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Prospective Owner


matt89

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Hello,

 

First off this is my first post in the 350z forum and thought I should say hello as an extremely keen prospective buyer for a pre'06 model so that it can fall into the lower tax bracket.

 

I have learnt a lot from the forum and a few others as well as seeing three cars so far (unfortunately none fully ticked all the boxes and don't fancy compromising just yet), and now that I am in a financial situation to buy the right one, I want to be clued up so discussing price for broken parts will be easier and not leave me out of pocket.

 

I am however really struggling to find a place that sells spare parts in the UK for the 350z and any help on that would be massively appreciated. Things like replacement fuel caps (and attachment cable), replacement badges, replacement cup holders, replacement door handles (interior and exterior) as these seem to be easily damaged by careless/unlucky owners. I've taken a few pictures from one of the cars I looked at and any recommendations would be greatly received.

 

I'd also love to know of some other sites than Autotrader and Pistonheads that offer 350z's for sale.

 

Another question I've got is once a car gets to the 10 year mark do you continue in the pattern P1, P2, P1, P3.

 

And finally, what is this little shelf for on the rear window??

 

Thanks for any advice or comments. P.S. not sure if the photos i attached will show...!

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Edited by matt89
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Out of curiosity what's your budget like? Not sure whether it's just the photos but that car looks horribly cared for... and is that £6995 I spy on the first pic?!

 

the 'shelf' is structural, like a big rear strut brace surrounded by lots of plastic.

 

as far as parts availability there are plenty of second hand bits available on here (likewise with cars for sale) and traders as well that can sort you out with bits like badges I imagine

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Welcome to the forum :)

 

Zmanalex can supply you with most parts either new or used, he's a trader on this forum.

 

The little shelf is there to hide anything you have in the boot. It's known as the horizontal tonneau cover.

 

It's always worth looking in The Zeds for sale on this forum, the vast majority of them have been pampered to death :lol:

 

Pete

Edited by JetSet
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Hi mate, welcome to the forum!

 

There are plenty of specialists on the forum who supply all kinds of cosmetic and working parts for (Cougar Store, Tarmac Sportz etc), If they dont have it, its always worth asking them where the part can be found.

 

As for another site, I looked on eBay for ages when I was looking for my car. In the end mine was off of Auto Trader but eBay does have a lot of Z's for sale. Its also worth mentioning there are plenty of new and used parts for sale on there.

 

Hope this helps in some way mate.

Edited by jonty88
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Wow, glad to see the forum is going strong considering the car is over 10 years old. Thanks for the replies so far guys.

Tonneau cover - perfect!

I've always steered clear of eBay just because it's so difficult to get decent results for cars but will give it another go!

Yes thats the £6995 one on Autotrader that on closer inspection has obviously had a dog destroy most of the interior....

Budget is anywhere between £7k-£10k dependant on mileage and would prefer a pre '06 model for tax regions. Is there a search function I'm missing on the for sale section of the forum as I seem to find it impossible to narrow down without opening every thread.

How do I get it contact with the dealers for parts? PRivate message or do they have online stores?

Thanks once again.

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If you click the little "cog" next to the magnifying glass in the top right you can use the advanced search to do so by forum, post, thread, author etc etc.

 

PMing the traders is fine, I've never had one get annoyed with incoming business. However they all have forums in here (Try Clark Motorsport for spare parts):

 

http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/93-professional-traders/

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Hi and welcome to the OC.

When looking at the Nissan service sheet you will see that for the Zed there is ZERO difference between a P2 and P3.

So at 10 yrs it's the same ol same ol P1/P2/P1/P2 etc

Just add coolant and brake fluid changes every couple of years, sparks every 5 yrs as mentioned in the service book as additional items.

Although the service manual doesn't mention a time scale for gear box and diff oil changes I would change these out at 10 yrs unless proof of it being recently done.

Edited by HEADPHONES
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Yes thats the £6995 one on Autotrader that on closer inspection has obviously had a dog destroy most of the interior....

Budget is anywhere between £7k-£10k dependant on mileage and would prefer a pre '06 model for tax regions.

