im after a new toy after owning mk3 supras for 13 years and spending all my hard earned cash on them , thing is i have had lots of auto cars (including a bmw 540i auto) and two turbo auto supra turbos. im thinking 300zx tt auto but have herd there are a few probs with the auto box , so what year should i go for and also do i want a jap or a uk car ,

Hallo mrsoup & welcome. Here are some links to buyers' guides and tech info. The current issue of Japanese Performance has a buyers guide in it with FunkySi's gorgeous white Zed. Or there's this one http://www.300zx.co.uk/tech/BuyingZ.htm and http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=28072 . Plus a great site here with more http://www.300zx.org.uk/z32_info.htm and lastly the Australian forum has loads of tech stuff http://tech.aus300zx.com/buy.html

 

Lots of people would rather convert to manual than fix the autobox. Me, I just sold my manual and bought an auto and it drives very nicely (fingers crossed that's not going to be famous last words :D )

 

Cheers - Gio

Heres the bvuyers guide mate.

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/tech/BuyingZ.htm

 

Your choice I suppose about what to get. You will get several different answers off here. It does seem that people change from auto to manual however.

 

Good luck with your search and the best advice I can give is take your time and find yourself a good one. Usually buying off the forum is the best bet as the cars are usually well looked after and known to people on here.

 

Darrell

 

Damn my typing skills. Not quick enough again.

Damn my typing skills. Not quick enough again.

 

Hehe - no shame in that Darrell, you were up against a quick cut and paste job from an earlier email so I cheated, really :D

im after a new toy after owning mk3 supras for 13 years and spending all my hard earned cash on them , thing is i have had lots of auto cars (including a bmw 540i auto) and two turbo auto supra turbos. im thinking 300zx tt auto but have herd there are a few probs with the auto box , so what year should i go for and also do i want a jap or a uk car ,

 

I looked at around 6 cars and they where all dogs

 

Then one saturday night after a skin full i bid on a 300zx tt auto import on ebay i got up in the morning and was preying i did not win it, But guess what it was mine

 

I traveled around 260 miles to pick it up and all the way i was saying to my mate what have i done you should never buy cars like this without seeing them first but i was lucky it was really tidy and it had been pampered

 

Mine is a 1992 auto stage 1 chip and boost jetted and the box has been really good its felt better after i chipped it

 

Cheers Chris

im after a new toy after owning mk3 supras for 13 years and spending all my hard earned cash on them , thing is i have had lots of auto cars (including a bmw 540i auto) and two turbo auto supra turbos. im thinking 300zx tt auto but have herd there are a few probs with the auto box , so what year should i go for and also do i want a jap or a uk car ,

UK zeds are worth more money but dont get as many gismos! I have a 91 uk tt auto and I have owned it for a year now and my auto box is shot so I found out after two days of owning it! starting to loose fourth gear now plus when booting it it goes 1-2-4-3-4 and a dodgy reverse! so second hand box soon! £600 supplied and fitted at SWZ performance. Manual would be great though!! But hey I love my zed and had no major probs with it so far just a shame engines in pieces at mo because my mate is doing a full service and needing a few minor parts as we go!!

And welcome to the club mate... Autos are a nice drive but I would go for the manual!! :) :)

UK zeds are worth more money but dont get as many gismos! I have a 91 uk tt auto and I have owned it for a year now and my auto box is shot so I found out after two days of owning it! starting to loose fourth gear now plus when booting it it goes 1-2-4-3-4 and a dodgy reverse! so second hand box soon! £600 supplied and fitted at SWZ performance. Manual would be great though!! But hey I love my zed and had no major probs with it so far just a shame engines in pieces at mo because my mate is doing a full service and needing a few minor parts as we go!!

And welcome to the club mate... Autos are a nice drive but I would go for the manual!! :) :)

UK spec is cheaper on insurance to!!

UK zeds are worth more money but dont get as many gismos! I have a 91 uk tt auto and I have owned it for a year now and my auto box is shot so I found out after two days of owning it! starting to loose fourth gear now plus when booting it it goes 1-2-4-3-4 and a dodgy reverse! so second hand box soon! £600 supplied and fitted at SWZ performance. Manual would be great though!! But hey I love my zed and had no major probs with it so far just a shame engines in pieces at mo because my mate is doing a full service and needing a few minor parts as we go!!

