to get, between evo's/lancer's/magna's/other vr4's/vendors/ebay/jpn yahoo/usa galants/europe galants, parts are a peice of piss to get, as long as you hav the knowledge, and its all in here

reliabliabity, well they didnt win car of the year on their debut year for no reason. they'd be more reliable then any local falcodore

your dad is a knob, so is your mate. no offense. my pop was in the car trade for 50years. everytime he see my galant he notices something new that impresses him. mechanics think they know everything about cars, well sometimes they dont

end rant

 

[bdscott]

I love my Legnum. For me it was a family wagon that behaved like a sports car . Anyway I have found that too many people who don't know what they are talking about often lean towards "shit car" attitude. Unfortunately they don't want to display their ignorance or they have heard one bad tale of woe usually caused by someone elses ignorance. Long story short, it is Japanese, of course it is going to be reliable. Providing you take care of it.

Parts wise, you can't expect to go into your local ripco and say I want this part for a Legnum. They are more than likely going to ask you what the hell that is. If you can use the seach button then members on this forum will more than likely have done all the hard work and found a substitute. Or as mentioned there are overseas suppliers as well. About the only trouble I have is the tight confines in the engine bay. Some of those bolts are a bitch!!!

Anyway as Steve said, come down to Motoravate tomorrow and there will be 7 Vr4's there complete with the owners to question on real life experiences and not on heresay

 

[mookers]

I would never have considered buying my Legnum if it wasn't for this forum - I was an import (and turbo) newbie. Everything you need to know is here.

 

[godzilla]

I would never have considered buying my Legnum if it wasn't for this forum

+1. I was going to buy a Stagea hmy:

As what all have said re parts. The beauty with Mitsubishi, and for Nissan as an equivalent, there are so many interchangeable parts within the family, you can usually get all you need for cheap enough. Failing that, you can always buy genuine Mitsi from Ralliart NZ....Cheap as chups Bro

 

[TTVR4]

Or go take one for a test drive somewhere.. you'll probably buy it on the spot!

i took my first galant for a test drive, blow the clutch apart coming off the line racing a bike ( with the sales rep in the car). told the sales fix it and its sold, one week later Brooom Brooom i had the galant..

ps:
your salesman mate and the mechanic are probably ford and holden Boggens

 

[Guest]

Oh, and Andrew if we haven't scared you off to OzFoz.com yet.. if you have any simple questions that you really can't be bothered researching asking them in this thread instead:

http://ozvr4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5717

 

[fieldy107]

Buy one, keep a couple grand spare in case anything goes wrong, if after 12 months nothing has gone wrong and you still have your money, MOD the thing!

Some things can go wrong and probably will. They will cost a bit more then commodores and shit like that to repair but not to much more. But try finding a wagon with this sort of performance in the same price range, I think you will struggle

 

[king_panther]

LOL look at the roasting in this thread!

& I haven't even started yet.....

but in addition to the above posts, yes, good luck indeed finding something with similar performance in the same price range.

Stageas & Volvos don't count because they're utter crap!! :tongue_smilie:

 

[swift5_8]

Be nice - he is just doing research - its a great car that does cost more time to look after but its is worth it - parts vise it might not be a same day service but you can find everything you might need, its not for the same price of a commodore just a bit extra just like honda or similar but the car puts grin on your face nearly every day

 

[Scottie]

C'mon Guys.

Andrew, if you are keen, come along to a meet one night. You can have a good look and everyone is all for talking about their cars. We are some good honest blokes and will tell you want you need to know.

 

[cyber_scriber]

Welcome to the forums Andrew.

As with most imports, parts aren't as readily available as local models. However, they're not particularly difficult to source either.

Most of the "normal" servicing parts can be bought from local stores and suppliers e.g. engine oil, filters, spark plugs etc.

The regular services aren't that expensive either and only require synthetic oil and a Ryco oil filter. You can get both items combined for under $75 easily.

In terms of reliability, VR-4s are reliable provided they have been well maintained. Quite a few have seen in excess of 200,000 klms.

I've had my VR-4 for about 9 months now and nothing at all has gone wrong.

Cons of this car? The major 100k service can be expensive. The auto gear boxes have been known to fail, particularly if they haven't been properly serviced and had a cooler fitted. Turning circle is a shocker. Stock brakes could be a bit better given the weight and performance of the car.

Pros far outweigh the cons IMO. Probably one of the best bang for your buck and practical performance cars you can buy. Test drive one and you'll see what I mean.