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Where are they all..?


Bandit

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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota. Nissan only had the one production line for The 350Z and with most of the sales either in Japan or The USA and a long waiting list I suppose they just concentrated on those,two plus a few other English speaking countries. Also, the major European countries are lucky enough to have their own car industry and I guess there's a degree of patriotism in there. When we had our own car industry the 240Z/260Z sales here were nowhere near that of U.K sports cars despite it being far better than the rubbish we churned out.

 

Pete

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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota. Nissan only had the one production line for The 350Z and with most of the sales either in Japan or The USA and a long waiting list I suppose they just concentrated on those,two plus a few other English speaking countries. Also, the major European countries are lucky enough to have their own car industry and I guess there's a degree of patriotism in there. When we had our own car industry the 240Z/260Z sales here were nowhere near that of U.K sports cars despite it being far better than the rubbish we churned out.

 

Pete

 

That's make sense Pete. Wonder if they made more L/H or R/H ones. ?. Japan been R/H as well as the UK. ?.

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I drove from York to London without seeing a single zed. That's why I like it.

Something similar happened to me.

 

I did a trip from London to Edinburgh and then back (on a stag do). The cars were my old 350z, a z4 (3.0l) and an Impreza. Saw loads of Z4's and Impreza's, but not one 350z/370z. It was a great feeling.

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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota.

 

The 200sx was being given away for £15k brand new at the end of it's days because it was so un-stylish. The 350 could easily have some rear seats but doesn't. The 370 is as wrong as the 200.

 

I love that about Nissan. It's like someone is willfully designing their cars to be brilliant but undesirable. All so that we can get them cheap a few years down the line.

 

Just wish they came up with a half decent diff...

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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota.

 

The 200sx was being given away for £15k brand new at the end of it's days because it was so un-stylish. The 350 could easily have some rear seats but doesn't. The 370 is as wrong as the 200.

 

I love that about Nissan. It's like someone is willfully designing their cars to be brilliant but undesirable. All so that we can get them cheap a few years down the line.

 

Just wish they came up with a half decent diff...

 

I suppose Kieran, that's one way of looking at it. But isn't the 4 seater 350Z called the Skyline ?.

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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota. Nissan only had the one production line for The 350Z and with most of the sales either in Japan or The USA and a long waiting list I suppose they just concentrated on those,two plus a few other English speaking countries. Also, the major European countries are lucky enough to have their own car industry and I guess there's a degree of patriotism in there. When we had our own car industry the 240Z/260Z sales here were nowhere near that of U.K sports cars despite it being far better than the rubbish we churned out.

 

Pete

 

That's make sense Pete. Wonder if they made more L/H or R/H ones. ?. Japan been R/H as well as the UK. ?.

 

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Ireland too are all L/H and quite large numbers of Zed's were sold in Australia. My knowledge of car production is limited to the 1970's. Back then they ran the production line in batches, they would make say 1,000 cars for the Canadian market then on the production workers day off the engineers would quickly retool for the next batch which could be going for example to Sweden and built to Swedish market specs and so on,

 

Pete

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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota. Nissan only had the one production line for The 350Z and with most of the sales either in Japan or The USA and a long waiting list I suppose they just concentrated on those,two plus a few other English speaking countries. Also, the major European countries are lucky enough to have their own car industry and I guess there's a degree of patriotism in there. When we had our own car industry the 240Z/260Z sales here were nowhere near that of U.K sports cars despite it being far better than the rubbish we churned out.

 

Pete

 

That's make sense Pete. Wonder if they made more L/H or R/H ones. ?. Japan been R/H as well as the UK. ?.

 

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Ireland too are all L/H and quite large numbers of Zed's were sold in Australia. My knowledge of car production is limited to the 1970's. Back then they ran the production line in batches, they would make say 1,000 cars for the Canadian market then on the production workers day off the engineers would quickly retool for the next batch which could be going for example to Sweden and built to Swedish market specs and so on,

 

Pete

 

Think you ll find Ireland is R/H drive.

I was there recently and unless I was on the wrong side of the road I drove same as the UK..!

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I drove from York to London without seeing a single zed. That's why I like it.

Something similar happened to me.

 

I did a trip from London to Edinburgh and then back (on a stag do). The cars were my old 350z, a z4 (3.0l) and an Impreza. Saw loads of Z4's and Impreza's, but not one 350z/370z. It was a great feeling.

Drove from Sheffield to Germany and back, saw one 370 and one 350 over the 1300 miles.
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There's a very specific reason why you don't see them in Greece anymore, and I can;t help wondering (without knowing) if it's possibly the same reason in Italy...

 

In Greece and many other EU countries, road tax is largely dictated by cubic capacity for older cars and CO2 emissions for newer cars. All 350Zs are taxed based on the (by Greek standards) humungous engine. 2 litres here is considered a big powerful car. To give you some numbers (better sit down)...

 

If you own a 1.6 older than MY06 you pay 275 euros a year for road tax.

If you own a 2.0 ditto ditto ditto you pay 610 euros a year

If you own a 3.0 ditto ditto ditto you pay 1150 euros a year

 

As you can see, it ramps up really fast. You don't wanna know how much it costs to own a Dodge Viper (8.0 in case anybody needed reminding) over here. lol

 

Fortunately, you do have a choice, you don't have to pay the tax if you don't want to, but obviously you then can't drive the car, or sell it. So what people who are struggling under this crisis (and it is still a crisis, I am still limited to spending 800 quid cash a fortnight for over a year now, capital controls for the lose) is giving their plates back to the government for safe keeping. This way they get to keep the car (or rather at that point it ceases to be a car and becomes little more than a hunk of metal) and then when they're flush again they can re-tax it for a new year and all is good.

