Hi everyone,
I picked up my 2004 Nissan 350z convertible import this weekend so I thought I’d introduce myself and give a brief background of my car history.
In 2007 I got my first car which was a 2003 Renault Clio 1.2 Expression QS5 in black. It was a semi-automatic and although I loved it, it had no end of problems. I had the Clio for three years and during this time I did what most 17 year olds do to their first car and ruined it with 17†alloys, black tints and a stupid subwoofer in the boot.
While I owned the Clio I bought a 1994 Calibra off a friend for £100 with the intention to restore but I couldn’t find the time or money that needed investing so I sold it a couple of months after I bought it.
In 2010 I was bored of the Clio and wanted something a little faster and better to drive. I looked around for a while and found a 1999 BMW 316i Compact in black which I did a straight swap for my Clio.
I had the 316 for a year and it never caused me any issues. It just ran without any problems and was fairly cheap to insure.
After owning the BMW for a year I decided I wanted something faster and sportier. I looked around for a few months and I kept coming back to the Clio 182. There didn’t seem to be a car you could go faster in for less.
So in 2011 I found a 2005 Clio 182 full fat in Arctic Blue and paid £3500 (more than I should have in hindsight). The 182 was the first car I got stuck in with and started modifying (repairing) myself. While I had the 182 I replaced the exhaust, shocks, exhaust hangers and pretty much everything else that is a common fault on Clio’s (everything).
The car was perfect. It was fast, looked good and kept me busy. I took it on a trip to Germany and had a few laps of the Nurburgring GP track which was great fun. However, I soon became bored of the loud droning exhaust and constant faults so I sold it in 2012.
I then decided I no longer wanted anything fast and would look for something more sophisticated. As it was coming up to summer I decided I’d go for a convertible. I found a really nice looking 2005 BMW Z4 2.0i SE and loved how it looked. The 2 litre model was the largest engine I could get insured as I was under 25 so this was a compromise. This car, much like my previous BMW, didn’t give me any hassle whatsoever. The problem was that after six months I had become bored with it. It looked nice but apart from that it was slow, really boring to drive and didn’t have anything other than its looks to make it ‘special’.
After having the Z4 for 18 months I started looking for another Clio 182 as I wanted something to keep me busy and this time I wanted a Black Gold.
In September 2013 I found a 2004 Clio 182 Black Gold going really cheap but needed some work doing. It had 80k miles so was rather high but as I only do less than 5k miles a year this didn’t seem like too much of an issue for me. During the 8 months I had this car I did a lot of work to it including refurbishing the alloys, new Hankook tyres, lowering springs and remapping. After 8 months the car was perfect. It drove great and always put a smile on my face.
If I could afford to keep the Clio and run the 350z then this would have been what I would have done.
I hadn’t really had my eye on a 350z until I saw one while randomly browsing Pistonheads and instantly loved everything about it. The gun metal colour looks great (especially in the sun) and the whole shape and presence of the car seemed special.
I wanted a new car but I was worried if I got a convertible again that I’d be back to a Clio after a few months as I would get bored. That’s what was appealing about the 350z. They look great, sound great and are enjoyable to drive. It seems like the perfect combination for me.
I drove the 3 hours to view and test drive the car and instantly fell in love with it. Unfortunately I couldn’t have the car there and then as it needed a service so I had to wait a week. I was finally able to pick the car up this weekend and had a really enjoyable drive back. The engine sounded fantastic (never drove a V6 before so wasn’t sure what to expect).
It has only covered 32k miles and seems to have a lot of extras such as heated electric seats, sat nav (useless as it’s Japanese), glass behind the seats, automatic mirrors and probably much more that I’ve forgot to mention.
I’ve only had the car a few days but I think this is one I will be keeping for a long time. It’s a complete different experience from my previous cars and it ticks all the boxes for me.
Sorry for the long winded introduction but I’m guessing I’ll be sticking around and asking many questions in the future so that I can learn as much about the car as possible.
