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
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
redroadster said:
Lovely looking and I like the interiors old school ,what's it like for running costs or fuel ,I also had a Celica t sport and took gt86 out for a test drive but was not impressed with engine and thought 370z could be next for more poke .
Running costs aren’t too bad, it’s in the silly tax band but insurance is actually relatively cheap; <£400 for me and I’m under 30. Mpg isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but the fuel tank is 17 gallons so filling it from empty is a little scary! Parts and servicing is nowhere near as expensive as the equivalent Cayman/Z4, since it’s still a Nissan Well...the car has developed its first issue! Fortunately it’s a simple problem with a simple fix. The boot latch mechanism has failed and the boot won’t stay closed. It’s a common fault on 370Zs, a fault my car didn’t have...until a week and a half after I bought it! Just pure bad luck.
It sounds like it could be complicated but it’s really basic. Essentially the cogs in the motor for the latch actuator get all gunked up over time, and the upshot is the actuator and therefore the latch lock don’t return to their proper positions so the latch never closes over fully to lock the boot lid in place. Nissan wanted a £99 diagnosis fee plus parts and labour to fix it so I thought stuff that, I’ll investigate it myself. It was a 45 minute job to get access to the motor, give it a clean and put it all back together.
Trim pieces removed and mechanism pulled out (motor is the beige box on the left)
The inside of the actuator motor
Job done. So if it’s been permanently fixed with just a clean up then great, and if not then a new motor is only £65 on eBay and it’s a really quick job.
On a side note, I don’t tend to name cars but I’ve decided to name the 370Z “Zole”, because one day I glanced down at the floor mat and...
It sounds like it could be complicated but it’s really basic. Essentially the cogs in the motor for the latch actuator get all gunked up over time, and the upshot is the actuator and therefore the latch lock don’t return to their proper positions so the latch never closes over fully to lock the boot lid in place. Nissan wanted a £99 diagnosis fee plus parts and labour to fix it so I thought stuff that, I’ll investigate it myself. It was a 45 minute job to get access to the motor, give it a clean and put it all back together.
Trim pieces removed and mechanism pulled out (motor is the beige box on the left)
The inside of the actuator motor
Job done. So if it’s been permanently fixed with just a clean up then great, and if not then a new motor is only £65 on eBay and it’s a really quick job.
On a side note, I don’t tend to name cars but I’ve decided to name the 370Z “Zole”, because one day I glanced down at the floor mat and...
Nick001 said:
Classic statement coming up:
Here is me on the way back from the Nürburgring
Had the car 4 years, no issues at all. It was wild, i don't know if i ever felt fully safe driving it - that may be just my poor skills, or the specific car i had but the car is wild.
Within 5 mins of buying it had a massive sideways brown trouser moment, anyone else had the same experience !!
I’ve given the car a good wash and taken care of a couple of niggly cosmetic things.
Great result de-yellowing the headlights with some t-cut and polish
Before
After
Engine bay looking a little more presentable now after a good once-over
After I’d finished washing the car I went for a drive to get it all dirty again..! Managed to get some half decent photos
The rear 3/4 view is such a great angle for this car, just looks the absolute business
Great result de-yellowing the headlights with some t-cut and polish
Before
After
Engine bay looking a little more presentable now after a good once-over
After I’d finished washing the car I went for a drive to get it all dirty again..! Managed to get some half decent photos
The rear 3/4 view is such a great angle for this car, just looks the absolute business
So something I originally wasn’t going to address, but now am because it’s bothering me more than I thought it would, is the gearknob. This is what a new one looks like:
And here’s mine
The leather on the middle part of the knob is super soft and the H-pattern just wears off so quickly. My car is on 55,000 miles but there are 20,000 mile examples with the same if not worse wear.
I’m going to look at options for either restoring it, getting a new OEM shifter or possibly an aftermarket one if I can find something nice and non-tarty.
And here’s mine
The leather on the middle part of the knob is super soft and the H-pattern just wears off so quickly. My car is on 55,000 miles but there are 20,000 mile examples with the same if not worse wear.
I’m going to look at options for either restoring it, getting a new OEM shifter or possibly an aftermarket one if I can find something nice and non-tarty.
SunsetZed said:
thatguy11 said:
So something I originally wasn’t going to address, but now am because it’s bothering me more than I thought it would, is the gearknob. This is what a new one looks like:
And here’s mine
The leather on the middle part of the knob is super soft and the H-pattern just wears off so quickly. My car is on 55,000 miles but there are 20,000 mile examples with the same if not worse wear.
