Nissan 350z ?

Flukester

Flukester

Flukester

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calling armchair car experts ;) ... I know nothing about cars so just want some advice.

m8 at work wants a 2007 Nissan 350z...

seems a lot of car for money 313bhp (with no need for turbos and superchargers), nice big v6 with a lot or torque

sub 6s 0-60 and 155 top end.

all that for under 20k for a minter / low milage example... is this a good motor for the money ?, is there anything else similar for money in this big 'GT' cat ?

he does not like cars with wings etc hanging off them... so no halfords lookalikes :)
 
Fireskull said:
Director at work has one not sure if its 2007 though.

Sounds good, but the interior looks naff imo.
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The early models had a horrible interior, but I think some later models were improved.

As for the RX8, it's a great car but doesn't really have any 'wow' factor anymore, the 350z does. Also, the RX guzzles petrol, not sure on the 350z's MPG but I'm fairly sure it will be better, since it has a conventional engine.

Also the top model RX8 only has 228 bhp AFAIK, big difference between that and the 313bhp from a late 350z :)
 
I had a 07 model one until recently. Its a lovely car to have, but the interior quality is terrible compared to the Audi I swapped it for. The MPG figures always seemed quite decent for a car like this and on long journeys I would be getting about 30ish (about 20 around town). This drops to under 10 when your accelerating, so if he is driving enthusiastically then the tank will drain very quickly.

My only word of caution would be that if he intends to drive it daily through traffic, it will kill your clutch leg as it really doesn't like to creep along at low speeds. Once you get up to around 30 its fine, but below that requires a lot of clutch and throttle control which can get very tedious when in standing traffic (one of the reasons I traded it in).

As far as wow factors go, I always got a lot of looks in mine, but probably because it was orange :p
 
HarryPainful said:
RX8's are seriously unreliable.
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lol, please explain! I would love to know why you seem to think this!

Love the look of the 350Zs though, if they had 4 seats I would have bought one over the RX8 but at the end of the day practicality came 1st. Can't help too much on buying advice though.

NS
 
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Can't comment on the 2007 model, but had a 2003 model and it's a very nice car. Drives well and handles like a dream, just depends what he will be using it for. If I was him I'd probably go for a model a couple years older and save some cash and throw a few mods on it. Car sounds much nicer and pulls a lot better if you put a new air filter, plenum
spacer & grounding kit on it, as the stock ones aren't too good. Also a new exhaust system really gives it that sports sound and if you want a decent sounding one without sounding like a chav in a pimped out fiesta, then I would suggest "5Zigen ProRacer A-Spec".

http://z-store.co.uk/ very good site for ordering parts and Kevin will help you out greatly.

Owners clubs with decent info
http://www.350z-uk.com/ - Free site
http://www.350zukownersclub.com/ - Pay site but there are a couple of free forums.
 
The 350Z is one of the few sports coupés that I've been in and I was really impressed with it. Sure some of the plastics are a bit shoddy but with Sat Nav the interior was ok. This was my neighbours 06 model, now I'm not sure if its just because I see his Nismo kitted one every day but the standard ones tend to look a little plain in my eyes.

Drive was excellent though, really punched you in the back when he nailed it and the sound was fantastic. Windows up and just cruising along though and it becomes much more refined and somewhere you could happily cover decent mileage.

Some things did concern me slightly though, for example the driver couldn't see the speedo properly with his driving position :confused: so he had to set the little digital pod on the left of the dash to show his speed. That would get on my nerves I think.
 
lordrobs said:
Some things did concern me slightly though, for example the driver couldn't see the speedo properly with his driving position :confused: so he had to set the little digital pod on the left of the dash to show his speed. That would get on my nerves I think.
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I ended up using the digital speedo all the time, found it much more easier just glancing at it than checking the main dial.
 
I fail to see how an RX8 is similar to the 350Z apart from having 4 wheels. The RX8 whilst being a good handler, drives so differently to the 350z. It's like night and day. The RX8 has a weedy and in my opinion, quite pathetic engine which needs lots of work to make any sort of progress at all. The acceleration and sensation of speed in it is totally underwhelming.
The 350Z on the other hand has a big torquey and very powerful V6 which can be driven lazily whilst making good progress but also responds to being driven hard. The two cars are just not in the same class.

The only problem with the 350Z is the rubbish interior and the bland styling. If you can get over that and the crap fuel economy (though still better than the RX8), you can get a lot of car for the money.
 
My business partner has an 05 GT one.

Lovely looking cars, interior does feel a bit cheap compared to germanic stuff, but the car makes up for it in noise when you floor it!

He gets about 22mpg on the commute into work (nose to tail A roads) and about 29 on the motorway at 85ish.

Not a single thing has gone wrong with it in the 9 months or so that he's owned it.
 
When I had my 313 Z I got 12-16mpg in commuter traffic, but 28ish on a decent motorway run. Servicing etc isn't stupid 250 quid for my 1st service. Prices are under 20k now which considering a year ago you were looking at 25k+ shows you whats happened.

Only had one problem in the 8 months I had the car - alternator belt broke off for the road for 12 days or so due to Nissan not having any parts which kinda soured the experience.

Insurance isn't stupid for them. Top band for emmisions 280+. As said above I used digital speedo all the time as the analogue one is in the wrong place imo.

Nice car, nice noise - made me feel better when I drove it - shame that I needed a more practicle motor otherwise I would have kept it.
 
slight problem, tax on these 350z's increasing upto 950 per year by 2010... this goverment suck

thanks for all advice.. looks like it might have to be something like turbo audi saloon :(
 
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