Hillheaddemon

Hi Thomas, Sorry to read / see the damage, at least you're okay. Same thing happened to me a year ago. Rear-ended and more damage was done beneath the body work. Garage brought in a Gutachter as well. Needed new rear bumper strut (the structual bit), new exhaust system (albeit I just have the standard) and bodywork - basically replaced my bum. Their insurance covered the lot and it took the garage about a week to sort it all out - inspection to getting fully fixed car back. Hope it works out well for yours too.

350 Z (2007) Alfa 156 JTD (2001) - beautiful car Audi 100 Avant (1987) - massive, massive car Audi TT (2001) - Citroen ZX (1994) - robust as a tonka car ! As well as 2 sheds Audi A4 and Golf (Mk 2) - which died after 18km, and then got a new engine.

Any city / town in Germany. Big cities will have stalls every day from 22nd/23rd November till the 23rd of December; and every village will have their local ones for those weekends. Gluhwein will be flowing Cologne has nice ones, although it's possibly a bit too crowded, Frankfurt is okay, Munich is cool, Dresden is good (has the biggest Stollen - Christmas cake) and Nurnburg is nice. They're all "quaint" though. But it's (the Gluhwein that is) the best thing to keep you going on a cold winters night. Personally, prefer the local village ones now, but only cause I've been here for eons.

Why would you do that??? One of my reasons for getting a Z is that it only had 2 seats. If it had seats in the back then i defiantly would not have bought it. Didn't ever plan on having more than 2 in the car, was persuaded to give a lift. The lack of space didn't disuade them, although they've not tried it since !

Have had 3 in the car, but the other two need to be married or very, very, very close friends ...

Didn't even know that it went to --- !!! Just thought it was numbers and once it hit 0 that was it. My lowest so far is 16 km dte (10 miles). dte chicken it is then

Just had all 4 tyres replaced last week from the 040s and now got the 050s. Definitely a better option.

Also in Germany the fuel prices change hourly (not sure if this happens in UK now as well), I've seen a 7 cent difference in Super Plus (98 RON) in the space of 6 hours at the same petrol station - so if you see it 'cheap' fill up there and then. Shell is the most expensive; JET, HEM and Tamoil petrol stations are the cheapest.

I get around 600 km in a tank (372 miles) and average around 11 litres / 100 km (21 mpg) and that's with driving on autobahns everyday and cruising at 180 - 200 km/h. No idea how you get 500 miles or 33 mpg Thought I drove fairly smoothly as well ! with weekends for blasts through twisties

Aaarrgghh ! moving house that weekend, so afraid I'll have to pass this time next time though.

Phew ! thought I was alone in not having to top up every 'x' km. Apart from the services (currently at 40k km) I've not topped up although I check regularly (every 3 weeks or so).

Hell yes !!! never seen such a badly designed dipstick Thought the markings were on the "back", for min and max levels, and then read as for any other car. And , as others are saying, DO NOT wait till the oil lamp comes on - a disaster waiting to (imminently) happen. I use a winter car here (ancient VW Golf) and the oil lamp came on (despite regular checks). Managed about another 2 miles before the whole engine just seized and stopped. End result I needed a replacement engine My fault I guess,

Vosges mountains - and yes they are

that's not even remotely funny ! Surprised you just go the shortest route home though Number of times I've ended up on a 100 km round trip on the way back from work just becasue the sun was out and the car felt it needed to stretch it's legs

Mate has an R32 and took it for a spin - very nice, handled well and with paddle gear changes could do what he wanted approaching the corners. Did the same in the Z, a bit slower (and he's a better driver) BUT the smile on our faces were way bigger Like everyone is saying, the overall package is what counts. Just need it STOP snowing

Managed to get from Frankfurt to Duxford (via Dunkerque - Dover) on one tank of fuel and was hammering it through Germany; bit slower in Belgium and France though. Followed by a drive all the way through England and over to the west coast of Scotland and back again to Frankfurt. Think it came to about 6 tanks of fuel and a 1800'ish km round-trip and that was with a fully laden car (got to get me Irn-Bru over here somehow Got to admit the cruising mpg and comfort was significantly better than I expected.

Aye all sounds grand Sounds like May is probably best then. Not done the Ring yet either, kinda happy going through the twisties of the Odenwald - umm, kinda like Dava Moor / Dalveen Pass back home

Hi, and welcome I'm down in Darmstadt, just south of Frankfurt. Meetup sounds cool - although might have to wait till the snow melts ...

What dcash5 said basically. The unrestricted sections start with the white circle and a diagonal black stripe (like the national speed limit signs in the UK); and usually a 130 sign is the restricted areas. To be honest going flat out isn't always possible because there is just too much traffic, but when you do ... I always have my lights on (dipped beam) when using the left lane - most cars will move out of the way but there will always be some arse that point blank refuses to budge (flashing lights or indicating do nothing). German driving is A LOT more aggresive. So sitting metres behind someone driving at 160 + is not unusual. Roadworks these are normally 80 - 100 km/h, best to stick to these limits. A speeding ticket in Germany is normally okay, but a speeding ticket in roadworks is usually more expensive. Also the left lane is narrower than normal - so get to know the width of the Z (cause we do have big behinds Motorway exits - notoriously sharp bends. Tend to be complete 270 u-turns with little braking area. Red light cameras - nightmare fine if caught. Speeding is kindergarten in comparison. Generally just enjoy it though The Zed is more than capable of out-accelerating and keeping up with most cars (Audi R8 and Bugatti Veyron are the only two cars I've seen do 300 + km/h on the autobahn

Awesome looking car I'll try and keep up when I see you on the A5

Have had no problems on Norfolklines Dunkerque - Dover or DFDS Newcastle - Amsterdam. Although at the Amsterdam end the guy helpfully told me to drive off the ramp at an angle (so not in a straight line) as there is then more clearance. Standard Zed and no scrapes (from ferries ...)

@danny350z - playground for me is the A5 (12km of 4-lane straight road ... ) and the roller-coaster that's the A3 to Koln. Yeah German drivers are nutters, but for every 20 Porsches I see there's only 1 Zed Think the A5 in the 1930's was the Mercedes / Auto Union test track. Record sat at 432 km/h

Wow! thanks all for the warm welcome @danny350z - aye it took me a bit of time to build up to the 250km/h mark as well, but it's rock solid once you get used to it, just need an empty stretch of road which ain't all that often. I'm based in Darmstadt, just south of Frankfurt am Main. Not with the army but work in satellite operations.

Ta for the welcomes Yeah, I spent some time on the forum reading up on how to post pics (guide guide) Number plate was bashed by someone rolling into me (at about 0.5 mph) despite flashing lights, horn, abuse ! Still it was the only damage done. It's been unbashed since the photos were taken.

Hi all, This has to be one of the best car forums ever so finally taken the plunge to sign-up after lurking for a wee while. Based in Germany, but from Glasgow, and have had my Z for 2 years now making full use of the autobahns and some stunning country twisties By far the best car I've ever owned and the most fun, cannot stop smiling each time I start the engine Not modded yet, wasn't ever that interested, but after reading about it here have become convinced that it's a requirement ! Tend to make a trip or two back home a year so will need to match it with a meet next time. Attached a few photos of what was a clean'ish motor: