Hey guys! Don’t actually own a gto/3000gt but thought it introduce myself.
I’m from Milton Keynes area, I’m 24 n only been driving 3 years but this is the bit that usually gets everyone I’ve owned 8 cars in those 3 years
From that fact alone you may have guessed I’m a bit of a petrol head my car history being:
1st - Mitsubishi FTO (so much fun but expensive insurance)
2nd - Volvo 850 (sensible cheap to run car but automatic… dads old car)
3rd - vauxhall frontera (my off-roading phase)
4th - Mitsubishi Galant v6 (1st taste of speed but wanted more)
5th - Mitsubishi Galant VR4 (beastly but insurance ruined it)
6th - vauxhall vectra (back to being sensible but so boring)
7th - Celica GT4 ST205 (this was amazing)
8th - Mazda 6 MPS (my current 300bhp beast much fun)
so yea I’ve had some ups and downs though out my car history and in all honesty I’ve always wanted to own 3 certain cars…
A 350z - just out of my price range n apparently not that good.
A Toyota GT86 - way out of my price range
A GTO/3000GT - could never insure one until now
With that said I do love my MPS, it looks nice, its rare, interior is nice, its fast and its new so i don’t have to worry about every random knock n bang i hear but it is just so… civilised.
I miss my GT4 with the rumbling blitz exhaust, being so low to the floor n bolted into the bucket seats you feel like its just you attached to the wheels… it was so much fun n i can imagine the GTO is similar.
I want a GTO but I’m not sure if its a good idea going back from a new reliable fast car that I could modify, to a older car that has the feel I want but also the problems that I don’t want.
Sorry for the long ass introduction, just wanted to get my story across as to why I’ve registered with your owners club. I’ll be reading through the posts n keeping an eye on the classifieds in case something catches my eye.
Welcome, Having owned a string of GT4’s myself (all variants and models including a CS) I can tell you know the GTO is a MUCH faster car. Modified right I can also say it just feels like a big GT4 although not a s big as you’d think.
However the cost of everything is either similar or more expensive so if you do want a GTO buy the best example you can. My last MOT cost about £3500 including parts and labour about £1200 of that was modifications to be fair, the rest was wear and tear Items, Brakes, clutch, prop shaft bearings, gaitors, the list was quite extensive.
I’m not saying this to put you off but just to give you an example of what a cheap GTO will cost. I paid £2k for mine about 21 months ago as a project so I knew what I was getting into.
BUT now she is sorted, now she runs right I wouldn’t change her for anything and believe me I looked at alternatives including a R32 GTR, Soarer TT, amongst others, Even looked at another GT4 but the V6 growl and the Torque from the engine is addictive.
Just to balance that, my last MoT cost £45. It really does come down to buying on condition though. Since I bought mine I have spent a fortune on it - the spreadsheet I keep of expenditure on the car passed the £10k mark a few months ago :shock:
Do make sure you read the buyers guide - it’ll save you a lot of financial pain!
Welcome to the club,
Nows the time to buy a GTO as they will never be any cheaper, I like the look of the GT86 but to much money for less performance. I have had mine a year now and covered over 8000 miles only failing the MOT on a broken coil. Totally agree with Brendan buy the best you can afford. These cars are so underestimated its mad. There great cars with a great club.
Thanks for the welcomes guys , To be brutally honest I’m not that well off to be able to just pay something like £3500 I know that’s close to worst case scenario but its all I ever think about when looking at older cars.
My MPS cost me about £600 on its MOT which was a pretty big hit on my wallet but there was a proper service and uprated the shocks whilst I was at it.
If I was to sell the MPS I would probably have about £4-5k ish, there seems to be some nice ones about but nothing thats perfect n as I’ve mentioned to my buddies if I’m selling a newer car for an older car it would need to be as close to perfect as possible. perfect being:
Newer shape similar to Brendan’s n GTO Scott’s
Lower mileage / engine rebuild
preferably manual
n obviously looked after with as little rust as possible.
basically something that will last me quite a while, Given that these are rare cars I doubt ill find what I’m looking. There was a nice red 1 on auto trader for about £3.5k with engine rebuild n some nice extra’s but it was older shape n although I love pop up headlights the newer shape just looks awesome.
As i said mine took a heavy hit on the MOT because I bought a cheap one with the view of doing it up over time, unfortunately some parts just didn’t last as long as I’d hoped they would :lol: The first MOT it went for when i had it it only needed front brake pads
There are good cars out there, just don’t rush in to buying one for the sake of buying one. Definitely read the buyers guide and if possible buy a club owned car with plenty of history. Even see if someone would be willing to go with you to take a look at any potential buys.
I don’t regret getting mine, I don’t regret buying cheap because most of the bits I’ve fixed have been bits I would of upgraded anyway. More importantly its one of the nicest and fastest cars I’ve ever owned.
