cant find a zed

[PhilTheForce]

Don't get too disheartened mate.

 

I recently picked up my Zed for the kinda money you're talking and it's only done 30k - great condition. ( Although I was lucky and had to fight off a few others for it)

 

The key is patience. These ones do come around but they're few and far between so check around and follow Autotrader, PH as often as poss. (Don't forget 'for sale' on here).

 

My advice is if you are planning to change the wheels or interior then don't bother spending loads on a full GT. Put the money towards low mileage, unmodded versions.

 

Good luck anyway

[M350ZB]

 

The key is patience. These ones do come around but they're few and far between so check around and follow Autotrader, PH as often as poss. (Don't forget 'for sale' on here).

 

It is a buyers market right now for sure

 

 

My advice is if you are planning to change the wheels or interior then don't bother spending loads on a full GT. Put the money towards low mileage, unmodded versions.

 

Good luck anyway

 

+1, save the money and put towards modz

[rtbiscuit]

good luck with the search, and welcome to the club.

 

you asked about how expensive can it be; well if you go to the dealership for parts then i suggest you remortgage your house. for an example one HID bulb is about £150 if you get them to fit it some have charged another £200.

 

servicing is on a p1, p2, p1, p3, p1, p2 intervals every 9k p1 can be as low as £100 and as hi as £200. p3 is most expensive and run form £300 up to £450 all depends on location and dealerships.

 

one tyre will set you back between £100 to £250 depending on front or back and the brand you put on. to be honest the car has 300bhp, so i wouldn't bother putting anything cheap on it so look to spend £550-£800 to change all 4.

 

petrol isn't to bad a full tank is about 65-70 litres every time you fill up you'll need premium fuel so look at about £75 a tank of fuel. if you drive sensible and spirited mix driving you should get about 350 to a tank. if you like to spend all day chasing the horizon you'll be lucky to get 250 miles to a tank. average mpg is around 22mpg for mixed driving. can be as high as 32 mpg if your on a long journey and drive at 65-70.

 

if your into modding parts don't come cheap decent gear knobs are between £50 -£100

 

any mods you do add will have no effect on the car unless you get a piggyback/replacement or flashed ECU all of which aren't cheap and for only about 10% gain. price start at about £500 and go up very rapidly from there. you'll need to factor in RR time for tuning as well.

 

CAI start at about £110 and go up to around £300 depending on what you fit

Exhausts start at around £370 there are one or 2. most though are around £1000 and upwards.

sports cats are between £300 - £600

these will only add noise until you have it chipped. average spend i would say for exhaust, CAI chipping and tuning would be about £2500 you'll gain at most 25-30 bhp more likely 10-15 bhp but you will see an improvement in torque.

 

good insurance companies used by people on here are admiral, Sky, adrian flux, there are others, some suit people better than others depends on age location job etc. look to spend betwen £500 - £1200 depending on your circumstances.

 

brake pads range in price form around £120 - £1000 for all 4 corners depending on product most people spend between £120-£500.

 

discs all round will set you back i think between £350 to £2000 again depending on what you by, i think the average spend is around £500 - £1000.

 

lots of people change out the headunits as the bose system can be tempremental some go single DIN other go double, usual prices apply but look to factor in a minimum of around £200 for a basic double din unit.

 

aq big one that alot of people forget is road tax, if your car is from april 2006 onwards its £400 a year before that date its £220. pre 2006 cars are currently exempt fro mthe higher banding but i would think that withing the next 12-18months they will be pulled into line with the newer cars as the offical cut off for new road tax laws is april 2001.

 

most parts can be bought 2nd hand and some things like bulbs can be got cheaper off things like ebay. my advice is only use the dealer if you have to. and once its out of warranty go to a proper perfomance garage for servicing. Nissan Techie are renound for being useless with the Zed, as they see them so infrequently.

 

keep you eyes open for a decent car, its better to pay extra at the beginning for a decent model than to be fixing loads of stuff in ownership. it is a £30K car, prices are low on them but the main price crash has happened, people have settled and are less likely to sell them for a pitance.

 

hope that helps.

[MiKyHuT]

good luck with the search, and welcome to the club.

 

you asked about how expensive can it be; well if you go to the dealership for parts then i suggest you remortgage your house. for an example one HID bulb is about £150 if you get them to fit it some have charged another £200.

 

servicing is on a p1, p2, p1, p3, p1, p2 intervals every 9k p1 can be as low as £100 and as hi as £200. p3 is most expensive and run form £300 up to £450 all depends on location and dealerships.

 

one tyre will set you back between £100 to £250 depending on front or back and the brand you put on. to be honest the car has 300bhp, so i wouldn't bother putting anything cheap on it so look to spend £550-£800 to change all 4.

