Prospect buyer...worried about clutch and big bils

[AMT]

Ok, looking to take on a 350Z in mid march, been looking around plenty websites (including this one) and really just wanna get an idea of some of the costs or things that may go wrong. As with my 2006 Hyundai Coupe 2.0SE, its cheap... until something goes wrong.

 

Ok...

1.) The main thing I keep hearing about Z's is good reliability...engine etc, but I keep seeing people having probs with clutchs or slave cyclinders (Had to replace one of them in the coupe... was gutted when I found it was only the circlip needed but had to get the right part for the small clip arrgh). Do clutches and the slaves generally balls up on Z's??

 

2.) People say don't change the tyres etc. I'm one of these people who would to bring down cost (and no I am not one to messabout with my car, I take great care, I love cars badly.. to give you an idea..fanatic perhaps), but the traction control people say bogs down the car if not the correct tyre. If I went for some sort of budget tyre (if there is such a thing for the size of Z's) all I want to know is will I die? I know its rear wheel and in the wet prob not so good, my coupe has budgets and if i press down on a really wet roundabout it'll still just go ...straight. Would I be ok changing the Z's? I don't care if it bogs a bit or feels not as grippy as long as the tyres do there job.

 

3.) I saw "major service" in one of the threads. With my coupe I got it serviced every 10K for a bit, then realised it was ridiculous and not worth it, I'd get it serviced when needed and when major parts needed done. Eg. Timing belt 50K, Hyundai want near £600, I got it for...£340, including the sparks plugs and the rest of a major. I keep hearing contradictions on websites....DOES THE 350Z HAVE A CHAIN TIMING BELT?? If yes I'm happy as don't have to replace it any time soon lol, what does the major service include then for £500 if its not that I'm wondering?? O.o

 

4.) Erm ...think thats it, just trying to think of the mains things i've changed or had happen with the coupe so wanna know for the Z.

 

Any help much appreciated, really, cos' this will be the biggest... hopefully bestest buy I've ever done. Put it this way, when I get one of these, it'll be the fastest car I'll ever own..,... I can only see it going down hill when I'm older... house, wife, kids, fiat punto pml

 

Thanks again

AMT

[rtbiscuit]

Ok, looking to take on a 350Z in mid march, been looking around plenty websites (including this one) and really just wanna get an idea of some of the costs or things that may go wrong. As with my 2006 Hyundai Coupe 2.0SE, its cheap... until something goes wrong.

 

Ok...

1.) The main thing I keep hearing about Z's is good reliability...engine etc, but I keep seeing people having probs with clutchs or slave cyclinders (Had to replace one of them in the coupe... was gutted when I found it was only the circlip needed but had to get the right part for the small clip arrgh). Do clutches and the slaves generally balls up on Z's??

 

the clutch is a weak area on the zed, not to a point where every single one fails, but something to watch. if its been ragged to hell then yes it will fail. others have seen over 100k on a clutch and it still going strong.

 

2.) People say don't change the tyres etc. I'm one of these people who would to bring down cost (and no I am not one to messabout with my car, I take great care, I love cars badly.. to give you an idea..fanatic perhaps), but the traction control people say bogs down the car if not the correct tyre. If I went for some sort of budget tyre (if there is such a thing for the size of Z's) all I want to know is will I die? I know its rear wheel and in the wet prob not so good, my coupe has budgets and if i press down on a really wet roundabout it'll still just go ...straight. Would I be ok changing the Z's? I don't care if it bogs a bit or feels not as grippy as long as the tyres do there job.

 

personally i wouldn't go more budget than the falken 452's if you put really cheap crap on your turn your car into a ditch finding missile. and if you've never had a RWD before then its even more likely you'll spank it into a tree or something within 12 months. tyres are the only thing keeping you attatched to the road, and the one area i wouldn't scrimp on.

