I am considering buying a 91 300zx TT from Ram City Motors in Derby, its done an indicated 34000 km(!) and looks in resonable condition for its age and price of £4995, there are a few rust patches (small), which they have agreed to fully sort for no extra cost.

 

My questions are these:

1, Has anybody had any dealings with Ram City Motors before? If so was the experience good or bad?

 

2, Where would be the best place to get the car serviced around Derby? Other than at the local Nissan dealers, that is.

 

Thanks in advance! ;-)

Ask JeffTT, I think he's inspected cars from there before.

Cheers! Whats the best way of getting in touch with him?

http://www.zedworld.co.uk

Hi

 

I'm assuming that with the car having 34K KM that it is a Jap import. I do not have any personal experience with RAM City Motors but I have seen cars that have come from there and have heard mixed reports, ranging from not bad to terrible.

 

One thing I have heard about RAM City is that the owner isn't too keen on letting people take the Z's for a test drive. I would be very concerned about this. When I went to buy my car, the onwer let me drive it for around 45 minutes.

 

One thing I would suggest to you is that you do lots and lots of shopping around. I live near Mansfield so if you want to see how a pucka Z should drive, you can come for a spin in mine if you want(91 UK Manual). Just mail me on cos.theo@mailcity.com.

 

Initial thoughts would be to make sure that your insurance isn't silly money considering that it is an import and make sure that everything works on it because there are a lot of gadgets.

 

However, either way, anybody on this forum will tell you, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR unless YOU GET LUCKY. I know of someone who got 2K of the cost of the Z he was buying because the owner couldn;'t work out why the brakes wouldn't work properly. It turned out that because the car had been sitting for such a long time, the sides of the brake pads had ceized on to the calipers and just needing tapping off and cleaning up. This happens very rarely.

 

Like I say, you are welcome to come and see mine and I will give you a few pointers with things to look out for on these.

 

 

Happy hunting.

Cos

i considered getting one from ram motors but considered them way over priced imo, do shop around took me 4 months to find the right one so dont by the first one that LOOKS nice, definately take it for drive and have a 2nd oppion.

 

ill take up on the test drive cos, i live in mansfield and would be nice to compare another one so i can see what a shed mine is.

"I'm assuming that with the car having 34K KM that it is a Jap import.

Yep, Japanese Import.

 

"One thing I have heard about RAM City is that the owner isn't too keen on letting people take the Z's for a test drive.

 

I wouldnt buy without a test drive, I'd rather take my money elsewear.

 

"One thing I would suggest to you is that you do lots and lots of shopping around. I live near Mansfield so if you want to see how a pucka Z should drive, you can come for a spin in mine if you want(91 UK Manual). Just mail me on cos.theo@mailcity.com.

 

Cheers! I think I'll take you up on that, I'll try and organise it for 2 weeks time?

 

"Initial thoughts would be to make sure that your insurance isn't silly money considering that it is an import and make sure that everything works on it because there are a lot of gadgets.

 

Insurance isnt too bad, all things considered, about £1200 Fully comp.

 

"However, either way, anybody on this forum will tell you, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR unless YOU GET LUCKY."

 

Looking at a price guide it would seem that a fair condition 300zx would be about £5000? Is that a good guide?

 

 

"Happy hunting."

 

Ta!

 

Brian.

£1200 Fully Comp - OUCH!

 

I am with Firebond and they do special policies for 10year old + carsm which doesn't work on a NCB scheme. It is called a classic car scheme. However, from what I last heard, they don't take on Z Imports any more but I can't confirm that. BTW, I pay £371. I am 27 with a DE55 postcode.

 

If you were able to get your insurance a little cheaper, would you consider spending a little more?

 

You are welcome to go for a test drive any time. In fact, I am doing a few jobs on teh car tomorrow morning. You are welcome to come round if you like.

 

 

Cos

Thanks for the offer, but my Sundays are taken up with my son!

 

But if I could get cheaper insurance then, yes I would pay more!

