Ok im alot closer to buying my Z now, just getting the cash together by the end of the month and im good.

 

Unfortunatly this means having my first RWD car round mid december...

 

Can these cars be used in nasty conditions? its a N/A manual, so no worrys bout auto box or turbos kicking in mid corner...

 

The other thing is, How reliable are they? do they often break? I wouldnt imagine so being a jap car..

 

Also, Who was the guy who spoke to me about the garage WCS in Costessey Norwich?

 

Pete

Any car can be used in nasty conditions. The rest is up to the driver.

The other thing is, How reliable are they? do they often break? I wouldnt imagine so being a jap car..

Hmmmm.

You should be a little better in an N/A but every car can break down!

 

I drive mine all year round, but you have to be carefull on the corners in the cold and wet as I found out again the other day!

you have to be carefull on the corners in the cold and wet as I found out again the other day!

 

 

thats cos you have massive rims and a heavy right foot.... :tongue:

 

 

 

realible that is subjective but IMHO they are great for a 15+ year old car owned 2 now and they are great daily drivers

thats cos you have massive rims and a heavy right foot.... :tongue:

 

 

 

realible that is subjective but IMHO they are great for a 15+ year old car owned 2 now and they are great daily drivers

I do have a heavy right foot :dance:

 

This is my second Zed as well, I love them...

It seems in good condition, has aftermarket exhausts which look+sound great so i wont be needing to change them, everything else is standard, it does have a few marks but it is a 93 plate.. fresh import not registered yet

I have driven my Z in all conditions including ice and snow. Just take your time like you are expected to do if you where driving any other car.

These cars are only as good as the maintenance your prepared to do on them, if they arnt maintained correctly and regularly they will let you down as with any vehicle, poss more so with the zed as they are a specialist car and need specialist attention especially the turbo models plus they are old cars now and most of the parts that havnt yet been replaced will most proberbly need replaicing in the future. All i can say is be prepared for any event with these cars.

 

Apart from that good luck :)

You'll find the NA is pretty much bombproof, just be glad you don't have a tt. Absolute nightmare to look after and mine's playing up with the cold. Never had that with the na zed.

 

Ok im alot closer to buying my Z now, just getting the cash together by the end of the month and im good.

 

Unfortunatly this means having my first RWD car round mid december...

 

Can these cars be used in nasty conditions? its a N/A manual, so no worrys bout auto box or turbos kicking in mid corner...

 

The other thing is, How reliable are they? do they often break? I wouldnt imagine so being a jap car..

 

Also, Who was the guy who spoke to me about the garage WCS in Costessey Norwich?

 

Pete

Hi,

The NA is ok to drive in the winter but obviously be careful on wet roundabouts!

If it still has Japanese spec tyres, you'd be best to change them to a European compound tyre, as the Jap tyres tend to have lower grip levels especially when it's cold!

Thanks for the Advice :)

I took it for a second test drive today and nearly every person you drive past follows you with their head :) was nice feeling

 

Im still looking for the guy that spoke to me in one of my previous posts as he seems to know the dealer im getting this off.

 

What do you guys think? The price is £3995 for a 93 plate N/A manual with 63k on the clock.

The dealer despite my efforts wouldnt budge on the price, said its alot of car for the money and its priced fairly as it is?

 

I want it so i wont let it put me off to much but i thought in general dealers are ment to budge a bit.

You know you're going to buy it. Just do it and find out for yourself. Welcome aboard.

What do you guys think? The price is £3995 for a 93 plate N/A manual with 63k on the clock.

The dealer despite my efforts wouldnt budge on the price, said its alot of car for the money and its priced fairly as it is?

 

I want it so i wont let it put me off to much but i thought in general dealers are ment to budge a bit.

I think that price could be OK from a garage, is he throwing in a warranty at all?

 

I would be tempted to go in there with £500 less than he wants in cash and say take it or leave it!!!

agree, that's a lot for an NA, especially a fresh import. You can get TT's that have been in the country a while and well looked after for that money, that way all the teething problems and have been sorted and it should have been serviced too.

