FTO AUSTRALIA

Hey guys. I know this is my first post and havent properly introduced myself yet but that'll be done shortly. For the moment, I'm living in ireland at the moment but moving to NZ in june, I was hoping to bring my FTO with me as shes had a lot done to her and it would break my heart to leave her behind! Anyone heard of this being done from Ireland or the UK? Also whats it like to buy FTO's over there? As in the condition, the prices, the regulations, any infor greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

mate FTOs are bloody cheap here and parts not that hard to source,
as for mods almost anything goes, as long as its not overboard so your allowed a straight through exhaust no cat providing its no louder than 95db etc. the condition ranges as with every type of car, but we have to do a 'roadworthy' every 6 months
and as for importing if its older than 10 yrs you wont be allowed to register it until it falls into classic years think older than 20 years?

You'll love it there, depending on where you live (go the south island, much nicer, less people)
dam now i miss home

Thanks vipfto, appreciate the feedback. She's older than 10 ya, she's a '97, so in other words no bringing her over. Man that sucks, I'll have to try to make one up the same so if i can. I was looking on trademe.co.nz I think the site was, seems to be a few for sale there. Is there any other sites you know of that does them or whereelse I could ind ones for sale?
By roadworthy test is that the thing i see called 'WOF' on some cars? We have one here every 2 years, but is seriously strict, usually cars fail cause of emissions and headlight alignment.
Oh and was hoping to go to Wellington, either there or Nelson, I hear both are nice. Whereever I go itll be better than Ireland at the moment!

martyjer wrote:Thanks vipfto, appreciate the feedback. She's older than 10 ya, she's a '97, so in other words no bringing her over. Man that sucks, I'll have to try to make one up the same so if i can. I was looking on trademe.co.nz I think the site was, seems to be a few for sale there. Is there any other sites you know of that does them or whereelse I could ind ones for sale?
By roadworthy test is that the thing i see called 'WOF' on some cars? We have one here every 2 years, but is seriously strict, usually cars fail cause of emissions and headlight alignment.
Oh and was hoping to go to Wellington, either there or Nelson, I hear both are nice. Whereever I go itll be better than Ireland at the moment!

Hey man,

Dont go to wellington its a hole. Nelson is beutiful I would be going there or christchurch.
Yeah WOF is a roadworthy and they are pretty strict too but not over the top.

agree with simon totally, go nelson or further south mate.

yip w.o.f are strict virtually same as MOT in uk, you will even fail for no water in windscreen washer

And yes trademe is a good place to start esp for aftermarket parts but beware as sometime you cannot even see the car, there are plenty of FTO's there as you will see at car yards or just in the papers and yes they are soooo cheap there

Thanks for the input guys.
Good to know I can still get FTO's so pretty cheaply. I presume there are good places to get all the stuff anyway for doing one up to my own personal taste, one thing I want which I have in my own is recaros, they're comfy and have the feeling of sitting practically on the ground, love that effect.
Well I'll be finding it all out for myself anyway in around June so fingers crossed I can get a nice one.

I8A4RE wrote:

martyjer wrote:Thanks vipfto, appreciate the feedback. She's older than 10 ya, she's a '97, so in other words no bringing her over. Man that sucks, I'll have to try to make one up the same so if i can. I was looking on trademe.co.nz I think the site was, seems to be a few for sale there. Is there any other sites you know of that does them or whereelse I could ind ones for sale?
By roadworthy test is that the thing i see called 'WOF' on some cars? We have one here every 2 years, but is seriously strict, usually cars fail cause of emissions and headlight alignment.
Oh and was hoping to go to Wellington, either there or Nelson, I hear both are nice. Whereever I go itll be better than Ireland at the moment!

Hey man,

Dont go to wellington its a hole. Nelson is beutiful I would be going there or christchurch.
Yeah WOF is a roadworthy and they are pretty strict too but not over the top.

Come on now! No one told me that when I moved to Wellington

Wellington is fine, damn windy, but nice none the less. Plenty of jobs in this city too, especially in IT, just need to look in the right places I guess.

Been a mint summer so far, plenty of bikinis and short skirts around

Anything is possible with cars, provided you have the cash. Look to spend about 1500-2000 pounds for a very good condition, low k's FTO.

Christchurch is turning into a violent sh*t hole, I would avoid it like the plague. Nelson is fantastic, good climate year round, but opportunities are a little skimpy to say the least.

If you come to Welli, look me up

Welcome! I moved over from the UK about 4 1/2 yrs ago now... so any advice or just chat, then just drop us a line.

