I'm new!

[martin_livingstone]

Hi

I'm very new to NZ, very new to a '97 Legnum VR4 and I need to fit a car alarm to satisy the insurance.

Any recommendations for an alarm? I've only rang one company on the North Shore so far and they quoted $450 for a 4* alarm and an offer of $500 for a 5*, both Mongoose brand.

I've only got one original key with remote locking - can I use the alarm off this or can the fob do the remote locking for me?

Any advice much appreciated!

Apart from that it's a great car. Jap import, 104k kms, pristine inside - I don't think rear seat belts or boot have ever been used. I think the brakes will need some attention soon as the discs/rotors have a waxy appearance which happened on my Alfa

To a bloke it's a purple colour, to a girl it's lilac/lavendery. Everyone has a Subaru, so wanted to be different!

Oh yes, it came with an Alpine Sat Nav/CD changer and dashboard television complete with roof aerials. I guess the chap who had it before spent all his time in a traffic jam. Not sure what to do with this yet.

Martin

[Axeboy]

Welcome m8

You should find all the info you need on the site... I dont know about the alarm and such, but someone here will...

:)

[martin_livingstone]

Cheers mate

I've just moved from the UK to NZ and I'm still trying to find out which way is up at the moment. I can't recall ever seeing or noticing a Legnum in the UK before and since I've been here I've thought what a nice car they are for my price range (3,000 quid). It's a lot of car for the money even though it is 10 years old and it's got loads of good family stuff and hidey holes everywhere.

Insurance is NZ $461 a year fully comp. Divide by 2.85 to get pounds sterling and start crying!

Very Vroomy also!

Martin

[Axeboy]

Nice one...

So you took the plunge and went...

I admire that.

What tempted you over? Work?

[martin_livingstone]

Everything really...

Clean, green and tidy compared to Manchester, lots of things to do outdoors even though I'm not a particular outdoor person, lifestyle, great for kids, beaches, manners, primary schools that do kayaking and yachting at the beach, school swimming pools ....ooh tons of things (or heaps of things as they say here).

It's not such a massive move as people make out. it's no different than moving house from one part of the UK to the other, just takes 6 weeks for your furniture and car to arrive!

Highly recommended

Best regards
Martin

[mpau009]

Hi

I'm very new to NZ, very new to a '97 Legnum VR4 and I need to fit a car alarm to satisy the insurance.

Any recommendations for an alarm? I've only rang one company on the North Shore so far and they quoted $450 for a 4* alarm and an offer of $500 for a 5*, both Mongoose brand.

Martin

Hello &/Welcome2 I have had two different 5 star alarms in my legnums as required by insurance, the first was the mongoose M80G which was fine if a little expensive at the time. My current VR4 has the Dynatron 5 star job, which is also good, and doesn't get false alarms all the time.

I think you'll need to use the alarm fob for unlocking the car, it will be easier, and most modern alarms are set up to open the locks anyway. Also the dynatron had a chip added to it for $20 which means that my turbo timer works with the alarm, so i can get out, push the fob, and it locks the car and you can walk away straight away.

[martin_livingstone]

Hi - thanks for that

I've seen the turbo timer description and basically it sounds as though you can lock and arm the car whilst the engine is running and if someone breaks in, then the engine cuts out.:inquisiti

I could probably understand this if you've been driving the car hard and are in a track environment, but if nipping down to Woolies for the weekly shop it would attract undesirable attention leaving the car running wouldn't it? :thinking:

I'll look at the Dynatron model also as false alarms are the bane of anyone's life, including the neighbours - the chap at Mongoose recommended an M60B alarm.

I've not had a separate car alarm for years.

Best regards
Martin

[KHK]

when u chose to come, any thought on the location?
why not Dunedin?CHC?Queenstown? Taupo?.....
in the whole process moving to NZ, any particular consideration on any details?

it is a big decision to move fromNorth to South, isn't it?

[bradc]

I didn't need an alarm for any of my 3 legnums :) With that rate per year though you can hardly complain!

Welcome to the club and the country btw

[martin_livingstone]

Cheers

I'm going to like NZ a lot and plan to stay here for ever.

I spoke to the bloke at mongoose and the bloke at Dynatron and went for the Dynatron 3600 4* alarm. he also talked me out of getting aTurbo Timer which was honest of him and to be honest I couldn't see myself requiring one anyway as stated earlier.

The hardest part about driving here is: -


Grounding the chassis and exhaust on the amazing entry/exit to anyone's house that isn't on a flat section.

Breaking the front bumper crossing the chasm between the kerb and the road

Avoiding getting T-boned due to this dodgy right turn rule!


But it'll be worth it!

Martin

[bradc]

Just drive sideways through every single driveway and you'll be fine :)

As for the dodgy turn rule, what exactly is your issue?

[martin_livingstone]

It's the right turn rule - I'm still ploughing my way through the highway code book, but what it says in the book doesn't seem to be what happens on the street.

Some people stop and let you turn right, some don't and I'm not 100% sure yet who I should give way to. I think it's unique to NZ and causes no end of confusion to UK drivers apparently. The wife has had a couple of despairing hands up from other drivers already this week!

It's a sort of "do I" or 'don't I" which is when uncertainty comes in and accidents arise. It doesn't seem consistent around here.

Martin

[william]

It took me a while too to get my head around this silly rule. There has been talk about changing it back to fall in line with the rest of the world last year but apparently the law makers are concerned it will cause even more chaos while people get used to the new rule! The current rule was brought in in 1978 I think to make " give way to your right" universal. So, if you want to turn left into another street and some oncomming traffic wants to turn to their right (into the same street you want to turn into), you must give way to your right, that is to the oncomming vehicle wanting to turn!! Silly in the rest of the world, the rule in NZ! If this does not make sense, it proves my point!

[bradc]

To be honest that rule makes perfect sense to me (The way William described it at least), and when I was in Aussie it confused the hell out of me.

The way I see it is that a car stranded in the middle of the road is much more dangerous than a car sitting off on the side of the road, therefore the car in the middle of the road should have the right of way.

In real life though sometimes drivers give way to you if they feel like it, or in my case, if I need to wait for the road to be completely clear so I can drive across it sideways so I don't pull half of the car out from underneath me.

[william]

I find it quite dangerous when following a car that wants to turn left and he stops to give way to the oncomming right turning traffic. I pass him on his right side because I am continuing straight on right into the way of the vehicle turning right. He should of course give way to me but often the traffic behind the left turning vehicle is obscured so that he turns in front of me as I am passing the stationary left turning vehicle!