350Z GT4 - Ultra Yellow
Discussion
So, some bugg3r a couple of weeks ago crafts a "you know you want to" article ( http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI... ) which sparked some lively discussion both on PH and amongst my mates.
I've been looking to sell my Seven and Audi shed and get back into something interesting I can drive on a daily basis. Having two cars just didn't suit me and I'd rather spend the money on fuel than on taxing, insuring and maintaining a "toy" car that didn't get the use it deserved. I'm in a luxurious position, in that I had quite a wide budget, the top end of which was a 3.6 C4S and the bottom of which was an MX-5. I don't have kids. I don't often purchase large amounts of stuff from IKEA or go to the tip, so I reasoned that when I did those things, I could probably borrow a mate's car. Thus, I shall be mostly having my cake and eating it. What to get? Long story (kinda) short, after seeing the article above, my interest was piqued. I did some searching, decided what I wanted to pay and for what and went hunting. There was a pretty low-budget one in the PH classifieds that looked like it might need some cosmetic work and a good service, but if I budgeted for it, would make a sound proposition. But it was silver. I'd fancied a blue one to be honest. Not too many of them about.
A look at the dark side of online car sales, you know, it rhymes with Schmautotrader, saw a few more cars and gave me a better bet on pricing and availability of the Azure Blue cars. There seemed to be a nice yellow one there too. A GT4 special edition. Local to me. Oooooooooooh. Shiny...
And thus after some sifting through paperwork, calls to establish parts prices, a test drive and some haggling, number 170 of 176 has come into my possession. Ultra Yellow, 129000 miles, one owner, full service history, all Nissan bar an oil change. Yes, there are some minor issues, but it's also a whole lot of car for the money and I'm prepared to budget for some necessary repairs along the way.
So, first up, some potentially useful information:
The 350Z came in three basic variants over it's life, the 287bhp, the 300bhp (both engine VQ35DE) and the 306bhp (engine VQ35HR). It was offered on a basic and a GT pack, which adds cruise control, heated and electric leather seats and a BOSE stereo. The GT pack is desirable on the used market and I quickly ruled out any non-GT cars. It's serviced on a standard Nissan schedule unless you're doing mega miles, which runs:
P1 - 9k/Yr1
P2 - 18k/Yr2 + brake fluid
P1 - 27k/Yr3 + coolant
P3 - 36k/Yr4 + brake fluid
P1 - 45k/Yr5 + plugs
P2 - 54k/Yr6 + brake fluid + coolant
P1 - 63k/Yr7
P3 - 72k/Yr8 + brake fluid
P1 - 81k/Yr9 + coolant
P2 - 90k/Yr10 + brake fluid + plugs
The standard wheels are 225/45/R18 at the front and 245/45/R18 on the rear. The car is allegedly capable of 155mph, so tyre speed ratings need to be appropriate too. OEM tyres were Bridgestone 040s, with 050As the up to date alternative. Good things have been muttered about Falkens for the budget concious, and there are of course an array of top end tyres for about £200 a corner.
I used the excellent 350Z-UK buying guide as a starting point: http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/22880-guide-for-new-m...
This immediately flagged up some potential issues to look at over and above the normal used car list and let's face it, we can all get a bit carried away looking at a shiny car we really want to buy and go slightly "blind". Did I in fact drive away in mine without checking to see if the locking wheelnut adaptor was present? I may have done!
So, what to look for. This is far from an exhaustive list, but I immediately scribbled down:
Clicky rear axle?
Rays alloys corrode
The BOSE CD player skips
Bootlid gas struts can fail/are weak
If tyres are wearing on the insides, this could be a known tracking issue
Have gearbox/diff oils ever been changed?
What tyres is it on?
Front bumper - chips? Respray?
I was satisfied and off I drove.
So what next for #170? Today has seen it valeted inside and out, shampooed carpets, leather treatment and two coats of hard wax. In the short term, I need to get the tracking and alignment checked as the fronts have worn shoulders and I'm planning on trying out the Conti SportContact 3's, which won the Evo 2012 tyre test and are available locally for a reasonable sum.
After that, I'm going to put some contingency money away just in case, but with the next service and MOT due in October, I'm hoping to get a summer of motoring done with limited worries, once that slightly clench-cheeked feeling of a new, but in fact old car under me goes away... you know. The "I'm 100 miles from home and I've just noticed a noise. Was it there the whole time and I just noticed it, or is the engine on this three days in my possession car about to go bang..." feeling.