 

3.) I saw "major service" in one of the threads. With my coupe I got it serviced every 10K for a bit, then realised it was ridiculous and not worth it, I'd get it serviced when needed and when major parts needed done. Eg. Timing belt 50K, Hyundai want near £600, I got it for...£340, including the sparks plugs and the rest of a major. I keep hearing contradictions on websites....DOES THE 350Z HAVE A CHAIN TIMING BELT?? If yes I'm happy as don't have to replace it any time soon lol, what does the major service include then for £500 if its not that I'm wondering?? O.o

 

car should be serviced every 9k, don't have to use nissan again wouldn't miss out on servicing, the v6 is good as long as its well maintained.

 

4.) Erm ...think thats it, just trying to think of the mains things i've changed or had happen with the coupe so wanna know for the Z.

 

Any help much appreciated, really, cos' this will be the biggest... hopefully bestest buy I've ever done. Put it this way, when I get one of these, it'll be the fastest car I'll ever own..,... I can only see it going down hill when I'm older... house, wife, kids, fiat punto pml

 

Thanks again

AMT

 

 

remember the zed used to be a 30k GT car. its cheap to run in comparison to similiar cars, but compared to a ford fiesta its expensive.

 

proper tyres are expensive, decent parts are expensive, proper fuel is expensive. you could do it on the cheap but the likely hood of you turning your car into a dog is extremely likely if you do it on the cheap. just my 2p's worth.

 

 

 

and welcome to the club

[AMT]

Haha lol No thats brilliant I want brutal honesty. I know its gonna be expensive lol But can't get too much worse than what I've had to do.. you'll say hmm' its a Hyundai coupe.. i drive a lot (works a round trip of 30 miles, i drive about 25K a year, but that'd dip if i got a Z lol), tyres generally get changed ... a lot (and i dont do burnouts... silly thing to do lol), i spent a lot servicing it, changning bits, performance drilled/grooved discs, pads,filters, tints, a clutch that went not long after I got it..thank you whomever had it last and two repairs for slave cyclinder. and it does 25mpg... I'm ready for something the same money but better, if I'm gonna spend I want more than bloody 145bhp lol

 

Oh how much roughly is a set of these falkens then? I could look but I'm lazy lol how much a tyre? I know the tyres on the back are wider I think.

Thanks again

AMT

[rtbiscuit]

http://tinyurl.com/2g3nhmb

 

edit, just put the right size in

[rtbiscuit]

about 380 for all 4 tyres

[AMT]

Yep had a little look about £100 a pop, I don't mind that. I pay just now £70 for budgets cos I wasn't paying the ahem...quotes for the original pilots ...some were £180 a pop.... wtf...for a 215, 45, 17 hyundai...ehhh no. But I will take the advise on the tyres,cos it seems to be a main point of talk to keep them decent . Thank you very much.

AMT

[geoff-r]

After the Hyundai you will love the Z and won't mind the extra pennies go out and buy one and welcome mate.

[AMT]

I've just noticed I've missed something lol Not got an answer for the timing belt??? Is it a chain...therefor, won't need replaced, at least not for a while anyway. When I get a Z its prob - for the price range - gonna have about 30K miles on it.

Thanks

AMT

[un1eash]

Yes its a chain.

[Androo]

After the Hyundai you will love the Z and won't mind the extra pennies go out and buy one and welcome mate.

 

Having switched from the V6 Coupe i promise this is 100% true

[Posidrive]

On the tyre front, Falken 452's appear to be perfectly adequate for your average Zed driver. When I got mine a year ago, the rears very very low on tread so I bit the bullet and replaced all 4 tyres since I don't like mixing them. In 12 months I've only felt the back end slide when I did want it to once and that was on a round about in the wet when I was half asleep one morning and my intelligence gland hadn't been woken up by coffee. Even then it was eay enough to catch.

[AMT]

Yeah, I don't plan on dying tbh lol or rallying the car about, I'll use the pace,but I will be aware I'm in a high powered Rear drive car haha. I love the coupe to bits though, you don't get many sports cars or stuff that are low and sleek looking (my m8s got a Celica GT), its all hot hatches now, which I don't think is special enough. A 350Z.....what a prescence, low, wide powerful Dammit hurry up march lol

AMT

[was8v]

A "major service" on a Z is a refill of diff and gearbox fluids, air filter, cabin filter, oil and filter, coolant change and perhaps brake fluid flush.

