Is this a good deal?

[MarkRassam]

Hey everyone! I've been looking for a 350z for a while and this one recently popped up on Facebook Marketplace: 

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/258838735675475/

 

It's £11,750 but has only 16,000 miles! Does anyone know if this is a good deal? I haven't seen any other cars of this mileage so I don't have much to compare it to. 

 

Also it is a 2007 GT 350z. Does this mean it is a HR since it is past 2007?

[ShortPaul]

Hi i would say its a HR

[Hayd350]

A tidy little HR is that. Mileage is really low, like really low. Not many in red either. Price seems a touch high but as a fello HR owner it's nice to see. Can't imagine there's many on the road with this kind of mileage though so that's what you're paying for.

[BobbyZ]

To clarify, the best ways to verify if it's a HR are check the redline (7.5k for the HR, lower for earlier engines) and dual intakes for the engine, as you can see in the engine bay pic on that ad.

As far as whether it's a good deal, the problem is that there is nothing to compare it to really as you mentioned, so you'll have to make a subjective assessment of whether it's worth it. Obviously pending verification of the mileage and that it's been looked after, which isn't a given just because the mileage is low. Good luck

[ATTAK Z]

Depends how you intend to use it ... pile the miles on and it'll soon be worth £8K max ... keep it on the road, look after it and use it, but do fewer miles, and it'll probably be worth a bit more ... I'd buy it right now but I'd want it for less than £11K

 

Future classic ? Well maybe, but a GT4 is probably more desirable for a collector

 

 

... and yes it's an HR

[MarkRassam]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'm actually currently at university so I really won't be putting many miles on it at all. For half the year I'll be away from the car in London. And the other half of the year when I'm back home I don't drive it too much - just going to the gym and meeting friends. So I imagine probably 1k miles a year if that. I think it could be a good investment in all fairness considering how clean and stock it is so I'm going to go for it. I'm going to do my best to get it for 11k. 

 

And it seems like it is an HR as I think I got a glance of the speedo and the redline seems to be 7500. 

[ATTAK Z]

2 minutes ago, MarkRassam said:

Thanks for the help everyone! I'm actually currently at university so I really won't be putting many miles on it at all. For half the year I'll be away from the car in London. And the other half of the year when I'm back home I don't drive it too much - just going to the gym and meeting friends. So I imagine probably 1k miles a year if that. I think it could be a good investment in all fairness considering how clean and stock it is so I'm going to go for it. I'm going to do my best to get it for 11k. 

 

And it seems like it is an HR as I think I got a glance of the speedo and the redline seems to be 7500. 

'cellent ... good luck and don't forget the usual checks !  

[Mikey_S]

Looks decent in the pictures and Mileage a plus. Remember that this is the high tax bracket so will cost you ~£580 to tax for the year but these are also ULEZ compliant i believe  

For that kind of money, does a 370z interest you?

 

Good luck if you do decide to go for it. Start low, you can always go higher but if you go in too high, you'll struggle to come down 

[MarkRassam]

Just now, ATTAK Z said:

'cellent ... good luck and don't forget the usual checks !  

What are the most common things to look out for on a 350z? I heard that oil is one of them. 

[MarkRassam]

Just now, Mikey_S said:

Looks decent in the pictures and Mileage a plus. Remember that this is the high tax bracket so will cost you ~£580 to tax for the year but these are also ULEZ compliant i believe  

For that kind of money, does a 370z interest you?

 

Good luck if you do decide to go for it. Start low, you can always go higher but if you go in too high, you'll struggle to come down 

A 370z definitely interested me! In fact that's what I was going to go for but insurance is really weird with them. For some reason I can get insured on a 350z for £500-£600 but insurance on a 370z is £3000+. Such a big difference in insurance price for not that big of a difference in car in my opinion.

 

Does the car being ULEZ compliant mean I can drive it London but have to pay the £15 congestion charge per day?