The WOF's not as strict as the MOT I recon, just more frequent. And yup, don't need a cat over here which is nice. There arn't quite as many FTO's around as there used to be, but there are still quite a few for sale, so you can shop around rather than jumping on the first one you see. The AA does pre-buy checks over here as well if you wanted to do that.

The guys in Aus have some decent aftermarket parts like Extractors, Max's seat covers etc etc, so very useful when the exchange rate is that way inclined.

Can't think of much more at the mo, but good luck, and I think you'll be happily surprised as to how cheap everything is over here!

G

Grue wrote: and I think you'll be happily surprised as to how cheap everything is over here!

G

Oh yeah, of course. If you are bringing a wad of pounds over, you are gunna love it

FTEvolution wrote:

Grue wrote: and I think you'll be happily surprised as to how cheap everything is over here!

G

Oh yeah, of course. If you are bringing a wad of pounds over, you are gunna love it

HELL YEAH.

Excellent, good feedback so! Thanks guys. I'll be in touch no doubt via pm!
Whats it like to source stuff like lowering springs, alloys, recaros, etc. Have recaros in my own now and really want to put them in any car i get cause the comfort is just so perfect!

martyjer wrote:Excellent, good feedback so! Thanks guys. I'll be in touch no doubt via pm!
Whats it like to source stuff like lowering springs, alloys, recaros, etc. Have recaros in my own now and really want to put them in any car i get cause the comfort is just so perfect!

very easy for almost any aftermarket parts springs/coilovers pretty much anything, NZ is almost a tuners paradise the only hard part will be finding rails for seats which you will have to get from japan

vipfto wrote:

martyjer wrote:Excellent, good feedback so! Thanks guys. I'll be in touch no doubt via pm!
Whats it like to source stuff like lowering springs, alloys, recaros, etc. Have recaros in my own now and really want to put them in any car i get cause the comfort is just so perfect!

very easy for almost any aftermarket parts springs/coilovers pretty much anything, NZ is almost a tuners paradise the only hard part will be finding rails for seats which you will have to get from japan

That is actually 50/50 really, your pounds will go a long way, definitely. But saying that NZ is a tuners paradise with regards to FTO's is a bit of a fallacy. Most things you want done will need to be custom made as they have a very low perceived value here, hence no aftermarket support. Forbodykits you are limited to VS replicas and basic extensions etc.

Upside of that is that the thieves and police don't take a second look.

Depending on where you decide to live, getting custom work will be either easy or difficult. If you decide to live in Christchurch, Spec Performance is well worth a look, they did all of my pipe work for a very good price...

hey mate have you got a pic of your recaro's. I really want to get some new seats but just havent found anything that grabs me yet

I8A4RE wrote:hey mate have you got a pic of your recaro's. I really want to get some new seats but just havent found anything that grabs me yet

Sure do ya.




Unbelievably comfortable, and they sit way lower than the standard seats, the car is lowered too so you actually feel like you are sitting on the ground. When the door is open I can nearly touch the ground outside while still sitting properly in the seat, thats how low they are. The rails are actually FTO rails too, they have it written on them so were specially made for FTO's. (I would have though they would have been galant ones modified but no). Def well worth the cash for them, they're worth about E1500 each over here, or about AUS$3000, (NZ$3,750), but then again thats ireland and we're getting seriously raped up the arse with a 10 foot pole!!! So prob a hell of a lot cheaper over for ye there.

Mate they look hot. Tell me do they have good support on the sides (eg to stop side to side upper body movement)? I want ones that are a real snugg fit.

The support in them is outstanding, once you sit in them you're not going anywhere, theres very little movement but enough so you can look over your shoulder for changing lanes that sort of thing. They go back tight to the back seat and are reclinable too so are ideal for taller people. The only trouble with them is that they are not ideal for people who would be of a large stature or build. But I'm 6 foot and 12 stone so they do me just perfectly. If you're getting them try and take a drive in a car that already has ones of that width so you'll know what they feel like, if you dont like them they're an expensive thing to be throwing to the side.

Lovin your cup holder, did you buy it? Or make it yourself? What sort of spring is it? Time for a functional mod to mine me thinks

Cup holder came with it believe it or not, all the way from Japan. Its brilliant actually, never had anything fall out of it or unbalance. Way better than the one thats built in between the armrest and the console. Plus it has a bit of movement too so the coffee doesnt fly everywhere going around corners!
Not the most asthetic of mods but damn practical!
I actually think you can buy them as a cup holder, the base is a sticky backed foam type of thing.

When it comes to interiors, I love practicality. You will never find an LCD inside my car unless its attached to a carputer (then attached to programmable engine management) or attached to a CCTV camera