It was red, at a place called Salah Imports in Birmingham

 

Nearly, nearly bought it.....but something in my head said no.

 

Drove nearly 3 hours each way, and I am gutted.

 

Few little problems I noticed were...

 

Front bumper had no plastic mud guard behind it...and no mesh around the front.

Pannel above the bumper before the bonnett was pink instead of red.

Rear bumper was pink.

The reversing lights pannel between the lights was slightly iffy.

Turbo guage was not working, and didn't feel as quick as it should IMHO

Rear spolier was a little loose.

Inside one of the rear archs was a mess, whereas the other was clean.

 

The deciding factor...

 

The car "has a new MOT" but I looked at the rubber on the rear and one was low, and the other was past the rubber, and down to the fabric underneath! Makes me wonder what else it may have passed on!

 

Now I think I made a good choice leaving it, although I am gutted because with a little TLC is could have possible been nice.

 

Please tell me I made the right choice....

 

BTW, if anyone is in the Birmingham area and has nothing to do, and knows their Zed's...would you fancy having a look at it for me...either to confirm my theory or to tell me it is a good car and I am an idiot.

 

The hunt continues. :headvswal

When I say nearly, I mean I was walking to the bank and changed my mind!

Hello mate, I don't mean this to sound like an advertisement for my car but have you considered any of the cars on here? How much are you looking at spending? Generally if you are looking at import centers or trade sellers you will be paying a grand more than the car is worth privately and theres a lot of dodgy import centers up around birmingham (search on here for particulars). There are some very cheap zeds for sale here which probably need work but there are also many very good quality ones.

 

Where abouts do you live? maybe if you saw what was out there then you'd have a better idea. Good choice on walking away though. Lots of people can't resist the first zed they see.

The state of the modded car market at the moment means that if you choose right you can get a real bargain. My Rx7 that I just got has receipts for over 25k and a lot more moneys worth of work done on it. My zed has 15k of receipts . It really is a buyers market, you just need to know what you are looking for, and what you should try to get already replaced.

Dave

Come to JAE and look at the club cars

sounds like u made the right choice mate as prob a hooky mot on it in that case. Also i think u should get royals car !! worth every penny

Good call on walking away there mate.

 

BTW some good advice - NEVER buy a ZX from a dealer in Birmingham. :x:

 

You've been warned!

 

As Dave (Royal) says - there are a few good ones for sale here at the mo - like his for instance. Much better than taking a risk on a bad one IMO.

 

Good hunting

 

Richard :cool:

We'ver heard bad things about an import place in Birmingham - I can't remember if it was that one or not.

 

There's plenty of duff ones out there so you have to be prepared to keep looking for a while.

 

Generally cars from long standing members on here should be ok. Come to JAE - you'll get to look at loads of 300s and get a feeling for what's what.

What should I look for when purchasing a used Z?

 

All this talk of Z buying had me thinking. I'm 30 & have probably bought no less than 20 used cars so far in my life, here's a few things I look for. I always buy used...anyways I can pretty much spot a winner now but thought this might be helpful. I always look for mint then work my way down. =)

 

First off body:

 

The dealers first off will pressure you, screw that. If the car is on the lot go back when they aren't there, maybe a Sunday this way you can check it out without anyone there. If something is wrong they will keep you busy so you don't notice it. These were 40-50k dollar cars so if any got wrecked you know for sure shops tried to salvage them & they are back in the market.

 

Signs of paintwork besides obvious mismatching:

 

1. Lift up any rubber seals on the car even around the windows & look for a paint edge.

2. Check every wheel well & even see if you can lift up the edge of the liner to see if there is a paint edge.

3. Pop the hood & hatch. Check the bolts that hold the quarter panel on, should be covered with factory paint & look like it's never been removed, if it's been

removed you will know it because it's near impossible to line it back up & not show where bolt location was previously.

4. Check the gaps on both sides of hood, should be small & equal. Check the gaps right under door where fender meets door, make sure same on both sides.

Check gaps on both sides of bumpers front & back.

5. Open doors & look through hinge ares for messed up sheet metal on the pillar.

6. Check in back upper hatch seal area for signs of wreck.

7. Always look in the spare tire well.

8. Look for OEM glass & always check for cracked windshield this is easy to miss & not uncommon.

9. Look up under the bumper at the frame that connects to it, look under hood area at that also, this is what gets straightened from a head on collision.

10. Whatever you do NEVER & I mean NEVER buy a car at night! Even if you go where lights are. In the day look down the body for dings & depressions especially since Zs are durasteel.

