Guys,

I'm thinking of picking up a 350Z for the summer. I don't know if I will get rid of the CL-S or not. I would like to keep it for a secondary car. How much did you guys pay for the Z? Anything else I need to know?

Thanks.

 

I like the car ALOT.


I went and looked at one myself, however the ONE thing that bugged the hell outta me was that bar across the back interior compartment. The one that is silver with a "Z" on it.

Impossible to really bring anything remotely large with you if you happen to travel.


Also, unless you're getting silver, I'd hold off and wait a year to get one that has body-colored door handles.


That 3.5L Nissan engine is amazing. Smooth, dependable, the whole 9.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, Leather is unavailable in the track model, correct?


If you do get rid of your CL, let me know right away thru PM, as I'd love to tak the Mugen Exhaust off your hands.

 

even the bent one???

 

seems like the Z and G are having tranny issues. Their 6spd's have been failing. Something about not being able to shift into 3rd. A guy I work with is having his replaced.

 

As to "how much did you pay", I did a little "research" on http://www.350zmotoring.com/forums/ and found this http://www.350zmotoring.com/forums/s...?threadid=1773

I'm sure that Zeroday and the other 350Z owners on this forum will have a bunch of things to look for.

Not to hijack this thread, but what's the best 350Z forum ??

 

If you are keeping the CLS, maybe look at an S2000 for a 2nd car? Fun convertible, get a good deal on a new or used one.

The Z is a great car. Can't go wrong. You'll probably need to find what you want, email and fax a lot of dealers. They sell at or under MSRP around here. I browse at www.my350z.com

 

I like the look of the 350Z more. They are coming up with TT and SC kits for it already.

 

I can vouche for that. The VQ35DE motor ROCKS!!

 

s2k is the shit, i love mine. SC kits for that also from 3 companys...

 

here's mine.
http://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthrea...hreadid=114190
i previously owned a '01 BLK CLS.

 

if you can afford 2 30k cars and their respective payments and insurance costs... (a cl-s and a 350z) then why not just get rid of the CL-S and get a frickin M3 or a new S4 or a used SL benz or something????

 

Well I might give the car to one of my family members. That way I can use it when I need it. Thye would have to take over at least most of the payment though.

 

I absolutely love my Z... I got rid of my CLS and got the Z as my primary car, (although I am getting a beater for next winter).

In regards to the tranny issues, I haven't heard anything at all about it. I am sure there are issues, as Tranny's are wear items, but it's nowhere as bad as the CL/TL problems.

Car looks great, people always come over to look at it when I am parked.

Handling is amazing. Really has a great feel. Ride - okay but a little jittery on uneven pavement

Power - Plenty of torque and definitely is faster than my CLS with headers. Engine is not as smooth sounding as the CLS in VTEC though

Interior - Fine for it's purpose.

Overall, fun to drive = A+++ and I love it.

I ended up getting the Enthusiast model (best value IMO). I pay ~$450 a month for a 39 month lease with 0 down. Sticker of mine was $29,500, but I got it down to $28,800.

My friend bought a Touring with Leather, which came to about $33,5k

 

Now if only the Enthusiast edition came with leather

 

In regards to tips, the best tip is to shop around. I ended up getting mine at a dealer that had 32 sitting on the lot, so they were very willing to go under retail.

Second tip is go for the Enthusiast or Performance models. Touring and Track are not worth it IMO. Stock brakes are totally fine, so the Brembo's are unnecessary and the forged wheels look okay, but for the $$ to upgrade to that model, you can get better looking aftermarket rims.

Touring - I actually prefer the cloth to the leather seats, which I slid around too much in during curvy driving. Bose stereo = so-so... Better off saving the $$ and get an aftermarket system.

 

Trust me. The cloth seats are very nice. They are not typical cloth seats in most cars. The leather isn't that special. My best friend has a Touring and I have a Enthusiast, and he actually regrets paying $4k more for the Touring. He actually likes my seats better too! Try them both out and see which you like better

 

Cusdaddy pretty much summed it all up..... I have almost 3000 miles on my Z and love every minute of it...... I have had a total of ZERO problems w/ the car......

As for me, I got the Performance model w/ everything except for navi and paid MSRP for it...... I'm sure there were dealers somewhere in California that would go below MSRP, but after a few weeks of researching I had a bad case of the "gottahaveitnow" syndrome.....

You can get aftermarket leather seats for ANY model that look just as good..... Here's what I'm gonna eventually get in my Super Black Z.......



They are made by Katzkin..... These particular seats are Dark Graphite w/Lt. Slate suede inserts..... There are also different options you can order from that company (i.e. perforated seats, colored stitching, etc)........

Hope that helps

 

Am I the only one that does not like the Z after driving it? I thought the Z was the shit, until I drove. Now, I can't even look at one and say it looks good. Yeah, it handles great and has lots of ponies under the hood.
I couldn't get out of my head that barely being able to see out the rear window, and having pretty much no side view either.

