Spidermonk

Just to reiterate JJT's comments, I've also just had my gearbox and diff oil changed, ordering the oils and Molyslip from Zmanalex. In fairness my gearbox was pretty good before, though now it just feels so much better, effortless changing through all gears hot or cold. Hands down the best improvment to cost gain I've done to my Z.

Harratts Nissan, Sheffield Just got my Z back with the following work done: P2 service Spark plug replaced (Iridium Plugs supplied by Zmanalex) Diff oil replaced (Supplied by Zmanalex) Gear box oil & molyslip (Supplied by Zmanalex) Both drive belts replaced Anti roll bar link replaced Wiper blade replacement / hand brake adjustment and other small bits and pieces. Tracking Free 1 years comprehensive RAC breakdown cover oh.. and an insured courtersy car for 4 days (should have been 1 day but due to anti roll bar link failing the MOT and it being the weekend, it took a couple of days to get in and retest). £800 for all the above, which I'm very happy with considering it's a main dealer (and especially compared to Octets price above) and I had the use of a courtesy car over the weekend. I found Pat, the lady on the service desk incredibly helpful, polite and professional, keeping me updated and ensuring everything went smoothly. Also she advised me my lower compression arm bushes are going, they can only order in the whole arms at £350 - £400 per side, yet are happy to fit the bushes that Alex can supply at a fraction of the cost, they even supplied me a diagram to send to Zamalex for easier identification of the parts. All in all very happy with the experience (both from Harratts and Zmanalex ) and will certainly use them again.

Glad I'm not the only one confused by this

I agree with Ekona, it looks a good price rather than suspiciously cheap. I bought a black 56 plate GT with less than 40k miles on the clock for around 1k more than that a month ago; as well as being HPI clear it also had full dealer service history supporting the milage. I've just taken it for a service at a Nissan main dealer and it came back with no faults and 1 advisery (rear pads due for change in 4k miles) which I was happy with. Sometimes it's just about finding a good deal, and I don't think you should discount it just because it seems a bargain.

If this was done in a controlled environment, i.e. on a purposefully closed road or airstrip, I'd be singing the drivers praise. The fact it's done on a public highway and endangering the lives of innocent people however is ridiculous and proves he's to Irresponsible to hold a licence, yet alone set foot behind a wheel.

Glad to hear the noise has dramatically reduced I'm new to the Z club as well, only owning mine for 3 weeks and I think your spot on about enjoying your purchase, it's a wonderful car. From an extremely novice perspective I've read a lot of posts about odd noises the Z makes, I know mine makes the odd ratlte when I depress the clutch in neutral and it may well make it in 5th or 6th at low rev's, in truth I'm too busy enjoying the ride to listen to anything bar it's exhaust note, even though it's stock it still sounds amazing. Also your car having a new clutch is a huge advantage, mines just clocked over 40k and I'm still on the original, so I know I have that bill coming soon, but I'm not going to worry about it until it starts slipping

I've had similar problems myself, sent my old tax disc off on August 20th, expecting a refund of September to Feb 2012. However just recieved the cheque back yesterday and they have only give me from Oct - Feb refund, as it wasn't processed until early September. The annoying thing is it does state on the Refund application that they go on the postage date... but obviously not in my case. As it's only case of £20 it seems more fuss than it's worth to chase them on this, though the principle does grate on me knowing how keen they are to take my money off me!

I like your style Rabbitstew Seems like many of you have had problems with Safari Parks! Looks like we'll be taking one off the Safari Buses, either that or delay the day out until we drive down to visit my parents in Bournmouth next year, which isn't to far from Longleat. Obviously the Z can't carry 4 people for our day out, so we'll be forced to use my Dad's Rav 4 2 seaters can often be an advantage!

Well after seeing this video of the Longleat monkeys, I've definately made up my mind: http://www.longleat.co.uk/news/monkey_mayhem_returns_to_longleat

Yes, hiring a car is an alternative... but I didn't know about the safari buses, this could be a good idea. I'm glad you've all verified my suspicions, I was starting to think I was just being overly paranoid by not wanting to take the Zed through!

The other night my las uttered the immortal words that no man ever wants to hear, “Lets go to West Midlands Safari Park!†This conjured up the distant memory of a trip with my grandfather, neigh on 30 years ago, with one Monkey imaginatively creating shapes with the car aerial and another vanishing in to the distance proudly brandishing a ripped off wiper blade from my grandfather’s beloved Austin Allegro; a sort of trophy proving beyond all doubt that he was the Alpha male. Basically the sort of behaviour you see in Rotherham on a Friday night. Then there was the camel that blocked the road and repetitively spat on the windscreen when my grandfather hooted, oh and the Deer trying to put its head through the window in the hunt for food, ignorant to the fact that its antlers couldn’t quite fit and naively bashed, dented and scraped the paint from the window surround. Of course, this was all of great delight to an over excited 5 year old , though cut to 30 years in the future and I now have serious concerns about taking my beloved there, I care for her paint, wipers and aerial far too much. My other half insists the animals are well behaved and the monkeys are now caged, but I’ve yet to be convinced. So what are you thoughts? Would you risk taking your Zed through a Safari Park?

+1 I've been to a few car meets in Nottingham and was staggered by the number of cameras about. Heck, if I lived in Nottingham I'd be tempted to report my Z stolen every other week, in order to divert the number of speeding fines!

