rabbitstew

You let them do this? I'd be so worried about damaging the roof! Looked like it was only doing 5 mph... Sure that would be fine! Isn't the centre console button for the heated seats?? Tis indeed. The roof button on the 350z is near the drivers knee where the fuel cap release is. and ESP on / off.

Done 10k in the car already since I got it, so it was now due its P1 service. After servicing my Golf TDI for the last 5 years I had the service down to such a fine art that I could complete a full major service on it in about 17minutes. I figured just a basic oil / oil filter change on the zed should be a piece of cake. Opened the bonnet up and first thing was trying to find the oil filter. Bit of googling revealed that it was under the bottom of the car. Sigh. So, have to jack the thing up, then next hurdle was removing the bottom plastic tray. My god, they certainly dont believe in having it fall off, there must have been about 14 seperate rusty 10mm bolts holding it in, plus a grommet thing in the middle of it. Apart from that, once the tray is off, the oil filter (which is staggeringly small compared to the size of filters I normally see on cars) is easy to reach, came undone straight away, and the actual oil change was nice and simple. It did take nearly the whole gallon of oil, but all is well and the car feels smoother already. Ive a little left in the can for top-ups, but this car hasnt used a drop of oil since ive bought it. Time taken? Well... think it probably took me about an hour. Most of that was trying to workout how to jack the car up and get the undertray off. I also used the old manual ratchet rather than getting the windy gun out as I didnt want to break anything. I expect next time will be quicker, but all in all, I dont see any reason why even the most non-mechanical owner cant try this themselves.

My god, that does not look entirely safe does it. Not sure id want to be crawling under there!

Does anyone else thing the car looked brilliant in the original before shot? The owner clearly has issues, as why would you spend ages having crappy 1970`s air brushed murals done all over it like some old hot-rod or lorry? Then getting bored with that try and turn it into a porsche? Madness!

Voice control does work quite well I found on my android, and is great when you are driving. But I had 2 problems with it. a) Makes you feel a bit self conscious that you are "talking" to your phone. Makes you feel like "knight rider". I kept wanting to call the phone "KITT". Sort of made me wonder why would you spend ages dictating a text message or email to your phone so it can automatically send it to someone when you can just phone the person up directly and tell them the message. I guess some people just dont like talking to people on their phone?

Love the bit where is says keep the trigger on LOW mode. It already takes me forever at the pump when I fill up from empty, so if I had it on LOW mode, id be there for like half an hour or something. As it is I get strange looks as Nissan Micra owners come in, fill up and drive away and im not even 1/3rd of the way through filling the 350`s tank up.

For me thats another key factor in the equation. The costs. When ever I upgrade I look to get the best value for money as well the phone with the most features, best practicality and best reviews. Its not easy choice sometimes. But, when you look at the costs, with the iphone you have to pay loads more. I upgraded one of my work phones a few weeks back and I narrowed it down to either the Galaxy S2, which was FREE, on a £20 a month tarriff. (Apparently you can get the same deal now for £15 a month.) Or, the IPhone 4, which id have to pay £60 and be on a £45 a month tarriff. I looked at the specs side by side and checked out endless reviews on the internet. Comparing ease of use, functionality, specs, battery life, talk time, features, audio quality and from my perspective technically and specification wise, the Galaxy s2 was better. Even if the iPhone had been better, I would have really found it very hard to justify actually having to pay for the phone, then pay well over double the montly amount for the same tarriff. For existing iPhone customers the choice must be even harder, as like Chris says, you can keep your existing iPhone, move networks and get the same tarriff for £10 a month! Compare that against what the new phone will cost to buy & per month. Big difference.