And welcome to the club mate... Autos are a nice drive but I would go for the manual!! :) :)

 

UK zed's are not worth more than Jap, but yes they are usually cheaper to insure.

 

Price differences tend to be for Auto - Manual, and LWB - SWB.

I have had 4 jap twin turbo autos, 3 of which where spot on (including the current one), with no gearbox problems at all, the other one however would not go into top gear, so i got rid of it as it needed the box reconditioning. All i can say is when buying properly check the gearbox, make sure you get out onto some open road and open it up make sure it kicks down ok, make sure it changes smoothly etc..... And it will be ok, i got ripped off because i did'nt get chance to take it out and get it into top gear. My dad has a manual n/a and even though it does'nt have the power of a twin turbo it is still more fun to drive than an auto.

 

Also in regards to UK or Jap - Jap everytime, as you are pretty much guaranteed no rust whereas UK ones are rusty beggars, unless they have been garaged, i looked at a UK one and i could of put my hand through the rear wheel arch it was that bad, i have never come accross an import with rust issues!

 

Just be very diligent and check everything, make a list before you go or print out the buying guide from this site.

thanks guys . a few more things i need to know. wat kind of engine rpm are the man and the autos doing at 70 mph ? and aslo did the autobox get any modifications ( im gonna look at 1993 models onward )

 

 

 

 

thanks again guys

 

ps my supra started acting up last nite (i think she know her times up)

I would go for a good uk car

 

cruise, leather all standard and i slightly better ride and less trim rattle i have found, ins cheaper too

I beg to differ on the fact uk are not worth more, or was ! the market droppe out of them all really.

Jap everytime!

 

Auto gearboxs are really quite good compared to other cars. but manual 'box makes it feel a lot more like a sports car rather than a GT.

my uk manual will be up for sale soon, eed to give it a good health check first

thanks guys . a few more things i need to know. wat kind of engine rpm are the man and the autos doing at 70 mph ? and aslo did the autobox get any modifications ( im gonna look at 1993 models onward )

 

 

 

 

thanks again guys

 

ps my supra started acting up last nite (i think she know her times up)

 

70mph = 2500rpm in the Auto and 2700rpm in the Manual

 

There were minor revisions to the Auto and Manual boxes but not until around 1995/1996

ok folks i got m first 300zx tt auto . i looked at a few cars and one seamed to be rite for me , a deal was struck (after a test drive and a very good look over etc) shes a silver 1993 jap auto 64k miles on the clock no nasty noises smells or bumps etc , gonna go n pic her up on sat morning , allreadt got my owners manuel , wat else do i need?

 

ps gonna make my own conzult to pc cable this weekend :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

hi mrsoup totally off topic but you dont own a bike aswell do ya

bike me nah mate im to old ide f******kin kill myself on one . i got a mk3 supra turbo im sellimg though

UK zeds are worth more money but dont get as many gismos! ..............:) :)

 

Not really correct there.....

 

......OK so a good, clean low mileage UK car will command a premuim but only as far as someone will pay for it.

 

And as for the spec, the 300zx is one Japanese car where the UK cars and imports do not differ greatly - in fact with most UK cars having leather and remote locking with alarm from the factory I'd say the UK versions have the advantage.

 

Generally though, more J-spec cars are in better condition as they don't salt their roads in winter. J-spec cars tend to have lower miles too, but don't count on that being genuine - whereas UK cars may have service history etc etc to corroborate mileage.

 

The best advice though is to look at several cars and pick the best of those you see, regardless of origin auto or manual.

 

Richard :cool:

ah sry thought i recognised the name

ok folks i got m first 300zx tt auto . i looked at a few cars and one seamed to be rite for me , a deal was struck (after a test drive and a very good look over etc) shes a silver 1993 jap auto 64k miles on the clock no nasty noises smells or bumps etc , gonna go n pic her up on sat morning , allreadt got my owners manuel , wat else do i need?

 

ps gonna make my own conzult to pc cable this weekend :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

:dance: Nice one mate. Get some photos up ASAP...