Dynamic Turtle

Read a lot about these. Not sure about using it as a HTPC/media server. There's no HDD (SD media capacity is limited & expensive). The software isn't exactly "plug & play" and you can't expect high streaming performance from a barebones device like this. Perfect thing to give your ten year old though, to get him Lulzsec'd by the age of 15

Neil, the car looks great. It's all down to personal taste and I'm just an old fart who simply doesn't like mods. I do think they're a bit superfluous on a car which has very limited "tuneability" though. A spoiler or other bits of "aerodynamic" plastic might help on (say) a scooby modded with an extra 200bhp (which would alter the dynamics of a car, compared to the factory version). But it just seems a bit silly to me to put a spoiler on a car which has an extra 10bhp over a standard one. If it made that big a difference, Nissan would've bolted one on there for us...

Really? I don't think sideskirts look to shabby at all??? Would look better without them neil. imvho. Make's the car's mid section look chubby like a 370z. Alloys look sober enough though. More "weed dealer" than "cocaine dealer"!

Agreed, good price. Would probably struggle to get north of £13.5k for it privately.

And whatever you do, don't be tempted to put side skirts or a front lip on it. They automatically reduce your IQ by 30 points.

I hate mods but these look good, particularly the rear badge. I think the front plate looks better on the nose though. Leave the grill mouth wide open, like a basking shark

Just as well, because you'll be needing the rest for petrol

Genius!

Usually flash on the very rare occasions that I see one, with mixed responses ranging from blank expressions to knowing grins

OK so I've done a bit more research. Apparently Pagid's are popular on the track and have effective velocity-killing ability, and I can certainly vouch for that. They stop the zed. But they're also known for squealing badly. Apprently this is less of an issue on the track for obvious reasons. Apparently pagid's are common on porsche (probs why the porsche garage used them - had them lying around maybe). Anyway, I'm going to leave the current set of discs on the car and change the pads for standard brembos (with shims from OEM nissan pads). Might as well have fresh pads on the car that haven't been chamfered down. They're not going to break the bank. My bro has offered to change them for me on sunday, in exchange for a milder beating after getting fired last week. Hopefully they'll be a damn sight quieter than the bat-killing pagids. Massive thanks to Alex for his advice and competitively priced gear DT

assuming all else is good, I would've thought it's worth minimum £7k private? Might be worth giving the rotors a polish though. Look a bit rusty from here...

Its more to do with the fact that I live in an apartment block, with no tools and no space on the road outside to work on the car. Not really practical...

Been speaking to Alex, he said certain combinations are more prone to squeal than others. Discs are Nissan/OEM, pads are Pagid.

Ekona, I can barely wire a plug...

I am using a different garage, hence why I took it to a new guy this morning. The previous garage was a porsche specialist, so I assumed they'd know what they were doing. Seems like their experience with Cayennes & 911s doesn't quite apply to Zeds...

OK so I took the car to a garage this morning to have the brakes looked at. They've been squeeling horribly and rubbing at low speed, causing an audible chafing sound. 1) The car had new pads put on it 400 miles ago, but the previous garage has "chamfered the pads heavily in an attempt to reduce squeeking, leaving only 70% of the pad touching the disc". 2) There are no shims on any of the pads (surprise surprise) 3) There is a small lip on the discs, approximately 1.25mm all around Now, obviously the lack of shims appears to be the main culprit here. I've seen many posts where their absence has been blamed on brake squeel. My guess is that it would be most economical to keep the existing pads & discs and simply fit shims. The car still brakes very well with the "70%" contact, so I'm reticent to change pads. However, I've also read that discs should be changed once lips hit 1.6mm. I still think we're several thousand miles away from that, but they will need to be changed at some point. He said that doing two seperate ramps obviously adds labour charges (which seems logical enough), and recommended that I change everything now in one go (surprise surprise). He's quoted me £809 for new ADL pads & discs. My preference simply be to have shims fitted and see how that goes. What are your thoughts?

Blimey, sounds like a lot of work

OK whilst I still haven't run though a proper bedding in procedure yet (next weekend hopefully - on a road trip at the moment), i've definitely noticed the brakes behaving differently this weekend. The squeeling is happening at 20mph braking, rather than 5-10mph. And once warmed-up, the pads can definitely be heard rubbing against the discs at low (10mph) speed. Although tbh it sounds more like metal on metal. perhaps the shims rubbing against the discs? Looks like these might need more attention than a bit of copperslip?

A grand on tyres? Why buy a 350z and pay 911 consumables prices?!

Agreed, that is pretty spectacular.

One of my mates in the US was moaning that its costing him $50 to fill his car up now and he thought that was rediculous.... But everything in the US of A is 3 times further away. Trip to the corner shop means a 10 mile round-trip.

+1

Yep, same here. The 335i pops-up on a lot of radars when considering a 350z (at least, it did on mine). It's a different animal though and ultimately, I wanted a tighter, louder, more thrilling experience than a BMW saloon. The other main factors were higher cost (obviously). Would've been looking at nearly double the price of an equivalent mileage 350z (roughly, £8k vs £16k) and all the horror stories I'd heard about reliability. There's probably a reason why a £40k beemer is now selling in the low teens, five years later... Oh, and as you rightly point out, there are millions of 3-series on the roads. The 350z feels far more exlusive. I guess it's a very good machine though, with added practicality and fuel economy, if you find a reliable one. Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

Nobody has a nice feeling picking up a brand new Daewoo Matiz.

Christ, I hadn't even noticed they were there! They look fine!