300zx advice turbo Vs N/A?

[J1OKY]

I've got a tt and got about 25mpg when I went up to scotland using cruise control on the motorway, but only get 10 -15mpg when I drive it like I stole it.

[TazK]

LOL! ^ How fast do u drive man? over a ton i guess!

[murt]

LOL! ^ How fast do u drive man? over a ton i guess!

Lets just say with these cars de restricted they can do close to 185 MPH.....

[Alan Mac]

Hi Tariq,
We have the n/a Z32 which was 'breathed on' before leaving Japan. Just mild engine mods, gas flowed head, etc, lowered and stiffened suspension, big and little alloys and it's a real handful in the wet. It runs around 250bhp which isn't much compared to the TT but is very effective all the same. It's plenty quick enough.

Around town it returns about 27- 29mpg and we've had over 35mpg on a run. It went from Birmingham to Glasgow on 3/4 tank and we weren't hanging around.

Things to check which you won't think of -

1. Prop centre bearing. Very expensive and a pita to replace. We ended up fitting a single piece prop as it only cost about £60 more and does away with the bearing. Had to order the prop in from the USA. Needless to say the vendor never mentioned it was knackered.
2. Door locks. Do they work? Mechanism becomes brittle with age and easily broken. Part which snaps is not available separately and means fitting a whole new lock. Not cheap.
3. Rear seat belts. Some early cars only have lap belts in the rear. Mounting points are there for proper 3 point belts but better to get a car with it already done. Again, vendor never told me even when I asked about the rear belts as we occasionally fit a child seat in the car. Had to source 3 point belts second hand.
4. Check underside of car. They are low and get a fair bit of abuse from speed bumps, etc. Check fuel tank as it hangs quite low, also under tray at the front.
5. Interior trim. Fabric lifts away from door panels at seams and drivers seat bolster is usually showing signs of wear.
6. Manual or auto? Manual cars tend to go for more money and are better on fuel. They are quite sought after so easier to sell on.
7. Mileage. Import cars are a mix of miles and kms in most cases, so find out what it has done. Ours came into the UK on 80,000kms and was converted to miles at that point, now shows 92k. That's 62k miles in total. It's been in the UK 6 years so averaged only 2,000 miles a year. We only did about 1500 in it last year.

We bought our car over the net and I wouldn't advise going that route unless you know of the seller. The car had 11 months mot and three failure points which were obviously present when it was tested, all expensive or awkward fixes and in all probability the reason the vendor sold it.

We purchased the car for £1700 and had to spend over £300 in parts just to address it's faults and I mean by that, to make it safe to use. If I hadn't travelled 350 miles to collect it and had another way to get home I wouldn't have gone through with the sale. Annoyed with the vendor doesn't convey half the contempt I felt towards him. The noise from the prop left me with a 2 day headache.

In saying that, it has turned out to be a really great car after the false start to ownership. It passed it's mot last year with no advisories at all. It's quick, fun to drive and faultlessly reliable. The structure is like a new car, even the suspension still has the factory paint on it and not a spot of rust anywhere. Amazing for a 21 year old car.

Buy well and these cars are hard to beat for value. Buy a dodgy one and it'll bankrupt you faster than you could possibly imagine. Parts prices are not the cheapest and Nissan dealers on the whole are not particularly helpful or even interested when you need bits.

Research well, think about what you want out of the car and take care in your purchase, you won't be disappointed.

Alan

[DaZvert]

Hi Bud,I have both the N/A (non turbo) and the TT, Even though i LOVE both of them i always find myself taking the N/A its so much better on fuel, it sounds better and not really that much slower when it get`s going, The TT bolts from stand still, spinning wheels and tearing up the tarmac which is fantastic when you feel like letting some steam off!! the N/A feels so much more reliable and unstressed ,My advise is to buy both!!!!

As the lads have already said, take your time and find the best one you can afford

Daz.

[DBnathan]

mine is the N/A which my other half is having and i'm getting the TT when funds allow (i feel the need, the need for speed) lol if you love the rush of back end out and quick off the mark get the TT manual, just have a good pocket of money for fuel

[TazK]

Thanks guys for all your advice
Alan sounds like u had a headache at first with ownership man!
Do they come with traction control/slip diff?
are they drifters in the wet and easy to control if driven sensibly for the weather conditions?
How much would u expect to pay for a decent manual example with needing nothing done to it? are the newer ones the ones to go for over the earlier ones?
again thanks guys for all ur help

[J1OKY]

LOL! ^ How fast do u drive man? over a ton i guess!

No of course not I'm a law abiding citizen......... Just fast accelleration drinks fuel quicker than cruising. Power switch on, Overdrive off and floor it then watch the fuel gauge drop.