350z-uk.com ( http://www.350z-uk.com/index ) offers valuable insight into buying and owning and some of the potential pitfalls and issues. This was the forum I found most useful and was most often referenced on our own hallowed pages.
Evo ran two 350Zs as long termers. See the Evo articles here: http://www.evo.co.uk/search/?make=105&model_st...
Evo also did a buying guide in Issue 121 and the GT4 featured in ECOTY 2005. ECOTY was a two parter in 2005, pitting 13 real world cars against each other, then putting the winner through to compete against nine "surreal" world cars. The GT4 did not make it through to round two (the Clio Trophy won that opportunity), but was judged fourth in the real world cars, coming ahead of the Lotus Exige 240R, Caterham CSR, Renault Megane 225 and BMW 130i M Sport amongst others
Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/350z
I've been looking to sell my Seven and Audi shed and get back into something interesting I can drive on a daily basis. Having two cars just didn't suit me and I'd rather spend the money on fuel than on taxing, insuring and maintaining a "toy" car that didn't get the use it deserved. I'm in a luxurious position, in that I had quite a wide budget, the top end of which was a 3.6 C4S and the bottom of which was an MX-5. I don't have kids. I don't often purchase large amounts of stuff from IKEA or go to the tip, so I reasoned that when I did those things, I could probably borrow a mate's car. Thus, I shall be mostly having my cake and eating it. What to get? Long story (kinda) short, after seeing the article above, my interest was piqued. I did some searching, decided what I wanted to pay and for what and went hunting. There was a pretty low-budget one in the PH classifieds that looked like it might need some cosmetic work and a good service, but if I budgeted for it, would make a sound proposition. But it was silver. I'd fancied a blue one to be honest. Not too many of them about.
A look at the dark side of online car sales, you know, it rhymes with Schmautotrader, saw a few more cars and gave me a better bet on pricing and availability of the Azure Blue cars. There seemed to be a nice yellow one there too. A GT4 special edition. Local to me. Oooooooooooh. Shiny...
And thus after some sifting through paperwork, calls to establish parts prices, a test drive and some haggling, number 170 of 176 has come into my possession. Ultra Yellow, 129000 miles, one owner, full service history, all Nissan bar an oil change. Yes, there are some minor issues, but it's also a whole lot of car for the money and I'm prepared to budget for some necessary repairs along the way.
So, first up, some potentially useful information:
The 350Z came in three basic variants over it's life, the 287bhp, the 300bhp (both engine VQ35DE) and the 306bhp (engine VQ35HR). It was offered on a basic and a GT pack, which adds cruise control, heated and electric leather seats and a BOSE stereo. The GT pack is desirable on the used market and I quickly ruled out any non-GT cars. It's serviced on a standard Nissan schedule unless you're doing mega miles, which runs:
P1 - 9k/Yr1
P2 - 18k/Yr2 + brake fluid
P1 - 27k/Yr3 + coolant
P3 - 36k/Yr4 + brake fluid
P1 - 45k/Yr5 + plugs
P2 - 54k/Yr6 + brake fluid + coolant
P1 - 63k/Yr7
P3 - 72k/Yr8 + brake fluid
P1 - 81k/Yr9 + coolant
P2 - 90k/Yr10 + brake fluid + plugs
The standard wheels are 225/45/R18 at the front and 245/45/R18 on the rear. The car is allegedly capable of 155mph, so tyre speed ratings need to be appropriate too. OEM tyres were Bridgestone 040s, with 050As the up to date alternative. Good things have been muttered about Falkens for the budget concious, and there are of course an array of top end tyres for about £200 a corner.
I used the excellent 350Z-UK buying guide as a starting point: http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/22880-guide-for-new-m...
This immediately flagged up some potential issues to look at over and above the normal used car list and let's face it, we can all get a bit carried away looking at a shiny car we really want to buy and go slightly "blind". Did I in fact drive away in mine without checking to see if the locking wheelnut adaptor was present? I may have done!
So, what to look for. This is far from an exhaustive list, but I immediately scribbled down:
Clicky rear axle?
Rays alloys corrode
The BOSE CD player skips
Bootlid gas struts can fail/are weak
If tyres are wearing on the insides, this could be a known tracking issue
Have gearbox/diff oils ever been changed?
What tyres is it on?
