Five Things

[Blocko]

So since buying my 350z I've been watching lots of YouTube and it seems to be jammed packed with five things every owner loves and hates. Many seem to miss the main issues imo. Because I'm having a lazy Sunday I thought I'd do one here:

 

Love:

1. Rwd with 300 ponies

2. The looks

3. The sound

4. Heated seats

5. Don't see many others about

 

Hate:

1. The road noise. Why isn't the cabin separate from the boot?!

2. The rear strut brace

3. the handbrake when a passenger is in the car

4. The £500 tax

5. The crappy scratched interior plastics

[KUGT4]

yep, apart from the tax is half on a GT4 and Bose drowns out any noise when you turn it up

 

[Ebized]

Take a step back and look at the "likes" and if those listed "hates" are enough to turn peeps off from buying one then they are stupidly fussy to miss out on one of the best drives at sensible prices that has been produced in the last 15 years or so.

[Ekona]

Good idea

 

For my old 350:

 

Love

1. Steering feel. Much better than cars 4x the price.

2. Light wheels as stock (well, if you have Rays).

3. Big engine, big torque. More responsive than it has any right to be.

4. Proper electric roof that locks away a treat, in all weathers.

5. Easy to work on. Not all jap cars are!

 

Hate

1. Seats lack support.

2. Heated seats barely heat at all!

3. Ragtop is ugly as sin with the roof up.

4. Weak brakes, even with Brembos unless you mod.

5. Bose is garbage.

[GMballistic]

Loved.

1. Variety of aftermarket parts available ~ ease of modding.
    
   
2. Seating position ~ Gauges, pedal position & wheel position all spot on.
    
   
3. Styling & overall appearance/shape.
    
   
4. Adjustable rev position shift light.
    
   
5. Handling even as standard ~ inspires confidence when driving spiritedly.
   

Hated.

1. That I sold it.
    
   
2. That I worried about jealous people damaging it every time I parked it somewhere.
    
   
3. Boot space ~ mainly due to strut bar getting in the way.
    
   
4. Headlights ~ not great on the DE for spirited driving on dark unlit roads.
    
   
5. That I sold it. (worth mentioning twice )
   

[JetSet]

In no particular order as they say on Strictly,

 

Likes

They're rare

They look good

The torque

Very comfortable driving position

Dials easy to read

 

Hates

 

Dipstick (on DE)

You have to close the windows when using the screen washers

Boot struts unable to take weight of a rear spoiler

Rear axle click

Doors won't stay open when you're getting out in a confined area and even when opened to their full extent if there's the slightest of breezes

 

 

An dishonorable mention should go to the birdview satnav and Bose unit as well.

 

Pete

[Blocko]

Oh yeah I forgot the dipstick. Considering oil is rather important why the hell did they make it so awkward to check!

[Strudul]

Love:

- Performance

- Aesthetics

- Community

- Heavy steering

- Sound

 

Hate:

- Crappy bose

- Crappy tranny

- The revs fly up when I clutch in, meaning I have to wait for them to drop again before I can up-shift

- Can't see the curb when reversing unless I adjust the mirrors down

- Seat / steering wheel position (I'm tall, and ideally I want the seat further back and the wheel closer to me)

 

Other:

- Lights are fine as far as I'm concered

- Boot space is yet to be an issue

- Road noise is usually drowned out by music, but it might be annoying if I had no music and spent a lot more time on the motorway

- Don't mind the scratches on the plastics

- Handbrake doesn't bother me, I just leave it in gear

[Irn Bru]

All love and only one hate..........They tempt you continously to spend money on them when you've got to spend money on other things

[Blocko]

All love and only one hate..........They tempt you continously to spend money on them when you've got to spend money on other things

 

Oh they really do. I've hardly modified anything for years and now I have a massive wish list. Just need to tell the Mrs that a new kitchen will have to wait 🙄

[Rob350]

LIKEY

rays alloys

V6 (obviously, who doesnt)

Sideways action

Comfy and decent amount of room in cab (my s2000 was tiiiny, im 6ft3 lol)

Pleasing to thy eye

 

NO LIKEY

plastic inside (would be nice with a bit of leather here and there)

A bit awkward when reversing in a tight situation

Fuel costs (my fat right foot doesn't help lol)

THE ONLY ONE SINGLE DAMN FLIMSY BUGGERING MEASLY FECKING CUP HOLDER

would have been nice to have oem recaros as standard like some Hondas, even the basic ep3 type r seats were good.

