I've had my zed for about 10 months now i havent had any major drama with it but most people seem to hate the zeds calling them unreliable and ugly. i dont totally disagree they can look pretty boring and they do suffer some mechanical failures but so do 180sx, 200sx, r32, r33 etc but nodody bad mouths them. Is this why the zed is so hard to sell do people think they are shitboxes? And if i really want to sell it do i have to sell it for a stupidly low price?
Buddy u know what, ive been looking around for a car awhile now, started off with soarers to r32's audi's and now ive made up my mind for a 300zx. Coming from a buyers point of view the car actually grows on u. the more u see the car and the more u read about the car u start loving it more and more. now im just in love with the 300s. As a kid i always had the impression that the 300zxs were like too expensive and that and now that the prices have had a drastic drop people actually start to believe why is such a car going for such a cheap price (compared with other cars in its class) and then the masses start jumping to conclusions as "ohh it must be a problematic car thats why its so cheap" and so on. Well thats just my point of view i maybe wrong but thats how i look at it. but honestly after joining this forum ive really changed my point of view as u boys in here really help we new buyers out so much and the way uz expain stuff its just "top stuff".
i agree. i notice Z goes like a hot cake in perth. :zlove: or may be its just me when i was looking for mine.
Most cars are hard to sell, at least if you want a decent price. It is much easier to buy one. Pick half a dozen prospects among a couple of hundred ads, and choose the best (and bargain) You want to sell, put your ad in and sit and wait til somebody comes around. But, yes, the zed's do have an image problem as far as reliability is concerned. It does not help the slightest with people modding and overboosting and blowing their engines up. I myself did not buy the zed as a daily driver. I was seriously thinking about it, but decided against it on those grounds. Ended up with a Soarer instead. (but then I found the convertible and could not resist it) And, as with any car, if you are in a hurry to sell, yes, you may have to sell it for a stupidly low price. You take your time, explore all avenues available, you may get what you think it's worth.
The fact is that only the horror stories are ever heard and unfortunatley remembered. Also quite a lot going around will be 6th and 7th hand info like a mate of a mate had one and it was just shit kept breaking down all the time so he sold it dont buy one etc etc etc. In reality there will be some poor examples out there that require a lot of work to return them back to a condition that will inhibit failures and breakdowns. Remember most of the cars going around are getting on in the years and due to the high costs of servicing, maintenance insurance etc many are neglected start to play up and sold cheap to the first unsuspecting person to come along, it breaks down a few times etc gets checked out and needs heaps of work and sold again the viscious cycle continues. I for one have seen many skylines 180's and 200sx's around that are far from average condition but there is a lot more of them so a few bads ones doesnt outweigh the good ones out there. And maybe everyone else is just jealous that we own such wonderful sleek sexy cars and envious of that fact.
What is a zed worth? I do Love my Zed its done what i wanted and that was waving bye bye as i put my foot down to people in 180, skylines etc. The car did earn some respect from my mates who didn't think it would deliver on its promises. But now that i'm selling it people think its had is guts flogged out of it and being 19 dont help. i dont know what the the last owner did to it but i do look after it i dont baby it all the time and i aint scared to up sometimes but like anything u give it a hard time for long enough it will blow up. Mine dosent miss a beat. so what do u's think a straight 2 seater 5 speed modded targa top is worth?
A picture is worth a thousand words. It also helps to get people interested enough to go to the next stage.
"Pretty boring to look at"???????? That might be the reason you can't sell it, it's not a 300ZX. It just happens to rank as one of the best looking cars in the history of car design. Re-adjust your thinking(or buy a Hyundai).
lol i hear ya lloyd... as for selling your car, put the price on it you think its worth, if you have patience and your not completely unrealistic then you should be able to sell it. i dont consider Z's to be a harder car to sell, mind you the taste is more refined then commodores or jap commodores (sky lines). alot is also due to lack of knowledge people dont know shaite about our cars, you have no idea how many people go to me omg your car has TWO turbos?!?! and people dissing it because of its weight, then i point out to them that their car only weighs 40kg less. people also think that 300zxs because they are v6TT that theyr designed for 1/4miles and such... they have no idea that when this car is in its element its on the track/circuit, not going in a straight line.