 

petrol isn't to bad a full tank is about 65-70 litres every time you fill up you'll need premium fuel so look at about £75 a tank of fuel. if you drive sensible and spirited mix driving you should get about 350 to a tank. if you like to spend all day chasing the horizon you'll be lucky to get 250 miles to a tank. average mpg is around 22mpg for mixed driving. can be as high as 32 mpg if your on a long journey and drive at 65-70.

 

if your into modding parts don't come cheap decent gear knobs are between £50 -£100

 

any mods you do add will have no effect on the car unless you get a piggyback/replacement or flashed ECU all of which aren't cheap and for only about 10% gain. price start at about £500 and go up very rapidly from there. you'll need to factor in RR time for tuning as well.

 

CAI start at about £110 and go up to around £300 depending on what you fit

Exhausts start at around £370 there are one or 2. most though are around £1000 and upwards.

sports cats are between £300 - £600

these will only add noise until you have it chipped. average spend i would say for exhaust, CAI chipping and tuning would be about £2500 you'll gain at most 25-30 bhp more likely 10-15 bhp but you will see an improvement in torque.

 

good insurance companies used by people on here are admiral, Sky, adrian flux, there are others, some suit people better than others depends on age location job etc. look to spend betwen £500 - £1200 depending on your circumstances.

 

brake pads range in price form around £120 - £1000 for all 4 corners depending on product most people spend between £120-£500.

 

discs all round will set you back i think between £350 to £2000 again depending on what you by, i think the average spend is around £500 - £1000.

 

lots of people change out the headunits as the bose system can be tempremental some go single DIN other go double, usual prices apply but look to factor in a minimum of around £200 for a basic double din unit.

 

aq big one that alot of people forget is road tax, if your car is from april 2006 onwards its £400 a year before that date its £220. pre 2006 cars are currently exempt fro mthe higher banding but i would think that withing the next 12-18months they will be pulled into line with the newer cars as the offical cut off for new road tax laws is april 2001.

 

most parts can be bought 2nd hand and some things like bulbs can be got cheaper off things like ebay. my advice is only use the dealer if you have to. and once its out of warranty go to a proper perfomance garage for servicing. Nissan Techie are renound for being useless with the Zed, as they see them so infrequently.

 

keep you eyes open for a decent car, its better to pay extra at the beginning for a decent model than to be fixing loads of stuff in ownership. it is a £30K car, prices are low on them but the main price crash has happened, people have settled and are less likely to sell them for a pitance.

 

hope that helps.

 

wow, you dont half no how to put a downer on things haha. Its good to hear the honest truth like that though even if i did just drop a bomb in my boxers

[N1SM0350z]

erm, heres one, dont know what you think of it though

 

 

http://www.crossroads-garage.co.uk/20313/stocklist.htm

 

 

I didnt know Stunning red was an official colour??

 

[MiKyHuT]

erm, heres one, dont know what you think of it though

 

 

http://www.crossroads-garage.co.uk/20313/stocklist.htm

 

 

I didnt know Stunnung red was an official colour??

 

 

haha. never noticed that!

 

i quite like it in red though

[rtbiscuit]

wow, you dont half no how to put a downer on things haha. Its good to hear the honest truth like that though even if i did just drop a bomb in my boxers

 

just trying to put it into perspective. alot of people for get that if it wasn't for the recessino these cars would be about another £5000. thats roughly whats been knocked off the value of the cars. yes there is a lot of bang for your buck and the equipment list is good. but it isn't your average mondeo st or focus. its basically a japanese porshe, the running costs are lower but they are still not cheap.

 

its similar to FTOs and EVOs all have expensive costs, but i think it just helps to lay it all out there.

 

you could buy a car for £9k but you could find in your first year that it needs tyres, exhaust pads and discs and a P3 service, thats an extra £1500- £2000 on top of your initial payout for the car and then you'll get to the end of the year and have to fork out another £400 to re tax it. this is especially more likely with the age of car your looking at.

 

if it was a porshe i think those cost would have set you back closer to £5000.

 

so finding a good example is worth the extra cost as it might save you in the long run

[MiKyHuT]

wow, you dont half no how to put a downer on things haha. Its good to hear the honest truth like that though even if i did just drop a bomb in my boxers

 

just trying to put it into perspective. alot of people for get that if it wasn't for the recessino these cars would be about another £5000. thats roughly whats been knocked off the value of the cars. yes there is a lot of bang for your buck and the equipment list is good. but it isn't your average mondeo st or focus. its basically a japanese porshe, the running costs are lower but they are still not cheap.

 

its similar to FTOs and EVOs all have expensive costs, but i think it just helps to lay it all out there.

 

you could buy a car for £9k but you could find in your first year that it needs tyres, exhaust pads and discs and a P3 service, thats an extra £1500- £2000 on top of your initial payout for the car and then you'll get to the end of the year and have to fork out another £400 to re tax it. this is especially more likely with the age of car your looking at.