 

£1200 was one of the cheapest! I will try Firebond though, Im 26 with 3 yrs no claims and a DE23 postcode, nice ;-)

Just my opion,been trawling all over net and the amount of zeds now at the dealers is strangely high,would say that on auto- trader its now well over 50%,there supposedly Just IN from japan,before i went and got me second zed i visited some dealers,very bloody dodgy most were,put me off big time,rangeing from total bullshit to complete amnesia when asking questions etc,one so called trader flatly refused to let me try it out,later i found out he had been trying to sell it for nearly a year,trouble was he was unlucky to get people looking at it who knew it was total crap,even saw a warning on a web site from someone that had been to have a look,if i were to use a trader,i would use those that have the knowledge and experience of these cars ,companys like ,http://www.warrender.co.uk http://www.xoticar.co.uk

http://www.japvillage.com http://www.hallie.freeserve.co.uk http://www.wrx.co.uk

http://www.vine-place.co.uk there are many more but if you stick to a specialist thats been importing for years you stand a better chance,i think that the escort/mondeo/vectra dealers are getting em cheap,tarting em up,selling on for big profit,just my personal verdict of course;)

There are two main advantages when buying a Japanese import.

 

1. Low mileage.

2. No rust.

 

I've got 2 300ZX imports with over 100K kilometers and no rust!

 

1. Is the mileage genuine, ask to see the import documentation.

2. Buy a U.K. one with rust thrown in free.

Mileage appears to be genuine. Its been RAC inspected, and there are no major problems apparent, plus they would fix any problems that the RAC came up with.

 

Rust is V minor, just in two spots where the paint has bubbled.

Whoops, didn't read the original post properly.

 

1. Get an HPI check and verify the mileage.

2. Yep, it probably will have rust.

3. Buy a japanese import.

With that mileage the car should be looking like, and driving like new almost, if it isnt, and the rust implies it is nt, I would have to ask if the mileage is correct. And if it isnt, what else isnt?

Bigbscan, I know of one zed from the garage you mentioned, due to a poor after sales service the customer was reluctant to have a required repair done by them, hence it came to our workshop.

 

The aircon pump was seized and was supposed to be covered under the warranty terms that the dealer sold him, BUT after contacted the warranty company for a claim reference number I was informed the dealer had not paid for the warranty! this was 2 months after the sale!

 

This was 2 weeks before xmas and the warranty company have still received payment? could be a one off ....decide for yourself.

 

Jeff TT

I am liking this garage less and less. :(

 

I think I will wait and try and find another one. Rather than buying the first Z i get into. Just very tempting when I sat in it and heard the engine spring to life for the first time!

 

And it fits me like a glove. ;-)

 

Brian.

Bigbscan , its not the 300 on the Ram city website with odd front and back wheels is it?

God no!! Ive seen that one up close and if any car has been thrashed, that one has! The body kit has a fair few cracks over it, and the wheels....well, put it this way, they look bad on the photo, let alone up close!

 

After reading through this forum, I think i would rather travel a fair bit than use a local garage i cannot entirely trust. Im glad I joined this forum!

 

Money for Z will be available this weekend, so i'm getting desperate to find one!! :-)

 

Brian.

FYI, it is on the Ram City Website, its the white one with 18" 3 spoke alloys. Auto TT. And after taking another look, I made a mistake in my original post, its acutally done 53,000Km, and the sales man told me it worked out at less than 30,000 miles.

 

Too caught up with the engine noise! ;-)

 

Brian

Patience young man!take your time:D :D :D ;)

I know what u mean , I bought my first Z 2 weeks ago ,after looking for 3 months, but nearly bought the first one I saw , that noise is a winner! Saw a few sh*tters though.

Good luck with your purcahse :)

White one looks ok from here...

It's hard to resist when you have the money ready. You want to be driving it as soon as you can.

But be careful when buying, if it don't look or sound right, walk away.

 

If in doubt get it checked out by the AA or RAC. It may be expensive About £200 to have it checked, so a little trick I learnt was to go view the car during the week and ask if you can get someone to look at the car on Sunday. Then drive around the area and find a B&Q or another big superstore with a big car park and a burger Van. Come Sunday morning this car park will have about 2 or 3 RAC or AA vans in it with people waiting to be called out. Have a word with these guys and offer them a large drink to look at the car for you. Most of my mates use this tactic when buying a car and it hasn't failed yet. Some get it checked for a score others have had to pay up to a bullseye. Still a lot cheaper than £200.

Thats the one thing that would make me buy from Ram City Motors. All their cars are RAC checked as part of the price and they make sure all points for additional work marked by the RAC are completed before the car is sold.

 

But with the word of warning I have already heard abou them, Im not so sure.

 

I think the only way I would buy from them, is if they carry out the work, then get the car checked again by somebody else.

 

I have doubts about them, but I would have doubts buying from anybody over a car like this. ;) :D

 

Brian