manc350z

Aye lad that t'was me an t'other 'alf we were oft ta shops after work! We both said did you see that '07 in the outside lane - miserable sod - did'nt even wave or acknowlegde us! Sorry Mate! WAVE next time and it was NIGHT BLUE not BLACK!!!! So next time you see 2 Zeds together in this part of the World you know who we are!! Yeah just realised my first spot on the forum!! I had a suspicion the ragtop might be you Stan, figured we'd eventually spot each other as i dart in and out of that end of Manc most days !.. didn't make the connection that your other half had one .. but now i remember a post with a pic of her motor.. it's all making sense now ! sorry about the colour mistake, it was dark.. and as i said i was trying not to look.. well.. like a wierdo !!! but now i know to let on.. and yer reg is easy to remember.. mostly similar to mine. Try to explain my aversion to letting on to people in cars to your other half with my apologies !!!! Any wayhay ! my first spot too.. just gotta see if a get a clean sweep on the pair of GM'S !

life is too short to ever be bored This is why im bored! Oh god.. that is a dull data input screen ... Seriously mate... throw a sickie.. go do something more interesting.. like .. sleep...

Looked black.. but it was dark..

class... there's a top Tim Vine DVD where he broke the world record for the most jokes in an hour... worth seeing.. all in that style.

yep.. bit like drinking in the same boozer every night... eventually you get bored of the same old pool table, jukebox and beer.. so they put in a snooker table, update the music and have guest beers.. keeps you interested for a few weeks... but.. as is inevitable... one night all that gets boring... so .. when your mates don't know where you are .. you sneak down to the trendy wine bar to enjoy a bottle of that posh german beer for a change.. but as your leaving you get spotted.. like that.. but in reverse.. he went from the 300 quid a bottle crystal champers bar to the 1.20 a pint of mild bar to sh4g the stripper / cleaner etc... ..... and she had him back.. ... he's one lucky muvva fudger ...

oh yeah baby.... perfect for those lazy days when you want to steer effortlessly with one hand... or you want to perform one of those great cornering steering wheel throws like the stunt driver in the old BM m5 video by Madonnas ex squeeze... (watch here to see what i mean http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=q1dYv_gKTA8 watch it from 4:30 through about 5:00 minutes) i've ordered mine.. and the beaded seat cover for sunday comfort, the plaid picnic blanket and i had a realy bugge3r gettig em but some nice wheel trims. WTF..... what next.. a nismo roofrack... or towhook.. or trailer... or maybe a nismo boot tidy...

Well.. it's definately the day for Zed spottting round Madchester ! Tonight - M60, near J21, 18:00(ish) - Black 07 Ragtop and a GM 52/53 .. looked like they were following each other.... Yesterday - Timperley / Altrincham, brooklands road roundabout 17:00(ish) Gm 58 plate, heading towards Altrincham . Gatley, A560 near Chadle Gatley lights exact time has left my head.. probably morning.. 9ish... 52 plate GM.. if you saw a filthy blade silver 07 gt .. that was me.. as long as it was being driven well.. otherwise it was someone else.. you are obviously confused..... I stopped trying to make eye contact with other 350 drivers after smiling at a lady in Reading in a blue 55 coupe about 2 months ago.. she looked at me like i was some kind of window licking stalker... so if you saw me.. wondered why i didn't look and wave.. and thought i was being ignorant.. i wasn't .. honest.. just scared of getting another restraining order... oh and also once waved at a driver of a z4mcoupe when i had one of them.. only to remember i was in a loaner 7 series at the time... i must have looked really odd.. so there's the reasons i don't let on.... yours. Manc.

I feel for you mate... we have just offloaded a merc ml amg.. i could have bought a terraced house with the amount of cash my wife has lost on that. Check out the plummeting porker cayenne turbo's if you want to feel better about the pathfinder..

3FIDDYZ - I love those wheels, what are they ?

I like that stealth bomber look rather a lot. Agree polished lip on the wheels would look fab.

