Stephen in QLD

[Lasiorhinus]

Ressurected... Lasiorhinus aka Stephen // WA

G'day all,

I'm considering joining the ranks of the Legnum drivers in Australia.

Ever since I first laid eyes on one, parked in the street about eight years ago, I've wanted one of these cars - Legnum or Galant, either would be great. But, the difficulties of getting one into Australia pretty much made that a fantasy, until

The car dealer down the street here had one turn up in the lot, a couple of months ago. I happened to be walking past, and caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye - literally stopping me in my tracks, as this little country town was about the last place I expected to find a Legnum in a car dealer's yard.

It's a '99 Legnum VR4, complianced but not registered, and in my opinion, a little overpriced. But I keep seeing it, and i've just about convinced myself to buy it.

So, I suspect you'll be seeing a bit more of me in the near future!

 

[Guest]

how much is it Stephen?

 

[leebutts]

Welcome Stephen,

you have chosen a wise path Which part of QLD are you in?

Don't run out and buy the first one you've seen/driven, there are quite a lot in yards around QLD these days or you could save a couple of grand and import one via one of the imports who are on the forum.

cheers

Lee

 

[Lasiorhinus]

I'm in Far North Queensland, but that's likely to change - I move around a bit with work.

The car Ive seen is $19,000, and as I mentioned, its not registered. Still a bit steep for a nine year old vehicle with over a hundred thousand km..

 

[weeaazz]

in my opinion thats a bit high,its a facelift which is a plus but to be that price with that many klms sounds about $5000 over priced.then again other guys on the site may have different opinions

 

[Lasiorhinus]

What is a facelift?

 

[SiliconAngel]

Welcome to the site, Steve

Facelift is the name used for the second series (Series 2) of the 8th generation galant VR4's, due to them getting a 'facelift' with the model revision. Series 1 or pre-facelift is '96 to latish '98, late '98 to 2002 is Series 2.

And I agree, that price is a little steep by at least 5k, maybe more. Unless it's manual with a sunroof I wouldn't consider paying that much, and even then its still steep with that many kms.

 

[Peter_D]

Agreed to much and too many K's

 

[Lasiorhinus]

I should get some time off work later in the week so I can go and take it for a test-drive, and see what's really on the odometer, as opposed to what's written on the paper in the window.
Its a 4-speed auto, no sunroof, no cruise control, and as far as I can tell, the FM radio is, as far as I can tell, a Japanese band radio, which will be next to useless to me, and require more money to replace.


(is the lack of cruise control the reason they're called Legnum?)

 

[pu-11-me]

I should get some time off work later in the week so I can go and take it for a test-drive, and see what's really on the odometer, as opposed to what's written on the paper in the window.
Its a 4-speed auto, no sunroof, no cruise control, and as far as I can tell, the FM radio is, as far as I can tell, a Japanese band radio, which will be next to useless to me, and require more money to replace.

Dude, that car is WAAAAY overpriced..... Rego'd with half the km's and 3 years warranty for that price as a minimum, even then it would be classed as expensive!

4 speed auto? They only come in 5 tiptronic or 5 manual? I'd verify that too

(is the lack of cruise control the reason they're called Legnum?)

That is quote of the day material that is

With a bit of surfing around the site and looking at some prices i think you may find something with a bit more for a lot less.... And you'll find out anything you want to know (for starters lol) by having a search through the site or the INDEX

Good luck finding one mate, you have made the right choice on a car to buy

 

[Peter_D]

I should get some time off work later in the week so I can go and take it for a test-drive

Great idea. Even if you don't buy this one at least you'll get a good idea just how great these cars are to drive.

its a 4-speed auto

Autos are 5 speed.

(is the lack of cruise control the reason they're called Legnum?)

Nope it's what you get from mashing the go fast pedal to the floor. The numbness spreads from the leg to the face from wearing a dirty great big grin.

 

[Lasiorhinus]

Do any of them come with cruise control? The lack of it is a big negative for me, as I do a lot of highway driving, but I can't see it being a must-have feature for cars driven in Japan.