[ATTAK Z]

12 minutes ago, MarkRassam said:

What are the most common things to look out for on a 350z? I heard that oil is one of them. 

I meant more of an HPI check, service history etc. ... other than that, ask some questions about how it's been used, make sure it's been run on premium grade fuel, check the oil level and then ask if it uses any oil. It'll probably need new tyres due to age so use that as a bargaining point.

[Mikey_S]

11 minutes ago, MarkRassam said:

A 370z definitely interested me! In fact that's what I was going to go for but insurance is really weird with them. For some reason I can get insured on a 350z for £500-£600 but insurance on a 370z is £3000+. Such a big difference in insurance price for not that big of a difference in car in my opinion.

 

Does the car being ULEZ compliant mean I can drive it London but have to pay the £15 congestion charge per day?

As i don't live in London i may be wrong but i believe the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zones means that if your car is compliant, then no, you don't have to pay. Not sure if that replaces the congestion charge though or if it was on top of. I'm sure someone here can confirm

 

WOW at the 370z insurance premiums! 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Mikey_S

[BobbyZ]

The only oil related issue that crops up regularly on HRs is the oil gallery gaskets going. This won't result in any oil usage but rather low pressure, so check that the oil pressure gauge is near the top end when started from cold. I don't think that should be an issue on a low mileage example though.

[hotrain69]

50 minutes ago, Mikey_S said:

As i don't live in London i may be wrong but i believe the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zones means that if your car is compliant, then no, you don't have to pay. Not sure if that replaces the congestion charge though or if it was on top of. I'm sure someone here can confirm

 

WOW at the 370z insurance premiums! 

that's right, congestion charge still applies. The ULEZ charge is different and separate but as others have said the 350z is compliant so we don't need to pay the ULEZ charge. Only the congestion (which isn't cheap)!!!

[ilogikal1]

16k in 14 years means it’s spent the vast majority of its life sat around, get a good look underneath - check for rust etc, but also check for dried out bushes and such like that perish through under use. Give the suspension a good once over and see if you can get a feel for how often/much fresh fuel is out in it. If it’s sat with a full tank for long periods of time, it’s going to degrade.

 

Personally I wouldn’t be looking to part with 5 figures for it. That low a mileage is more of a red flag for me than a selling point, the red paint is rare but not worth a huge premium, IMO.
 

Low mileage doesn’t always mean it’s going to cause you less problems, so good luck with it.

[ShortPaul]

I would make a offer at 9k 😜

[Ekona]

7 hours ago, ilogikal1 said:

16k in 14 years means it’s spent the vast majority of its life sat around, get a good look underneath - check for rust etc, but also check for dried out bushes and such like that perish through under use. Give the suspension a good once over and see if you can get a feel for how often/much fresh fuel is out in it. If it’s sat with a full tank for long periods of time, it’s going to degrade.

 

Personally I wouldn’t be looking to part with 5 figures for it. That low a mileage is more of a red flag for me than a selling point, the red paint is rare but not worth a huge premium, IMO.
 

Low mileage doesn’t always mean it’s going to cause you less problems, so good luck with it.

This this this. A billion times this. 

[MarkRassam]

I don't want to offend them by asking too low, but I will reference '350z owners who are more knowledgeable than me' and say they suggested 9k, with the intention of hopefully meeting them in the middle at £10.5k. 

 

Looking at other old Japanese cars it seems that low mileage examples seem to go for a lot more than the high mileage ones so that's why I thought the price was reasonable, but I guess quite a few people disagree haha. It is 5 and a half hours away so if I go to look at it I feel like I'm pretty much committing to the purchase. I will try to ask the owner what I can about the really good points everyone here has made!

 

I have to say from what I can gather it seems like a really good and clean example, and hopefully if I look after it I might even see a little appreciation with the exploding JDM car market. Maybe it'll help to cover the cost of insurance

 

But thanks to everyone for your help I wasn't expecting this many responses!