The "L" was dropped off the end of the original URL http://www.autotrader.co.uk/EDITORIAL/car_page_content/depreciation_busting_sports_cars_money_saving_tip_cut_car_costs_cheap_motoring.html

Sorry 3FIDDYZ , i agree we have good standalone design capabilities just not joined up design - manufacture - sell the completed product cababilities anymore.... I have worked for a couple of now gone / merged / offshored great UK Metal Gear design and manufacturing companies... they had good design, cracking manufacturing quality but raw mats costs + uk labour charges + business taxes + unions + rats etc etc etc and cheap imprts killed em properly in the last recession in the 90's... How many of our remaining manufacturing companies will go during this one i shudder to think. Stevie_350z - I don't blame the government for the mess we are in.. just the scale of bale out cash they are borrowing... I think most people don't blame them to be honest, easy credit, poor financial controls / governance, bad offshore investments etc = crippled economy... Don't get me started on the sacking deadwoodfront.. it is easier to shoot the useless feckless wasters and fight the murder wrap... There are some nice Jags / Landies and I suppose every jag sold = less bailout money for the UK government to potentially gift to Tata cars to keep em going... and a few more UK workers keeping their jobs.. but surely by the gov. potentally bailing the company out it is the equivelent of paying the assembly workers and their suppliers high rate dole money so Tata can use their labour FOC and use smart accounting practice to internally transfer cash back to the mother comany.. of course the government can provide the money to tata at base + .5 so a 2% business loan it is extracted by the threat of laying off workers.. fabulous.... My wife is considering buying a secondhand XK8.. it feels almost necessaryu to buy it now for some reason !!!

Oh no.. raw nerve.. can't stop myself.. must... RANT.... Patriotism... hmmm.... it is a great word usually hijacked by mindless racists / politicians / Americans (no offence the Americans are the most patriotic nation on earth, which would be good if they lived patriotic lifestyles).. I think 20 years ago the UK population was patriotic.. not anymore.. we're not the UK now.. we are England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.. a group of neighbouring micro countries whose place in the world community is getting marginalised year on year as we split up and collapse into 4 small cr4ppy countries strangled by tax, twin towns, self serving councillors, red tape, nanny mentality health and safety, beaurocrats, europe, and the seeming need to help out in a role as international peace keepers when we blatantly can't afford to anymore.. We have an increasing reliance on other countries to provide us with everything.. even call centres.. we have all spent 45 minutes speaking to "peter" in hydrabad trying to get BT / UU or Amex to change our address speaking to people who just plainly don't understand what we want them to do.... I have a few american mates and they are fiercly partriotic.. which i find at odds with their lifestyles... One of them drives a jap manufactured pickup truck (not usa assembled) and he can't get the association with being patriotic and buying goods manufactured / assembled in the USA. (I wouldn't mind this if he was a 50 iq idiot but he's not...) His simple answer is that the imports are superior products for his needs... hmm... he personally imports clothes, electronics etc rather than pay the extra 20% at the USA high street..... If we tried to be "UK centric" we'd come unstuck.. cars as an example.. hmm.. Jag / landrover are Indian owned companies that manufacture cars in the UK... Mini is German... etc etc etc etc... Yep by buying the uk assembled cars we keep money in the boundary for a while..having paid 20 - 30% premium to pay the UK car assembly plants running costs and wages but that money will eventually be spent on imported goods because we, in the UK, basically design and manufacture practically feck all .. we rely on imported parts to assemble.. foreign R&D for components.. and foreign owned companies to syphon any profit out of the country. We will never return to the days of UK car manufacturing on a large scale because we simply cost too much in the uk.. I recently worked in Nigeria and the company i was working for was starting to import Chinese manufactured cars... they were importing a lookalike X5, it was quite well made.. cosmetically at least... had the Mitsubishi 2.5dci engine which is a workhorse.. interior trim was a mix copy of BMW and some components from Mitsubishi like dashboard / instruments and was pretty nice inside.. yep it had never endured crash testing and would probably last 3 years tops as the component quality of the nuts and bolts was not the best.. but.. it was 7 grand at the dockside in Nigeria including all shipping costs.. for that it had alloys, a/c, leather, all electric windows, a decent(ish) cd stereo, remote central locking, sunroof and an alarm... frightening. I saw Merc S class copies with a 5 point star.. blatant... ,Mark 2 Honda CRV Copies, Ford focus Mark 1 copies, direct Hino truck copies and even toyota pick up truck copies... all CHEAP... the pickup trucks were under 2.5 grand.... We all rememebr when Korean cars fist came to the UK... we all laughed.. 10 years later they are getting acceptable... The chinese cars are coming to the UK once they crack crash testing and stop direct copying other manufacturers models... they will be cheap and the UK will lap them up.. because we are skint and Euro car manufacturers have taken the p155 for years on car prices in the UK... How can we be patriotic and conecentrate on UK goods and services when there are so few left, the banks are throttling business credit, the government are creating us a debt legacy that will take generations to clear... watching the government is like watching the last days of rome.... I am English and also fiercly patriotic but again i am not patriotic enough to spend my ever decreasing salary on UK goods and services... i think the UK mentality has switched to every man/women for themselves..... Rant over... sorry... and yes i have a very bleak outlook....

