How many members dont drive Zeds or any Nissan

[evilscorp]

I own a 200sx s14a and 350z, unless I crash them or someone burns my garage down I won't sell either. Too much still to do to them and not enough time. Maybe when I am 80 they might be finished and I might get bored and want a swap. But I suppose I don't drive either so they could be pants for all I know.

[Kieran O'Quick]

Primera SRi hatchback was my ride for a few years. Then a S14a for about 8 years. Zed is in the garage and only comes out for sprinting now. 

Got some cheap diesel Hondas for day to day stuff. The SUV drives quicker around town and the suburbs than the fast Nissans ever did. Strange. 

[docwra]

Was the SXOC chairman at one point so owned loads of S12s, 13's and 14's, just the one 350 though. The 370 isnt/wasnt different enough for me and the GTR although amazing doesnt really light my candle. 

All about German cars for me now, my trackcar is a 135i, daily is a Phaeton that will prob be replaced with a big Merc or Bentley CGT, missus has a Golf GTi that we are looking at replacing with a Touareg - even the rental cars I get when I travel tend to be German. 
Jap stuff doesnt really interest me at all, they dont quite do luxury as well as ze Germans and the performance options arent out there anymore - I am seriously considering getting some 90's classics in as investments though. 
 

[Impressed]

2016 M235i Auto. Very Quick. Every day and only car. 4 miles a day to the train station. All good so far 2 years in September. Might pickup a M240I in September.

If I dare say here, faster, better mpg, 2 year service intervals and much less NVH than my 2008 HR. Strange as I thought the extra expense of a V6 was because it was smoother but I can tell you the BMW inline 6 with the auto box in kickdown goes to 7000rpm without any drama. I await the onslaught...…..

Too be fair its on 22000, I kept the Z until 130000 with many banana arm, brake disc renewals and a clutch at £1500 because of CC failure.

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by Impressed

[marzman]

1 hour ago, Impressed said:

2016 M235i Auto. Very Quick. Every day and only car. 4 miles a day to the train station. All good so far 2 years in September. Might pickup a M240I in September.

If I dare say here, faster, better mpg, 2 year service intervals and much less NVH than my 2008 HR. Strange as I thought the extra expense of a V6 was because it was smoother but I can tell you the BMW inline 6 with the auto box in kickdown goes to 7000rpm without any drama. I await the onslaught...…..

Too be fair its on 22000, I kept the Z until 130000 with many banana arm, brake disc renewals and a clutch at £1500 because of CC failure.

 

I car share with a mate who has an M235i auto which is remapped to 400bhp.  It's a seriously fast machine.  Great little car.

[Payco]

I'm still here and acting as South East REO. Had and modified a 350z and 370z Nismo. Now own a Datsun 510 SSS Coupe.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Payco

[davey_83]

@Impressed Oddly I feel no one buys a 350z or 370z for its outright speed, service intervals or mpg prowess. They are bought for their looks, noise, rareness, reliability, great driving position, noise, LSD and fat arches. All of which for the price point is unrivalled motoring.

[Ponsonby]

1 hour ago, davey_83 said:

@Impressed Oddly I feel no one buys a 350z or 370z for its outright speed, service intervals or mpg prowess. They are bought for their looks, noise, rareness, reliability, great driving position, noise, LSD and fat arches. All of which for the price point is unrivalled motoring.

I will second that Davey.

I'll go for character over outright speed, handling and mpg any day.

[Payco]

You want character...

 

 

[coldel]

Speed handling mpg and character in one subtle package 

 

[Ponsonby]

54 minutes ago, Payco said:

You want character...

 

 

You have gone a step further …. And I bet you love it

[Ponsonby]

49 minutes ago, coldel said:

Speed handling mpg and character in one subtle package 

 

Wouldn't look quite so cool once fitted with a lift to get me in and out of it

[coldel]

13 minutes ago, Ponsonby said:

Wouldn't look quite so cool once fitted with a lift to get me in and out of it

I did get @buster in it last summer, there was a moment I confess I didn't think we would get him out again (sorry Bob mate!) - falling out of it on your hands and knees tends to be the quickest most efficient exit manoeuvre !

[stoofer]

Two Nissans.

[Lee370Z]

2 hours ago, Ponsonby said:

I will second that Davey.

I'll go for character over outright speed, handling and mpg any day.

Also agree and you will get smoked(quite literally) by a powerful diesel in a 350Z/370Z. There is a lot more to them than that though for sure. 