Front bumper - chips? Respray?
I was satisfied and off I drove.
So what next for #170? Today has seen it valeted inside and out, shampooed carpets, leather treatment and two coats of hard wax. In the short term, I need to get the tracking and alignment checked as the fronts have worn shoulders and I'm planning on trying out the Conti SportContact 3's, which won the Evo 2012 tyre test and are available locally for a reasonable sum.
After that, I'm going to put some contingency money away just in case, but with the next service and MOT due in October, I'm hoping to get a summer of motoring done with limited worries, once that slightly clench-cheeked feeling of a new, but in fact old car under me goes away... you know. The "I'm 100 miles from home and I've just noticed a noise. Was it there the whole time and I just noticed it, or is the engine on this three days in my possession car about to go bang..." feeling.
350z-uk.com ( http://www.350z-uk.com/index ) offers valuable insight into buying and owning and some of the potential pitfalls and issues. This was the forum I found most useful and was most often referenced on our own hallowed pages.
Evo ran two 350Zs as long termers. See the Evo articles here: http://www.evo.co.uk/search/?make=105&model_st...
Evo also did a buying guide in Issue 121 and the GT4 featured in ECOTY 2005. ECOTY was a two parter in 2005, pitting 13 real world cars against each other, then putting the winner through to compete against nine "surreal" world cars. The GT4 did not make it through to round two (the Clio Trophy won that opportunity), but was judged fourth in the real world cars, coming ahead of the Lotus Exige 240R, Caterham CSR, Renault Megane 225 and BMW 130i M Sport amongst others
Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/350z
Everyone said:
Nice things
Cheers all - I must admit, I am enjoying it more and more. On day one I had some self doubt as for some reason, it just wasn't special feeling, but perhaps that's the shadow of some known bills coming. Anyway, that's evaporated and I'm over the moon!Sadly I had to pick the car up in the dark last night, but a chat through with the lad who valeted it revealed there are a few very minor paint issues - the sort of thing you only see when it's really clean of course! Not unexpected on a car of this age at all, but I'll have to do some reading on how to approach this type of paint and then try some hand correction on the lighter patches. It picked up the light in the petrol station awesomely though, so the claybarring has obviously taken off a fair bit of contamination. Fingers crossed that'll be a once a year job now.
Next on the list is alignment and front tyres.
Looks like the factory Nismo bodykit on that one too - great looking. Here's another one which I believe is also for sale: http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/157897-rabsters-nissan-...
Outstanding work and something I referred to a good few times to see where I could potentially go with mine once I've had it a while...
Outstanding work and something I referred to a good few times to see where I could potentially go with mine once I've had it a while...
Smitters said:
Looks like the factory Nismo bodykit on that one too - great looking. Here's another one which I believe is also for sale: http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/157897-rabsters-nissan-...
Outstanding work and something I referred to a good few times to see where I could potentially go with mine once I've had it a while...
I spotted that one for sale...I've never been a fan of body kits as most are done badly and end up making the car in question look cheap and tacky but that one really turned my head when i spotted it, as a result I've been pricing up getting the V2 front bumper, the V1 side skirts, rear spats and a blitz style rear spoiler for mine.Outstanding work and something I referred to a good few times to see where I could potentially go with mine once I've had it a while...
As I recall the owner wanted good money for it but on the surface it certainly looks worth it.
I'm finding the 350 zeds are so reliable and cheap to maintain, bar a P3 service last year and an impending P1 I've literally not spent a penny in 2 years of ownership, I think in 2013 it deserves a few quid being spent on it with maybe a nice exhaust and berks cats to beef the sound up too.
DannyScene said:
Stunning car that!!
I wonder if you could help settle an argument for me, is the colour code for your car E33?
I swear blind to my mate that I've remembered the colour code for Nissan Ultra Yellow since I read about a limited edition 350Z in max power years and years ago
It is indeed. Ultra Yellow E33, borne out by this link I think. http://www.courtesyparts.com/touch_up_paint.php?cP...I wonder if you could help settle an argument for me, is the colour code for your car E33?
I swear blind to my mate that I've remembered the colour code for Nissan Ultra Yellow since I read about a limited edition 350Z in max power years and years ago
Enjoy the beer he now owes you. He may have forgotten you agreed the wager to be a beer, but as we can clearly see, you have a memory like a steel trap and he does not, so he must owe you a beer.
Smitters said:
DannyScene said:
Stunning car that!!
