Wanting a VS Clubsport

[semio88]

hey guys im new here :p

i am 20 yrs and now eligible to purchase a v8 (long story).

anyways for my firs car i got myself an auto 97 honda prelude vtir. so far all ive done is cold air, hi flow cat and 2.25" with proper exhaust. when i purchased the car the cheap sly took his car for a lil warm up to heat up the trans so when i took it for the test drive i couldnt feel it slipping.. turns out the auto trans was royally far#ed.. which is a known fault for those cars.. and gearbox ended up costing ~3k to get fixed..
it has a lil bang in the higher revs but now its time for it to go away and welcome on the bigger 5ltr.
Why a 5ltr and not a 5.7ltr you ask? because since i was 6yrs old i developed a crush on the 3 spoke wheels and extreme styling of the VS clubsport and the cruel cruel sounds of the 5ltr. i am based in perth and there are a couple of nice ones about from time to time. my question to you guys, well advice is pretty much this.. can you tell me everything i need to know?
Where do I purchase genuine HSV parts?
What is the fuel consumption of a HSV?
Price discussion
What is the depreciation of a HSV?
Handling?
INSURANCE a biggy?
Is there any tricks to get some decent fuel consumption out of it as im a student and not working full time.. and fuel could get costly.. but ive been told u can reset ecu and get retuned blah blah..
etc etc. all those sort of questions.. please help me out. ive had a major crush on this car for yrs.. and im sure this obsession will never go away.. itll be like when im 30yrs old il be thinking to myself "dam.. i shoulda gotten that vs clubsport when i had the chance".. but i wana know what things are known to stuff up with them.. i dont wana repeat the 3k~ incident.. oh and i when i purchase it, i am trying to get something with low kms.. like >150,000km on clock.. please help!!!! :):):):):)

[digits]

ok...first of welcome.

you are in a similar situation i was a while back. im guessing the 'long story' is you got off your greens and can now legally drive an 8...i can offer some help so here goes...

first off-buy an hsv!
second-clubbies are generally around the 10g mark atm depending on kays and mods...if you want something that will one day appreciate value-get a vs gts or gtsr...clubbies probably will just keep gettin cheaper cause there are more of them (my guess is most will have high kays and be pretty thrashed) but seeing as money is tight-a clubbie is a great starting point for a project car.

parts can be obtained through HSV and some holden dealers-but expect to pay heaps

fuel is gonna be bad (whatd u expect-13 year old v8!) but i drove the senator to canberra and back and the fuel was about the same as my daily (95 magna) so older/small cars also drink (waste)fuel you may not notice that much of a diff from your old ride?...

handling-is better than most cars on the road but for $120 you can put a brace in the engine bay which makes a difference and like anything if you wanna spend the skys the limit for improving (i think clubbies also got the irs but not the hydratrack-so that might concern you)

insurance-will probably scare you so go with just car-i think its bout $650 for 3rd party prop with $10.000 fire and theft which is sweet (no need for comprehensive as your car be worth under 10g)

i got the 5.7 auto senator-over 200 on the clock (DAMN!) when i got it but was in top cond and no probs since (bout 3 years)

thats covers some of your asks

hope i helped!

kilmer