[shaunRS]

Never owned a Nissan and only on this forum due to my dad. I do love a white 370z nismo. They just lack that bit extra power that would get me to seriously buy one.

[Irn Bru]

Sold my Zed and went Geerman, E46 M3 in gorgeous Phoenix yellow, lovely looking car but just never grew to love it as much as my Zed, where I spent a wee fortune modding.

Swapped back to Jap, but this time got a R33 Skyline GTst, love the lightness and the way it delivers its power compared to the Zed and have started down the modding route with it, R34 turbo, 650cc injectors z32 maf, nistune ecu, and new coilovers. Hoping to get the love for the R33 as much as I had for my Zed. Really only sold it because I wanted something boosted, and if the previous owner and member on here hadn't pestered me to sell it to him I'd probably still have her and stabled her with the R33. Do regret letting her go but was desperate for boost and theres few (in my opinion) more iconic boosted cars that even come close to the nissan line, as said above, S12 etc really float my boat, love 90's Jap, not just Nissan, the 90's really brought some great cars to the fore. Got to say though I love old fords too. I'd love to think I'd have another 350 /370 Zed in a few years but it'll have to come boosted, dont think I'd go back to a NA one again and if I had £12k sitting about I'd buy Scobie's green machine right now.

[shaunRS]

19 minutes ago, Irn Bru said:

Sold my Zed and went Geerman, E46 M3 in gorgeous Phoenix yellow, lovely looking car but just never grew to love it as much as my Zed, where I spent a wee fortune modding.

Swapped back to Jap, but this time got a R33 Skyline GTst, love the lightness and the way it delivers its power compared to the Zed and have started down the modding route with it, R34 turbo, 650cc injectors z32 maf, nistune ecu, and new coilovers. Hoping to get the love for the R33 as much as I had for my Zed. Really only sold it because I wanted something boosted, and if the previous owner and member on here hadn't pestered me to sell it to him I'd probably still have her and stabled her with the R33. Do regret letting her go but was desperate for boost and theres few (in my opinion) more iconic boosted cars that even come close to the nissan line, as said above, S12 etc really float my boat, love 90's Jap, not just Nissan, the 90's really brought some great cars to the fore. Got to say though I love old fords too. I'd love to think I'd have another 350 /370 Zed in a few years but it'll have to come boosted, dont think I'd go back to a NA one again and if I had £12k sitting about I'd buy Scobie's green machine right now.

Really surprised that hasn't sold yet.

[Irn Bru]

So am I Dude, cracking zed for the money, I'd have it in a heartbeat at £12k

[Impressed]

11 hours ago, davey_83 said:

@Impressed Oddly I feel no one buys a 350z or 370z for its outright speed, service intervals or mpg prowess. They are bought for their looks, noise, rareness, reliability, great driving position, noise, LSD and fat arches. All of which for the price point is unrivalled motoring.

I was not trying to wind anyone up. I loved the Z but I thought the point of the thread was to get an impression of experience after Z ownership. To give others valid pointers when the time comes.

 

Looks, Agreed. Beautiful car.

 

Rareness. Agreed. Very few about.

 

Reliability. Sort of agree. The only major failure I had was the clutch and CS slave cylinder that cost £1750, but that does not get away from the £3000 it cost me to regularly replace brake disks, banana arms and a one off exhaust replacement. I would not expect any of these components to fail in 130K. I had a 2001 Celica that required no suspension parts or clutch until 200K miles. However BMW have a reputation for expensive unexpected repairs.

 

Great driving position. Sort of agree. If you want the go-cart feeling. Maybe I am just getting old but I now find the higher seat better.

 

Noise. No. Stock M235i sounds better than a stock 350Z HR.

 

LSD. Sort of agree. The stock viscous LSD in the Z effectively becomes an open diff quite quickly, 60K miles or so. Still better than my open diff though. Mind you it has some electronic nannies to overcome this.

 

Fat arches. Agreed.

 

Price point. Not much in it.

I paid

£19600 for a 1 year old 2008 Z 7K miles in 2009.

£22250 for a 2 year old M235i 13K miles in 2018.

If you take into account 9 years of inflation its similar.

 

Plus points for the BMW. Some of these are because I am old.

It does not have a cassette player. Who had cassettes 10 years ago anyway?

The Infotainment, computer, connectivity and electronic aids are like the Star ship Enterprise compared to my Z. Admittedly it was a 10 year old car.

In manual mode you could drive at the rev limiter all day and not even notice you should shift up. The engine is that well balanced.

