roadtrip

I've seen a few of interest on autoquake.com but I think you need to buy before you try, or at least that's the impression I got, which puts me off a bit. The prices look reasonable, what was your experience of them?

I'm not too far from Surrey but unfortunately I've been preoccupied with my tax return this weekend. I'll certainly keep an eye out for future meets though!

It's absolutely amazing what a good detail can do for a car. Can make one that looks quite sad, to almost new. If the previous owner has used the brillo pad that we joke about. I'm in the UK and specifically looking for a UK coupe. I was under the impression that Azure Blue was a colour available up to and including the facelifted 300PS '06 model with some late registrations on 07 and even 57 plates. I thought that Night Blue was it's replacement for the '07 model year onwards all of which have the bonnet bulge and 313PS engine. I'm more than happy to be corrected though! I will certainly check out envy valeting to see what they offer for picky owners like myself!

I do prefer the the '06 facelift cars but will certainly consider older ones, although I suspect an extra £190 per year on tax may be a drop in the ocean compared to the other running costs! I have seen the thread on nurrish's sat nav but not sure I'd use it enough to benefit from the improvements over the OEM system and also wonder if it'll require more upkeep in the way of updates, etc. I guess I'll see how my search goes and if I end up with a car without sat nav then consider it more seriously.

Wow, thanks for all your encouraging responses! Your passion is the exact reason I've been looking for a 350Z over the German alternatives. I've had cars in the past that made me smile every time I've looked out at my driveway or returned to it in a car park, without even being behind the wheel, that's what I'm trying to recreate and it appears I'm in the right place! So I need to bin ideas of German machines, be patient, look at a wider age range and consider travelling nationally possibly with the help of forum members to identify ones worth visiting. Sounds easy enough! I was expecting to have to look at a few before finding the right car but when a dealer who specialises in Zs amongst other things tells me he has a car which is the best he's seen for ages with excellent paintwork I really got my hopes up. A five hour round trip to see it forced me to conclude that every Z, even those only four years old with a low mileage will be in poor condition, or he was talking absolute bollocks. All your responses would now suggest it's the latter. I'm still set on a blue GT coupe, I particularly like the '06 facelift but would consider older, so if anyone has seen one please PM me! Thanks a lot guys.

Hi everyone, my first post! This seems like a forum populated by helpful, knowledgeable people so maybe you can help me out. I finally made the decision to get myself a 350Z after being without RWD for what seems like forever and have viewed and driven quite a few in the South East over the last three weeks. I am now reconsidering my decision; can it really be this hard to find a good one? I’ve found the test drive to be brilliant in every Z I’ve tried, more than matching my expectations however each one has had paint issues and most a tatty interior to go with it. I have an approximate budget of £15k and for this I was expecting to get an ’06 model or newer GT Pack coupe (preferably with factory sat nav) in Azure or possibly Night Blue with a mileage below 40k. The newest car I’ve seen was a Night Blue ’09 58 plate with 18.5k on the clock for £17.5k and even that had loads of stone chips on the bonnet and really dull, scratched paintwork compared to the front bumper which had been resprayed. The door handles inside and out plus gear stick and other bits were really messed up. Along with small dints on some cars this all seems fairly typical of every one I’ve seen and even those that have had paintwork tided up have overspray all over the place. Most of my previous experience has been with German cars and I wouldn’t expect this of a car so young, one dealer suggested I stick with German if this bothers me. I’m now so down about it all I’m wondering if I should forget the whole idea and go German after all, the main problem with this is I just love what the 350Z is all about and you can’t get it in German. I’m not keen on saloons or convertibles so my options now seem to be: 1. Look at other colours although I’m a bit bored of silver, grey and black cars. Not so keen on orange and red either! 2. Keep looking and a good one will turn up (will it though?). 3. Reduce my budget to around £10k, get an older model and not fuss so much about the bodywork. 4. Settle for a common coupe like a Z4, 3 Series or 1 Series and pretend the likes of the 350Z don’t exist. 5. Wait and save a bit more and get a Cayman. 6. Wait and save even longer and get a 911 (997). I’m also wondering if I do eventually find a really nice Z will it look rough like all the others after 2-3 years being used everyday in all conditions? My current MINI is 9 years old and it’s in better condition than every 350Z I’ve seen, and I stopped fussing over it quite a few years ago. I only want the one car so a 350Z would have to handle everything that comes its way although I typically only do 6k miles a year. I don’t want to miss the joys of 350Z ownership, please help!