New 350Z owner and club member
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:51 pm
For the last 14 years I’ve driven a WRX.
It’s been a great car; fast, agile, inspiring total confidence in the wet or dry. It’s been driven briskly on many occasions, never thrashed or abused. The on boost acceleration still brings a smile to my face. I’ve driven it since new, and in nearly 190,000k’s it’s never let me down (dead battery excepted) and has cost less than $2000 in what I consider non maintenance items. Amazingly it’s still on the original clutch but……… the gearbox has been notchy since day one, the interior screams 1990’s Japanese econobox, the turbo lag at low revs is monumental, safety has improved hugely since the Impreza was launched and the pimply bogan image that is normally associated with an older WRX doesn’t sit very comfortably with a 53 year old. In short, it was time for a change.
I always promised myself I’d own a proper sports car one day (proper being a manual, two seater, front engined, rear drive car with a powerful normally aspirated engine), and in today’s market I think a 350Z offers an unbeatable combination of power, handling, styling, reliability and affordability.
I started looking semi-seriously about two years ago with an open mind regarding spec and colour. I finally decided I wanted a NZ new Track spec car in Daytona Blue but had no luck in locating one. Late last year City Nissan in Glenfield had a mint one owner 2006 car with 26,000k’s on it, but it was sold the morning I had booked it in for an AA inspection.
In desperation I contacted the Z Club to see if they knew of any cars for sale. Bronzee has been incredibly helpful and put me on to an Ultra Yellow 35th Anniversary edition that was advertised on trademe in December 2010.
I’d already seen it on trademe, but with its tacky carbon fibre bodykit (has there ever been a bodykit for a road car that actually enhances the looks of a car?), yellow paintwork, confusing description (Fairlady was mentioned), and silly asking price I assumed it was an import and didn’t take things any further.
Bronzee thought it was a genuine NZ new car so I did a little research and it turned out it was. I contacted the owner and to cut a long story short, it’s now mine. The bodykit was removed by the owner, and an allowance made in the purchase price to sort out some minor bodywork imperfections and the damage caused by removing the bodykit. I’m pleased to say that the final all up cost to me was considerably less than the original asking price. Special thanks go to Bronzee for putting me on to the car and helpful advice as to what to look for and to Bernie and the team at Hauraki Panel and Paint for doing a great job on the paintwork when others had tried and failed.
The previous owner had also made some other modifications. The original wheels have been replaced with 9.5 x 19 and 10.5 x 19 Rays alloys fitted with Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyres (245/40 x 19 and 285/35 x 19 respectively), the windows have been tinted and there is an after market cat back exhaust which sounds superb, but which has a ridiculous flaring of the last 15cm. And the yellow paintwork – well, it’s different!
Initial impressions comparing it with the WRX are the much greater solidity and interior quality, the linear power delivery and the huge torque of that glorious sounding engine. In the 3 months I’ve owned it it’s been in paint and panel shops for 6 weeks and I’ve been too busy with other thing to take it for a decent drive, but that should change shortly.
I look forward to catching up with other Z club members in the near future.
It’s been a great car; fast, agile, inspiring total confidence in the wet or dry. It’s been driven briskly on many occasions, never thrashed or abused. The on boost acceleration still brings a smile to my face. I’ve driven it since new, and in nearly 190,000k’s it’s never let me down (dead battery excepted) and has cost less than $2000 in what I consider non maintenance items. Amazingly it’s still on the original clutch but……… the gearbox has been notchy since day one, the interior screams 1990’s Japanese econobox, the turbo lag at low revs is monumental, safety has improved hugely since the Impreza was launched and the pimply bogan image that is normally associated with an older WRX doesn’t sit very comfortably with a 53 year old. In short, it was time for a change.
I always promised myself I’d own a proper sports car one day (proper being a manual, two seater, front engined, rear drive car with a powerful normally aspirated engine), and in today’s market I think a 350Z offers an unbeatable combination of power, handling, styling, reliability and affordability.
I started looking semi-seriously about two years ago with an open mind regarding spec and colour. I finally decided I wanted a NZ new Track spec car in Daytona Blue but had no luck in locating one. Late last year City Nissan in Glenfield had a mint one owner 2006 car with 26,000k’s on it, but it was sold the morning I had booked it in for an AA inspection.
In desperation I contacted the Z Club to see if they knew of any cars for sale. Bronzee has been incredibly helpful and put me on to an Ultra Yellow 35th Anniversary edition that was advertised on trademe in December 2010.
I’d already seen it on trademe, but with its tacky carbon fibre bodykit (has there ever been a bodykit for a road car that actually enhances the looks of a car?), yellow paintwork, confusing description (Fairlady was mentioned), and silly asking price I assumed it was an import and didn’t take things any further.
Bronzee thought it was a genuine NZ new car so I did a little research and it turned out it was. I contacted the owner and to cut a long story short, it’s now mine. The bodykit was removed by the owner, and an allowance made in the purchase price to sort out some minor bodywork imperfections and the damage caused by removing the bodykit. I’m pleased to say that the final all up cost to me was considerably less than the original asking price. Special thanks go to Bronzee for putting me on to the car and helpful advice as to what to look for and to Bernie and the team at Hauraki Panel and Paint for doing a great job on the paintwork when others had tried and failed.
The previous owner had also made some other modifications. The original wheels have been replaced with 9.5 x 19 and 10.5 x 19 Rays alloys fitted with Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyres (245/40 x 19 and 285/35 x 19 respectively), the windows have been tinted and there is an after market cat back exhaust which sounds superb, but which has a ridiculous flaring of the last 15cm. And the yellow paintwork – well, it’s different!
Initial impressions comparing it with the WRX are the much greater solidity and interior quality, the linear power delivery and the huge torque of that glorious sounding engine. In the 3 months I’ve owned it it’s been in paint and panel shops for 6 weeks and I’ve been too busy with other thing to take it for a decent drive, but that should change shortly.
I look forward to catching up with other Z club members in the near future.
From another front engine, rear drive, normally aspirated driver.