hello there, around a year ago i started to look for my first car and i only had my eye on a 300zx. that was untill my old mans mechanic said they where rubbish cars, to deer to run ect ect, putting my dad off even looking at them and recommended he get me a subaru becuase there cheap, reliable ect ect. flash forward to the present and after 6 months of my dad looking for a subaru he has come up with nothing in our price range and that is of actual quality so i made a deal with him that he has till april to find a car and if he dosnt we start looking at zx again yay. so i started to look around and have found this one car that matches all our requirements just want the opinions of those who know all there is to know about these cars. here is the car in question. http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars...8&seot=1&__Nne=15&trecs=14&__sid=12CD265A152B (sorry about the long and boring back story )
Hey mate, a few things on that Z you've posted... 1. It's a J-Spec, dunno if it matters to you, but thought you should know if you didn't already 2. The interior looks really clean, always a good thing haha. 3. It looks like there is some damage on the front of the right hand side side skirt, something to keep in mind. 4. The bonnet looks lifted, perhaps its been in a front end accident so things don't line up like they should. 5. The engine looks quite dirty, I'd imagine the K's are wound back, again, something to keep in mind... Sorry for all the bummer news, I'd defiantly be checking it out in person with someone who knows Z's before committing... Cheers, Dean
Looks pretty ordinary, I'd keep looking. The car is 19 years old, advertised with 132,000 K's on the clock, that's an average of 6,950 a year.
thanks for the pointers, didnt notice half of them and indeed if i do get serious about a 300zx i will ensure i get someone with knowledge about these cars. yea, i would expect ether a newer engine droped in or most likely its been wound back
The majority have been wound back, however there are exceptions. Check out the cars for sale on this forum, it is a good cross section of what is available. Good luck with your search & don't be in a hurry, what appears to be cheap at first can turn out to be expensive & disappointing.
Seat covers and steering wheel cover = wound back odo And auto Cheap zeds are cheap for a reason. You can get bargains worth having, but they normally don't hand around long. Photos hide a lot of lies too, can really only tell when you go and have a good look. I looked at one a year ago that looked fine in the pictures, he would have had to pay me to take it, it would have cost that much to bring up to a reasonable standard...
Yea the first thing i did was look on this site for cars for sale, but none meet my requirments. and thats excatly what my nonno always tells me, "dont rush into anything ." i was suspicious about the covers as well, but seeing the interior i thought otherwise. yes auto , i know how to drive manual but cant be bothered redoing the test will keep searching thanks for the input.
The main parts that wear in a zed is the drivers side seat bolster and the steering wheel. The rest will look good for pretty much ever.
Why? My previous zed cost me $5k, was a TT manual, and had awesome engine compression. Yes, I had to get a new radiator, do a plenum pull and 100k service, but those didn't cost me 7 grand, so I'm still up. Car ran awesomely and pulled 184rwkw on just a pod and catback with standard boost. I think each zed should be looked at as case-by-case basis. Circumstances can make people drop the price. I've been looking at another zed, and just browsing carsales, nothing good stands out at the moment, regardless of price.. -Kirill
i have the money to buy and keep maintenance up on a zed. but what i dont have is 12k to buy a zed and then put money into it. that is actually really nice, but again dosnt meet my requirements. on Red Ps, so no TT and only got 1 point left on my license so wouldn't risk it anyway.
you were lucky.... In general cheap zeds will usually be a compromise in something or a "fixer upper".... Either there will be something wrong with the engine, or the interior will be shabby, or the body will have some damage, dents or some sort of stupid body kit. Either way, a pristine zed in all departments (whole car, interior, exterior engine) either stock or tastefully modified will still fetch around the 10K+ mark... Any less and the seller is being robbed. If you manage to find one that is pristine, below 10K then buy it! But then, everyones version of pristine is different. I paid 13K for my blue zed, for what was a completely stock 1993 zed in excellent nick. Many people have told me its in excellent nic, but there are still things I'm not happy about. Ie, why I'm getting it resprayed to address some minor imperfections on the exterior. Even the place where I went to get a quote for the respray told me it doesnt need one. But you see, everyones version of "excellent" is different.
very true, for me im not to worried about minor imperfections on the outside i.e little stone chips ect. What i want is a good engine/transmission that doesn't need a whole lot of work (always gonna need a little work whether it just a tidy and clean or replace some piping ect) and interrior which is in fair condition. but each to there own i guess. until i find a car like this (or close to it that meets price and P laws) i will not be jumping into anything.
Im cheering i got my pristine stock straight out of the showroom condition with genuine 84,000 k's. for $11,000. Kept garaged for 20 yrs. the odds of getting that lucky is 1 in a Mil. Dont take the first one you see thats for sure, iv seen my fair share of thrashed Zeds. and when spending less than $6,000 dont forget your fine tooth comb.
This is the kind of generalization that I don't agree with. So if I find an $11,000 zed, I can rest easy that everything's been done and the car runs like a dream and has no issues? Because that's bullshit. Ask member Ugame, who'll tell you how much his zed cost and what a lemon it turned out to be. The advice we should be giving is "go over the car regardless of how much it costs", these cars are pushing 20+ years old, it's silly to assume that just because someone's priced their zed high it will be well maintained and bulletproof. -Kirill