 

They do require an oil service every 9k IIRC.

 

So they are really cheap to service! No cambelts etc. Dead easy to do yourself.

[Raymondo]

What about brake pads and discs? How much do they normally cost?

[BulletMagnet]

We don't have a cabin filter...

[spursmaddave]

Hiya,

 

we traded in my partners 55 plate 2.0ES Hyundai Coupe for the Z last November.

 

The Hyundai is nice to look at but I found it extremely gutless and the lack of torque was terrible, I know very little about motor engineering but i'm sure with limited training I could get more torque out of a 2.0l engine than Hyundai managed!

 

Anyway the Z I got was a high mileage one as I intended to use it everyday for commuting etc not just polish it and put it in a garage, mine had done 72k when I got it and the clutch went within about 6k it just got so heavy it really made driving the car a chore. I got a clutch and flywheel of Zmanalex on here for £550, so not really that expensive.

 

There are plenty of very good midrange tyres that get good reviews on here and my rears are still ok after nearly 12k, they are the Bridgestone REO60's.

 

Running cost wise I would say the Z does almost the same MPG as the Hyundai did, I rarely got more than 300/350 miles to a tank (55l) which is about 25-28mpg about the same as I get on the Z

 

You certainly won't regret the move, the Z is comparable cost wise to the Hyundai, certainly not a HUGE leap anyway, the only thing you will notice is the urge to spend money on it is waaaaaaaay more tempting

[AMT]

Thanks for the info on the service! Haha, god knows how they got such a pitiful amount of power from that 2.0 engine and yeah roughly 300 miles a tank, most ive ever seen on the little (miles to drive) dial is about 340 lol. Do you think its ok to buy a 03' onwards Z with around 30-35K on it? I usually want low mileage cars, bought my Coupe with 9K on it and I've seen some Z's with lower miles (hopefully find one of them) but if not think its ok buying one for like £11-13 with about 30K on it?? I've asked a few people and there like ...33K is nothing on most cars now, and the V6 on this Ive heard is decently reliable. But obviously best opinion is from you guys..

AMT

[Neilp]

To be honest it's all down to your budget. Buying an older car with lower mileage is fine as long as it has had it's yearly service. Make sure there's no massive corrosion on exhausts and suspension etc as these do deteriorate regardless of mileage.

Whatever you buy I'm sure you won't be dissapointed. Be careful with some with massive modification as one guy up here bought one and it was very underpowered and only rolling roared at 197hp at the flywheel.

There are plenty for sale on the forum which the history can be traced and are from well respected members. Most cars on here get looked after alot better than your everyday average joes drive to work zed.

 

Keep your eye on the for sale thread.

[spursmaddave]

For 11-13K you should be aiming a little higher than an 03, you should be able to get a decent 55 plate or a late 06 plate then you will have the lower tax bracket. What colour have you decided on, that makes a little bit of difference with Z's. Silver is the easiest to find followed probably by Gunmetal, Black & Blue. Red & Yellow are less easy to find and look and different. There was also a special edition Zed in Black and Yellow but that might be slightly out of your price bracket, could be wrong though!

 

Keep an eye on here as there are some lovely examples that come up for sale, I went down the dealer route but if you can buy privately then you will get a real bargain on here and you can trace the cars history back too

 

Good luck with your search, and don't for get to leave some spare £ for all the mods

[Toon Chris]

30K is nothing. I'm on 96K and the car pulls like new (better actually as I've had a ECU tune). Don't ever be put off by high mileage on a V6 car, it's just a way for you to get a good car, cheaper

 

Servicing consists of an oil and filter change and checking nothing has dropped off every 9K miles, costs about £100 with good quality oil (Millers for example). It says to change the brake fluid every 2 years but if you do lots of miles then just do it whenever (like most cars). Costs about 2 hours labour and a couple of litres of good fluid. Basically they are not expensive cars to run.

 

If you want to change the diff/LSD oil then ok, but it's not a priority. Do it whenever, I had mine done at 80K and with an oil and filter change as well the whole lot was £200. Everything is easy to get to on the Z so the mechanics like it.

