What do you think of R32 GTST or GTST Mspec

Heya. Note, coupes only.

I've got very little mechanical understanding of cars, just getting into it. I'm keen on a rb20DET or maybe a modified rb26DET (yes single turbo installed) on an R32 GTST/mspec.

Can I get any advice? Price? KMs I should be looking at? Are these reliable if treated correctly? Will these go up in value with time? Are these cars fragile in anyway? Common faults?

etc.etc.

Cheers

It's very uncommon to find a non mspec gtst. The r32 gtst is over priced for what it is. The uglier r33 gts25t with 25det is far better value for money and is far nicer to drive in its power delivery compared to the 20det engine.

I've had two of them, great cars to drive. Unfortunately they are getting pretty old now, most will have been badly modified and thrashed, or stock ones will be as motorboy said, overpriced for an old car.
If your dead set on one buy one near standard one as possible with a service history and get it checked out by someone who knows about them.
Mechanically they are strong, only if they have been badly modified will you get major issues. The standard turbo is probably the most fragile thing only if its been boosted up. If you don't have too much mechanical understanding I would strongly advise you not to by a modified one. Probably the weak point is the electronics which are getting old, I had issues with coil packs and ignition modules.
Price? Probably around 12k upwards for a nice example these days. If you got a stock/mint one and took care of it, it could go up in price. As above, you could spent a bit more and get a R33 GST25t which has a better motor and overall a fresher car.

Actually you'll likely pay less for a decent r33 gts25t than a decent r32 gtst.

They're basically all ruined by drift monkeys now.

So reliable . yes in 1995. Now, not so much.

A "good" (that is largely unmolested by muppets) R32 GTST is a lovely car. They can seem a little underpowered if you have driven much more powerful machinery e.g. GTR or similar but can be encouraged to deliver a little more with very subtle modification that wont leave it looking like it has been sodomised by Cletus and his cousins.
The R32 is a more nimble car than the R33 and if a good, unmolested and exceptionally tidy one appeared I would have that before an R33 any day.

I have no idea of your driving experience or skill however unless you are used to exceptionally powerful RWD machinery I strongly suggest you avoid an R32 with an RB26 in it.

Irrespective of model the Skyline range was generally over engineered so they are pretty strong in most areas.

Particular weakness to be on the lookout (assuming you are looking at more or less unmodified cars) for would be 3rd or 4th gear sincro on the manual boxes, maybe coil packs on RB20det or series 1 RB25det and occassionally CAS. All common parts and readily available.

Budget for the very best alarm, they are frequently target by thieves and usually stripped before you even know they are missing.

Be aware that R32 has no airbags or side intrusion bars. The R33 has dual airbags and side intrusion bars and is a more solid car. The RB25DE (non turbo) is an almost unburstable engine as it is unstressed by a turbo and has a rev limiter. Obviously not as powerful as the RB25DET, but still a great performing engine for it's era and may be worth considering.
My old R33 RB25DE is still going strong at over 300K and I gave it heaps in the 11 years that I owned it.

SOME r33 had dual airbags and some r33 have none at all.

You can forget looking for a mint condition, low kms, one careful lady owner example because there won't be one.

ALL R32 and R33 skylines have been mercilessly thrashed by boy racers, all day, erra day for over 20 years.

Try to find a seller who seems smart and has looked after/maintained his well, that's probably the best you can hope for.

When you buy one, Little Johnny will probably steal it, do skids and then cut it up for parts.

Only series 2 R33 had air bags of any sort with the exception of GTR. While you are correct in your comments about the RB25DE being relatively unburstable I think it is relevant to note that even the newest of them in R33 variant are now 18 years old so the maintenance (or lack of) they have had in that time is probably far more relevant than any added stresses of a turbo.
Put more simply, a well maintained and relatively unmodified gts25t is likely to be a far more reliable car than a GTS25 that has simply been driven with no attention to maintaining it.