350Z advice

[Christophe]

I've got my heart set on buying a 350Z and wanted to see if anyone has any advice etc on what I should be looking for. Like any things that should have been replaced at a certain mileage / age or any niggles that tend to go wrong on them. I know buying a pre 2006 will be the cheaper car tax (believe its around £300 as opposed to £500) 

 

My budget is upto 7k. would prefer more around 6.5k though. Is that a reasonable amount for a good one?

 

Thank you in advance 

 

Edited September 25, 2017 by Christophe

[coldel]

Click on Forums on the left and then search through to the buyers guides, its all there, a good bit of lunchtime reading to help you make your decision.

[Christophe]

Ace found few interesting bits to look out for like...

 

Rear axle clicking noise. 

Bose CD player skipping.

Squeaky brakes 

Tyres feathering 

 

People mention the expensive service from 54k or 4 years (which most I'll be looking at will have passed this ) What type of things are being serviced to be so much?

 

model wise am I right in saying there are two types, the facelift is 2006 onwards? and its a GT or the GT Pack version. 

 

 

 

 

[Jay84]

Welcome along. You're kinda right on the model. 06 has a DE Rev up engine with the facelift, easy way to tell is it revs to 7k. After 06 you get the HR, They have a different bonnet and a slightly revised engine again. All 3 models have their good and bad points, and we'll wax lyrical about the one we have ourselves. Its worth saving part of your budget for emergency repairs...and if after a while there are none, zeditus will be yours.

[Redsky]

The only thing I would say is ignore the tax bands. The little bit of money wont really factor into it when you take into account the car, fuel, parts. Just find the one that feels right to you. Check for obvious things like rust, grinding, clicking. Its still a car so a general look and listen should help and like you said yourself look for the Zed specific bits. One that got me was check the clutch make sure its still coming back up strong, if the clutch isnt returning properly the slave cylinder could be dying (what happened to mine) and thats a fairly pricey job.

 

Technically there are 3 model types and 2 trims. You have the DE and Revup engines which have the flat bonet and single intake. Some revups drink oil some dont but they rev higher. HR has the bulge bonnet and dual intakes and apparently has a huge amount of revisions and again revs a bit higher. Then you get the GT pack with the big bose sub and the heated leather seats, some have sat nav some dont.

 

But I would say one of the most important things would be the looks, find the colour you like. If you want it sunset orange with the orange interior find one and see if its what you thought in person  thats the best advice I can give  .

[Christophe]

Awesome thanks for that. At the moment I tend to go with looks like you said, ideally black/grey with the nice alloys (not the plastic looking ones if you get me) and leather if possible.

 

 

[Payco]

Good advice above all always. Check the forum for cars being sold. Most of their history will be well documented and the car know on here. Owned by an enthusiast too. Buy with your head not your heart and don't buy just because it looks great. Most importantly have a budget for running and maintaining it as well as the purchase funds. Good luck.