hmmm.. red tyres.. lambo doors.. belongs on barryboys... would look good all in that 2 grand 8c red though....

+1 +2

car porn... pure car porn....

Looks a good deal at that mileage. Others around Up north - Sunwin Nissan in Ilkeston have an 05 Gt with 33k miles at 11995 Westway manchester have a blue 55 plate gt with 34k at 12897 Some similarly priced metal carrying 04, 54 and 05 plates up to 60k miles.. At that price with 12mths i would !

Yeah.. i like f355's... you need to employ a personal auto electrician and cambelt / servcing expert to keep them on the road.. but it's be worth it.. My mate had a Maserati 3200 and it had the Ferrari engine.. cambelt service was 6 GRAND !!!! Diy probably about 1.5k + 50 hours labour.. a lot of crying and an awful moment when you first restart the engine when you think.. was that actually set at top dead centre..... i Hmmm... not missing your point just think that the 370z factor, more 350 imports and Uk economic climate likely to linger untill end 2k9 early 2k10... so these factors will probably see off any retail car price recovery... add to that fuel prices will increase, (and 350's aren't known to be too good on the old MPG front), as will insurance because this cold spell is producing lots of car isurance claims ! So anything more exotic than a ford shopping appliance or a vauxhall kiddy carrier should continue to plunge through mid 2k10... Yep it has taken a drop from the dealers at 20k but those cars at 20 just wiped '000's off everybody else's cars.. mine included as i only got my 2k7 07 plate in september before grim car drops kicked in properly... cars very rarely go back up once they have taken a hit.. I had a Z3m coupe , 99 on the T plate that took a 4k hit overnight in 2000 because dealers reduced them from 42k to 38k.. it never recovered and that was during a good period of economic growth.. Like the 350 they were a respected piece of metal and they were as rare as rocking horse. I would aim low on residuals and be surprised if that is not the case....

Is nothing sacred from the chavs..... it might do for GTR sales what Jade Goody did for the old X5 sales... kill em ! Never mind, i am sure that car will get repo'd soon enough .. chances of her getting any quality work in the near future and servicing her million pound mortgage .. nil Reckon she will end up a cautionary tale..... with a bit of luck .... another pointless talentless "celebrity" will fade into bedsit dwelling obscurity.. once her old man has fleeced whatever cash she has left !