Are there any questions I should be asking the dealer when I go to talk to them?

 

[Peter_D]

As far as I'm aware cruise control wasn't an option.

When looking at cars don't listen to the sales guys use your own eyes,ears and sense of smell and touch. They'll give you far more info about the car than the salesman. I wouldn't go tasting anything though. Most important of all is use your brain.

 

[SiliconAngel]

To be perfectly honest once you've spent a bit of time looking around this forum and ClubVR4 you'll know a thousand times more about VR4's than any car salesman. You'll also learn what to look out for and be aware of when evaluating a car. But like anything worthwhile, it takes a little bit of time investment on your part - extensive knowledge doesn't come for free.

Cruise control can be added if you need it, a couple of members on here have had it added to their cars.

 

[pu-11-me]

I got quoted $650 for cruise control the other day.......

 

[Lasiorhinus]

Well, I went to have a test drive.

Normally when I step onto a car yard, someone comes over to try and sell me something within minutes ( I even time them, sometimes), but no one came out... even after 20 minutes poking around the car, seeing all the little scratches, sitting in it, lifting the bonnet, hunting around the engine bay, still no one came out.

I had to go into the office to find someone, and was flat-out refused a test drive unless I had "cash in [my] pocket". I did find out, though, that it's been sitting in his yard for three months, and I can see why it hasnt moved in that time!

I did mention it was very overpriced for a car that old, with over 100,000km, to which he was surprised that I considered it "much" over.

 

[weeaazz]

car dealers can sometimes be a joke,and they try look offended when u say u think their cars are overpriced.go back in a few days and hopefully youll get a different dealer.do you actually need $19g cash or what if you said you had the money in your account?

 

[Lasiorhinus]

Thats a LOT of cash to just carry in your pocket..
I can afford the car, but im simply not going to pay $19,000 for it.

On closer examination, it has a lot of small paint chips, one of the alloy wheels has a great big gash in the metal, the spare tyre is one of those temporary use only things, the battery is almost flat, the radio has the japanese frequency band, and apparently it has a gps that, being japanese, doesnt have the database for australia.

Alloy wheels arent cheap to repair, and i'd want a full-size spare wheel. (not fussed if thats alloy or not). I doubt it comes with a can of touch-up paint, i'm going to have to replace the radio and the battery, and either the GPS will cost a bit to change to Australia, or will be useless.

I suspect its a function of the battery (a bosch, with the indicator on top to show you how healthy it is) being so low, but the external lights seemed very dim.
Yes, it was not much past high noon, in the tropics, when i was checking it, and without the keys they were running purely from the battery, but the whole lot, the fog lights, head lights, high beams, tail lights, indicators, were all rather dim. Is that common, or will I need to upgrade some light globes, too?
The headlight low-beams appeared to be yellow, too - not a colour ive seen much in this country.

I'll be going back, but I doubt therell be another dealer- it looks like a one-man-band.

 

[weeaazz]

yer thats a lot of little turn-offs,the yellow light's are new to me,mine have a fairly clear looking glow for non hid's.

but im pretty sure most legnums only come with the space saver little crappy spare wheels,mine does and i know i wouldnt fit a proper size wheel under there

with the battery,thats one of the things you could hassle with the dealer,tell him youll only buy it if he replaces the battery and maybe headunit too

ever thought of importing?or are you in need of a car soon

 

[Lasiorhinus]

Importing isnt really an option at the moment - i need a car, as I dont actually have one at all. This is the perfect opportunity for a Legnum, but if it doesnt happen, I'll have to get a Magna or Commodore or similar.

There is a lot of little things that need attention on it, but nothing that ive seen so far that makes it a bad purchase. But given the 106,147km on the spec sheet (let alone what else the dealer has put on it himself driving it around town in the last three months), and the lots of little things, I think the car's worth closer to $12k~$13k.

Yes, its got leather seats. But its an automatic, no sunroof, white, and needs some attention.

For interest, here's the spec sheet they have inside it.