 

Every 50-60K change the spark plugs. More expensive (plugs are about £60ish) and a few more hours labour but its a 'proper' engine inserted under the bonnet in the 'proper' direction so it isn't hard to do.

 

You will need a new clutch at some point and it will be the most expensive thing you have to buy. Get a solid fly at the same time to prevent upsetting changes when the exiting one goes 10 minutes after the clutch was changed If you go for the full monty then about £900-£1K but if you just have the plate and bearing changed then possibly the good side of £600. Treat the car well and it will last you for ages. Build the price in to what you expect to pay for a higher mileage car.

 

Upgrade the brakes? No problem, it is cheaper than the standard nissan prices to get a good set of upgraded disks and pads all round

 

Buy your parts via people on this forum and cut the price in half(ish) from nissan prices - and most of it is genuine nissan too!

 

DON'T get budget tyres. The difference in price is only a few tanks of petrol so why skimp? Budgets will make the car feel terrible and could put you in the ditch. These cars are heavy and powerful, not a good combination on a slippy road if you lose concentration. Get some mid-range tyres for about £400 a set and they will do you for 20K on the back if you are polite to them, a little more on the front.

 

Finally, the cardinal sin on this forum is to say your MPG but if you do a lot of miles you can get much closer to 30MPG. I do about 20-25K miles per year and don't hang about (i.e. no gentle acceleration and 50mph cruising) and get that.

 

Finally, finally, you will want to start to buy add-on bits and this is where it gets pricey. The cheapest 'fancy' exhaust will be £300, a good one nearer £1000 - and that can be for the last section only!

 

So hopefully you can see that they are not an expensive car to run if you have a good one, but if you have to watch the pennies then just walk away as it is probably not the car for you. A surprise bill can be a lot of money should you be unlucky. If you want cheap then get a Ford, not a sportscar.

[AMT]

You guys know your stuff, very happy with the response Yeah, it can cost, I've found that out, but hey things can happen. I didn't grow up loving cars for nothing, so I want one, i'm gettin' one heh. I do realise costs, when I had to do the clutch and slave on the coupe I never knew it was gonna go, and so be it I could buy a zed thats fine then 10K later it'll go, take it as it comes.

 

But I'm glad to hear about the engine stuff and mileage. It will be a dealer more than likely as privatley I have a bit less le-way when somethings not up to scratch, but I will closer to the time check out the sales thread as mentioned... I'm in Scotland though, inbetween glasgow n' edinburgh so dunno whos where lol. Tyres yep, I'll keep em in check and I do realise I will have to get my bearings with it as never drove a high powered rear wheeler.

 

In terms of mods, I hate them, don't like stuff to make an already good lookin' car worse. Although I do like to do things that are simple and keep it as original as possible. With my 2.0 Coupe I fitted drilled/grooved performance discs and mintex pads (look the business!), got that from the trusted ebay guy mtec that everyone on the hyundai coupe uk forums used, I switched the aerial to a solid small black one instead of that horrid fishing rod, K&N air filter and also limo tinted the rear and rear quarter windows. Simple but effective. Dunno what I'd do to the Zed, smaller aerial perhaps and at some point grooved/discs if I can find em cheap enough, the ebay guy I got mine off actually might do them Poossssibly remapped if you can do it wihout it messing up the engine, as 280 sounds better when its near 300 haha. Probably tint the rear window and those super tiny buggers at the side. The coupe engine was untunable unless you spent thousands... hyundai made an unremappable 2.0... HATE THEM FOR THAT lol.

 

Oh and I definatly want it in silver! Looks great washed in the sun like new, hides scratches well I find also haha.

 

Thanks again guys

AMT

[Toon Chris]

There is a dealer in Edinburgh, that is where my car originated (the owner before me).

If you use a dealer for the oily work, double the prices I have quoted You will be fine with a trustworthy sportscar specialist.

[Neilp]

i bought my own oil and filters, nissan done service for 100 quid

[350 Russ]

i change my oil and filters every 6k and change it myself, cant believe how easy it is. the oil filter is right next to the sump plug and loads of room. i bought a magnetic sump plug first time i changed it to make sure i got all the bad bits out. hardest part is getting off the under tray