 

if it was a porshe i think those cost would have set you back closer to £5000.

 

so finding a good example is worth the extra cost as it might save you in the long run

 

I totally agree. I've just never thought of the running cost before and almost fell off me chair ha. o wells. it doesnt deter me, even if i just keep it a year before trading it for something more economical ha. at least il have had abit of fun.

[rtbiscuit]

I totally agree. I've just never thought of the running cost before and almost fell off me chair ha. o wells. it doesnt deter me, even if i just keep it a year before trading it for something more economical ha. at least il have had abit of fun.

 

wasn't trying to put you off they are great cars and great fun, but we've had a few people on here who have referred to them as investments or see them as a cheap thrill toy.

 

yes they are a thrill toy, but cheap isn't a word i'd use. i think you get it to it for the love of cars or the car. if your looking at sticking budget items on the vehicle to be able to afford one then i'd walk away.

 

budget items especially tyres tend to turn the car into a ditch finder missile, that also means if your tyres need replacing say just the rears and you want to put on a different brand from the front, then you need to change all 4. miss matched tyres also help the car find hedges. which also means if you need to replace one front or one rear tyre, you have to do both fronts or both rears.

[MiKyHuT]

I totally agree. I've just never thought of the running cost before and almost fell off me chair ha. o wells. it doesnt deter me, even if i just keep it a year before trading it for something more economical ha. at least il have had abit of fun.

 

wasn't trying to put you off they are great cars and great fun, but we've had a few people on here who have referred to them as investments or see them as a cheap thrill toy.

 

yes they are a thrill toy, but cheap isn't a word i'd use. i think you get it to it for the love of cars or the car. if your looking at sticking budget items on the vehicle to be able to afford one then i'd walk away.

 

budget items especially tyres tend to turn the car into a ditch finder missile, that also means if your tyres need replacing say just the rears and you want to put on a different brand from the front, then you need to change all 4. miss matched tyres also help the car find hedges. which also means if you need to replace one front or one rear tyre, you have to do both fronts or both rears.

 

Ditch finder misiles, i like that. Thanks for the advice, i wasnt complaining, honestly if you had heard me say it out loud, you would have laffed. well possibly.

 

so different brand tyres on front to rear is bad? i had never realised. Im all against cheap budget tyres, even on my fiesta st, fitted 40 quids to the rear once and the traction control went bonkers almost had me in front of a lorry so il probs go for mid range, £150 quids or something.

[rtbiscuit]

Ditch finder misiles, i like that. Thanks for the advice, i wasnt complaining, honestly if you had heard me say it out loud, you would have laffed. well possibly.

 

so different brand tyres on front to rear is bad? i had never realised. Im all against cheap budget tyres, even on my fiesta st, fitted 40 quids to the rear once and the traction control went bonkers almost had me in front of a lorry so il probs go for mid range, £150 quids or something.

 

A popular tyre in the mid range is the Falken 452's i think they range between £90 -£115 per tyre depending on if its front or rear. i think camskills are the cheapest, but if your a club member black circles do a discount which makes it about the same. from memory i think that some people have done all 4 tyres fitted for about £450.

 

wasn't saying you were complaining i think i was just trying to be helpful and to put things in perspective.

 

if you get the right car, you could go years and only have to pay for tax and servicing. get the wrong car and make sure you can cope with the budget increase.

 

basically if £9K is the top end of your budget, i'd save up to find a really good example for an extra 1.5K the early reg cars are the most likely to require more work. or try and find low milage. less wear and tear. or find one thats just had the work done. when it comes to tyres a rough guide on the zed is that every 1mm of tread left is roughly 1000-2000 miles of driving left on them, depending on your driving style.

 

also if your coming from FWD to RWD i'd take a while to get used to it. especially if your just about to double up the BHP from fiesta to ZED. i would leave the traction control on, or get some driver tuition. FWD is common on cars because its safe. it understeers and if you take your power off when understeering it quickly comes back under control and you can reapply power. if you lift the power off with RWD you'll go into a spin, or loose control. it is a different driving technique. in bad weather you'll find on the same piece of tarmac you'll be quicker in a FWD than a RWD

[MiKyHuT]

Ditch finder misiles, i like that. Thanks for the advice, i wasnt complaining, honestly if you had heard me say it out loud, you would have laffed. well possibly.

 

so different brand tyres on front to rear is bad? i had never realised. Im all against cheap budget tyres, even on my fiesta st, fitted 40 quids to the rear once and the traction control went bonkers almost had me in front of a lorry so il probs go for mid range, £150 quids or something.

