Nissan 370Z - My 'Attainable Dream Car'
Discussion
For some, it's an E46 M3 or maybe an Elise. For me it was one of these. I've always been a big Nissan Z-car fan and ever since the 370Z came out in 2009, the same year I got my license, I've been desperate to own one. I've nearly bought both of the 370Z's predecessors in the past too - back in 2011 I bought a Celica 190 but a 300ZX was on the shortlist. Then in 2016 I was considering a 350Z before eventually going for a MK5 Golf GTI. But this time round I've finally bought the Z-car!
It was a bit of an adventure to get it...I live in Edinburgh and the car I ended up buying was down in Bexhill-on-Sea...literally on the south coast. Obviously I couldn't just pop down to view the car so I had a full AA inspection carried out on it. Can't recommend these enough, they take the car on a 10-mile test drive, go over the bodywork and interior with a fine toothed comb, inspect the car underneath, plug a fault code reader into the dash, the works.
The survey did throw up a couple of things: the exhaust has a decent amount of corrosion on it and needs replacing soon. This car is running the standard exhaust system, which is a) not stainless and probably why it’s now corroded, and b) pretty rubbish and muted anyway, so a new system was always going to be on the cards at some point. So not really a big deal. The car also needs a geometry setup as the tyres aren’t wearing as evenly as they should. Apart from that it looked like a go-er, so I pulled the trigger!
Got the train down to London, met up with a friend, went for beers, then in the morning he gave me a lift down to Bexhill to pick up the car. I then had an 8.5 hour drive home to get to know the car...It took about 50 yards for a gigantic smile to appear on my face! I was immediately amazed by how 'muscular' the controls were; weighty steering, the gearshift is short and super direct but definitely not what you'd call light. It felt proper old-school. Grunt from the engine is amazing, this is by some margin the most powerful car I've owned. It was comfortable enough on the drive home, as comfortable as a sports car can be for a near-500 mile slog. It even managed an average of 31mpg, which is especially impressive considering once I got north of Newcastle I was on fun roads all the way to Edinburgh. Anyway, here it is...
The bodywork is in remarkable condition; apart from two tiny patches of minor corrosion there’s not a mark on it; I can’t find a single scratch or stone chip. Never mind 55,000 miles...it looks like a 5,000 mile car. Same story inside; there are some small abrasions to the bottom of the drivers side door card but apart from that...it looks like a new car.
The bodywork itself is in great condition, but there are a few things externally that could really do with a freshen up. I think the previous owner maybe wasn’t too fussed about addressing certain things; don’t get me wrong he’s looked after it well, serviced it properly etc, I just think he didn't pay much attention to the details of how the car looks.
The horrible numberplate surrounds are definitely getting binned, and I will probably get new plates as the current ones are pretty tatty. The headlights are pretty yellowed but it’s nothing 15 minutes with the machine polisher won’t fix.
Had to spend a while cleaning the residue from the 'for sale' vinyl off the windows...
I also had to spend a good 20 minutes scraping an old and brittle VW dealership sticker out of the back window. I reckon the first owner of the car part-ex’d it to this dealership, which is where the guy I bought it from will have acquired it. The plate surrounds are also from the same dealer. Previous owner had the car for seven years and never bothered to remove the odd VW branding from it...
The engine bay is also in need of a good scrub.
The interior however is spotless (minus a few of my footprints)
So yeah, that's it for now. I'm so, so happy with it. It's almost giving me impostor syndrome; I can't believe it's mine! Plan is to enjoy it, give it a good tidy up (more pics to come soon once it's had a good clean) and hopefully get an aftermarket exhaust on it at some point in the near future. Watch this space!
It was a bit of an adventure to get it...I live in Edinburgh and the car I ended up buying was down in Bexhill-on-Sea...literally on the south coast. Obviously I couldn't just pop down to view the car so I had a full AA inspection carried out on it. Can't recommend these enough, they take the car on a 10-mile test drive, go over the bodywork and interior with a fine toothed comb, inspect the car underneath, plug a fault code reader into the dash, the works.
The survey did throw up a couple of things: the exhaust has a decent amount of corrosion on it and needs replacing soon. This car is running the standard exhaust system, which is a) not stainless and probably why it’s now corroded, and b) pretty rubbish and muted anyway, so a new system was always going to be on the cards at some point. So not really a big deal. The car also needs a geometry setup as the tyres aren’t wearing as evenly as they should. Apart from that it looked like a go-er, so I pulled the trigger!
Got the train down to London, met up with a friend, went for beers, then in the morning he gave me a lift down to Bexhill to pick up the car. I then had an 8.5 hour drive home to get to know the car...It took about 50 yards for a gigantic smile to appear on my face! I was immediately amazed by how 'muscular' the controls were; weighty steering, the gearshift is short and super direct but definitely not what you'd call light. It felt proper old-school. Grunt from the engine is amazing, this is by some margin the most powerful car I've owned. It was comfortable enough on the drive home, as comfortable as a sports car can be for a near-500 mile slog. It even managed an average of 31mpg, which is especially impressive considering once I got north of Newcastle I was on fun roads all the way to Edinburgh. Anyway, here it is...