I wonder if you could help settle an argument for me, is the colour code for your car E33?
I swear blind to my mate that I've remembered the colour code for Nissan Ultra Yellow since I read about a limited edition 350Z in max power years and years ago
It is indeed. Ultra Yellow E33, borne out by this link I think. http://www.courtesyparts.com/touch_up_paint.php?cP...I wonder if you could help settle an argument for me, is the colour code for your car E33?
I swear blind to my mate that I've remembered the colour code for Nissan Ultra Yellow since I read about a limited edition 350Z in max power years and years ago
Enjoy the beer he now owes you. He may have forgotten you agreed the wager to be a beer, but as we can clearly see, you have a memory like a steel trap and he does not, so he must owe you a beer.
Absolutely lovely car, I've been hankering for one in that colour since the aforementioned max power article!
Maybe one day
dean350z said:
I spotted that one for sale...I've never been a fan of body kits as most are done badly and end up making the car in question look cheap and tacky but that one really turned my head when i spotted it, as a result I've been pricing up getting the V2 front bumper, the V1 side skirts, rear spats and a blitz style rear spoiler for mine.
I agree - I think the one piece front bumper means it was a factory fit, which certainly helps on the quality front - but a kit has a tendency to cheapen a look sometimes. In this case I think the rounded bumper and subtly more aggressive skirts add a lot to the look, especially in yellow.DannyScene said:
I bloody knew I was right. Thanks for confirming that mate! You know I think he will have forgotten he bet me a beer(I didn't) so that could be a nice little bonus
Absolutely lovely car, I've been hankering for one in that colour since the aforementioned max power article!
Maybe one day
No worries. If you're handy with a spanner and know what you're looking at, there's a Cat D Ultra Yellow GT4 for sale at the moment on a Z forum. Not my cuppa - I'd have to pay for a pro to view it - but could make a nice bargain for someone. As the YKYWT article points out, they are going for surprising money at the moment as the fuel bill is off-putting.Absolutely lovely car, I've been hankering for one in that colour since the aforementioned max power article!
Maybe one day
Kayzee - that one is for sale - it's linked above.
Funny thing - the colour is incredibly divisive, more so than I expected. Half my office like it and half really, really don't. I'd really fancied a Speed Yellow C4S, but I think I'd still be stuck waiting in the first junction I arrived at. Other road users are very polite to the Nissan. Bonus!
Edited by Smitters on Wednesday 6th February 10:32
Ex 350Z owner here, I had a series 1 version with the low powered engine 275bhp or so? Whenever there's threads on these cars I always say how much I liked it & how good it was, and I gave that car some stick (including driving it down some stairs but that's another story....)
I started doing a lot of track days back then & used the car for quite a lot of them-can't remember how many I did (it was quite a lot) but I didn't do a thing to it-never even changed a brake pad.
The standard tyres were great though they did get a bit chewed up at spa, my diff did click a bit but nothing ever came of it. Folks always seem to go on about the interior but I found it fine.
Tough little cars, pretty quick too. Traveling from spa to the nurburgring at daft speeds it kept up with a gt3 & an m5 no problem.
I flogged it on about 18k miles I think, probably needed new pads & tyres but that was about it, oh & one of the plastic muck guard thingies was cracked-that was the only damage done by my "staircase" incident
I started doing a lot of track days back then & used the car for quite a lot of them-can't remember how many I did (it was quite a lot) but I didn't do a thing to it-never even changed a brake pad.
The standard tyres were great though they did get a bit chewed up at spa, my diff did click a bit but nothing ever came of it. Folks always seem to go on about the interior but I found it fine.
Tough little cars, pretty quick too. Traveling from spa to the nurburgring at daft speeds it kept up with a gt3 & an m5 no problem.
I flogged it on about 18k miles I think, probably needed new pads & tyres but that was about it, oh & one of the plastic muck guard thingies was cracked-that was the only damage done by my "staircase" incident
Hi mate the clicky rear end is caused by the cv couplings, nissan done a recall on them when the cars were brand new ( I am a ex nissan hi-tech when the Z was launched in the uk) , we could get them to do it constantly if you just slowly roll forward stop and reverse very slowly and hey presto they would click, they are very easy to change if you can handle a spanner. Being a original GT4 edition did you get the playstation that came with the car when it was brand new ?, its looking nice anyway mate and have never seen another one on the roads yet
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