I know this is such an ambitious question, but on average what are your annual running costs - excluding tax, petrol and insurance.

 

Should I be affraid very affraid of get an increase on my Student overdraft still running for 6 years ..............................

All depends on what goes wrong!!

 

If you have not got the Z yet I wouldn't bother as you will have to sell it eventually to pay off all the debts you have incurred whilst owning it!!

 

You need some wedge in the bank for 'emergencies' if you don't have that you use credit cards and then you get the interest and payments then it's a big downward spiral until there comes a time you have to sell the Z...............

 

Even small problems can cost you £300 to £500 to put right and the major things can be £1,500 to £2,000+

 

Make sure you can afford the running cost plus the bills of petrol, tax, mot, insurance.............

 

Just be careful.........

 

Matty.

Originally posted by Welsh Beef

I know this is such an ambitious question, but on average what are your annual running costs - excluding tax, petrol and insurance.

 

Should I be affraid very affraid of get an increase on my Student overdraft still running for 6 years ..............................

LOL i dont even want to think about that, last year i spent over £4000.00 :( this year i have spent almost £2000.00 lol i feel like crying.

i dont even want to think about the year before that - on average around £4k per annum for me lmfao.

Fortunently my old mans a mechanic now retired so he will be able to do all the labour for a few beers. So that worry will be fine, however how about parts?

 

He insists I buy on condition and don't pay any attention to service history especially as so many stealerships employ monkies who have no idea. Plus on the service history if there have been any big problems you simply rip out those pages when it comes to repair......

Only had Z six weeks, 1st week cost me 600 but i expected that, just getting it to run sweet.

Since then zero, apart from fuel ofcourse :( and as im still like a kid with a new toy im usin about £110 a week, but that'll come down when the novelty wears off lol.

Also , running costs are gonna be high if you use specialist garages, the one i used charges £38 + vat per hour, but now i've found this site should be able to do more stuff myself , some of these guys know everythin about Z's!:)

Following smw1's trend of working out how much you've spent on mods and maintenance...........I've had mine nearly 3 years and its over £8k. Thats pretty much right down the middle between mods and maint....although 6 months after I bought it I had SE supply and fit a new engine for me, so thats a big lump of the maintenance.

 

You can obviously take as many safegaurds as poss, good oil, regularly changed etc, making sure your turbo timer is set to 3 mins if you've been giving it some welly but think alot of it comes down to luck! There is no def answer as to what it costs to run a Z.

Originally posted by Welsh Beef

Fortunently my old mans a mechanic now retired so he will be able to do all the labour for a few beers. So that worry will be fine, however how about parts?

 

He insists I buy on condition and don't pay any attention to service history especially as so many stealerships employ monkies who have no idea. Plus on the service history if there have been any big problems you simply rip out those pages when it comes to repair......

 

Does he know his onions when it comes to Z's??

 

No offence but they are a specialised car otherwise people would just pick up a book learn a few things then start charging people loads of cash for doing small jobs!

 

If only life was that easy, I would be a Z mechanic.......they are complicated to work on and not only that People like Andy Duff, JeffTT, Lymon etc have been on these cars for years and I bet they don't know everything!

 

Could you dad take out the engine and change the turbo's? (fair play if he could but I somehow doubt it)

 

Matty.

Had mine dead on a year, has cost me dead on a grand in one year, thats not including fuel, tax and insurance. Just sevicing and repairs, and nothing major has gone wrong!!!

 

Id hate to add up what ive spent incuding fuel, oh bugger got me thinking now!!!

 

Dont care what it costs, i still love it!

Euch... fuel is the worst! I was getting through 100 quid a week a while back! But since I've been driving this fantastic 1.8 Sierra, I reckon I've saved a fortune.

 

I think, to be safe, you gotta have half the purchase cost of the car available for emergencies when you buy it. My head-gaskets busted first. And I had the turbos done. So within the first few months I'd done a load more wad. Then things started going downhill.

 

Knew I shoulda bought a 928 ;)

Originally posted by Matty

Could you dad take out the engine and change the turbo's? (fair play if he could but I somehow doubt it)

 

Matty.

 

Sorry Matty but, I have to dissagree with you.

 

Yes there are some things on the Zed that needs specialist knowledge and skills, but I don't think that pulling an engine is one of them. if needs be I'd quite happily do it myself. and I'm just a profecient amateur mechanic. Take off all the 'extras' and it's still a V6 with pistons and valves just like every other engine.

 

If Welch's old man's a mechanic all he needs is a service manual and I'm sure he could tackle most jobs, lets face it the biggest problem with people working on these cars is monkeys at garages trying to get the job done as quickly as possible turning as large a profit as possible. His dad's going to take care and pride in what he's doing isn't he?

 

Just my 2 penneth.

 

Tim

Originally posted by Trevz

im usin about £110 a week, but that'll come down when the novelty wears off lol.

 

Had mine for five years and the novelty hasn't worn off yet ! :D :D

 

Condition is important but even if you're not too bothered about the rest of the history you HAVE to ensure it's at least had regular oil & filter changes. These aren't cars that you can skimp on servicing with, nor are they cars you can just budget for initial cost, fuel, insurance etc - they can cost a lot to maintain !

 

If you do plan to get your father to work on it then do him a favour and get the workshop manual on CD rom for a tenner from the Zcentre ! ;)

 

Good luck - konrad !

Originally posted by konrad

 

If you do plan to get your father to work on it then do him a favour and get the workshop manual on CD rom for a tenner from the Zcentre ! ;)

 

Good luck - konrad !

Or just ask someone to burn it to disc for you for free lol, a tenner for something that cost under 5 p he he extorsion :D

 

All i know is ive yet to come across any so called specialists who have full knoledge about them, found Progress who i have to say know there stuff, but they are not that easy to work on from any point off view.

It will cost you, and may or may not be cheap, but it doesnt matter, nothing matters when you are on your fave twisty road, t tops off sun shining and listening to one of the best sounding growl howl fssssssshht boosh woooop, and knowing its all yours and each time you drive it it feels better, oh and by the way it will always cost a lot in fuel as the novelty never ever wears off, and you end up taking the long way home again, ive had a lot of cars but NOTHING compares to this, just do it ;) :D ;)

Originally posted by gavo

It will cost you, and may or may not be cheap, but it doesnt matter, nothing matters when you are on your fave twisty road, t tops off sun shining and listening to one of the best sounding growl howl fssssssshht boosh woooop, and knowing its all yours and each time you drive it it feels better, oh and by the way it will always cost a lot in fuel as the novelty never ever wears off, and you end up taking the long way home again, ive had a lot of cars but NOTHING compares to this, just do it ;) :D ;)

 

.............I like it! :D :cool: :D