Boot. Mine was a 350Z.

The Auto box is so good I never drive manual with the paddles.

Its the laziest car to drive.

30% better mpg.

Faster.

Cheap to up the BHP if that's your thing unlike the Z.

Turbo lag is a thing of the past. They now retard the ignition timing on half the cylinders to fire a flame front at the turbo to spool it up instantly.

I never thought I would say this after all the Jap cars I have had but BMW can build a car.

 

PS. You mentioned "Noise" twice. Is that just because they are not that fast stock and cost a fortune to up significantly the BHP? Noise means faster.... I remember those days, just....

Edited February 17, 2020 by Impressed

[coldel]

Its a fair shout, ok using the same format...I think you can go one of two ways, more refined or more mad...

 

In terms of the 2005 VX220 Turbo

• Looks wise the VX is a bit marmite whereas I generally feel the 350z is universally admired for its timeless looks. The VX will always have the comparison with the Elise which is all curves whereas the VX is more about swooping lines - ask the audience and more would prefer the zed I think
• Rareness, well I have seen 50 or more zeds since I bought my VX in March 2019, I am yet to see another VX in that time - in terms of rareness the VX trumps the zed by some distance
• Reliability, my VX has been great (touch wood), but it really is a simple thing and being lightweight doesn't stress components compared to a zed which weighs half a tonne more. The VX forum guys joke about constantly fixing their cars but I find keep them stock and they just drive and drive. The zed had a few consumables go like brakes and clutch early on in ownership, but in terms of reliability was absolutely fine
• Driving position, VX wins hands down. Zed feels a bit too GT and comfy, a bit wallowy and feedback through the wheel is ok but better than many modern german cars which are famously mute such as the TT etc. The VX is clearly built to put the driver in touch with the road and you get all that experience in spades.
• Noise, well any car can sound good if you work hard enough, mine has sports cats with a Chris Tullet exhaust which is pretty barky, quiet enough to sneak out of the road in the morning but loud enough when giving it the beans. I liked the sports cat miltek combo on my zed, to be honest nothing between the two really 
• Performance, VX wins hands down, mine has had some tweaks which probably puts the 0-60 between 4.0 and 4.5 seconds mark and with wider wheels and uprated suspension from the 111r Elise corners where a zed would understeer off into the distance

 

In terms of the 1995 Celica GT4

• Looks wise again I liked it all except the front 'pointy nose' which I ended up replacing with a C-One bumper, otherwise a very pretty car quite similar to the zed in terms of haunches and aggressive styling
• Rareness, again super rare, much rarer than the zed due to the age and that when launched everyone bought Cosworths instead of these (despite the GT4 being a faster more capable car ) clearly though anyone still with their Cosworth made the right financial investment!
• Reliability, not as good as the zed, the superstrut front suspension needs refreshing every 60k miles which including labour can cost in the region of £1500-£2000. The engine can be tuned to a degree but go to far and they go bang very quickly, zed would be more reliable in that respect unless you forged it
• Driving position, great position, slightly higher than the zed due to the rally pedigree but the pedal position is much better on the GT4. If you like low slung seating position you would prefer a zed
• Noise, as above, you can make it what you want really. I had a japspeed decat on mine which made it sound like a rally car, really loud and aggressive which suited the style of the car, if I kept the car longer would probably have changed it out the zed sounded better
• Performance, for a car designed in 1994 coming with 250bhp as standard in AWD format was quite a feat, mine was tuned up to around 285bhp which when it came to B roads made it a bit of a weapon (as it was designed for). Its a different beast to the zed, the zed was great for GT driving, if you want to have fun in the twistys this is the better car

In terms of the 1996 R33 GTST

• Looks wise, I think the zed edges it, but it is all subjective, I have seen some modified R33s that look gorgeous, but the zed definitely needs spacers to look good as standard the wheels look lost in the arches especially without some suspension work
• Rareness, again R33 wins this one, there are just less of them!
• Reliability, R33 is rock solid, super strong RB25 and the gearbox just as good, probably on par with the zed despite being much older
• Driving position, not as racecar as the Zed you could tell it was a four seat coupe, I think the position in the car was better in the zed although the R33 did have GTR seats in it which made the actual feeling in the seat better than the standard zed as they are more race engineered
• Noise, as above, cannot remember the exhaust brand, but it was a bit droney so on long runs would prefer the zed, have seen R33s with some lovely exhausts and that straight six sound was fantastic. I have to say the BOV and turbo sound was pretty prominent and made it sound like it meant business much more than the zed ever did
• Performance, in a straight line it felt brutal, honestly felt like I was drag racing even though it was only 300bhp, the turbo kick was just fantastic. In the corners you could really feel the weight though, zed was more agile, but again with a few years development between the two and the clear difference in chassis to be expected

