Chesterfield

Date now sorted so will lock this one - more details will be posted in the now official thread as soon as they are available. http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11763

holding shades for ransom. I only got a tenner or so in both of mine, Im sure there is probably some bizzare rule on how much fuel they can "give away". Im guessing the garage can write off some of the cost, including VAT. Whereas joe public cant. The government have probably had some sort of brainwave to stop joe public getting their hands on cheaper fuel when buying a car and doing the treasury out of tuppence hapenny per year.

Sounds like a good deal to me! Welcome to our club, its great to see new faces appearing all the time I see you have your name down for the Wales drive too - I couldnt think of a better way to get involved and meet up with the rest of the friendly faces - you are going to love it. If you pick her up on Friday, be prepared to spend some money on fuel this weekend!

Slightly off topic, but welcome aboard Mr Lizard - its great to see new faces joining in, and this is certainly a great meet to get involved with as a new member. You are in for a cracking day out!

May also be handy to note if you are bringing a +1, as it makes ordering the food easier. Its also handy if anyone is looking for a passenger seat for the day. 1. beavis 2. lomoto 3. M13KYF +1 4. Digsy 5. Gixxer 6. Martinmac 7. stuey (lead car ) 8. AndySpak 9. Chesterfield +1 10. Ian (depends on date) 11. Shire 12. xstric9x 13. Sarnie (depending on Z purchase) 14. Little Miss 15. Djtimo 16. Davej 17. EBIZED 18. Jacko 19. Chris`I (depends on date) 20. Squarehead - (depends on date). 21. James852 22. H5 23. Kai 24. tmJak

Thats by request, not by us censoring the name by the way... On the US forums there was talk of a different management system too, Haltech. Out of my area so cant offer anything more than a name. EDIT: - thread here: http://my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=308408

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.