IMHO I think 15 - 16 in 2 years is optimistic... i think it iwll be more like 11 - 13 best. don't hate me for that judgement on numbers... i have been depressing the cr4p out of my wife as she is looking to replace her 3 year old strudelpanzer ML Merc AMG monster so we have been shopping... at least i have a buyer for the merc but at a huge loss.. she is down 70% on what she paid for it 3 years ago.. but.. 4x4, petrol, group20 insurance, 16 mpg, expensive tyres / repairs / services and now out of warranty so not an attractive proposition to buy .. so she expected it to be painful... just not as much as it will be... But.. i'm not looking at 4x4's to replace it.. best cars we have been offered so far are - 9mth old red m3 coupe with carbon roof panel, 8k miles, dealer car, 2yr 3mth warranty, top spec cost at 55k... 31k cash with 12mths ticket, full showroom valet and tank of fuel.... (not the SMG) 12mth old black 730d sport, 20inch upgrade alloys, 19k miles, dbl glazed !, electric sunblinds in rear, sunroof, top hifi + rear dvd screens, satnav, bt, cream leather trim. 2yr warranty, 26k cash with 12mths ticket, full showroom valet and tank of fuel.... (this costed out at 68k new...) 10 mth old gunmetal Jag xk8 4.2. satnav, top hifi etc, 18k, 2year warranty, 12mths tax and tank "o" gas - forecourt stickered at 40.. salesman hinted 33 cash and i could have it. (think this was around 55 new) Obviously the 7 has been repalced so is suffering new model disease but the estate agent express and the handbag are current models. But if you look at the % depreciations above then the m3 is selling at 60% at <1year... the 7 is selling at 34% (yikes) at 1 year and the jag is also at 60% at <1year.. If you take the 60% at 1 year against the full original list 350z gt at 32 and you have 19.2 at 12mths.. the resale market will see the new 370's, understand that dealers offloaded quite a lot of 350 stock at a reduced price and rip another 30% of the year 1 residual off at year 2 taking the 2 year old 350gt down to around 13k... Also as the 370 hits the streets in Japan there will probably be more bargain 350's to import which will gnaw at the used prices even more... My last car was a 2007 56 plate z4mcoupe.. you can now pick up an 2007 56 plate,15k miles, top spec valued at 47k for 22 from a main dealer... again it is a current model and running at 47% at 2 years.. if you apply that logic to a 32k 350 then best you could hope for was 15.. but that doesn't include new model disease and it will strike as soon as the fist 12mth old batch of 370z's hit the forecourts at 20k... I think i will buy 2 cars next time.. a slagheap for daily use like an 80's landie 90 and a nice bit of old exotica for weekends that isn't going to depreciate too much like a decent 90's 993 turbo or if i want an electrical hobby something Italian from the late 90's.. grim reading.. sorry... just think there are some unrealstic views on future values for the Z's...

haha... for a minute i was pretty confused......

I also have not met Phil but would like to pass on my best wishes to Phil, you and your family.

I had a brand new J plate '91 saloon model in dark metallic blue from stormont ford in liverpool. i was pretty chuffed as i was only 23 when i bought it and it was my first 4 door car.. i had it 3mths then took it to a company called "tube torque" in macclesfield (a hells angel who was a genius at hand made exhausts, not sure if he is still there), and had a cat-less Ss exhaust made with twin rear pipes.. did quite a few little mods to that one.. ... there was also a dry sumped crated version of the engine you could buy for a ford race series... it had an extra 90bhp ! By adding a decent cold air intake, filter, etc it made quite a smart rapid barge... for it's day and compared to the other big middle management type saloons it was rapid.. i added better rubber and a set of lowering springs.. i loved it.. very stealthy but felt and seemed pretty rapid in it's day. Mine had the upgraded stereo and amps etc.. sounded pretty good.. and for a '91 motor it had some pretty good luxuries like the elctric rear seats, heated windscreen / mirrors, elctric fron seats, ice warning alerts (that was something mercedes raved about 2 years after ford ftted it to the Grandad scorpio)... Was probably the first elctronically complicated motor i bought.. i had been into fast xr3's, rs1600i's, rs turbo's etc before that.. the cossie scorpio made me buy a cossie sierra and then an escort... had quite an affect on me that motor.. loved it ! You could get the instant readout to "0" if you pushed the stick up 1 in manual mode and leathered it up the motorway sliproad.. not that it was economical to begin with !!

+1 on that Trev +2

I like evo's... ever since the evo6 Tommi special... but they are not very.. errrr.... stealthy / discreet.... Latest one looks like hell... it looks like it got a makeover at Halfrauds in the "MAX Power" bodykit section... actually from the "line ends" everything for £10.00 or less section... interior trim looks like it was designed by Stevie Wonder..... IMO - The Evo9 looked far better, much stealthier, less "clagged on" bits "o" plastic.. and still extinction event quick.... The Evo9 FQ400 had turbo lag like the millenium falcon jumping to hyper space... this one is probably even worse.... Strangely though... i still want one.. yes i'd have to drive it at night to avoid embarresment, yes i would not be allowed to take the kids to school in it because in the happy suburb i live it would have the locals jumping for cover like a drive by was about to happen, yes i'd be getting 'jacked on my way to work, yes my wife would leave me (ahhhh a positive ).. but none of this puts me off..... i think i need psychiatric help... Even the daily refuellings due to a probably 12mpg... the bi-monthy services and Evo's love of shredding a set of tyres every 8-10k miles (so that would be 3 sets a year for me GULP)... none of these things put me off .. I love it because it is such a savagely focused drivers car.. they all are from the evo6 up.... if you haven't ever i recommend going an test driving one before you buy your next fast jap.. they are awesome...