Firstly - there is not much difference in reliability between Japanese cars and cars made elsewhere. In fact, I would say that Japanese cars are put together better (particularly if you compare early 1990's models with equivalent European or US cars).

 

Secondly - the car you are looking at buying is now 13 years old and probably has very little in service history being a fresh import. The car could have been maintained with no expense spared and driven dilligently ... or it could have been raced to within an inch of it's life every weekend and not maintained properly. Therefore, if you are happy with the condition of the car (without getting into taking the engine apart or performing detailed diagnostic checks) then the first thing you need to do after you drive it out of the dealership is to take it to a Zed specialist (suggest ZedWorld). Have them go over the car with a fine tooth comb, perform all the necessary diagnostics, service the car (oil, fuel, air filters, etc), replace the timing belt, ancillary belts, thermostat, waterpump, pcv valves, etc, etc. Look at the suspension components (very important), brake components, change all four Japanese tyres for UK tyres (suggest Toyo Proxes) and only when all that's done and the car has been given a clean bill of health would I say you can be reasonably confident the car won't give you any more trouble than can reasonably be expected of a 13 year old sports car.

 

Thirdly - even in NA guise the car is very powerful. Don't be tempted to put your foot down mid corner (especially in the wet) until you've had a chance to "acclimatise" to the car's performance and handling behaviour. For a typical ZX handling behaviour is as follows: slight understeer at turn in followed by massive oversteer. The car is inherently snappy to say the least. If the back does break out you need to be very quick to apply opposite lock and get off the gas. With practice, and the correct suspension setup, the car becomes easier to control in slides but it will always be a handful.

 

Good luck with your purchase. If at all possible get someone with experience of 300's to come with you to look over the car before you commit to buying.

 

All the best,

 

Dan

wise words

Thanks for the advice.

The car, just by looking looks very tidy.

The guy is throwing in 6 month warranty, Full service/MOT and will change the timing belt as well.

 

But i think ill still get it looked over properly.

Also i would go in there with cash but im relying on a trade in so i can afford it...

 

Im just gettin the last bit of the cash ready (next week) and ill go in and give him the deposit to get things underway

A manual NA eh??? - Good choice :bow: I've had mine 2 1/2 years now with virtually no probs :) Just a starter motor (precautionary measure) a radiator and a new clutch. Also a few "standard" MOT items like brake pipes, headlight alignment and wiper blades.

 

It's driven in all weathers incl. snow and as long as your careful it really is no problem.

I was looking for a tt manual in the summer, but everything I saw was a rusty pile of junk, and then a '94 n/a auto turned up at a dealer. He wanted £5000 for it, a fresh import with the usual 64,000 on the clock.

I thought it was way overpriced, but went for a look anyway. I was blown away by the condition of it tho, it was absolutely amazing. The underneath was just mint and the body, interior, engine bay was like new. Really it could have passed for a 3 year old car.

 

I bought it without a warranty for £4500. It's been perfect really apart from a few niggles which seem to have fixed themselves.

If your car sounds similar to the above then I'd go for it. But not if it's looking a bit tired.

Luckily I'm doing an engine transplant soon, cos the performance is woeful to be honest. A manual should be a bit better, but I think it would take a really crappy road or a lot of deliberate provocation for you to lose the back end.

Just thought, mine was a bit tail happy when I got it, but swapped the jap tyres for some decent ones and now it's unstickable.

There's no reason why you shouldn't use it all year round, Imean it's not a 500hp monster, it's a 200hp plodder, with mediocre performance at best. Great round corners though! Glad I've got mine, and if I lost it tomorrow I'd go and get another.

Un-stickable back end? Should have seen chunks old car. It drifts well even on super grippy concrete.

 

Ivan

Its not puttin me off but reading through some of the posts people going on about needing a big wallet to have Z's?

Or is that just the TT's?

Un-stickable back end? Should have seen chunks old car. It drifts well even on super grippy concrete.

 

Ivan

No not seen it, was that a standard n/a auto too??