 

But a whole lot of love for the car though, I really struggled to find 5 things I didn't like, and if you think the boot is small... get a van

[davey_83]

Things I adore about the 350z

 

- Sound of the engine and exhaust

- Sexy classic 911 style arches

- Seating position

- Instrument binnacle design

- Engines low end lb-ft is amazing

 

Dislikes

 

- Operation of the clutch as town traffic driving can be a ball ache

- Massive blind spots

- Interior plastics scratch easily

- A tried and tested engine that uses oil

- Front end prone to stone chips due to the board low nose design, but the car wouldn't looks so good without it.

Edited December 19, 2016 by davey_83

[coldel]

Thinking back...

 

Likes:

Paying £7k and a bit for a 6 year old 2 seat sports car with a V6

The rear brace looks great looking in the rear window from the outside

OEM steering wheel was great to handle and GT controls spot on

Engine bay looked very pretty and screamed to be painted/modded

Finding my way onto something called 'a forum' for the first time during the purchase process

 

Dislikes:

Stock exhaust sound was very underwhelming

The rear brace just always seemed to get in the way

Just how far into the arches the stock wheels sit

The clunky and noisy gear transmission which never really felt 'sharp'

The amber parts of the DE headlights

[davey_83]

Is this 2010 7k Zed Cat C? Lol

[coldel]

As I said 'thinking back' so when I bought an 04 plate a few years ago

[Strudul]

Just checked and you bought it in April 2011

 

That's not half bad depreciation then.

 

It's only lost 2/3k in 7 years.

[coldel]

Yes it wasn't that far off bottoming out in price at that point. Seemed like a good time to get one. It was low miles (I think something like 40k) so had a bit of a premium on it. And it was black, which also added a little.

[Gassy]

Likes:

The feel good factor you get from driving one.

Looks good.

Plenty of low end grunt.

Reliability.

Plenty of scope for modifications.

 

 

 

Dislikes:

Visiting the petrol station.

Clunky gearbox.

Expensive parts.

Bose system is junk.

Front bumper easily stone chipped.

[AMT]

Loves:

1. Power, mid-range go

2. Sound (with a Scorpion/Cobra set up )

3. Different look from most other sports cars, even new ones, it still stands out when cleaned up

4. Two seats... who the hell wants passengers anyway

5. Steering feel, brake feel.. you don't realise til' you jump in other cars how much a sports car in general is 'honed' to feel better.

 

Hates:

1. The endless stupid utter CRAP f*@%""£$%"%$"$ ball joint banana arms that keep failing

2. The reasonably weighted clutch when in big traffic jams... although I might change that to the HR 1K rev 'skip' in the engine timing that makes you jerk in slow moving traffic

3. £500+ tax bill.. oh come on summer .. lol

4. Drivers door every year without fail in winter will sometimes just jam, or not open or not shut,forcing me if I've don't have time to wait to jump over the passenger side. (nothings actually wrong with the lock lol)

5. I don't have much, bose barely skips on mine in winter so I'm lucky.... aw no wait! The bluetooth module that can't be updated, changed and won't hook on to new android phones...grrr!!!

Edited December 18, 2016 by AMT

[Rock_Steady]

The likes are easy.

 

My dislikes are:

 

1. Crap fans that break down at the drop of a hat.

2. Yes, the dipstick is a bit of a pain in the arse

3. How quickly it can get through a set of rear tyres

4. How it can drink oil like a kitchen sink does water

5. My wife complaining about how loud it is

Edited December 19, 2016 by Rock_Steady

[colesl4w]

Love:

1. The sound of the Ark Grip exhaust bouncing off walls next to you

2. Random exhaust pops when coming off the accelerator <3

3. The aggressive look of the car

4. The fact that the car is over 11 years old, relatively cheap to buy, and still turns heads.

5. The seating position.

 

Hate:

1. The clutch - feels like it is made out of sponge.

2. That nervous feeling every time a clank / rattle / smell appears, wondering how many hundreds its going to cost. ****

3. That flashing airbag light. Tried all the usual fixes. It's gonna cost me a fortune I'm sure.

4. The fact that it is quite old meaning that expensive things are needing replaced fairly often.

5. The attention. Whilst it does it a lot of positive attention (which is nice), it does get a lot of jealousy too. Would sometimes be nice to just blend in and not care at all where I park it.

