This is not one of the best of examples, very dented and scratched bodywork, but very low miles of 22,500. Exterior Grade was D, (very poor), overall Grade 3.5 but only because of the low mileage otherwise this a Grade 2.5/3 car... anyhow it's one of the first i've seen in a while, even from the pic you can tell the bodywork is not that great!! Interior does look good:), the car itself is a 2+2 TT Auto...

 

 

 

 

Lot's of dents and scratches shown on the body diagram!!

 

BB exhausts. Ones I'd have if I didn't have my current system. They just fit the car so well. Better than any other exhaust I've seen.

Park it next to a 07 plate Aston and it will hold its ground some 18years later!!

 

And its not a Mondeo underneath... lol. Do like them though.. a lot ;)

Park it next to a 07 plate Aston and it will hold its ground some 18years later!!

 

 

Funny looking Aston Martin. lol

Just done a price comparison in Japan...

 

A 2003, Grade 4 350Z, auto, with 20K miles, nice wheels and lower bumper kit sold for 1,540,000 JPY... so almost 200K JPY less than the 99 spec ZX and a much newer car!!

Rear end is the best view IMHO. Placed on the road with other cars, it's practically unrivaled. Wide, low and exotic looking. Rear lights look ubber cool, especially at night. Very little comes close.

 

 

+1 my absolute favourite view of the Z

 

My least favourite being laying on my back under the damn thing.. :rofl:

i personally could not justify the huge diff in cost just because its newer, imho the general public would just see it as a Zed, ill stick to my old lady lol!!

i personally could not justify the huge diff in cost just because its newer, imho the general public would just see it as a Zed, ill stick to my old lady lol!!

I agree:), if this is an indication of what the 99 spec ZX prices are to be then it will be difficult to justify paying so much for a car that is effectively 10 years old... mint 350Z's can be imported for less!!

Would rather have the Z32 over the Z33 anyday.

Would rather have the Z32 over the Z33 anyday.

 

 

second that and the rear view of the Zed is what most people will see of it :D and what a beautiful sight it is to lol

jusy goes to show there is still life in the old dog yet :D

jusy goes to show there is still life in the old dog yet :D

Oh yeah, but just a bit too much life at the moment :rofl:!!, would much prefer to be able to buy them at say £4-5K in Japan and have them landed in the UK at say £7-8K, at this price level I fear they are jjust too expensive...

Oh yeah, but just a bit too much life at the moment :rofl:!!, would much prefer to be able to buy them at say £4-5K in Japan and have them landed in the UK at say £7-8K, at this price level I fear they are jjust too expensive...

 

Especially when you will have to pay £300 per year to tax the thing too!

Well i'd say it's not all doom and gloom about the prices of the 99 spec ZX's because in Japan when a car has very low miles it tends to sell for much much higher than the price of a similar car with average miles. Another big factor is that the guy in Japan walks aay from the auction paying under £8K and he's got his 99 spec ZX, whereas us UK customers have to end up paying over £11K!!

fact of the matter is - it's not worth it. I think it definitely makes sense to get an older car for the peanuts their going for these days and spend on it to bring it up to scratch. All you have to make sure is that you get a good one and to be honest i think there are some real jap gems out there. Your result will be,

1) a lower depreciating car (as it cost you less and it really can't fall in price by more than a grand...)

2) practically the same car (unless you are obsessed with having the rarest/top of the range in your very specific niche)

3) a great drivers car

 

:)

 

yes, it is a fact that a 99 spec 20,000 mile car will always fetch a premium, but you will have to keep the mileage down - this removes the point of owning one except for a collector - but let's be honest here - there are better appreciating cars out there for £11 thousand i repeat THOUSAND pounds. so there ain't gonna be too many collectors buying one. I agree it will fetch a premium, but and it's a big but - let's say there are 1000 people in the uk today who want and CAN! spend 3-5k on a 300bhp rice rocket (with the additional insurance/servicing etc which we will almost all underestimate by a factor), i'm confident that there are less than 10 who will be around at the £11k mark and will actually spend their money on it... why, because, most of them are on this forum and will think to themselves so i sell mine for 3-6 and have to ante up another 5-8 thousands smackeroonies - i mean sure i can do it, i mean it would be nice, but erm, how much more pleasure am i gonna get from it? plus i've got bills to pay, forget it - i'll get a £1000 respray! or a new bumper - the one XXXX has got - it's nice and it'll be cheaper - make the car look and feel newer and I mean i've already spent £XXXX on the cars internals in the time i've owned it just to bring it up to scratch and i don't feel like having to go through that again. some others will just think (and rightly I might add) £11k buys you a lot of car, maybe even 2 or 3 in todays market... one diesel for work, one for the wife/kid and i think i could still get myself something different, too... or just go for that skyline/wrx/evo/xjr/whatever - so i'm pretty sure there are no more than 10 uk buyers out there per annum (maybe 15 in 2009 when the cars become easy to import). plus bear in mind the guys that have this kinda cash lying around already have such awesome zeds that they are way way better than any 99 spec on offer in japan. some of them have just moved on to more expensive/different types of car full stop. Don't think anyone is going to be picking these up in a rush and again - think of what the alternatives are - at 7k i would CONSIDER buying a 99 with 60k, but probably not go for it in the end. it's a buyers market out there, even for rare cars and it's going to get even more so... we've all seen what can be done with zeds on here - offer most of the owners of the truly exceptional zxs on the forum £11k for theirs and i'm sure you'll get more exclusive, better (re)built, better handling, cooler, sexy, faster, individual and amazing cars than a 99. spend 2k on your existing car if you feel the dough is burning a hole in your pocket and i promise you - you will get more satisfaction from it than an £11k 99... really

 

p.s. oh shit, i've said too much again... sorry :smw:

fact of the matter is - it's not worth it. I think it definitely makes sense to get an older car for the peanuts their going for these days and spend on it to bring it up to scratch. All you have to make sure is that you get a good one and to be honest i think there are some real jap gems out there. Your result will be,

1) a lower depreciating car (as it cost you less and it really can't fall in price by more than a grand...)

