Pro's & Con's about buying my first Y33

[naes]

what's good nicoclub! im pretty new to these forums & haven't mastered the search that well. But im thinking about picking up a Y33 sometime in the near future for my next project. I wanna start off knowledgable about the car & when purchasing one. so if anyone could be kind enough to point me in the right direction i'd greatly appreciate it!

[OwnerCS]

Welcome to NICO! I understand the Y33 is very solid car. The Y33 owners here sure like their cars. Someday I would like to own one also.

In what part of the country are you located? Once in a while, I see nice ones on Craig's list for sale.

[naes]

I reside in hawaii. Yeah Y33's are very eye catching! I check on craigslist also & there are some nice q's for sale. So is there anyone on these forums kind enough to point me in the right direction on purchasing a Q?!

[elwesso]

Theres not a ton of stuff with these cars that is finicky or anything, especially compared with the older versions.. Probably the most important thing to do during a pre-buy inspection would be to have the codes read before and after a test drive... That will really help.

[maxnix]

No Y33 (JDM Cedrics and Glorias) were ever imported to the USA. The FGY33 Cima was imported to the USA in a special version as the 1997-2001 Q45.

Assuming you meant the latter and not the former, there are plenty of posts on here to educate you on a prospective purchase.

[naes]

Theres not a ton of stuff with these cars that is finicky or anything, especially compared with the older versions.. Probably the most important thing to do during a pre-buy inspection would be to have the codes read before and after a test drive... That will really help.

alright, & sorry about this noob question but how do i go about reading the codes? & what would i be looking for?
i just want to shop smart & start out right rather than wasting my money

[InfinitiEric]

The dealership that is selling you the vehicle should have no problem having their service department read the codes out for you while you wait. If they do, just ask to take the car on a test drive by yourself and bring it to an AutoZone shop and they'll read the codes for free. If there's anything wrong, it'll give a list of codes - take those and search Google for a description of the problem or post them on NICO and we can tell you what they are.

[naes]

No Y33 (JDM Cedrics and Glorias) were ever imported to the USA. The FGY33 Cima was imported to the USA in a special version as the 1997-2001 Q45.

Assuming you meant the latter and not the former, there are plenty of posts on here to educate you on a prospective purchase.

i understand that there are no cedrics or glorias down here. i have never seen one....yet! i also understand that there are only cimas in the US.

would you be kind enough to point me in the direction of these threads?

[naes]

The dealership that is selling you the vehicle should have no problem having their service department read the codes out for you while you wait. If they do, just ask to take the car on a test drive by yourself and bring it to an AutoZone shop and they'll read the codes for free. If there's anything wrong, it'll give a list of codes - take those and search Google for a description of the problem or post them on NICO and we can tell you what they are.

oh alright thanks man! but what if you're not checking out a car from a dealership & from a private owner?

[InfinitiEric]

The dealership that is selling you the vehicle should have no problem having their service department read the codes out for you while you wait. If they do, just ask to take the car on a test drive by yourself and bring it to an AutoZone shop and they'll read the codes for free. If there's anything wrong, it'll give a list of codes - take those and search Google for a description of the problem or post them on NICO and we can tell you what they are.

oh alright thanks man! but what if you're not checking out a car from a dealership & from a private owner?

Hmm, possibly ask if you both could take a trip to AutoZone and see what codes they pull together? I'd really recommend purchasing a code reader for yourself so you could do it wherever you'd like, but they aren't the cheapest of things.

[BadQ45t]

I have a 97' Q45. While I love my 97' I would try to get a 2000 if I was looking for one now, but overall at this point you want to find a car with the lowest miles and the best documented service history. There are only a few gotchas with these if they are not properly reguarly serviced. You should know that there are few aftermarket options for things like shocks/struts but with a little work and some homework you can make it work.

If you find specific ones give us the history/information and for sure the code reader will give you immediate issues that you might have to deal with.