Paulzx

The 350z is without doubt a very desirable car, judging by pretty much everyone's reaction to mine since I've had it, we have to remember that although most of us here have one, a lot of people wish they could own a car like that but they can't, so I still feel priveledged to be driving one around. They are of course also highly rated by motoring journalists (with the exception of Clarkson, although these days that doesn't count for much I'm afraid) But they are very impractical, they are a luxury really, not even an everyday car, although some do use them for that. I can well understand people moving up to the Cayman's and so forth, but I think it would be difficult to come down from a Z to a lesser car unless you really had to. What I like about the car is that it has exactly the right balance of performance and comfort (along with some prestige) whereas most other options seem to be one or the other

Hi Rich, Ultra yellow GT4...been out in it today while the weather's pretty good. If there's one thing that can possibly put a downer on owning a 350z it's the roads over here isn't it? They are bad to the point of making me quite angry at times

yep, i've seen that black coupe around, must live here. are by any chance the azure blue roadster on the hardstanding up mill hill road?

yep i know all the theories behind the various paint care excercises, i waxed my car as soon as i had it, clay bar etc to some degree, paint correction, washing the car with the correct method and all that does reap some rewards but some of it is a load of old tosh aswell, cars don't get any less dirty simply because someone spent hours on end detailing it - not in the real world at least. some people will tell you to get out there and wash the car straight after it rains, because you need to protect your cars paint from acid rain, quite honestly if it made that much difference you may as well wax your car and tuck it away somewhere and only bring it out on the odd dry and sunny day - which in this country is just the odd day! what i'm trying to say here is that in this country with the weather as it is, to keep the car looking anywhere near clean and polished you have to be at it every couple of weeks, regardless of waxing and all the other endless tasks you're supposed to perform, it can become a full time job! I was very enthusiastic the first time i detailed my car, not far off your own efforts, but now i think it's a thankless (but necessary) task, and i still think some detailing tasks are rather unnecessary, but that is just my own opinion

An interesting thread this... on the one hand it shows the lengths that some of us will go to, to basically clean a car and keep it in good condition, on the other hand, these companies producing the detailing goods must love people like us, it really has gone a bit over the top with all the crap that they recommend you use now. the car in this thread looks great after the work, but so did mine when i picked it up from the forecourt and all they did was run some polish round it, 15 min job. can you imagine doing the routine on here time and time again?!! as much as we all want our car looking spotless, it seems to me that this type of effort is rather flawed because unless you keep the car in a garage and hardly ever use it, and never use it in wet weather, you're back to square one in no time at all - rather dis-heartening. the other option is to pay someone else to do it i suppose, but i certainly couldn't go through all what the OP has done just to keep it looking tidy...good luck to those who can though!

What's the difference between that VXR and a normal Holden Monaro then? I very nearly bought a monaro but in the end opted for a Zed GT4, having looked into it in some depth it was obvious that apart from the brute horsepower, the overall package of the 350z was better, at least guys that had owned both cars advised me on the monaro forum that was the case (their honesty surprised me). So is the VXR an improvement on the monaro?

well it sounds to me like your biggest grievance is with the dealer, not the car. It's not the cars fault that you've been treated badly by them. I dare say if they had been good with you, you may have a different take on it all. at the end of the day, a 350z is not a bog standard car so the running cost and replacements can't be compared to a focus or such like, you could expect higher maintenance costs for a 350z, it's a more premium car. If you get into owning a Porsche you'll really be crying though because they are a premium to maintain. not saying you don't have some sort of argument in there somewhere but personally i would have found another dealer once i realised they hadn't changed the oil on a service etc.

blimey, how lucky do i feel right now? went up to S20004U also to look at Zeds, and was tempted just because they are all there parked up in front of you. Trouble is, I had already done my research so I realised quite quickly that their Zeds are actually quite ratty condition compared to what you can get from a lot of private sellers. Also, they are selling cars for the price of a one year newer car elsewhere so it's just not a good deal whichever way you look at it. The thing with Zed's is that they are impressive in the flesh even in slightly less desirable condition, I think that dealer thrives on impulse buyers, of which I am not one luckily. I walked away that day and a few weeks later secured a pristine yellow GT4...phew..! But I had no idea S20004U had such a bad rep. having been there I can't say I'm surprised though.

or maybe just up sticks overnight and move somewhere where there are no cats at all? Honestly...i know some of you are cat lovers, i grew up with cats as pets too but quite honestly they are a bloody nuisance because their owners cannot control them in quite the same way as they can dogs - generally speaking, and it does make my blood boil if i see them sitting on my car too. Funnily enough it never seems to happen to the actual cat owners themselves but usually the neighbours! Whilst I don't advocate shooting or maiming cats (although i'm sure that was a tongue in cheek remark from the OP) i have seen a sharp boot up the jacksie work on a lot of cats, orsimply chase them away. Seems somehow innapropriate that a car owner should have to take any of these ridiculous steps mentioned just to avoid their cars being damaged or dirtied by neighbours cats.

