Chesterfield

I think you will be quite surprised with the insurance - a female driver on most policies will drop the premium, even if they are younger. Ive even heard of female provisional drivers reducing a premium!

Locked as requested buddy.

Yes but in this case we are talking about a vehicle that is coming off the same production line. Sure there are other shipping costs - but there are to the US too, and we have a our lovely taxes, but even those dont account for the price difference. I could see the point if the cars were being made in the respective countries by workers and factories costing the respective rates in those countries - but they arent. We get to pay more simply because we can. We pay more for Mcdonalds over here because the running costs of Mcdonalds outlet over here compared to the US. With the cars we are talking about the exact same production costs regardless of its final destination. Lets put it this way - If relatively small import comany can buy a GTR, ship it over to the UK and sell it to a UK customer for thousands of pounds less than the UK retail price (paying the same taxes and import duties), how is that possible if Nissan havent loaded the UK car with a massive chunk more profit than in the rest of the world? Unless of course the warranty and dealer support for a UK car is worth the extra £15-25k over three years?

Ahh yes - right you are Sinbad. One of the Wales threads has it beaten. http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic ... ight=wales

I believe it to be this one: http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10592

Im not saying Nissan are the only ones at it, but why does that make it right? $75,000 = about £40,000 Strangely enough about the same price as in Japan. Yet when it hits our shores, its immediately bloated by £15-25,000.... anywhere between 35% and 60%. Thats the rip off. Whether Nissan are trying to up their global brand or not - why is the car expected in England over a year after the rest of the world have been driving it? We get it a year later and pay anything up to 60% more, and Nissan think this enamours the UK motor enthusiast to them how exactly?

Excellent news!

Oh I can see the business model aspect. If you can sell it for more and customers still buy it, then why not. Although I dont like Nissan charging more for an item just because the customer is willing to pay for it, doesnt mean that I wouldnt do exactly the same thing in their position Im looking forward to seeing the pricing for Europe, the £/performance level seems brilliant, but knowing that other countries get a better deal takes the shine off a little for me.

I just like these puzzle games - my brain seems somehow coded to complete them. But ask me to organise anything and Im crap. Thats what a wife's for, right? (Mrs Chesterfield to be reads that and Im in trouble.)

Perhaps if they didnt shaft the UK market for about £15k extra profit on EACH vehicle, the UK market would be slightly larger. I know it sounds snobish, but a £55-60,000 car with a nissan badge on the front is not going to shift anywhere near the volumes of a £35-40k car, but why let that stand in the way of continuing the rip off Britain culture.

Finished

An 18 year old behind the wheel of a 500BHP car and in their own words having very little experience of such machines, asking about rough changes at 140mph was only ever going to end one way. REading the following article - it would appear it was the fathers car: http://www.ocala.com/article/20080126/B ... AKING_NEWS You do have to question what type of moron hands the keys of a machine like that to an 18 year old driver with no experience for him to go out with his young buddies, what exactly was the expected result?. It sadly wont be the last story we read like this though Im quite sure.

And the reason for doing all of this AFTER the launch is?? Thats no excuse at all for the delay. There is no reason at all why they could not have been doing all this work during the development of the car. Smells very much of spending a year blowing warm air up the skirts of UK buyers to increase the hype in an attempt to justify the no doubt ridiculous price difference we will be subject to.

Level 15 for me, and I think Ill save that till lunch as it looks a little on the tricky side.

$71,900 plus say 8% sales tax and other bits smells like $78,000 to me. Which at the going rate would be about £40,000. I dont think Ill hold my breath on it being anything below about 60K though. Not that I would expect Nissan to adopt a pollicy that differs from every other company in the world to shaft good ol Blighty. Also I reckon the 18 month wait for cars in the UK compared to Japan is going to lead to exactly the same issues as it did with the 350z. UK owners will buy one and within 12 months, there will probably be a revised model will be out. If the car is available to customers in right hand drive in Japan, why on earth is it not available here until well over a year later? Is this some exaggerated form of the film industry, where we in europe get to watch every blockbuster hit a couple of months in arrears?

They look a bit big for me. They look like the sort of cars you should be driven in, not drive in.

If Im honest, I thought the build quality on the AMV8 was shocking compared to the Porsche. In fact it was shocking build quality full stop. When the model in the showroom has bits of trim hanging off, and interior carpets that dont fit properly combined with a price tag of £80k odd new, then something is amiss. Looks nice though.

Yup - the DVLA website and other websites even invite you to put your name in or other words if you like and then try and match the plate to your needs. If that isn’t encouraging crime I don’t know what is. Besides which, if I were wishing to hide my true identity as an international drug lord peddling dope to school kids, smack to pop stars and sending the profits to Osama, would I really drive round in a bright frigging yellow car with loud exhausts and my bloody name on the back?? The police used to have a great weapon called discretion, sadly now removed by the politicians and replaced with a true little Britain "computer says no" attitude to everything. They are only following orders, and achieving the misleading targets sent down from above, so I don’t blame the officers, but it’s about time they revolted against the barmy procedures they are being told to follow. If they marched in London for a pay rise along with the removal of stupid antics like the above, I'd gladly spend a week colouring in their banners for them.

Hmmm funny timing, I was doing some research and considering swapping either late this year or early next. I ended up hanging my nose over a 911 4s, along with some other cars. For me the build quality seemed excellent, the driving position seemed excellent, the cabin and layout seemed excellent. I admit we never took any of the cars out for a test drive (no point wasting their time now when we arent ready to swap for some time), but for me the feel of the porsche just sitting in the car was the best of the bunch, and certainly seemed as though it would be both easy to drive in terms of visibility and also fun/rewarding. The other cars we looked at were either crap build quality, way too big, or very track oriented etc. Myself and Tracy enjoyed a good two week drive round Europe in the Z, and would love to do that sort of thing again - so the cars we looked at have to be practical enough to do that in, while still retaining performance and style. Thats why the Porsche ticked all the boxes. The one thing that lts it down for me is that you see them everywhere, and for me they just somehow dont have the appeal of the other cars.

As it appears the majority have no preference, and those that do have a preference want to opt for May, in order to have the two events somewhat seperated - why not stick a flag in the ground now and say first week of May?

Locked as requested.

This is one issue that gets my blood boiling. In fact Ill probably need a new keyboard if I type like this for long. This quote specificaly really gets on my threpenny bits.... Now then... The DVLA auction certain plates - the ones they know will generate a lot of revenue. CHR1S for example was around £100k I believe. The DVLA know damned well what that spells, they know damned well that someone is going to pay through the nose for it, and they also know damned well that it wil be spaced exactly as Ive just typed it. So, when the person does space it in that manner, the police can thn report them to the DVLA to have the mark taken away. Sounds like a money making racket to me. If the plates are not to be mis spaced, then why are the DVLA knowingly selling plates for higher prices that form words when spaced incorrectly or altered witht he use of screws etc. As the licensing body, the DVLA are by their very actions of pricing plates in this manner, encouraging and some may even say "promoting" criminal activity. If I were in the position where the police ever applied to the DVLA to have my mark withdrawn (unlikely as both mine are now legal), both the DVLA and the police would find themselves on the end of a court case based around the above, as in my book it is clear evidence of entrapment, conspiracy (between the DVLA and the police) to extract monies from the public, and conspiracy to commit crime by the DVLA. Id probably lose, as there would be no way either the DVLA or police could kiss goodbye to their repsective money earners from these private plate sales, but I would have a damned good go.

What a good idea! Going through the arrangements for our wedding at the moment, and sorting out some of the final arrangements right now, I know just what a pain in the backside it can be (or should I rephrase, Tracy and myself know what a pain it can be). A site like this once it starts to gain momentum could help an awful lot of people out.

Thats not quite true is it? I would of came on the Oct run and there was only 12 people there.................. I understand that, but if we allowed it then becuase the numbers were low enough for it not to make a difference, do we allow it when/if we have 30 Zeds? At what point do we draw the line, and do we draw the line based on numbers of Z's or numbers of cars? If its on number of cars then when another Z joins the list - who do we bump off the non Z list? Its a nightmare. Besides although there are a great number of friends made on this forum and for many of us the site has trangressed beyond the car itself - the site is still a 350Z site, and its my peronal beleif that the organised drives should remain for the Z's only. Its another story for the social meets where the aim is a night out on the booze or a meal etc, thats when we see the social aspect of the site at work.

Im more than happy with whatever date the Wales run is, I dont believe it HAS to be April, its just always been that month. I can see your point regarding it falling in the same month as Donny and perhaps moving to May would be peoples prefferences. What do other people think on the date? As regards who attends, Its open to members of the club we have here, but I am sure other 350z owners are more than welcome to join us all, they will probably want to join up here before the day itself anyway just to contribute to the chat about the day on the forum, and also to receive the directions, maps, instructions and contact details etc. We have refrained from opening the day up to non 350z drivers, and sadly this does include ex forum members. The reasons for this decision are that should we allow ex owners in their non 350z cars, and other "fans" in whatever cars they drive, we would be in danger of having massive numbers of attendees. Although its nice to be a very popular club, when organising dives such as this, (which Beavis, Jacko and others have done a fantastic job of) the higher the numbers the more work involved, and we also run the risk of becoming a nuisance to the locals of whatever town we visit. It could end up becoming more of a "cruise" with little or no control over ho turns up, and the actions those people undertake all reflect on our image as a club. We havent even chosen a date or emailed the members, and there are already in excess of 20 people down for Wales. At this stage last year we had about 10 or so names on the list. It is the members club though, and if the month of April is not preffered by the masses, then it can of course be changed. I would suggest we guage opinion on a couple of dates and go with the result. Hows about a poll Sunday 27th April or Sunday 11th May?