ChrisB

I have to say that in the two months I've owned mine, it's been nothing but good.. (apart from an odd traffic incident that I wasn't expecting - involves trucks, dick head 4x4 driver and a traffic jam... but that story should be in a different thread)

When I first got it, we were late back and so came home in the dark. One of the neighbours said she was gobsmacked when she opened her door and saw it parked outside. Then the next day, our next door neighbour and their grandchildren gushed over excitedly about 350Z's in car driving games, and how its better than Audi TT's. Bless them, they now go around Z spotting apparently.

We're quite convivial in our street, so I've had a quite few chats with other neighbours, including gawping at the 3.5l V6 under the bonnet (he now has a pair of 3cylinder diesel Hyundais.. but had children, so had to get rid of his 'beloved' Hyundai coupe).

Best of all though, after I polished the exhaust pipes the other day, the 'lord of the manor builder type' at the top of the street felt the need to call in a mobile professional valet - his BMW is now spotless.. some kind arms race has broken out. A wave of car cleaning along the street has started...

If you have great neighbours, lap it up..

If you have loser neighbours, just ignore them - drive past with a smug grin - they know, that you know, that they are jealous..

Best not antagonise them too much though - last thing you want is a key scratch down the gleaming paintwork..

I'd judt chuck a bucket of water over it

LOL - pmsl

A few days of usage and I can testify to liking Lion.

I updated straight away - but as a precaution made a disk image of my snow leopard installation first, in addition to normal TM backup before install.

I have a Mac Book Pro, as does the wife. We are a Mac only household (have been for years) - so aren't affected by Micro$haft compatibility issues, and don't use Parallels. We don't have any Adobe applications either.

The only losses so far for me are really old free applications that use rosetta - in my case, free OCR software that came with our printer, and freewares: GPSbabel, MacTheRipper (personal DVD copier) and MacAnova (ancient statistics modelling program).

Anything native Intel or Universal runs fine as expected, as it says on the tin, in the Lion release notes.

Only bugs I've encountered are a small issue (one time only) importing a photo into iPhoto which ended up hanging up finder - force quit, reboot and try again got over that, plus an install issue with the Xcode update. The Xcode update required a reboot and reinstall (Xcode not Lion) but nothing worse.

Remember to run software update before AND after install to pick up latest compatible software as well as software versions required for upgrade. And kick off the download overnight - even on 10Mb fibre optic cable it takes hours to pull down. The actual install when started only takes 1/2 hour or so - walk the dogs etc.

If you only live in Mac-verse, Lion is a good OSX update (definitely can't complain at £20.99).

Only other thing to notice is time machine will take a long time to catch up - and spotlight goes through a full index cycle, so expect whurring fans for the first half day or so.

Since I've got my own personal thread I felt like sharing:

Good stuff that Autosol - I finally got around to giving the Fujitsubo exhaust a polish (it came with the car)..

Nice and shiny - even with the camera artefacts - don't put Panasonic Lumix TZ7's in your pockets - dust gets between the lens elements... grrr

2 months in, Cosworth panel filter, K&N oil filter (and ..ahem.. Magnetec A1 - but it was a specified option at Opie oils - and it was being sold at a good price at Costco - I know that makes me a bad person.. lol) - it's still Z heaven here in Bucks!

Just need to book in for a 4 wheel alignment check and I'm happy. The driver's window motor seems to be healing itself in the warm weather, with a bit of activity.

Anyone got any suggestions on wheel arch protection - apart from don't take it out in the rain? Is it worth applying some Dynax S50 or will Tetraseal do? I noticed there are gaps in the plastic wheel arch surround at the top that look like they need some love..

Mmmm, this may be a bit weird..

I have the Touring v.1 18x8JJ wheels (as can be seen in my pics earlier) but the car's been fitted with an unusual combination of tyres.

Rear Bridgestone RE040 245/45/18 96W (I hear people groan from looking at your extensive tyre review threads). Yes they are easy to make slip.

But weirdly:

Front Pirelli P-ZERO 245/45 ZR18. 8% wider than stock recommendation of 225.

I don't like anomalies. Manufacturers generally engineer for the best. As I remember from old, in RWD (used to have an Alfa GTV6 in the very late 80's) it's better to have slightly narrower gauge fronts for steering feel as well as grip balance.

Feels OK to drive around sedately, (ie I haven't crashed it yet). Maybe 8% is not enough to notice in normal use (I'm not a track person). And with the cost of tyres, its way to early to bin them.

Any comments?

Cheers guys, that was quick..

Here's me new girl. Standard Fairlady without mods. Only slightly suspect thing body-wise is a slightly wonky boot hatch. I don't think its anything worse than that - I can't find any wrinkles in any places that there shouldn't be wrinkles, so its just... a slightly wonky boot hatch. Everything else (window motor apart, and handbrake setting) seems spot on.

Getting new cars uh? Makes one very picky.

Engine - silky, Body - smooth, Gear box - finger tip, Stereo - loud, Brakes - epic, Tyres & exhaust- new looking and without holes, Wife jealous - priceless.

Very proud.

Hi there, I'm new to this forum, and new to 350Z's. (I was a long time Subaru Legacy GT twin turbo owner)

Last Thursday I bought a gorgeous, silver 2003 Fairlady Z. Not the youngest - but with (some might say suspiciously) low partially documented mileage. She's lovely. Gorgeous engine and brakes, no axle clunks, and the body so far seems perfectly straight.

Only shock so far was the insurance on a JDM 350Z. Gawd. Double the quote for a UK spec (which I was originally aiming for - but cars seemed to keep slipping through my fingers). Pants insurance companies!

And of course the driver's window motor is non responsive - I'll be using your guide to cleaning these later (or maybe when it doesn't look like raining).

These cars certainly have WOW (or should that be phwoar) factor. The Subaru, while quietly very competent in almost every way, never seemed to quite have that appeal (arrgh sacrilegious speak).

Cheers

ChrisB