[Sim]

Someone mentioned it above but oil gallery gaskets are an issue on these, budget £800+ to get it done, as it hasn't been used much they could be more prone to failure as are paper so, if it's been left for long period, they could have dried and be more prone to breaking up? I don't honestly know but you should use it to assist in bartering on the price.

If it was me, I'd get it done anyway, just to be safe.

Good luck getting it for a good price, looks good in red

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

On 27/07/2021 at 13:23, MarkRassam said:

A 370z definitely interested me! In fact that's what I was going to go for but insurance is really weird with them. For some reason I can get insured on a 350z for £500-£600 but insurance on a 370z is £3000+. Such a big difference in insurance price for not that big of a difference in car in my opinion.

 

Does the car being ULEZ compliant mean I can drive it London but have to pay the £15 congestion charge per day?

Hi.

If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

[MarkRassam]

Hi again, since you were all so helpful on that car I thought I would get your thoughts on another: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/517570479471508/

 

Unfortunately after speaking with the owner of the car he's already arranged to sell the car to someone else, which is a big shame because I was keen on it. He was using his wife's Facebook account and she kept forgetting to respond to my messages so I guess I got unlucky. 

 

But this one is a lot cheaper. It's also blue which is probably my preferred colour. 

 

Would appreciate any thoughts on it :)

[ShortPaul]

Hi mate the link isn't working 🤔

[Jack94]

Welcome to the forum mate. The link works for me if you copy and paste it into a browser. 

I'd say that one is a bit tatty and over-priced. Could be worth a look, but the photos and fact the advert is lazily written/missing loads of key info suggests to me that the car probably hasn't been that well looked after. 

 

Also this is just personal preference but I'd prefer a UK car over an import, there's plenty around and they tend to be slightly higher spec & have a clearer history. 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Jack94

[ATTAK Z]

4 hours ago, MarkRassam said:

Hi again, since you were all so helpful on that car I thought I would get your thoughts on another: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/517570479471508/

 

Unfortunately after speaking with the owner of the car he's already arranged to sell the car to someone else, which is a big shame because I was keen on it. He was using his wife's Facebook account and she kept forgetting to respond to my messages so I guess I got unlucky. 

 

But this one is a lot cheaper. It's also blue which is probably my preferred colour. 

 

Would appreciate any thoughts on it

As it's an import, I would start by saying it's overpriced ! Also the Azure (blue) cars were not available as an HR so you will be buying a much older car if that's the colour you want.

[Azzakaze]

Hi Mark, from my experience owning a 2008 350z HR, I came across 2 big issues which I'm sure other HR owners would also agree with.

 

1. Oil Gallery Gasket fail (gaskets made out of paper which fail),as mentioned by members also to mention 'Waterpump' and 'Thermostat' is also located in the area if you were to ever replace them.

Mine only just gone to 14/15psi.I keep an eye on the oil pressure gauage,hopefully will be getting mine replaced soon.

 

2.CSC (centric slave cylinder) as it is internal (inside the transmission) instead of external for DE&Rev-Up. It can fail at anytime due to use of plastic on the  part which apparently can't withstand the high heat.I just got mine replaced with Zspeed C.M.A.K V3 Kit which converts it from internal to external cylinder.However there are cheaper option which is using a HD slave. 

 

 

Common small issues with age:

 

1.LSD bushing leakage (black liquid) for all GT models as they all come with LSD.Hardly seen any topic about this issue in the forums but it's worth a mention.If you were to ever get them replaced.Well it can help you with bringing the price down for what it's worth.

 

2.C.V joints (clicking noise),regrease them and you'll be fine.

 

3.Boot struts and motor which can go bad overtime due to usage and of course the boot being very heavy but it's an easy fix.

 

4.Windscreen Washer motors going bad ( maybe this was just with me ) however very easy fix under £10.

 

5.Door hinges/ handles can go bad too if misused as the doors are very heavy.

 

6.Window regulators is another common for some models not sure about HR's.

 

I hope this helps