Bonus hate: My warped brake discs are starting to **** me off. Spose I might need to just get some nice slotted ones .

 

**** Story time: I went over a speedbump leading into my apartment a few weeks ago. When I came down over the other side of it, there was a massive bang. Sounded like my exhaust had somehow smashed off the ground really badly, or my suspension had just died. Turns out it was actually a bottle of prossecco that had blasted off its cork and sprayed half the car. Good times lol.

Edited December 19, 2016 by colesl4w

[Willsy1980]

Love:

1. Summer with the top down

2. The looks/attention it grabs, still looks great for an old girl

3. Low down grunt

4. V6, who doesn't ?

5. These forums

 

Hate:

1. Winter driving, too cold for the top down

2. Headlight washers

3. Quirky sounds that fill you with sheer panic

4. Too much choice for mods, can never decide what to do.

5. The Mrs kicking off about fuel costs compared to the Ka !?!

[HEADPHONES]

Love

1.

The version 1 Nismo Aero kit and LMGT4s that were available from Nissan. Really suit the car and don't simply look like bolted on bits, with the LMGT4s being a timeless classic with simple yet elegant lines.

 

2.

The tiny vibrations from the gear knob gentle massaging your palm and fingertips as you change gear reminding you of the slightly raw edge the zed has.

 

3.

(With the aid of the forum) How reasonable parts and servicing has been over my past 11 yrs with my zed compared to the Zed's Germanic contemporaries.

 

4.

YOU GUYS WHO MAKE UP THE OWNERS CLUB......I may not post much but I read through daily learning about all things zeddy and many interesting off topic stuff too.

 

5.

I absolutely love how the signature Sunset Orange paint glows under the sun or at night under streetlamps etc.

 

Hates

1.

The Sunset Orange paint looks so dull when overcast.

I washed mine this morning and my 8 yr old daughter asked why it looks WORSE than when it was dirty last night under our wall mounted halogen security lights

 

2.

How you have to remove the bumper or arch liners to replace a headlight bulb. Dreading the day I need to do this as reading about other people's exploits makes it sound like a right palarver compared to my car's of old where you simply pop the bonnet and switch them out.

 

3.

The tailgate niggles......The struts that despite be the uprated ones, now still will drop if not opened fully. Actually very dangerous if you didn't know about the guilotene action whilst loading stuff in the boot after having given some frantic finger action to the release button to get it to open in the first case!

 

4.

For a car with such dimensions its boot space really is incredibly small and awkward.

Still get caught out sometimes with a small box that fits but won't allow tailgate to close.

 

5.

Power enhancing mods seem soooo expensive compared to it's turbo charged brethren. No chance of a simple remap unleashing a bigger kick to the kidneys. Not a real buggy for me as I'm happy with the mere 280ish bhp that I hope I still have from the factory.

[Strudul]

How you have to remove the bumper or arch liners to replace a headlight bulb. Dreading the day I need to do this as reading about other people's exploits makes it sound like a right palarver compared to my car's of old where you simply pop the bonnet and switch them out.

It takes a little while to remove the bumper, but it's so easy, and it makes changing the lights a breeze. Okay, it's not a 5 minute job, but it's better than the ballache of fiddling about through the wheel arch.

[Zeezeebaba]

Like

 

1) The noise it makes

2) The design

3) Steering weight

4) It's footprint on the road

5) The way it still makes me smile

 

Dislike

 

1) Dipstick

2) Did I mention the dipstick?

3) Lack of reach adjustment on the steering column.

4) The chocolate suspension components.

5) The standard Bose system