 

As I say, I wonder if there is some tax reason in italy too, as their economy is also in deep poo.

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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota. Nissan only had the one production line for The 350Z and with most of the sales either in Japan or The USA and a long waiting list I suppose they just concentrated on those,two plus a few other English speaking countries. Also, the major European countries are lucky enough to have their own car industry and I guess there's a degree of patriotism in there. When we had our own car industry the 240Z/260Z sales here were nowhere near that of U.K sports cars despite it being far better than the rubbish we churned out.

 

Pete

 

That's make sense Pete. Wonder if they made more L/H or R/H ones. ?. Japan been R/H as well as the UK. ?.

 

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Ireland too are all L/H and quite large numbers of Zed's were sold in Australia. My knowledge of car production is limited to the 1970's. Back then they ran the production line in batches, they would make say 1,000 cars for the Canadian market then on the production workers day off the engineers would quickly retool for the next batch which could be going for example to Sweden and built to Swedish market specs and so on,

 

Pete

 

Think you ll find Ireland is R/H drive.

I was there recently and unless I was on the wrong side of the road I drove same as the UK..!

 

All the other countries he cited drive the same as the UK as well. I think he meant the left side of the road, not left hand drive. ;)

 

For everyone's reference... http://www.worldstandards.eu/cars/list-of-left-driving-countries/

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Speaking of attention, here in Greece, since there are now so few, whenever a 'yoof' or group of yooves sees you out and about, they jump into the road and throw you a hand gesture which wouldn't mean anything to anyone who hasn't lived in Greece, but over here equates to 'give it some you mofo!!' Of course, the obligatory rev it to 6k and dump the clutch is the usual response, which is appreciated and applauded with whooping and hands raised in ecstacy at the V6 growl they get to hear perhaps twice a year.

 

Especially now that we are so downtrodden over here, I feel it is my responsibility and obligation to live the dream on behalf of those can only stare into their empty wallets and aspire.

 

As well as boot it on request of course. :)

 

P.s. yes, I tend to talk a lot about life in Greece, I've been here 15 years and have a lot of anecdotes to share, so sorry if it seems like I go on a bit. ;)

 

Vroooom!

Edited by Aashenfox
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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota. Nissan only had the one production line for The 350Z and with most of the sales either in Japan or The USA and a long waiting list I suppose they just concentrated on those,two plus a few other English speaking countries. Also, the major European countries are lucky enough to have their own car industry and I guess there's a degree of patriotism in there. When we had our own car industry the 240Z/260Z sales here were nowhere near that of U.K sports cars despite it being far better than the rubbish we churned out.

 

Pete

 

That's make sense Pete. Wonder if they made more L/H or R/H ones. ?. Japan been R/H as well as the UK. ?.

 

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Ireland too are all L/H and quite large numbers of Zed's were sold in Australia. My knowledge of car production is limited to the 1970's. Back then they ran the production line in batches, they would make say 1,000 cars for the Canadian market then on the production workers day off the engineers would quickly retool for the next batch which could be going for example to Sweden and built to Swedish market specs and so on,

 

Pete

 

Think you ll find Ireland is R/H drive.

I was there recently and unless I was on the wrong side of the road I drove same as the UK..!

 

All the other countries he cited drive the same as the UK as well. I think he meant the left side of the road, not left hand drive. ;)

 

For everyone's reference... http://www.worldstan...ving-countries/

 

Yes, indeed, my bad :blush:

 

Pete

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A couple of things...The U.K is the only country in Europe and probably The World where Nissan outsells Toyota. Nissan only had the one production line for The 350Z and with most of the sales either in Japan or The USA and a long waiting list I suppose they just concentrated on those,two plus a few other English speaking countries. Also, the major European countries are lucky enough to have their own car industry and I guess there's a degree of patriotism in there. When we had our own car industry the 240Z/260Z sales here were nowhere near that of U.K sports cars despite it being far better than the rubbish we churned out.

 

Pete

 

That's make sense Pete. Wonder if they made more L/H or R/H ones. ?. Japan been R/H as well as the UK. ?.

 

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Ireland too are all L/H and quite large numbers of Zed's were sold in Australia. My knowledge of car production is limited to the 1970's. Back then they ran the production line in batches, they would make say 1,000 cars for the Canadian market then on the production workers day off the engineers would quickly retool for the next batch which could be going for example to Sweden and built to Swedish market specs and so on,

 

Pete

 

Think you ll find Ireland is R/H drive.

I was there recently and unless I was on the wrong side of the road I drove same as the UK..!

 

All the other countries he cited drive the same as the UK as well. I think he meant the left side of the road, not left hand drive. ;)

 

For everyone's reference... http://www.worldstan...ving-countries/

 

Yes, indeed, my bad :blush:

 

Pete

 

Not bad Pete, its just easy to confuse me.. ;)

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Did you see any Fiats though in Italy?! One thing ive noticed though on my various trips to Italy is that I never saw a car without any damage/scratches/dents on it. Even Porsches etc. Seems its perfectly normal over there.

 

I go to Italy quite a bit as the other half is from Florence.....you're absolutely right, the Italians are 'A' hole drivers who's national pass time seems to be tailgating 2 foot off your bumper :/

My other half has been here 6 years now and even she's shocked at how bad Italian drivers are when we go back!

Take my zed to Italy? I'd rather crap in my hands and clap ;)

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