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Noob Q about Driveaway locking, alarm chirp & more


Oz Striker

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Hello 350z-uk.com forum! I have recently purchased a 2007 350z, (come from a BMW E46 330ci) and had a few questions which i tried searching for here and on the net but no real luck.

 

(1) The first is, does the Z have the ability for automatic driveaway locking? If so is this a feature that only the dealer can switch on? Or can it be done by a ignition/key button sequence?

 

(2) Can the Z be made to give an audible "chirp" when the alarm is armed/disarmed? If so is it something the owner can do themselves? In the US Z handbook it states that if both lock & unlock key buttons are pressed simultaneously for 2 secs, it be can switch between chirp on & off, tried it but didnt work :(

 

(3) Is there any way to disable the small yellow LED lights at the top of the headlight unit, which come on with the side/headlights? Theyre not the turn signals, but kind of like DRL, without being on 24/7, similar to the the yellow "eyelash" LEDs on the E60 5 Series. I dont especailly like them, and there are already w5w wedge sidelights, so dont see anything wrong with deleting them if possible. I'm not describing it very well, hopefully someone will know what i'm going on a bout :)

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Ah well worth a try, thanks for the quick answer.

 

Also I dont have my service book to hand and i'm about order some oil for a service at Nissan, but are diff and gearbox oil changes part of the Z's servicing schedule? If they're not I'll plan to do them myself at a later date, but if they are I'll order some up pronto incase they are needing done at the service.

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Thanks for that fellas. I kinda have no choice at the moment, I bought it last week and the service reminder has been up, I'm new to London so dont know my way round the indie's yet And call me old skool or backward, but i believe a greater % of Full dealer serviced car will be in a better condition, and will have had things repaired promptly than that those serviced at an independent. Reason being I wouldnt know how good or bad any given Indie is if buying a prospective motor from a private seller, they may have gone to a "cheap as chips" garage or a specialists with an excellent reputation, I would be none the wiser. Whereas at least at a dealer a "certain" level of competence can be guaranteed. If a private seller is willing to fork out for a dealer service, I would say they are less likely to have skimped on other maintenance and repairs.

 

Ofcourse for all extra work, water pump, suspension bushes etc I would always, where possible take to a recommended Indie.

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Thanks for that fellas. I kinda have no choice at the moment, I bought it last week and the service reminder has been up, I'm new to London so dont know my way round the indie's yet And call me old skool or backward, but i believe a greater % of Full dealer serviced car will be in a better condition, and will have had things repaired promptly than that those serviced at an independent. Reason being I wouldnt know how good or bad any given Indie is if buying a prospective motor from a private seller, they may have gone to a "cheap as chips" garage or a specialists with an excellent reputation, I would be none the wiser. Whereas at least at a dealer a "certain" level of competence can be guaranteed. If a private seller is willing to fork out for a dealer service, I would say they are less likely to have skimped on other maintenance and repairs.

 

Ofcourse for all extra work, water pump, suspension bushes etc I would always, where possible take to a recommended Indie.

 

That would be fine if nissan had a clue about theses cars and if it was a micra i would agree but i would go to someone who knows theses cars as they will see issuies before nissan as they know common problems if any and there are a few members in the london area who could tell you where one is but personal choice,

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Good point about spotting problems early KC, I'll start searching the forum for good Indies in south london. I do agree on the whole about most dealers, tbh i dont think they check all the things that are mentioned on the service sheets eg my 330ci got taken in for a Inspection II (P3 equivalent) and they are meant to check the bodywork for corrosion etc, i already knew there was a small amount of rust on one of the front wings, but they didnt mention this.

 

Heres a pic of the car:

 

IMG_0151.jpg

 

IMG_0160.jpg

 

 

Ok so more Questions for you Zexperts!

 

[2] Is there an internal radio antenna avaialble, or DIY/mod? Dont like the bee sting radio aerial, its gonna get knicked and it spoils the lines!

 

[2] What are these brackets for under the rear strut bar? Tonneau cover fitment???

 

IMG_0164.jpg

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Pretty sure abbey aren't too far away from you.

 

The theory of using a retard because you know they are retard isn't very well thought out if you ask me.

 

Full dealer service history doesn't add much value to the car once it gets to a certain age.

 

A stamp from abbey or the like would be worth far more to anyone in the know :thumbs:

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Thanks for that fellas. I kinda have no choice at the moment, I bought it last week and the service reminder has been up, I'm new to London so dont know my way round the indie's yet And call me old skool or backward, but i believe a greater % of Full dealer serviced car will be in a better condition, and will have had things repaired promptly than that those serviced at an independent. Reason being I wouldnt know how good or bad any given Indie is if buying a prospective motor from a private seller, they may have gone to a "cheap as chips" garage or a specialists with an excellent reputation, I would be none the wiser. Whereas at least at a dealer a "certain" level of competence can be guaranteed. If a private seller is willing to fork out for a dealer service, I would say they are less likely to have skimped on other maintenance and repairs.