11. I don't use a magnet since I can generally knock & tell if has bondo but feel free. Owners will look at you funny & get irate sometimes...hey, if they don't like it, don't buy it, this is NOT a small investment. If the owner knows the car is excellent they will have no problem whatsoever letting you check it up & down, normally they are pretty proud when it's really clean.

12. I prefer stock paint that has been maintained.

13. Check the calipers, see if they look all the same.

14. Check lights for condensation..though sometimes this is not indicative or wreck, check the seal area & alignment around the lights very hard to get to factory spec.

 

I almost bought a Supra (but decided against it) at a Toyota dealer until I checked the hood & noticed huh....the gap isn't even. Then I checked up

under the wheel wells & counted the bolts, guess what? driver fender missing 3, then checked top bolts on 1/4, saw where bolts had been removed...I bailed..made me to nervous. Keep in mind this might be sometimes nessary for autowork so not it's always a negative.

 

With individuals just ask them, ever been in an accident, alot of times they will tell you! Or they might say a little fenderbender on bumber but Nissan fixed it. I called a lady on a Z & outright asked "ever been in accident" she said Nissan told her car had been repainted. *wow* all I did was ask. =)

 

Interior & Electrical:

 

1. Pretty obvious but check the leather for paint, dealers like to spray messed up leather with leather paint.

2. Being these cars are T-tops check the seat rails for excessive signs of corrosion from where they fell asleep & a rainstorm hit while they were inside. =)

3. Check the radio, easy to talk down dealer a little because I gaurentee the stock system has problems.

4. Work everything electrical on the passenger side. Duh, I always forget this...never know when a seat or window switch won't work over there.

 

Too many factors with engines, read the faqs & take to a shop...but whatever, test drive a friend's then the one you want, not down the street, get it on the interstate, work the gears & *listen*. Drive it for more than 25 minutes when you get serious (overheating, etc) , I never like to waste the owners time so I go look, come home, think & cool down my jets, then if thats the one I want tell them I'm serious but want to drive it for awhile.

 

Other tips:

 

Now other things I've found with dealers is 9 times out of 10 they bought the car at auction, if the car is 22 they paid 18 or less. Believe me, 2 grand off the asking is a given, unless it's unusually low priced. Know the value in kbb/edmunds/& general area. I just bought this 94 convertible at a local nissan. On the lot for $22.7K & this baby is mint. Book is $22.6K I got it under 20. Now if your credit is poor, it's much tougher since they have the advantage. Individuals are much tougher to talk down but if the add says best offer that is dead givaway they need to sell it bad...payments or something, so offer less. If the car is mint the owner will generally not budge for good reason & I have no problem paying more for mint.

 

By far the cleanest Z's Ive seen are at Nissan dealers. Cleanest I've ever seen are at Ft Lauderdale Nissan but they price accordingly. I've talked to the Zman down there & he sounds impressive.

 

Last but not least! Carfax! but don't be surprised if you see auctions...that is normal part of auto business but I double check when I see that. Auto auctions are VERY good at cleaning cars for the sellers, they can hide anything.

Thanks for the advise guys. Glad I walked away in the end. Will keep looking!

Front bumper had no plastic mud guard behind it...and no mesh around the front.

 

Just for next time - the missing undertray is very common, they get removed for all sorts of maintanance and servicing and can come loose on the road and rip themselves off.

 

They dont come with any mesh as standard.

It was red, at a place called Salah Imports in Birmingham

 

Nearly, nearly bought it.....but something in my head said no.

 

Drove nearly 3 hours each way, and I am gutted.

 

Few little problems I noticed were...

 

Front bumper had no plastic mud guard behind it...and no mesh around the front.

Pannel above the bumper before the bonnett was pink instead of red.

Rear bumper was pink.

The reversing lights pannel between the lights was slightly iffy.

Turbo guage was not working, and didn't feel as quick as it should IMHO

Rear spolier was a little loose.

Inside one of the rear archs was a mess, whereas the other was clean.

 

The deciding factor...

 

The car "has a new MOT" but I looked at the rubber on the rear and one was low, and the other was past the rubber, and down to the fabric underneath! Makes me wonder what else it may have passed on!

 

Now I think I made a good choice leaving it, although I am gutted because with a little TLC is could have possible been nice.

 

Please tell me I made the right choice....

 

BTW, if anyone is in the Birmingham area and has nothing to do, and knows their Zed's...would you fancy having a look at it for me...either to confirm my theory or to tell me it is a good car and I am an idiot.

 

The hunt continues. :headvswal

Not being rude or anything, but I'm glad you walked away, as that sounds like a real pile of crap, and from a dodgy dealer by the sounds of it!!

 

Patrick(Austin) nice write-up, some usefull information for the less experienced among us