The bodywork is in remarkable condition; apart from two tiny patches of minor corrosion there’s not a mark on it; I can’t find a single scratch or stone chip. Never mind 55,000 miles...it looks like a 5,000 mile car. Same story inside; there are some small abrasions to the bottom of the drivers side door card but apart from that...it looks like a new car.
The bodywork itself is in great condition, but there are a few things externally that could really do with a freshen up. I think the previous owner maybe wasn’t too fussed about addressing certain things; don’t get me wrong he’s looked after it well, serviced it properly etc, I just think he didn't pay much attention to the details of how the car looks.
The horrible numberplate surrounds are definitely getting binned, and I will probably get new plates as the current ones are pretty tatty. The headlights are pretty yellowed but it’s nothing 15 minutes with the machine polisher won’t fix.
Had to spend a while cleaning the residue from the 'for sale' vinyl off the windows...
I also had to spend a good 20 minutes scraping an old and brittle VW dealership sticker out of the back window. I reckon the first owner of the car part-ex’d it to this dealership, which is where the guy I bought it from will have acquired it. The plate surrounds are also from the same dealer. Previous owner had the car for seven years and never bothered to remove the odd VW branding from it...
The engine bay is also in need of a good scrub.
The interior however is spotless (minus a few of my footprints)
So yeah, that's it for now. I'm so, so happy with it. It's almost giving me impostor syndrome; I can't believe it's mine! Plan is to enjoy it, give it a good tidy up (more pics to come soon once it's had a good clean) and hopefully get an aftermarket exhaust on it at some point in the near future. Watch this space!
Edited by thatguy11 on Wednesday 23 March 09:57
Nice car, always had a soft spot for the 350Z and the 370Z.
A few years ago a colleague stuck an aftermarket exhaust on their 350Z, not realising just how loud it would be. In the end they started parking round the corner from the office as whenever they parked outside and started it up it would rattle the windows and everyone in the building knew exactly when "Carl" was leaving
A few years ago a colleague stuck an aftermarket exhaust on their 350Z, not realising just how loud it would be. In the end they started parking round the corner from the office as whenever they parked outside and started it up it would rattle the windows and everyone in the building knew exactly when "Carl" was leaving
Thanks everyone!
I’ve had it a week now and been driving it every day, here are various thoughts:
Good
- The ride is pretty much perfect; it’s firm but never crashy or choppy
- Boot space is far better than I was expecting; it’s not that deep but it’s a long and wide space, even with the suspension towers cutting in a bit. Plus you can get a decent sized bag behind each seat.
- I absolutely love how linear the power delivery is and above 5,000rpm it’s got proper pace. It’s not crazy rapid, just a really strong surge
- I’ve only had the ESP light flash a couple of times around corners and each time it’s like magnets are pulling the rear tyres back into line when they grip back up once the power is cut. There’s loads of grip!
- The SynchroRev function is genius, why doesn’t every car have it?
- It definitely passes the “I turn around to look at it after parking it up” test
Bad
- It doesn’t actually sound all that like a V6 until you get past 3,500rpm, before that it just sounds like a nondescript, relatively big-capacity engine
- Pulling away smoothly can be tricky as the clutch is a little jerky at low speed, and 1st-2nd is a clunky shift when the car is still cold
- Idiots in leased Corsa VXRs constantly wanting to race me
I’ve had it a week now and been driving it every day, here are various thoughts:
Good
- The ride is pretty much perfect; it’s firm but never crashy or choppy
- Boot space is far better than I was expecting; it’s not that deep but it’s a long and wide space, even with the suspension towers cutting in a bit. Plus you can get a decent sized bag behind each seat.
- I absolutely love how linear the power delivery is and above 5,000rpm it’s got proper pace. It’s not crazy rapid, just a really strong surge
- I’ve only had the ESP light flash a couple of times around corners and each time it’s like magnets are pulling the rear tyres back into line when they grip back up once the power is cut. There’s loads of grip!
- The SynchroRev function is genius, why doesn’t every car have it?
- It definitely passes the “I turn around to look at it after parking it up” test
Bad
- It doesn’t actually sound all that like a V6 until you get past 3,500rpm, before that it just sounds like a nondescript, relatively big-capacity engine
- Pulling away smoothly can be tricky as the clutch is a little jerky at low speed, and 1st-2nd is a clunky shift when the car is still cold
- Idiots in leased Corsa VXRs constantly wanting to race me
Edited by thatguy11 on Thursday 2nd July 10:01
Nice car OP, mate had one in same colour and IMHO this is the best standard colour available.
They look great and when you put your foot down it certainly felt the 'shove' back in your seat.