Sorry to hear about your problems, hope the new engine mounts sort out the problem. If I were you I'd be pushing for the garage to pay, from you first post you mentioned that these issues should have been sorted out before purchase, so if you had an agreement when buying the car that they'd be sorted out, the bill stops with them. I know you mentioned the mounts aren't too expensive but if that doesn't sort it (you stated there is no guarentee) I'd imagine it would be much harder to go back to the purchase garage to get them to sort the problem, as you've effectively set a precident by paying out yourself and taken ownership of the problem. Just my thoughts but why pick up a bill for something when the agreement stated it should have been fixed? A further thought is why were the garage waiting to see if the 3rd party warrenty covers repairs or not, if the garage agreed on purchase to fix the issue, they should pay themselves if they can't claim on warrenty. An example is when I bought my Zed the rear tyres were close to there limit, although the warrenty they gave me doesn't cover tyres I bought the Z on condition they replaced them, which they rightly did and absorbed the costs for.

Definately looks good. I'm probably biased as until I got the Z I owned a 1998 gen 1 2.0l Hyundai Coupe for 6 years, getting rid of it a few months ago when the ABS system died taking the whole braking system with it. In that time it passed all it's MOT's first time, and apart from replacing the usual friction parts and a few oil changes it didn't cost me a penny. I considered getting a replacement gen 3 but the engines were such a let down power wise, even the 2.7 L produced less than 200bhp, so performance wasn't inspiring.

Thanks for the posts guys, I'll pass on the additive. As you said Neil, my milage is limited, averaging only 3.5k a year. Even if I keep the car 5 years it won't have reached the 60k mark.

Does anyone put oil additives in their Z? More specifically I do a lot of short trips in the Z, I live less than 10 minutes drive from work and 3 minutes drive from relatives, so am obviously concerned about engine wear. I've been given a can of Wynn's oil treatment to add to the engine by a friend who swears by the stuff (he uses it religiously on his van that has just tipped over 750k miles) and the theory goes it should coat the engine internals to reduce friction and maintain oil pressure at high temps, prolong engine life etc... according to the can. Being paranoid I'd just like confirmation that this stuff is suitable for a Z and won't cause any problems? Quick Edit: Just seen the oil sticky that seems to suggest that these can actually corrode the engine?

Any update on this, how did the viewing go? It does get much more difficult to find a 350 when your restricting requirements, I did exactly the same when I was searching for mine, it had to be a black GT with rays and Sat Nav included. In the end I had to compromise and buy a black GT without Sat Nav, my timescale got tight as my old car died with a repair cost over 3 times its value! Good luck with your search

Thanks Chris, sorry for the daft question but just for reference if I was to do this would it still be feasible to use the socket at the same time to charge my phone, or do you reckon running 2 devices from one socket could over load it?

In my limited experience (only owned one for a few weeks but spent months researching) the milage shouldn't be an issue, the engines are strong and 100k isn't that high these days, though I would be put off by the rust, my last car had bubble rust problems and no matter how much I paid to get it sorted, it kept coming back. I saw many Z's before chosing mine which really tried my patience in finding the right car, but it was worth it. I was advised to never buy a car with problems as they'll find you quickly enough anyhow, so i'd be tempted to look for another well loved example. Good luck with what you decide anyhow

I seem to remember reading that the 350z have tyre pressure monitors and a light on the dash will illuminate when they need topping up? Is it still recommened to manually check them or do most people just wait until the light comes on?

Hmm.. I've been looking for a Sat Nav as well and after seeing the fit of Navman S70, this has now gone straight to the top of my list, cheap now as well As asked before, how do you connect it directly to the battery as I like the idea of it being hard wired. Did you drill a hole in the back of your cubby (my 56 plate one does not have any holes) and attach the wire behind the console? Unfortunately my electrical skills are non existent so I'm wondering if I should hand it over to an auto-electrician to sort out?

Really enjoyed the story Rabbitstew, this certainly puts my little problem in to perspective Success.... came out this morning and no Spiders Web!!! Whether it’s due to a spirited drive up Winnats Pass yesterday, a road that climbs through a narrow valley where the exhaust reverb fills the canyon (it’s worth looking at a few google images of Winnats to see how insane the pass is) or the fact that I wrapped the entire wing mirror in cling film last night, it seems to have worked The cling films now off so I’m crossing my fingers that another web doesn’t appear.

Thanks for the quick replies I've still got the new car feeling and so wash the Zed at every given opportunity, therefore leaving him there isn't really an option, as I'm developing this sense of paranoia that he's doing this on purpose to mock me I do however like the idea of smoking him out, next cig break and I'm going to try that!

Less than 3 weeks of Zed ownership (loving the car by the way) and already got my first problem! Strictly speaking it’s not the car's fault... rather the 8 legged critter that has decided to take residence in my wing mirror. Every morning without fail I have a dam spider’s web maliciously constructed between the wing mirror and drivers window! So far I have yet to catch this hooligan in action, and have taken the following course of action to remove: 1.) Switched on heated wing mirrors.... No effect! I was hoping the little critter would come scurrying out, preferably engulfed in a little fireball. Alas no luck, it seems to be flame retardant. 2.) Parked as close as possible to my las’s VW Polo mirror, hoping that the spider would jump ship, thus transferring the ‘problem’. This had no effect, either the spider has a sense of style or is aware of her driving ability and realises that the move would be suicidal. 3.) Within reason tried to jet wash him out, though was a little concerned I’d damage the electrics so wimped out about half way through the extraction. So, anyone else got this problem and know of a good way of removing these little terrorists?

I also have to throw my weight behind Sky Insurance, I've been with them for several years and not once have they hiked the prices up for an existing customer. I've just swapped my car to a 350z 56 GT and have just renewd at below £500 fully comp for the year. For ref I'm 33, clean driving history with max NCD.