Im not an iphone fan but even I am disapointed. The new "updates" barely bring it up to the competitors standards when you look at phones like the Galaxy s2. I was reading through the "specs" on behalf of my missus who has been desperate to get the new iphone for weeks and I really struggled to see what they had added. 8mb camera? The samsung i8910 had that, and other phones did, about 3 years ago. Better antenna? Well I guess they needed that cos the iphone 4 had notorious call dropping problems which apple acknowledged was an issue. Photo backup in the iCloud? Thats something Android / Google Photos already do and is very handy as you can automatically get all your pix anywhere. And finally voice recognition? Well phones have had that for donkeys years, but its never really become popular. I can say to my android phone "text mum i will be late for dinner" and my phone will send her a text message "i will be late for dinner". Or I can say to my phone "navigate me to 35 main road chester" and it will load up the sat nav software and put that address in for me. Likewise in drive mode, any text messages which come in the phone reads out to me etc. etc. etc. Do I use it? Not really as its more of a gimmick, but I guess if you were disabled or had bad eye sight then it would be very handy to have. From looking on facebook this morning, nearly all those friends who have iphones are all very disapointed indeed and angry with Apple. But, amazingly have still said they will get it. They all agree that its just apples way of making more money out of their customers. They know that 80% of people who have iphones will get the next iphone regardless of how bad it is, people already have all their songs in itunes and are tied into the apple way of life - so moving elsewhere isnt an easy move.

To be honest I find it quite stressful. Im trying to renovate a house and dont tend to get home from work until half 7 in the week. So, last weekend I had no time to clean the car, so last night there was me, in the dark trying to wash and clean my car. My missus got back from shopping and had to park her car with the lights on so I could see which bits of the car i was drying. Not only that, you end up noticing new marks on the car which need extra attention or you spent 3 hours waxing only for some bird to come along and sh!t on it - or it rains so hard over night that your car ends up covered in dirt and moss off the house roof. The other week I had to give my boss a lift into work, so I spent about 4 hours on the Sunday cleaning my car - then it rains over night and I end up driving into work Monday morning with a car which looked filthier than before id cleaned it. This time of year its a nightmare, the cars covered in bugs every night coming home from work and the ferredo brakepads seems to turn the front wheels black within days. And we havent even got to the real car killing months where all the road salt and dirt soon end up trashing the car.

They look too much like Audi RS4 wheels to me. Not sure id like them on the zed. Only way to find out though is to do some photo shopping and see what you think.

You let them do this? I'd be so worried about damaging the roof! Id be more worried about letting some guy who looks like a gaylord sit in my car! Still, nice bit of publicity for your car, really a shame they didnt show more of the car. Probably a good thing though as if my mates saw it, then id get loads of stick for having a "playboy perfume" car!!!

Bit like my last garage. I had a crappy single garage so knocked it down and built a triple garage instead out of timber. Painted floor up, had enough room for 3 motorbikes and a project car, a media system, a home gym and a beer fridge. My mates loved it. If i need to work on a car I could just drive it in without moving any of the other stuff, and had plenty of room to get around it. Was very tempted to put the old 3 piece suit in there as it was bigger than my missus`s old flat. But, ive so many professional tools and stuff, as well as loads of car parts I ended up fitting shelving to hold the stuff. Couldnt beat it though - all my mates used to pop around to escape to my shed. Only problem was, when I moved earlier in the year I had to then condense a triple garage worth of stuff into a double garage, and 3 into 2 just does not fit. God knows how people who only have a single garage manage.

Vittoria on the Bridge is a very nice italian restaurant - bit pricey sometimes but very nice. The "outsider" restaurant wasnt too bad - very trendy, but food wasnt as good as some. I actually like the cafe rouge just off Princes street. Ive eaten there a few times. Service is good, you always know what you are getting too.

Welcome!!!

Welcome to the forum! And a black gt4. Awesome. I really wanted a black one when I was looking for mine, but one didnt come up.

Love the pix, esp the cats. Typical cats, they are like mine, really nosey! Always have to see what your up to!

Indeed, but then you wouldnt have the 313 engine. Mines an 07 convertible. Looking on autotrader there are a few out there at dealers, varying in price and spec. No major problems from what ive seen. Only thing I noticed was rear visibility with the roof up is next to useless. Cant see a thing, so a lot of these cars have reversing sensors fitted which were not a Nissan option, but an option some dealers offered themselves. Prices in theory should be starting to drop with the winter months approaching, but from my experience with dealers they will rather hang themselves than offer you any discount on the forecourt price. In general look out for the expensive bits - new set of tyres will be 500quid at least. New brake pads... they are about the £250 mark if you can fit them yourself. I found my car at 30k needed both - although these are dependent upon how the car has been driven. Service wise, the P2 or P3 are the big ones (actually the same service for the 350z), so buying one which has just had that will give you 20k before another big service is needed - saving you some cash. Spec wise, you`ll probably find with the later cars they had the Rays wheels on them which look nice, and all the newer convertibles I saw had the GT pack (leather seats, cruise control & bose stereo). Both are a plus point when selling. Roof is known for having the odd problem - like most convertibles. Key thing is to make sure it goes down nice and smoothly. When its very cold sometimes it will stick half way. Then you need to go forward / back to clear it. Otherwise not much else. Running costs... Roadtax on the post 2006 cars is £430 a year. MPG depends on how driven, but every day use I get about 25mpg. Insurance is a killer although depends on where you live. This cost me 3 times the price of a Golf TDI and more than a similar BMW M3 or Porsche Boxster. All in all not a bad car. As for your size, id suggest trying one out and see how you get on.