For the record all twin turbos are manual and definitely check for rust, its a killer of these cars
Hi and welcome to GTOUK, one other point re the rust situation the 3000gt is a uk car so far more prone to the rust than the imported GTO, My TT is 22yrs old & a Jap import that i have had for 5yrs, every time i take it for M.O.T. the examiner cannot believe how good it is underneath, I have run mine on directly ported nos & abused it dragging it at Santa Pod & places similar & never laid a spanner on it other than as said before for wear and tear,. Correctly maintained they are not really any worse than any other car, Good luck with your decision. Pop & see us at our AGM in Coventry on the 12th of April & you can look & i dare say one or two of us will take you for a spin.
Its going to be pretty tough, I need to somehow sell my car just as 1 comes onto the market.
could put my car up for sale now but there is nothing on ebay, autotrader or pistonheads… doesn’t even seem to have been any selling activity on this ■■ for almost half a year.
I’ve had a browse through the buyers guide n seems to be fairly common stuff, there seems to be a massive lack of after market parts about which I was quite suprised about, are most things custom built for these?
also the lights on GTO scott’s GTO look different to any others I’ve seen, is that a mod or a later model of GTO? a lot of GTO in that last sentence
There are plenty of tuning parts available for the GTO, Scotts has had whats known as a 99 front end fitted AKA a mk4. Mines a MK2 front with robo modded lights the mk1 has pop ups and the mk3 has slightly different front bumper and a hoop rear spoiler. HTH
[quote]Its going to be pretty tough, I need to somehow sell my car just as 1 comes onto the market.
could put my car up for sale now but there is nothing on ebay, autotrader or pistonheads… doesn’t even seem to have been any selling activity on this ■■ for almost half a year.
I’ve had a browse through the buyers guide n seems to be fairly common stuff, there seems to be a massive lack of after market parts about which I was quite suprised about, are most things custom built for these?
also the lights on GTO scott’s GTO look different to any others I’ve seen, is that a mod or a later model of GTO? a lot of GTO in that last sentence[/quote]
Mine’s a Mk.4/99-spec conversion. Headlights, front bumper, indicators, rear wing, sail panels and rear garnish are all unique to the Mk.4, as well as a shedload of smaller stuff underneath. The sideskirts and rear bumper are common to the Mk.2/3/4.
There is plenty of aftermarket kit available (check out the Evil Empire website in the trader section), but be careful, there is also plenty of tat on the market for these cars. Generally, if its cheap, it’s ■■■■. I’ve not seen a mod for these cars that is both the cheapest option and good for a long time. eBay exhaust manifolds and downpipes are a case in point - no flexi sections on the downpipe, and the manifolds crack. If you are about to buy something and are unsure, post up and ask - between everyone here someone will know if its good or not.
You can buy aftermarket kit from the US (the 3000GT is much more popular over there - check out 3SX’s site), but be wary of import taxes, and of LHD parts. Chances are, if its available here from Rob at the Evil Empire or other UK suppliers, it’ll be just as cheap and much quicker to buy from them rather than order from the States and get charged a fortune on shipping and import.
Cheers guys, I’ve been speaking to the guys on the MPS ■■ n tbh it seems like a good time to jump ship as the MPS seems to be losing its value quite rapidly… generally from people undercutting.
I’m going to have a look around see if there’s any GTO’s about, the older shape has started to grow on me a bit the more I research them.
Is there another ■■ that may have cars up for sale or is this the main ■■?■■ cars tend to be well looked after
Edit: Forgot to ask… can the lights be changed if you had a mk3 can you fit MK4 lights?
Fitting Mk.4 lights to a Mk.2/3 is certainly easier than fitting them to a Mk.1 - on a Mk.1 the headlight buckets for the pop-up lights need cutting out and new ones for the projector lights spot-welding in. On a Mk.2/3 they are a drop-in fitment, although genuine Mk.4 buckets have an extra support bracket if I remember correctly.
You’ll also need the Mk.4 front bumper and fixings as the Mk.2/3 bumpers are a different shape around the headlights and the indicators are part of the bumper - on a Mk.4 they are a separate item.
Now, are you sitting down? Good :lol:
Don’t expect much change from £1330 for just the headlights alone. The indicators are another £100 a pair, the bumper is available from £252 (all prices from Rob @ EE’s website). Overall, budget at least £2500 for the conversion in parts alone - to do the job right there is a shedload of extra little bits that are needed. You’ll also need to budget for getting the bumper sprayed to match.
Not the car I would buy to drive though. The best thing you could do with this car is to put it in good dry storage for ten years and dont use it. This would probably be an investment opportunity rather than a daily driver.
lol I did see that on there… absolutely amazing machine but 1. a little out of my price range and 2. although ive never had an accident (touch wood) I would be worried to drive something like that around, should be in an art gallery or a museum still in its original box
damn didn’t realise it would cost so much just for some lights lol, remember switching my pre face to facelift bumper n grill from my galant vr4 cost me about £50 mates rates but still
Edit: Just looked at the E.E shop n my god… why are headlights so expensive?! are they made of diamonds??
could probably forge the engine for the money it would be to just convert the front end :shock:
, To be brutally honest I’m not that well off to be able to just pay something like £3500 I know that’s close to worst case scenario but its all I ever think about when looking at older cars.