Only bad point I recall (road tax aside lol) is that there was an issue with a module that controls the door locking..cue being stuck in the car for a few hours till the AA came..the fix was pricey too as it had.to go back to Nissan.
They look great and when you put your foot down it certainly felt the 'shove' back in your seat.
Only bad point I recall (road tax aside lol) is that there was an issue with a module that controls the door locking..cue being stuck in the car for a few hours till the AA came..the fix was pricey too as it had.to go back to Nissan.
Very nice OP and I'm really chuffed for you to get your dream car. 
I'm a massive fan of them and I love mine to bits. They can be easily made to sound really nice(as they should) as well. I have hi flow cats and a custom made stainless exhaust, plus stillen gen 3 intakes on mine and it sounds awesome(if probably a bit too loud/boomy/droney).
Enjoy yours and I wish you all the best with it.
I'm a massive fan of them and I love mine to bits. They can be easily made to sound really nice(as they should) as well. I have hi flow cats and a custom made stainless exhaust, plus stillen gen 3 intakes on mine and it sounds awesome(if probably a bit too loud/boomy/droney).
Enjoy yours and I wish you all the best with it.
Legend.. always loved these. Unfortunately never been in and now with 3 kids dont think i will ever be in a position to own one and do to it all manner of freakiness.
Mentioned on a thread somewhere before, would definitely go down the modifying route with these, veilside kit, under car neons, proper fast and furious, and drift around any roundabout before catching the exit in blaze of smoke and exhaust pops.
That said though, standard they look amazing. Congratulations enjoy
Mentioned on a thread somewhere before, would definitely go down the modifying route with these, veilside kit, under car neons, proper fast and furious, and drift around any roundabout before catching the exit in blaze of smoke and exhaust pops.
That said though, standard they look amazing. Congratulations enjoy
I bought one the same colour with 47,000 miles at the end of last year to use as a daily driver. Like you, I was really impressed with the apparent durability of the thing. The interior feels nearly brand new. Mine already had an Ark Grip exhaust fitted which sounds lovely but is not too noisy. You can always hear it but it is not shouting at everyone.
I have also ended up fitting KW coil overs and it now feels better tied down on my local undulating roads. It picks up speed easily as you know and could sometimes feel a bit wild.
It isn’t my normal sort of car (I like small light convertibles) but we wanted a car you could also actually travel in (lockdown put a stop to that) and I have to admit that having things like air con, sat nav and a decent stereo have been a welcome change.
Not perfect by any stretch, it is heavy and wide and engine is breathless beyond 6,000. I only get around 22mpg but compared to lots of cars it has bags of character, so much so that ours even has a name now and very few cars I have had have ever been named. He is Ted.
Enjoy it
I have also ended up fitting KW coil overs and it now feels better tied down on my local undulating roads. It picks up speed easily as you know and could sometimes feel a bit wild.
It isn’t my normal sort of car (I like small light convertibles) but we wanted a car you could also actually travel in (lockdown put a stop to that) and I have to admit that having things like air con, sat nav and a decent stereo have been a welcome change.
Not perfect by any stretch, it is heavy and wide and engine is breathless beyond 6,000. I only get around 22mpg but compared to lots of cars it has bags of character, so much so that ours even has a name now and very few cars I have had have ever been named. He is Ted.
Enjoy it
Apart from the lack of steering adjustment, which meant I was never 100% comfortable, I loved my 370Z.
I only had it for 2 years, and only 8000 miles, which I do regret. It was a second car, but something always came up on a weekend meaning it just sat there unused.
Engine was a bit gruff at the top end, but it had bags of Torque, and the gearbox was a joy to use.
I only had it for 2 years, and only 8000 miles, which I do regret. It was a second car, but something always came up on a weekend meaning it just sat there unused.
Engine was a bit gruff at the top end, but it had bags of Torque, and the gearbox was a joy to use.
wab172uk said:
Apart from the lack of steering adjustment, which meant I was never 100% comfortable, I loved my 370Z.
I only had it for 2 years, and only 8000 miles, which I do regret. It was a second car, but something always came up on a weekend meaning it just sat there unused.
Engine was a bit gruff at the top end, but it had bags of Torque, and the gearbox was a joy to use.
Yes and my arms are a little bit stretched out to reach the wheel in my preferred seating position. Mine doesn't get used much either and I find myself sitting in it in the garage more than actually driving it!(2 kids and a Mrs seems to limit my usage of it). I only had it for 2 years, and only 8000 miles, which I do regret. It was a second car, but something always came up on a weekend meaning it just sat there unused.
Engine was a bit gruff at the top end, but it had bags of Torque, and the gearbox was a joy to use.
Agree that it isn't massively willing to be revved right out, which I find a bit odd because most of the N/A engines I've had have had a very sweet top end. I do like how torquey it feels though and it feels like a nice gutsy engine.
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