 

With the greatest amount of respect, everything you have written there is complete horses**t.

Just because a car has been maintained at a dealer does not mean it is better looked after. Hell, I'd say it was maintained on average at a lower level. Cars like a 350z which are maintained at an independent are done so by people who care about their cars and know who to use independently to look after their cars.

The average franchise dealer YTS kid who is working on your 350z know feck all about your car.

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Thanks for that fellas. I kinda have no choice at the moment, I bought it last week and the service reminder has been up, I'm new to London so dont know my way round the indie's yet And call me old skool or backward, but i believe a greater % of Full dealer serviced car will be in a better condition, and will have had things repaired promptly than that those serviced at an independent. Reason being I wouldnt know how good or bad any given Indie is if buying a prospective motor from a private seller, they may have gone to a "cheap as chips" garage or a specialists with an excellent reputation, I would be none the wiser. Whereas at least at a dealer a "certain" level of competence can be guaranteed. If a private seller is willing to fork out for a dealer service, I would say they are less likely to have skimped on other maintenance and repairs.

 

With the greatest amount of respect, everything you have written there is complete horses**t.

Just because a car has been maintained at a dealer does not mean it is better looked after. Hell, I'd say it was maintained on average at a lower level. Cars like a 350z which are maintained at an independent are done so by people who care about their cars and know who to use independently to look after their cars.

The average franchise dealer YTS kid who is working on your 350z know feck all about your car.

 

Ok i see what you're saying. Of course a car maintained by an enthusiast who knows his stuff, is a regular poster on a forum like this will be selling a car in above avg condition and yes better than some clueless banker who just rolls his zed into the dealer...........BUT I have little way of working this out, especially so if you are just looking at web adverts and calling up the seller for a chat. IMHO i still think that if a seller takes his car to a dealer to be serviced and pays there overinflated prices, he cant be a total scrounge bag! (esp if the car has branded tyres on it)

 

In my search for a Z i came across numerous that had been taken to Indie's and was clear to me just hadnt been well taken care of and not even driven too much clearly the expense of running a 3.5L car had put them off, this happens with many performance car as its price drops and means people can afford to buy it, but dont want to shell out the dollars to repair & maintain. And ofcourse i also saw ones with FNSH that had certain issues or aspects i was a little unsure of.

 

In the end i bought a 2007 Z, FNSH, with 23k on the clock, so not a lot of miles or time for muppets to screw it up! I dislike it as much as the next fella, that cars with full dealer service history sell for more and sell more quickly, but ultimiately the reason is any propective buyer doesnt know how good or bad the indies are that previous owners have taken the car to. Its the only reason I serviced my BMW at the dealers. Luckily for me I stayed for a number of years in Dumfries, where the level of dealer service was far higher than those in Glasgow, who really do have a "rack em, stack em & pack em" mentality.

 

Maybe this time with the Zed I'll go the Indie route, googled Abbey, and they do look impressive. maybe i'll go for a drive one day and check em out.

 

And thanks dave, i shall check the carpet, dont remember seeing slits, but there are 2 carpets in the boot so maybe in the lower one. I suspect a previous owner removed the cover and sold on fleabay. Will prob do a DIY job with MDF, which i saw somewhere here.

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You seem to have done a good bit of reading up and searching about the car, so you clearly have the best intentions for the car which is great to see. If someone mentioned a tonneau cover to most other new owners they wouldn't have a clue :blink:

 

I understand where everyone, including yourself, is coming from regarding the servicing. You happen to be lucky in that you live in London, so you can go to Abbey, who are Zed specialists and will be much much more respected stamp in your book than any Nissan dealer, not to mention your car will be better looked after there and you won't get ripped off.

 

I also agree with what you are saying about not knowing any specialists indies, which is normal when you first get a new car, but thats what forums like these are for, and now you do know one :yahoo: Also seeing an indy stamp is not better than a dealer stamp in my opinion, unless it's someone the likes of Abbey who know these cars better that the factory in which they were built.

 

I on the other hand live across the water in N Ireland and still have no idea of a good indy for these cars, so my first service went to the local Nissan where my cousins fiancee works, so I got a very reasonable price and the car well looked after, but still i'd like a good indy to do engine mods etc in the future, as there are no known up-rev dealers on the island to the best of my knowledge :thumbdown:

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Hey there, welcome!

 

I had an E46 330ci a little while back, you're going to love the 350z ;) so much better in every respect.

 

As for the alarm, it seems pretty good and reliable too (i've had clifford in the past with awful issues) so i'd stick with that!

 

Enjoy :D

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