Ive noticed this too and embarrassingly in these situations the zed doesnt seem to perform. When I first got my car I had some lad in a late 1990`s BMW coupe, I think it was something like a 325i try and race me. Because id just got the car I thought id see what it could do and to my surprise this guy was neck and neck with me in what clearly was a 500quid banger. Since then I had some mazda 6 series estate also keep up with me and the most recent was a 2001 4 door golf GTi laden down with 4 chavs who after letting me pass them booted it after me and was glued to my back bumper right up through 3rd and 4th in my car, before I pulled over and slowed down. In general I normally just pull over and let people by as I cant be doing with people trying to race me, and I value my license too much. But it is a little disappointing sometimes when someone in an average car or an old banger is just as quick as a zed. On a plus note, I popped into a tyre place this morning to get an estimate for some new tyres and the guy said to me "mate thats a bl**dy nice car you have there". Just hope they dont mess my rays up fitting the new tyres later in the week.

Ive not had an MOT guy drive any of my cars on the ramps for about 12 years now after taking my Renault 5 GT Turbo with its group A racing clutch to the MOT centre. Bloke got in it, stalled it 3 times, got out, gave me the keys back and told me to do it instead. Ever since, regardless of what car ive taken, ive had to drive it on the ramps for them. Although now having moved house, I guess that will all changed.

Brilliant!!!!

Well it was like a secret mission with the resetting of all the engine warning lights using my netbook & obd lead stashed in my missus`s handbag whilst we were parked up outside the dealers.

£2k is a lot of money, but then again the JDM is 2 years older, so you have to factor in the depreciation factor. How much does a zed depreciate in a year? 500quid? a grand? That brings them both pretty much into the same ball park price doesnt it. Personally id try them both out and see which you prefer. GM is better than silver, UK model may sell easier than a JDM, but then the better spec car will also be easier to sell. Do both have the correct service history? It says full but is it correct? Tough choice really! Another thing to think about is if you get the cheaper car... £2k can buy you a lot of mods... exhaust, air filter, remap etc. etc.

Christ, and we have a bad name!! lol, well ive lost count of the amount of time dealers have ripped people i know off, so it was nice to kinda get my own back a little. If it makes you feel better, it turned out the car he sold us had been in an accident, it also needed a full service (he said it had been done but oil was black & air filters were also black), needed new top mounts, new antiroll bar links, new brake pads & discs and a few other bits. So he clearly wasnt the most honest of dealers.

Big end...... Likewise, id probably off load it to a car dealer. My missus`s last car needed a head gasket and we were quoted £1500 from a garage to fix when the car was only worth £2500. Id have done it myself but it was going to be a nightmare 15hours labour to do it. So, we off loaded it to a car dealer in part ex for something else. Car dealer seemed happy enough as he probably thought he was ripping us off nicely on the deal. I have noticed however the cars never been on the road since so once he realised the car was shagged he probably dumped it in an auction and its been parted out for spares or something.

Its an awesome day! I just serviced the zed - just an oil / filter change this time. Im used to doing a full major service on my old VW Golf in 15minutes. So servicing the zed was a shock. Theres about a million bolts to undo to get to the oil filter under the car.... but got it all done in the end and it sounds nice and smooth. Then I kegged up 40 pints of homebrew real ale in a barrel ready for the winter... Just eating a pie for lunch (what else would I eat?) and now debating whether to lay in the garden or paint a fence. Its proper hot outside tho. Coooooookin!!!!! Oh, and i managed to nip down tescos as well and get some bbq stuff for this evening! Funnily enough they also had their xmas stuff out so I could have got some christmas crackers at the same time!!!