I havent 'been into' zeds for that long, in the past if it had a v8 I was there. I did do the research before I bought my first ZX, and the issues I was told they had were ...... the high costs of servicing although they are no more expensive than any other car in reality for a basic service but that 100,000 will hurt. The overheating issues again this was from others that knew of zeds being cooked. Largely it DOES happen with poor maintainance, I've since seen 2 mates having to spend in excess of $6000 to get their cars back on the road after an engine meltdown, in both cases they knew in advance that they had a problem but neither did anything about fixing it untill it was to late. Both had radiators that leaked a small amount of coolant and for the sake of a few hundred dollars decided to run with the 2litre coke bottle of water if it need topping up, the day came when the plastic tank finally let go and it was all over very quickly. Who'll service it for me .... This was a major concern whith my first ZX, no-one locally wanted anything to do with it, lets face it, that engine bay is one hell of a scary thing compared to most other cars. I did a carshow a few months back and although it was the only ZX there it got HEAPS of ppl looking at the engine bay ( bonnet up for the show ), at a guess there would have been over 200 odd photos taken just of the engine bay, ppl were astounded at what is crammed in there. "how do you work on it?" was the most popular question, my reply was "I dont need to, its a reliability thing that means it doesnt need to be touched unlike 99% of other cars" Thats what puts ppl off of these SEXZEE cars , service costs, overheating problems, & who can do the work on them. Unfortunately a bad reputation is easy to get but damn near imposiable to loose. Kingy
Seems that Zeds have a reputation as being Heavy, underpowered, unreliable boats, that are impossible for even the most skilled mechanic to do the slightest work on without totally removing the motor from the car (this includes changing the tyres apparently). Seems these rumours were all started by Skyline, Supra and S13,14,15 drivers Truth is, They are a very complex car, especially for their time. Mechanics (in general) are lazy and scare easily Like any car, all basic maintenance can be done quite easily, but you may have to remove to motor if you want to rebuild it I guess any respective buyer will either love or hate the design of the car, this will always be the first hurdle, then maybe the colour, general condition and appearance of the car, and the price. Same with any car really. One of the biggest assets of the Z32, are the people in this club. The biggest bug bear with the Z32 are misinformed jealous individuals who wish they were driving "$ for $ the best sports car in the world", instead of Clayton's sports cars (thats the sports car you have, when you don't have a sports car) Disclaimer: AMEC, Gavin wood and UAS are excluded from my descriptions of mechanics
A Bad Rep... Yeah, Just go to any other car forum and ask people what they think of the 300zx. They'll give you the usual... - Unreliable. - Cramped Engine Bay. - Overheat. - Too heavy. I think it's just stemed from a few bad experiences and grown from there. Cars, just like people, develop of rep right away and it can be good or bad but wont necessarily be true because things can get blown out of proportion. True is, every type of car will have a known issue because none of them are perfect. I was amazed actually. I went to the Skyline forums last night (first time ) and I saw a few threads on buying a 300zx. People trying to decide on whether to buy an R32 or a 300zx. Majority of them were advising to get a 300zx...which I felt was strange coming from Skyline owners. So with that, all is not lost. Personally, when people bag something, there's usually a hint of jealousy involved... Everyone will admit that the car still looks awesome...I get people asking me about the car almost every time I fill up with fuel...I think the Zed has a lot more respect from V8 owners as well...moreso than other Jap imports. It's because they look exotic, they look fast...and they are! However, the cheap prices they are going for isn't helping anyone. People see the market value now and start to think these cars are crap. The fact that MK4 Supra's and FD RX-7's are still well into the 20's and 30's is suggesting that the rival's are a better car. They are also a newer car...people forget that. Age and KM's are what really put a price down. But there's a buyer for every car...you just have to find the right one. I dont mind if our cars have a bad rep. Because that idea goes out the window when everyone stares at it and turns their head. That's gotta be a good thing right? Cheers Rob.
Thats funny you mention skyline owners Rob, Whenever I take mine to a skyline event (member of SAU) they all look and stare probably thinking yeah right will leave this thing for dust!!!! They are quite suprised when the zed in fact leaves them for dead then start talking from there. Usually over hear things like how quick is that silver zed etc and always gives me a little grin.
Every Asain guys i meet say that 300's are very fast and that they are sick cars. Well atleast the real sport car lovers know that our Z's are good.
I agree with you totally, its amazing how many people think the zed is a pos. in the process of lookign for mine i first went to am import place, when i asked if they had any 300zxs their response was 'nah mate, peives of shit, trust me you dont want one' and then procedded to show me a couple of 180's he had in stock. walked away instantly and that god i did. some of my mates even tryed to convince me to get a 180 (why does everyone love them so much?) but i stuck to it, never turned back. alot of my mates who recommended the 180 have now relised that the 300 is superior, i even has one mate who is now saving to get one after seeing mine (although he is getting a tt, just to spite me....bastard )
Mainstream market... I think a lot of the reason the other import cars are so popular, moreso than a Zed is because they have had fame in some way. Movies and TV shows like The Fast and the Furious, Initial D etc, have glorified a lot of Imports bar the Zed...and I don't know why the Zed is always missing... The GTR has been popular due to it's huge racing success. As has the WRX with the world rally. The Zed has a racing heritage that know one really knows about over here... I'm sure if a new movie came out and the Zed was the hero car, all the boy racers will go out and buy one while praising how good they are... Society is to blame!! Rob.
300ZX are easy to sell if they are good examples Refer to Grenfel's and MikeZ's classy zeds which sold at $14K+ and $~18K respectively within a few short weeks. I almost accepted an offer of $18500 for mine but sanity (mine) prevailed and I haven't regretted the decision... History of the car and the owner (as in a member on this forum) is a very valuable value-add...
Zeds are an absoloute pig to work on, which means even simple jobs can be very labour intensive (read as EXPENSIVE). End result of this is that there are alot of neglected cars out there, but the upside is people seem to pay more for a car that can supply a local service history.