Initially he was banned. But for the moment he is not banned but will be if he does not resolve this in favour of Craig. Giving him access to the forum for the moment enables him to respond to this thread, but up until now he has not responded despite logging in several times over the last few days which really tells you everything you need to know Indeed, he knows he's been rumbled...and publicly too he's left it too late for a reply anyway

Totally agree. If I send goods out I use either a courier or recorded delivery. If something didn't turn up, it would be down to me to make sure the buyer wasn't out of pocket. Thats not a trader thing, thats a moral thing. Contact Paypal and lodge a dispute. They will take the money back from him till it is sorted. Can I be blunt without offending anyone who has posted regarding postage methods? Absolutely pointless to keep discussing postage methods. The person in question most probably never sent the goods therefore to say it was lost in the post is his get-out, it's not a discussion about how you should send the goods, it's a discussion about how you get your money back when somebody rips you off. This story has all the hallmarks of a rip off. There are plenty of methods to send goods properly and safely - if you really intend to send them Until Cragus gets his refund or the goods, this is fraud, simple as that. There is not enough evidence to support they guys story that he even sent them and he has not acted quickly enough to resolve the situation, in fact he hasn't acted at all. That is really what should be discussed here, not liability for postage or postage methods because that really doesn't come in to it.

Did you see my PM reply mate, make sure to follow that first. The only reason the defendant has not commented here is that he has no defence. Believe me, if you're innocent and someone wrongly accuses you, you would be on here like a shot to put the record straight. I can't see that this guy will have any further succesful dealings on here either

Quite amusing how replies on this thread can complicate a rather straightforward complaint. Part of my work requires me to sue people through the county court, I can assure you there is no grey area here at all. The defendant has received the payment but not produced the goods, it really doesn't matter what the postal arrangements were, the liability for that is on his side and it is down to him to resolve that with whichever party lost the goods. You can register this case online, it will cost money but he will have to pay that. You have the written correspondence to put in with the claim, it's a relatively straightforward case. In my opinion, the guy never sent it, it's totally unprofessional to send goods of that value without special delivery or courier, but if you never intended to send them then you wouldn't would you? If he had any integrity he would give you a full refund - at least to avoid any other course of action by yourself

Thanks guys

Wasn't sure where to post this, plus I've searched without getting anything specific... Is there any recommended cleaning product to do the interior plastic with? It's a type of semi gloss, or semi matt finish as I suppose they all are, I'm paranoid about marking or denting the door cards but they do seem to get mildly dirty with people putting their hands on the door to open them etc. I'm not sure about the door card trims...they seem quite easy to push against and leave small indentations, does anyone else have that problem, or have problems keeping them clean?

There is a scam doing the rounds right now with newish cars selling for way under market value, of course, they scam your money you never get the car, i reported one of these on autotrader and they removed the ads. If it's the same one, you email them and they email a list of instructions for how to pay. So unless it's a cat D or something else, clearly an 08 can never really be sold for that price. It's too low even for cat D!

Not so Liam, I know of two GT4 owners who had to fight to get badges. Plaques were fitted by the selling Dealer rather than in Sunderland and a few plaques have come up for sale on ebay directly from employees (maybe ex employees) of Dealerships. I doubt you will manage to get hold of unused badges now Paul but might be worth a mail to Nissan CS. Good luck. That's exactly right, I've just picked up my UY GT4 and its' never had a plate fixed there, the previous owners never had them either, so five years on, it's unlikely I'll be able to get any, if I can, I'll keep them with the car paperwork

not all the cars had the plates fitted, it seems to have been done quite randomly, just picked my GT4 up today and it never had the numbered plate, trying to see now what my chances are of picking up an unused plate

magic, thanks so one on display between the seats, and a spare just supplied loose?

Hello Everyone, Would someone be kind enough to post up two photos to show the exact location of the two numbered plaques that are supposed to be displayed in the GT4 cars? I need to be able to show a nissan dealer parts guy where the plates are located in the car with a couple of photos that make it obvious to someone who doesn't know. Thanks Paul

well you always pick the best photos to post up lol!!! my own 300z is pearl white but i had it done myself, when you compare the pearl effect from my car to the UY it just looks like nissan scrimped on the cost a bit because i had to really put my nose to the car to see if it was pearl, it's just very subtle. but i do think they stand out more than anything else in UY

thanks mate

Can anyone tell me where to look in the car to find the special edition plate please? Thanks

These seem really hard to find, aututrader and piston heads don't turn many up. Did they ever do a UK spec model on this car? Or is it a case of having to deal with a jap importer?

having looked at one of these yesterday, the paint job on the UY is not actually that special at all. In fact, if it is pearl it's not even as nice pearl as my own car, it looks flat. And it is more of a banana yellow than i thought it would be. I'll still be looking around to see if i can pick a good condition one up but having seen the UY and also an azure blue metallic up close, the azure has a better paint job i think. I don't think the yellow GT4's are quite as special as I thought they would be.