Hey everyone, First post on the site, looks great. I'm looking for some advice on the 300zx, mostly some form of buyers guide, including common issues and how to resolve etc. A little bit about myself - I'm a recent enough arrival in Aussie shores, been here nearly 2 years, from Ireland originally. I've always been into cars, having had about 20 from classic Mini's straight through to new Saabs/Navara's. Currently, in my garage in Ireland, I have a '74 Merc, '78 Datsun 260Z and '69 1430cc Mini. However, since I've arrived in Oz, I've been running around in an old EL Falcon which to be honest has been awesome as a tool but no fun to drive and pretty miserable to look at. I'm comfortable undertaking pretty much any job on a car, only limited here by my tools. So for the last couple of months I've been looking for a new car, ideally under $10k. I've looked at pretty much everything available but somehow the 300zx slipped through my radar, until last night.. leading me to this site. All I know at the moment is that I'm looking for a twin-turbo manual model with targa top. I'd obviously like Air-con and cruise control - are these always standard? I see there are a lot of imports available - what's the difference? Can you insure these on a classic car policy now that they are 20+ years old? What are they like for rust? Any other tips/info you guys can provide to me would be great. Thanks Mark
Air con is a standard, but climate control is an import model specification. Cruise control is not a standard, but it is common enough to get your hands on. There are a few differences between import and aus-spec zeds, but is is mostly trivial stuff like locks on the targa tops, or a bunch of stickers you cant read. Insurance wise they can be a bit of a pain...but thats the same with any sports car. Rust wise these cars are mostly bulletproof. They are well built. The place to check for rust is your targa drain holes and the spoiler mounts. As far as other tips go, when you buy it check the seatbelts. If they are wet the roof leaks and will be rusted inside. Check the oil and coolant regularly, and once you buy it do a 100k service regardless of your k's. Welcome to the passion.
you poor bastard. it might not be too late, forget about your dreams, go and buy a late model wrx or for the love of god you will never have a clean garage or money to spare in the bank again.. lots of people to give advice here.. most 300s are imports, i think aus specs were only na's, with most of them being imported tt 2 seater or 2+2 targa tops, but if you wanted a slick top they are pretty rare in these parts. cruise control came on the later models, but air con is pretty standard i think. insurance might be a bit hard with some companies almost refusing to insure them based on their theft rate and hoon appeal, but that said most 300's are owned by enthusiast drivers and not your typical saturday night bash around the suburbs and race a commodore or two douchebags. I won't tell you too much , theres much more knowledgable fellows on this forum than me who will give you the rundown.. just make sure you get a good base to start of with whatever you buy, you'll need to do some work to it as a given so the less mechanical problems and the straighter the body, the better. WaynoZ
G'day Mark, http://z32.wikispaces.com/Buyer's+Guide Also check the Tech section on here, under buying a zed.
All good advise except for this bit, there is a major difference between them which will matter to the OP, aus-spec is NA only so since you want TT then you have to go import. cheers, Tim
Hi Mark, bit too late for a welcome to Aus, But welcome none the less and to the passion of the Zed Community. I have an Aus Spec with standard elec everything but the seats....The others are correct....Aus specs are only NA so wont suit your wants unless you convert to TT. There is benefits to getting an Aus spec as you have a better chance on getting all the history of the vehicle along with it, this is what attracted me to buy mine even if its an Auto NA LOL Insurance wise i have been paying full comp for years now, and just recently had a small crash (all fixed now) but realised i was full comp-market value! which sucks balls!! so to save my car from certain death at the scrap yard i took it off the claim and fixed it myself.....the same as third party which is alot less to pay a year. So make sure you do agreed value! (which in term will increase the cost of insurance) Im changing to just third party fore and theft and taking it off the road, and only use it for weekends. (cheapest option for me, for now) Buy Russ's (ZeDHeD) ive seen it in person and is a very clean well presented Zed, great starting point, Although he is Melbs :/ Good Luck Mate
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated! Especially the Z32 wiki, I?ll have to try and absorb that site. The car will strictly be for weekends/long trips etc as I don?t need to drive during the week, so I?m hoping I can get some sort of decent deal on insurance. I?m 28 so hopefully it won?t be too scary. I guess it?ll be a hefty increase from the $300 I paid last year on the Falcon! Is the cruise retrofit difficult? I?ve done a couple on BMW?s and on my falcon so not hugely scared as long as it?s no more complicated than that. Great to hear that rust isn?t really an issue. What is parts availability like? ZedHed?s car looks great, but it?s in Melbourne, needs a fair amount of work to get roadworthy (a bit too much for me to jump into pre-research) . Maybe once I?m a bit more knowledgeable but I don?t want to waste anyone?s time at the moment! So to clarify, I guess I?m looking for an imported TT targa with a manual box. Any Sydney based meets or anything going on? I was fairly heavily involved in a few car clubs back home so it?d be good to get back into that. One other thing, can someone from NSW give me a quick run through of what?s involved with renewing rego etc ? does it have to go over the pits every year? What are all of the different colour slips I hear mentioned? What is the yearly rego cost for a 300ZX? I?ve been running a car from WA since I got here so I?m only familiar with the story there. What are club plates?
Sorry, should have said. I'm in Sydney - moving into a new place in Drummoyne which has a garage hence the new car!
There are plenty of bargains to be had, now's a great time to buy Good to see the nsw crew getting bigger
Just had a look at the rego/CTP costs here and it's a bit of a shock after running a WA reg! For 1500kg+ (not zed) about $1250/year as opposed to $500/year in WA. Does that sound right? Is CTP really $700+? I thought insurance prices in Ireland were bad!
CTP can vary a bit, i paid $380 for mine. Of the zeds ive seen for sale recently ZeDHeDs is a bargain and if you like the color/version well worth the trip down. Very few sellers are as honest as him and should be easy to register in NSW again. Whatever way you go, get an inspection done before buying one, very easy to end up with a car needing $3k+ spent on it the next day... A well looked after and maintained zed is generally very reliable, unfortunatly there are also a lot around that have been thrashed, not serviced and just prettied up a bit for sale.
1200 dollars easy for insurance man! Easy! Lol Of course the ford was cheaper or any other cheap common car
I pay almost 2.5k on insurance a year...but thats because Ive listed all my mods and am insured for an agreed value of 15k...plus I'm under 25, hence the high insurance. Abraham
I think you misunderstood me mate. Rego&CTP on a Falcon is $1250 here as opposed to $500 in WA. Its approx $600 in Vic iirc.
