rabbitstew

indeed!

I was looking for those on autotrader last week. Always fancied one and there arnt many about. There used to be a guy who had a blue one in my old town. Just remembered watching Jeremy Clarkson review the boxster years back. Im pretty sure he said the only reason anyone would buy one was because they cant afford a 911. And in driving one around you would effectively be saying to everyone that you hadnt done as well as you thought you would in life. Jeremy Clarkson`s words, not mine.

My god, im laughing so much im in tears! Brilliant.

I had exactly the same discussion with a mate of mine when i told him i was thinking of getting a zed. He waxed lyrical about the boxster even though he had never driven one. What swung it for me however was that I see litterally hundreds of boxsters every week, mainly driven by women or middle aged men. They really are very common around my area. Those and Z4`s. I like to be a bit different and have a rarer car. Also, again, personal preference, I dont like the styling or the interior of the boxster - never have. And finally the cost. You can get a much newer zed for the same money as an older boxster. But, again boxster vs zed is just down to personal tastes really.

Hard drive prices seem to have rocketed recently due to the Thailand flooding apparently. I bought a couple of 1TB drives earlier in the year and the price is well over double what I paid now. Wish id bought a lorry load of them now - could have made a killing!

Id also check your local tyre places too. When I needed a full set of tyres a few weeks back, cheapest I saw was on mytyres, and then when I tried one of my local garages they actually did me the same tyres but cheaper to my surprise.

New they seem silly money and depreciate rapidly. Id be looking at one a few years old and probably the coupe. Are they that bad? Twin turbo, 0-60 in less than 7 seconds and 60mpg all sound good to me. I maybe weird, but i dont mind diesels.

Thanks for the advice i think it might also have a Nismo exhaust as well as the kit (i will be honest the nismo kit was one of the things on my want list). What kind of price we talking for front disks? I suppose things like that are going to cost me more on a zed than a VX haha. I do intend on spending a bit of money with scope to get a full stainless manifold back system anyway so i wasnt hugely fussed by the exhaust "damage". But would want to keep it as is until the new year anyway so would be beneficial that it doesnt just fall off haha Actually thinking about it, if its got the kit (although like steve said, it looks like its just the bumper & spoiler) and exhaust then that is worth a few quid, so its not a bad price really. The nismo exhaust alone is a nice wad of cash if its definately a nismo one. Brake discs arent too expensive, depends on what you go for. Look on ebay, they vary from 80quid upwards for a pair, or you can get performance ones for more. They are an easy DIY job to fit to be honest.

Looks nice. Good miles, nice colour, also has Nismo bodykit if im not mistaken? Seems to be a good spec with leather and rays. MOT wise, replacing the brake discs arnt cheap and the front exhaust could be a nightmare to replace so your right to get them to re-check them. But, maybe worth using that as a haggling point on the sale price. Price doesnt seem to bad to me. Id be looking at about 7k I think. Maybe a fraction lower.

Be interesting to see what they say. From my research - You dont need one to pass an MOT. The MOT does not require a CAT on the car at all. The emmisions are checked as part of an MOT and not whether or not a CAT is fitted. As long as the emmisions are fine, the car passes that test so some cars can pass without a cat, others use a cat as a way of reducing the emmisions. Outside of an MOT, if VOSA want to test your car, they too dont care less if a CAT is fitted, they test emmisions. A car could have a cat and still be classes as not roadworthy if the emmisions are too high. There is some interesting stuff in the construction and use regulations regarding motor vehicles which cover emmisons but nothing i can see saying you have to have a cat by law. They also state things like its an offense to have the engine running in a stationary car unless your in traffic or inspecting your engine. And that its also an offense to drive a vehicle which creates "excessive noise". (but it doesnt define what is excessive noise, so my K1 might be okay).

Thats bad luck. Ive hit pigeons before when ive been on my motorbike and cleaning the mess out of the radiator was not a nice task.

I just wish the setting could be changed so for default it was switched 'off' and manually overidden for 'on' Rather like the annoying sat nav welcome screen that requires you press "accept" every time to access the map - not as though you have to put a code in so quite why that is there Second that! "Accept" = Annoying +1 OP is one lucky git tho!

What a co-incidence. Im thinking of a bmw 123d for my next car, and thought "id do a search on here first" and hey presto not only do i find a review of the 123d, but a comparison, including videos of the 123d and the zed. Excellent!!!

Where does it say this? I spent ages yesterday googling and couldnt find anything. I even found forums where other people had done the same and not managed to find anything. I know its a legal requirement that all cars built after 1993 have to have a cat fitted when they are made. But, couldnt find anything saying that its illegal to drive a car without a cat fitted. Not doubting you, but would be good to have concrete evidence to settle this debate.

From what ive been told there isnt much you can really do to the 313 engine to give you many gains without spending serious money. The HR engine is 80% new over the older engines. You could fork out on different air filters but apparently the stock nissan ones give the best results - maybe the cosworth ones add 1bhp but not much. Different exhaust wont really make much difference unless you went for a full system including headers & de-cats, but even then you`d need it remapped to make the most of it and even then I dont think you get big gains. Personally i think AK350Z has hit it bang on the head, for the money you`d be better off getting some performance driving lessons.

To be honest, i think with that budget you will be seriously struggling. You have to factor in running costs, any service or maintenance which may come up, plus have enough left for the X factor - X being an unknown problem which may happen - like clutch or engine or gearbox etc. etc.

Welcome! Nice looking car!!!

I didnt know that! Thats interesting to know!

Up to you which year you go for. 2006 had a facelift so subtile differences in styling, before that you had 276bhp or 296(?) bhp models, then they bought out the 313 model (actually had 308bhp or something) with an 80% new engine in late 2007. As others have said, from 2006 onwards the road tax is mega, although the running costs of a zed isnt cheap, especially if you use it as a daily driver. I worked out earlier in the week my zed costs me £800 a month to run. Which is actually more than I was getting paid a few years back. Loads of threads on here from newbies asking about what to look for on a zed, so read up as much as you can and checkout a few examples. Also make sure you check the insurance out as well!

Brilliant!!

Id ask the owner to go and move it if i was you, then it wont cause a problem My zeds locked away in a private underground carpark / nuclear bunker. So I dont get to see it until home time.

Definately! I did a P1 on mine a few weeks back and expect to be doing the P2 next just after Christmas, so not ideal timing to be under a car in the snow & cold.

I read about that earlier in the week. The funny thing is the council did speed testing down that road and the average speed was 27mph.

Excellent. Always good to see a fellow zed owner getting their hands dirty. Servicing them really isnt hard as you found out. Like you though I found the hardest part was getting the undertray off - there must have been about 18 bolts holding it on!!!!

groan!