In summary, I didnt compare the VX220 NA I also owned, I think the Turbo does everything the same just a fair bit better. But of the three cars above the VX220 smashes it, its much faster, much better driving feel and theatre, and if you like rare cars its hard to beat. Clearly there is the comfort factor, if your zed is your day to day then a VX is hard to live with but if you want to transport yourself into a highly visceral driving experience on the weekend it will provide that in spades well beyond what the zed ever could. 

 

[GranTurismoEra]

On 14/02/2020 at 23:54, AMT said:

Sold mine early 2018 but still hanging around lol Miss it to bits, but had to let it go.  Soon to be moving to the German side (which I thought I wouldn't do). 

Last resort going German when I'm like 50 maybe. Have you tried Lexus? The only Japanese Luxury brand for me.

[GranTurismoEra]

21 hours ago, Lee370Z said:

Also agree and you will get smoked(quite literally) by a powerful diesel in a 350Z/370Z. There is a lot more to them than that though for sure. 

Some may say that the extra X factor is no big deal. A Diesel should never be classed as a sports or performance car. Not even when Audi thought to bring out an R8 V10 TDI based on their Race Car.

 

Dont get me wrong 440 ft Lbs of Torque and 300 BHP 325D are great stats in my neighbours car...He wants to race....I said lets hit the track ill throw on some MPS4S. Conversation died instantly....

The diesel toxins are contributing a lot more dangers than petrol. Someone actually thought the black soot coming out the back of a diesel estate was actually cleaner than petrol 

Diesel power....I stay well back I dont want to get the soot and toxins on my white paint..but yeah I guess he smoked me too..

 

Id like to try a boosted car one day. Then again I havent tried one yet because I'm not obsessed with beating Beatrice at the lights to the next set of lights. Been there done all of that. I guess for peeople tracking and wanting an all round package or just more power then yes. The Zed is best avoided. 

 

Ive had RS3 and co goading me on. Funny thing is there isnt enough road around town to get left behind completely. With the options out there nothing stopping me or many others getting something way more powerful and sub 4.5 seconds. But what gives. 

 

I just came off BMW Blog website and some guy destroyed his S55 Engine M2 accidentally shifting into third from fourth instead of going to Fifth at the limit. It wasn't stock and it was tuned. But something must give. 

 

When I first got in the Nismo as a passenger I felt the car was very quick coming from a 350Z DE. For some who are used to the power now, nothing wrong with wanting something quicker. In future I may go for M2 Competition, GTR, C63 V8 or an RS3 etc. I guarantee I will get bored quickly lol. All run of the mill cars i see every day

 

A slightly tuned (intake, exhaust, HFC) Nismo vs new Stock Supra. Not much in it. Supra wins by a a car length or two. Tune the BM/Supra risk blowing the engine like this guy did. Or Rebuild with uprated parts like Papadakis on Youtube and potentially get 1000HP with possible problems in future. Power, Power, Power. Even the 800HP 350Z Nismo on Youtube guy is not happy.

 

Id be happy to even see a Maclaren 720 beside me for a second in a race. But we keep pushing boundaries and never settle. Each to their own I guess.

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by GranTurismoEra

[coldel]

Agree on the power front, when you step up, there is a wow factor but it goes after a while. Which is why the theatre and experience of the drive is so important. The modern cars with comfortable settings never really do it for me.

[JetSet]

After 13 years ownership I feel I've done my bit .  Yes, the Zed is for sale and I'm replacing it with.....nothing at least for a trial period. We're going to just have the one car, a Nissan Juke and as Caroline only works 3 days a week with careful planning we should manage. I went for the Zed because its uncommon, I could have gone for a Z4 or an Audi TT but felt that these were 10 a penny. Same reason I bought a Triumph GT6 rather than an MGB or my Celica T-Sport rather than an anonymous Ford Focus. I've enjoyed my time with the Zed even though I never used its full potential or even drove it that often. I'm pretty gutted at letting her go though but I feel the time is right, I'm almost 71 and starting to have some slight vision problems especially at night. It'll be sad day when I see someone driving off in her but I'll still have the photos.....and the memories.

 

Pete