[Alan Mac]

You're not joking Tariq, the guy we bought the car from was a complete cnut!

He was about 30 miles outside Birmingham which meant getting a bus from Glasgow at 10.30pm to the main station in Brum, another bus to a hotel across from his work where he was meant to meet us at 12 noon. We got there at 9.30am as the bus into Brum arrived at 6.30am. He knew all this and still didn't turn up til 2.30pm, no phone calls, nothing, not even an apology when he bothered to make an appearance.

No ZX when he arrived as arranged, instead it was another 15 mile jaunt into the sticks in his dad's BMW. He drove like a loony which did nothing for our confidence in the Z being sound.

Quick check over the car.....
1. Perfect interior ? - drivers seat ripped, hole in carpet, various holes drilled in trim, seat fabric water stained.
2. Quality sound system ? - remote Sony head unit but surround piece missing and the speakers were all knackered. Upon inspection at home found all the speaker cones detatched.
3. Perfect bodywork ? - micro blisters in paint (not too bad), off side wing out of alignment at bottom edge (luckily not accident damage, just not sitting right, when checked there appeared to be no reason for this at all), front fog light lenses cracked and edge pieces missing, front bumper badly scuffed, rear bumper scuffed.
4. Fuel tank absolutely empty. Had to run it 6 miles on fumes, Z coughing every step of the way as he refused to go with a jerry can to get fuel. What sort of shit sells a car with the tank so empty you drag all the crap through the injectors?
5. Propshaft bearing shot to hell. No mention of this in the advert. I seriously toyed with getting the AA out to Relay us back to Glasgow. Decided to make a run for it home as we had already been on the go from 7am the previous day with no sleep and didn't fancy waiting the 3 hours the AA said they'd take to get to us.
6. Rear wheel bearings got noisy about 50 miles into the journey. Guess who'd done the warm motorcycle chain lube in the bearings trick. Tosser.
7. Driver's side headlight rubber made a break for it on the M6 and smacked off the windscreen at 70mph. Woke me up nicely!!
8. Full beam lights inoperative. No mention of this in the ad either. Strange on a car which had passed it's mot a few weeks earlier? Not really as it turned out the seller had mot'd it himself (a tad illegal).
9. Sunroof seals started leaking during a downpour on the M74. Now tired, can't see where I'm going (11pm on a dark stretch of the motorway), deaf from the prop and wheel bearing noise and now soaking wet.
10. Switch heater on, cold air only. Eventually got luke warm air at feet but cold only at the screen. Car misted up beautifully and had to stop at services to buy a chamois leather to clear the windows.

Got home at midnight, went straight into the house and phoned his dad to tell him what a lying little twat he had spawned. Added that if I'm ever back down that way I'll take £500 worth of hassle out on his son's face and hung up.

In short Tariq, be very careful what you buy and don't take a sellers word for anything. We'll be putting out Z32 up for sale shortly as the GT4 is nearly finished after a 14 month long restoration. Our ad will pull no punches about any faults on the car, all of which are minor anyway and I'll probably fix them before I sell it. You won't get that on most cars sold though, so be careful. I'd suggest you buy from someone on here as they won't do the dirty on you like the sod who sold our car to us.

The above goes for any car not just 300's but on a Z32 the parts prices soon mount up as we know very much to our cost. Cracking cars though and just about worth all the hassle.

Oh, and they are tail happy in answer to your question. Good tyres are a must on the rear if you want to be able to catch the slide without having to change undies. Ours goes sideways with very little throttle input but is a hoot to drive when you master it.

Alan

[Lets Drift]

If you're not used to the bhp, the torque or rwd I'd say get an NA.

I came from Supra mk III's and rx7's yet I still managed to spin my TT a full 360degree's on a dual carriage way while overtaking. Mind you I did hit a very nastie patch of diseal at the time and was booting my baby and no I didn't crash either I just went with it and carried on overtaking.

They are all a right pig to work on you need tiny girlie hands like me.

But once you start to know your way around the engine bay and underneath the car it's not so bad.

Beware of buying one from a garage as they often know nothing about them and will proberly not have any history with them either.

As someone has already pointed out best to go buy from a forum member as least then you'll be able to find out more about what's been going on with the car. As I did when I bought mine nearly 4 years ago.

They are a big comfortable fun fast car to drive but watch out that back end can get you into all sorts of diffuculties.

All the best with your search.

If you see one let us all know and if any of us know any thing about it we'll let you know.

Also if you see one and want someone to go view it with you then just put up a please help post and if someone is near by they'll not doubt offer to assist.

eileen