Maybe the main reason why I hate it now is because the dealer wanted to give me $24 for my 03 CL-S w/navi and wanted a $5000 markup on their Z. This dealer was nothing but assholes. I was like call me if you can make me an offer. That was about 1 month ago and I still have not got a phone call.

 

The views out of the Z are not great, but with proper alignment of the mirrors, it's managable IMO.

As for dealers, I had to go to 5 dealers before I was able to get a great deal. Shopping around and playing offers off each dealer worked for me. I actually got my Z close to $1k under retail.

 

My take on this:


The Z just came out recently. And its already having a good failure rate it seems. The CL-S/TL-S has been out much longer and will have a higher rate of course because of that. Give the Z time, it will have a high failure rate as well if its rate that it has continues.

 

what you guys are failing to realize is the people without problems tend not to post "Hey! I have no problems with my Z!!!"

I haven't had any issues with my Z except for a rattle that I fixed pretty easily. Any problems with the Z are getting resolved very very rapidly. It's nothing like the way I've seen Acura handle things. They are very much on top of any known issues...i'm sure this is why recent VIN cars are having much fewer problems. Just browse through my350z.com and yu'll see what I mean. I think this attention is due to the car being sold in Japan, Australia, and in the UK etc so it's getting *alot* of attention from Nissan.

 

back to the original topic, I paid 37k for my 'all options' touring Z. I paid msrp. You can find better deals now; but usually they are for the slow movers like automatic Z's and that lemans sunset (orange) color. If you look hard enough you can get below msrp for whatever config you want. Try autobytel.com

Regardless of what those other cloth seat chumps say :P , I love my leather seats; the burnt orange color is really cool. Plus, the cloth seats aren't powered and heated. My bose system is OK; sounds *almost* as good as the Cl bose but my main reason for wanting it is I like the 'stock' look.

 

I like the potential the Z has. Theres no doubt in my mind i will use force induction on the car. I dont know if I should go with an Enthusiast model, and get leather seats installed or just forkup the extra cash and get touring. I think touring would be a bit of a waste for me because I'm not going to use the bose system. Hmm decisions. Or maybe it would be a good idea to keep the navi, but the stock deck will go for sure. Any siggestions on what to get?

 

I'm with erock, go for the Performance model. Unless you want heated, power seats. Performance has more features than the enthusiast.

 

Only additional features:

18" Rims (getting aftermarket so I'd rather save $$ here)
Tire Pressure Monitor System
Stability Assist (nice to have I admit)

All for a $2180 premium over the Enthusiast. Not worth it for me.

Base MSRP Enthusiast:
$28,249

Base MSRP Performance:
$30,429

 

Hehe... Actually, I orignally wanted an Enthusiast model but the only one they had on the lot was a Lemans Sunset (orange) one.... That was not for me..... I guess the sales mgr knew I had a bad case of the gottahaveitnow's, so he showed me a Black Performance AND told me he'd give me 17K for my CL (vice 16,100 he pulled for KBB.com)......

Spiroh, if your gonna be modding then I would go with the Enthusiast Model...... From what I remember the only differences between the Perf. & Enth. is the 18" wheels, VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control), and Tire pressure sensors.....

Me, I'm really not going to do much other than rims, leather seats, and a system...... Performance on this car is more than enough for me.....

Good luck on your search.....

edit:
didn't see your post cusdaddy :P

 

I am totally disappointed at Nissan ever since I cut my finger by the sharp plastic edge on the door panel of 02 Nissan Altima, plus the sunglass pocket does not open and I had to borrow my wife's finger nail to get it open. Nissan used to be good, but ever since they ran into their financial problem and bought by Renult (cheap as$ French auto. company), they started to cut cost / cut quality. I hope they didn't cut cost/quality on the engines.

 

Is that vehicle dynamic control worth it?

 

Has helped me more than once in the CL, mostly in the snow. The damage I've avoided is worth 2k. If I had a winter vehicle, I would not care. I'm not into aftermarket rims, so I'd want 18s stock. Never had a car with TPMS. But it looks nice to have.

 

noticed at the 350z forums that people are having wear problems with the cloth seats...just wanted to give those looking at Z's a heads up. May want to consider aftermarket leather unles you're buying a touring model.

2k miles on the odometer with a 130lb driver:

http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...0&pagenumber=3

 

I have 3,000 miles on my Z and have had no problems. It's a complete different car than the CL. The handling is awesome and it's fun to drive. The cloth seats are great and comfortable. All the positive things you read about are true. I did enjoy the CL, but no regrets with the Z.

 

Ive decided on going with the touring model. Probably hold value a bit better then the lower models. I also like the side airbag feature. I'm already saving up for mods, what can i say