 

A popular tyre in the mid range is the Falken 452's i think they range between £90 -£115 per tyre depending on if its front or rear. i think camskills are the cheapest, but if your a club member black circles do a discount which makes it about the same. from memory i think that some people have done all 4 tyres fitted for about £450.

 

wasn't saying you were complaining i think i was just trying to be helpful and to put things in perspective.

 

if you get the right car, you could go years and only have to pay for tax and servicing. get the wrong car and make sure you can cope with the budget increase.

 

basically if £9K is the top end of your budget, i'd save up to find a really good example for an extra 1.5K the early reg cars are the most likely to require more work. or try and find low milage. less wear and tear. or find one thats just had the work done. when it comes to tyres a rough guide on the zed is that every 1mm of tread left is roughly 1000-2000 miles of driving left on them, depending on your driving style.

 

also if your coming from FWD to RWD i'd take a while to get used to it. especially if your just about to double up the BHP from fiesta to ZED. i would leave the traction control on, or get some driver tuition. FWD is common on cars because its safe. it understeers and if you take your power off when understeering it quickly comes back under control and you can reapply power. if you lift the power off with RWD you'll go into a spin, or loose control. it is a different driving technique. in bad weather you'll find on the same piece of tarmac you'll be quicker in a FWD than a RWD

 

ah, just so we're clear, i didnt start this post ha, sorry if i've hijacked it. think im in the same boat as the author though. I have a slightly little bit more to play with, budget of 10.5K. im collecting the car i want on saturday,£10,250 53plate GT with 50K miles. also has rays. 115 for tyres aint so bad, i quite like toyos, i was looking at getting them, 160 each i believe on black circles.

 

yeh, my fathers got a big diesel merc thats RWD and a nice big sports car thatl leave the Z for dust, being the sensible young man that i am, i asked him any tips on driving a rear wheel drive, not amused that i was getting a 350, he said "just be careful" thanks dad, that was alot of help. I might actually post a topic on tips and techniques actually, because i realise im a young driver taking a big leap into a fast car.

 

thanks for the help, look out for my new topic haha.

[rtbiscuit]

good luck with the new car, look forward to seeing some pics when you get it.

 

the advice was meant to be kinda general for all to read who was buying as it all links together.

 

and yes i hadn't realised that i was not talking to the original author.

[stichy]

i was i work, but thanks for the advise. it not going to be my every day car as i have a works van.

 

i think you have covered all bases there

 

thanks again

[zedwagon]

stichy - you have a PM

[stichy]

thanks for the pm. i will get intouch if i havant got a zed, by the time your is for sale

[nicon2k]

yeh, my fathers got a big diesel merc thats RWD and a nice big sports car thatl leave the Z for dust, being the sensible young man that i am, i asked him any tips on driving a rear wheel drive, not amused that i was getting a 350, he said "just be careful" thanks dad, that was alot of help. I might actually post a topic on tips and techniques actually, because i realise im a young driver taking a big leap into a fast car.

 

 

I am in the same boat as you mate. I am 23 and just changed from a Ford Puma to a 350. Every time anyone in my family speaks to me about the car they always finish with "Well, just be careful!!!!"

 

Saying that, i did turn the ESP off today and went round a corner in second.

 

I almost shat myself. i will be leaving it on for a while me thinks!

[matth76]

yeh, my fathers got a big diesel merc thats RWD and a nice big sports car thatl leave the Z for dust, being the sensible young man that i am, i asked him any tips on driving a rear wheel drive, not amused that i was getting a 350, he said "just be careful" thanks dad, that was alot of help. I might actually post a topic on tips and techniques actually, because i realise im a young driver taking a big leap into a fast car.

 

thanks for the help, look out for my new topic haha.

 

What diesel merc does he have that will leave the Z for dust??

 

By the way the red 350 in that ad is an import. It's a 2002 model (UK models started in 2003 I believe) and you can tell by the square number plates. Not sure that red colour came on a UK car till the latest HR version came into production (2007-2009).

 

Well done finding your 350z MiKyHuT

 

How's the search going Stichy? As already mentioned I'd definitely aim about the 10k mark otherwise you're risking buying a dog. Only alternative is getting an import which are a lot cheaper but a bigger risk with no history, hidden problems etc.

[Sarnie]

yeh, my fathers got a big diesel merc thats RWD and a nice big sports car thatl leave the Z for dust,

 

What diesel merc does he have that will leave the Z for dust??

 

Read the sentence again, he mentions TWO cars

[stichy]

the search is going well, ive been offered a couple of zeds,

one is very nice, well modded i just need to sort out the pennys

[matth76]

The sentence was a bit ambiguous - it can be two cars as you suggest or he's describing the big diesel merc which is both "RWD" and also "big sports car" (if you can call a diesel a sports car) ..but yes sounds more likely to be two separate cars.