 

 

christ, I wouldn't be paying anywhere close to £7k for one in that state!

 

You should be able to find plenty of decent options about that pre-06 for that sort of money and still be able to be very choosy with what you buy. You could pay <7k and get one which has done low miles and has been well looked after. forum cars always seem to be generally better cared for.

 

and welcome to the forum :teeth:

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christ, I wouldn't be paying anywhere close to £7k for one in that state!

 

You should be able to find plenty of decent options about that pre-06 for that sort of money and still be able to be very choosy with what you buy. You could pay <7k and get one which has done low miles and has been well looked after. forum cars always seem to be generally better cared for.

 

and welcome to the forum :teeth:

 

To be honest I'd rather buy from a careful owner than a garage with no clue of the cars history. I am struggling to find many pre '06 and under 60k miles.

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Hi and welcome to the OC.

When looking at the Nissan service sheet you will see that for the Zed there is ZERO difference between a P2 and P3.

So at 10 yrs it's the same ol same ol P1/P2/P1/P2 etc

Just add coolant and brake fluid changes every couple of years, sparks every 5 yrs as mentioned in the service book as additional items.

Although the service manual doesn't mention a time scale for gear box and diff oil changes I would change these out at 10 yrs unless proof of it being recently done.

 

Good advice, thank you. I didn't want to ask the dreaded P2 / P3 question.....!

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I am also really struggling with the advanced search in the for sale section.

350z & 370z UK - general - trading post - for sale

Seems to be everything but 350z's, am I missing something obvious? Thank you!

 

Just realised "Zeds for sale"...... Doh

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Hello and welcome!

If you have a budget up to 10k then I'd be looking out for an HR model.

The tax difference is negligible and the cost of only a few tanks of fuel and you'd be getting yourself a much improved motor. :)

 

The tax goes from £290 up to £505, slightly worse mpg, slightly higher insurance and higher servicing cost (or did someone make the last bit up?).

 

Also is the HR only available with the bulged bonnet and general all round facelift because I've found a few examples that are facelift interiors but not bulged bonnet.

Example: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510308277140

Edited by matt89
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If you have mpg concerns, a 3.5ltr V6 sports coupe probably isnt for you buddy ;) not that I have even heard there is a difference between models, I mean that in the nicest possible way as always suprised when people look at these cars with anything to do with mpg in their remit.

 

All hr's have the bulge bonnet, but you can get a facelift (revup engine) without the bulge bonnet.

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If you have mpg concerns, a 3.5ltr V6 sports coupe probably isnt for you buddy ;) not that I have even heard there is a difference between models, I mean that in the nicest possible way as always suprised when people look at these cars with anything to do with mpg in their remit.

 

All hr's have the bulge bonnet, but you can get a facelift (revup engine) without the bulge bonnet.

 

To be honest it was more of an observation than a serious mpg concern..! Did a few insurance quotes and found that they were almost indentical (actually two were cheaper!) so that's pretty much made my mind up for me.

I've also noticed that the HR engine appears to have the plastic cover above the strut bar rather than below. Anyone know about the Rev-up?

 

In terms of interior changes for the facelift I can see a difference in steering wheel controls, a sliding cover in the centre console (next to hand brake), silver gear gator plastic surround and silver climate control dials. Is there anything else that will be a nice surprise for me when I look at another one this weekend?

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That blue one on Autotrader seems a bit steep. You have a decent budget buddy so you should find great example. :)

 

Certainly not going to buy this one considering where it's from and he price they're asking. It was more a question of is this a HR but I guess it's not and instead a Rev-up model.

 

The car I'm looking for is ideally:

A Coupe HR model

Black, Gun Metal Grey or White

Cruise control

Less than 60,000 miles

£10k or less

No modifications (except exhaust as I know they rust)

Preferably has the Bose subwoofer as although I'd love to upgrade the whole sound system I'll probably never get chance as I'll be enjoying the engine too much!

 

I know this is a lot to ask for £10k but I'm sure patience will prevail. Or does anyone know of a member selling that matches this?

Edited by matt89
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