I’m going to look at options for either restoring it, getting a new OEM shifter or possibly an aftermarket one if I can find something nice and non-tarty.
I personally prefer the look of the 350Z gear knob, the design is the same but with a metal centre not leather.And here’s mine
The leather on the middle part of the knob is super soft and the H-pattern just wears off so quickly. My car is on 55,000 miles but there are 20,000 mile examples with the same if not worse wear.
I’m going to look at options for either restoring it, getting a new OEM shifter or possibly an aftermarket one if I can find something nice and non-tarty.
I’ve got the 370Z booked onto its first track day, at Knockhill on 17th August. 
Well the weather definitely could have been better, but the 370Z’s first track day was still incredible fun! Frankly I was amazed the car coped with the conditions as well as it did; it felt far more planted on a wet track than I thought it would. Having said that, I did have one HUGE moment...took me a good 100 yards or so to collect it but I caught it!!
Also a Radical spun while trying to overtake me and nearly hit me...fairly scary when your mirrors are full of sideways Radical!
The FK2 Type R and Caterham belong to friends; pretty hard to find three more different driver’s cars!
THIS Radical got past me fine...
Also a Radical spun while trying to overtake me and nearly hit me...fairly scary when your mirrors are full of sideways Radical!
The FK2 Type R and Caterham belong to friends; pretty hard to find three more different driver’s cars!
THIS Radical got past me fine...
GrantD5 said:
I love these, I got some photos of one in Worthersee last year (stanced, so assuming as you have been on track it's not your thing, but thought I would post anyway!)
Not exactly my thing but I do absolutely love the 370Z Nismo front bumper, much prefer it to the non-Nismo, pre facelift ‘tusk’ front bumper o my car. Edited by thatguy11 on Friday 21st August 11:51
So the eventual plan with the car is to achieve a really nice “OEM+” spec. First stage of the visual mods has now been done; changing the roof to gloss black.
I’m super happy with how it’s turned out (helps when your dad has been in the signage business for 30 years and knows a thing or two about vinyl). It’s such a simple change but has a huge impact on the car’s appearance. The black of the vinyl is a great match for the black sections of the windscreen/rear window, so it just continues that black area over the whole top of the car. Looks absolutely brilliant I think, and like it could have been a factory option.
Other visual things I’ll be doing:
- changing the colour of the ‘tusks’ part of the front bumper to black (satin, not gloss)
- rear wiper delete
- restoring/replacing the gear knob
- getting the rear wheels refurbished (fronts are near mint condition but the rears have quite a few lacquer marks and rough areas)
- mirror arms and windscreen wipers need some black trim restorer
- maybe one or two other small things.
I’m super happy with how it’s turned out (helps when your dad has been in the signage business for 30 years and knows a thing or two about vinyl). It’s such a simple change but has a huge impact on the car’s appearance. The black of the vinyl is a great match for the black sections of the windscreen/rear window, so it just continues that black area over the whole top of the car. Looks absolutely brilliant I think, and like it could have been a factory option.
Other visual things I’ll be doing:
- changing the colour of the ‘tusks’ part of the front bumper to black (satin, not gloss)
- rear wiper delete
- restoring/replacing the gear knob
- getting the rear wheels refurbished (fronts are near mint condition but the rears have quite a few lacquer marks and rough areas)
- mirror arms and windscreen wipers need some black trim restorer
- maybe one or two other small things.
Edited by thatguy11 on Sunday 23 August 18:23
cerb4.5lee said:
ZX10R NIN said:
I'd also say that if your keeping the standard alloys then I'd suggest adding some spacers to get them filling the arches .
Agree and I have 25mm spacers all round on mine. It is a small thing to do, but it does make a big difference I reckon. shalmaneser said:
Is that your dad's C4S?
Black roof looks great, agree the rear wiper has to go (I have one on my 996 too, have just ordered the plug to allow me to remove it!)
Yeah that’s his, it’s slowly turning into quite the weapon - new exhaust and induction kit means it’s running approx. 350bhp, and his plan is to treat it to some proper adjustable coilovers/dampers plus a full engine rebuild where it’ll probably end up getting bored out for more power! Black roof looks great, agree the rear wiper has to go (I have one on my 996 too, have just ordered the plug to allow me to remove it!)
Alias218 said:
That’s looks great. I’ve always been tempted to do this on my 350 but concerned that it may damage the paint beneath when it comes to removing it.
With modern, good quality vinyl that’s applied properly there’s no risk of paint damage at all. Providing you remove it properly too!Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff