Hey all, I'm new here and looking at hopefully purchasing a zed soon. However I'm on a tight budget of around 6k. Considering the fact most Z's are quite a bit over budget for me, is their a realistic chance of me getting one that isn't a lemon? I should note i'm looking for NA 2+2/2+0 (not fussed). Cheers
i picked up my aus spec for around 5k, it had around 230xxxkms and needed a bit of love but all in all it was a great little zed. for your budget your looking at a stocker, with the KM's just remember the cars are nearly 18 years old, 20k kms a year on average is well over 250k, dont expect 100k kms to be genuine as nearly all zeds are wound back. good luck though, i'm sure you'll find a nice one, just remember to ALWAYS NEGOTIATE on the price.
that is such an open ended question, how can you expect anyone to give advice on 20 year old cars within a certain price range.....?? to put it simply, 6k IS enough money to get you a zed, there are cars out there in that price range. wether or not that car is a lemon will be on a case by case basis, however it is safe to assume that more than likely, you will not be buy able to find a mint condition zed for that money. again, it is fair to assume that you will either A) find one in good mechanical conditional that require a asthetic tidy up, or B) you will find a visually pleasing car that will require a little work mechanically.....while it is possible that you will find a car that is both mechanically sound and good looking, i would expect in most cases the seller will be asking more than your expected spend of 6k.... hope that wasnt too blunt and helps a little, not trying to be harsh just trying to help you be realistic here......good luck finding one all the same, at least by selecting a NA auto you are looking at the right end of the scale, if you were trying to find a tt manual for that price youd be in trouble....
dude i got m ine for 6and a half and she is sweet you need to be a bit more willing dude good luck but hope goes well
lol all good advice except that you leave out, after you purchase it for 6k. you then need to spend a bucket of weekends, a bucket of money and bucket of swearing at the car to get it how you would expect it to be. it's one thing to buy one. it's another to upkeep one. fuel / servicing / repairs / modifications = ALOT me than 6k.
You seriously have to take into account that just because a few people had luck with their purchases, doesn't mean you will for certain. Make sure you look at a lot of different ones and perhaps get a Z guru from Qld to come with you too. That being said, I purchased my J-Spec NA for 8.5 grand and have spent about 4 grand on fixing various problems, as well as the 100k service, in the past 12 months. Budget at least 1000-1500 for the 100k service. UNLESS you have receipts for work done, as that's another big thing you'll want to get with it. If you buy a 5 grand car with no receipts over a 6.5 grand car WITH an extensive service history you might be up for a lot in mechanic bills as well as lots of headaches if something goes wrong at an inopportune time. As Jinxed said, just asking about zeds in a certain price range is a difficult question to answer. Another good thing would be to suss out some options of buying from this forum, as mayn of them have reputations and information as well as the option of getting testimonials from people other than the cars owner! Welcome to the forum and enjoy the hunt for the perfect Z mate, hope your search turns up the right car! Cheers, Tom
Cheers for the advice! I've been looking for a while now, just gotta wait for the right one to pop up. I am aware of the costs after purchase aswell which I have a bit set aside for. I will keep on the hunt, but feel free to pm me if you hear of anything around that looks the goods
Got my 92 tt 5 spd 2 seater for $5000 i exspected to have to spend a few k but to my suprise only a set of injector plugs and power steering hose.This car is very tidy and 140ks on clock so yes you can get a zx cheap and in excellent condition but i was probably lucky.
oh dont get me wrong the 5-6k bargain good condition z does exist, but heres the point.... lets say you buy 20 zeds, 10 you get for 5-6k, and 10 you get for 9-10k..... of your 20 zeds, your going to get a greater % of problems in the cheaper ones, but some will be just as good as the more expensive ones, its luck of the draw
Yeah also the market is so varied these days, and with the cars being close on 20 years old, it just luck of the draw... blanket statements like "all cars under 10k will require a great deal of mech work/maintenance" don't hold imo... Once you have checked a few out from all price brackets you should be able to tell the good from the bad
I agree with ZXDEVIL here, especially with the luck of the draw part Another handy tip, don't gauge how many K's the car has done by the speedo, look at the way the car LOOKS, the condition of the steering wheel, seats, everything of that nature. <EDIT> and obviously, how it drives </EDIT> There are both success stories and tales of woe on both sides of the price spectrum Sounds like you've been researching, so you should be able to suss out which ones look good and which ones dont Cheers, Tom
You should get a fairly decent NA 180sx for that money and not really have to spend much money on it to keep it running. A zed is a gamble pure and simple. YOu could spend $6K and win, or spend $16k and loose. Roll the dice my friend.
Good car Why would he want a 300ZX that's gonna clean out his already shallow wallet? I had 2 great years with a 180sx for the sole reason I knew that, at the time, I could not afford to buy AND run a 300ZX. Then, when I was earning more, the 180sx went and the rest is history. 180sx = baby Zed
NA 180sx = slow, ugly POS Sorry if you like them but honestly, not what i'd call in any way, shape or form a sporty NA. If that's up your alley, better off getting a hot hatch. Not arguing that 300zxs of all breeds are cheap to run - far from it - but why bother settling for a 180sx
Don't see many NA's around either. It is risky i guess but i'm pretty keen on one of the Zs so I guess i'll just have to do my best to find a nice one. Thanks for the advice
Dont get a 180... like just dont... coming from an ex-NA owner im gonna have to say that my zed was not expensive to run... granted i did alot of work my-self (ie rear main seal, tho i knew about this @ purchase). I dont think it was 100% luck in my case, i chose a tidy and, more importantly STOCK car plus i researched on this forum for agggges whilst getting the cash together. I payed 9k for my zed 2 years ago(NA AUTO) and didnt have to spend a cent on anything apart from normal running costs like tyres, brake discs, etc..
Okay, I half agree with Evz and half with Ugame. I personally like the 180sx and nearly bought one years ago. This was a turbo though. An NA 180sx is epically, epically slow. Another reason I disagree with you Ugame, is that NA 180sx are much harder to find than an NA 300zx and when you do find one, it won't go for 6 grand. This is because all the Nissansilvia.com/forums kids want one and are on their Ps. This demand pushes the value of the car up. So what you end up with is a car as old as the zed yet costs more and is nowhere as quick.. -Kirill