2) practically the same car (unless you are obsessed with having the rarest/top of the range in your very specific niche)

3) a great drivers car

 

:)

 

yes, it is a fact that a 99 spec 20,000 mile car will always fetch a premium, but you will have to keep the mileage down - this removes the point of owning one except for a collector - but let's be honest here - there are better appreciating cars out there for £11 thousand i repeat THOUSAND pounds. so there ain't gonna be too many collectors buying one. I agree it will fetch a premium, but and it's a big but - let's say there are 1000 people in the uk today who want and CAN! spend 3-5k on a 300bhp rice rocket (with the additional insurance/servicing etc which we will almost all underestimate by a factor), i'm confident that there are less than 10 who will be around at the £11k mark and will actually spend their money on it... why, because, most of them are on this forum and will think to themselves so i sell mine for 3-6 and have to ante up another 5-8 thousands smackeroonies - i mean sure i can do it, i mean it would be nice, but erm, how much more pleasure am i gonna get from it? plus i've got bills to pay, forget it - i'll get a £1000 respray! or a new bumper - the one XXXX has got - it's nice and it'll be cheaper - make the car look and feel newer and I mean i've already spent £XXXX on the cars internals in the time i've owned it just to bring it up to scratch and i don't feel like having to go through that again. some others will just think (and rightly I might add) £11k buys you a lot of car, maybe even 2 or 3 in todays market... one diesel for work, one for the wife/kid and i think i could still get myself something different, too... or just go for that skyline/wrx/evo/xjr/whatever - so i'm pretty sure there are no more than 10 uk buyers out there per annum (maybe 15 in 2009 when the cars become easy to import). plus bear in mind the guys that have this kinda cash lying around already have such awesome zeds that they are way way better than any 99 spec on offer in japan. some of them have just moved on to more expensive/different types of car full stop. Don't think anyone is going to be picking these up in a rush and again - think of what the alternatives are - at 7k i would CONSIDER buying a 99 with 60k, but probably not go for it in the end. it's a buyers market out there, even for rare cars and it's going to get even more so... we've all seen what can be done with zeds on here - offer most of the owners of the truly exceptional zxs on the forum £11k for theirs and i'm sure you'll get more exclusive, better (re)built, better handling, cooler, sexy, faster, individual and amazing cars than a 99. spend 2k on your existing car if you feel the dough is burning a hole in your pocket and i promise you - you will get more satisfaction from it than an £11k 99... really

 

p.s. oh shit, i've said too much again... sorry :smw:

Dude I agree with you 100%!!, point well made:), a 99 spec that will cost me as the importer effectively £11K just makes no sense importing, because that is the cost without any margin!! Like I said a 2003 350Z can be bought for less!! Prices will have to drop quite a bit before I imported one to stock!!

whatever anyone says 350z is not at alternative to a zx to a driver - completely different feel to the car... That new GTR might be a bit closer to what a new zx would have been had one been made... Alternatives to zed - which are all worse are - supra, 3000gt, nsx... that's not fair actually

 

supra is faster, but i don't like the auto box on it or the styling - overall it drives worse imo - but i do like the aerotop version

 

3000gt - very good value car today - much underappreciated - doesn't feel nice to drive - if it drove more like the evo i would consider getting one even though not too keen on the styling... bland and overall feeling of being removed from the road

 

nsx - actually a great car - reliable, cheap to maintain - but way too expensive and feels way too racy for me, like an underpowered 993 with better suspension and handling - yes, i know the 993 was underpowered anyway - well this thing is even more underpowered. like the targa again. and when i say racy i mean when driving it it makes you feel like you should push it harder and there's a place for that... it's just disappointing when you do push and it makes the blender sound and moves forward slowly and then the blender sound goes higher pitch and you are still moving forward comparatively slowly... if the nsx had about 350-380 factory i would like it a lot more for the price

 

what i love about the zed is the driving. It's easy and pleasurable until you decide you want to give it a blast. not many cars out there like it - EVER! - nice to drive easy and nice to drive hard. 300ZX is a smooth, comfortable cruiser/gt car. eats miles in comfort, but learn to use it and is a softish racer. i'm gonna get a boll*cking for the softish...

 

300ZX at 3-5k cannot be beat if you like to drive!

 

p.s. wonder what that new bmw 135 or 335 convertible drives like on an auto... would love to give them a try... soon

Alternatives to zed - which are all worse are - ...., nsx... that's not fair actually

 

Certainly isn't. NSX is a superior and very different car to the Z32. It's mid engined for starters, out handles the Z32, is better built, holds its money, more reliable and developes the same BHP as the Z32 without the need for turbos.

Certainly isn't. NSX is a superior and very different car to the Z32. It's mid engined for starters, out handles the Z32, is better built, holds its money, more reliable and developes the same BHP as the Z32 without the need for turbos.

NSX's are superb cars end of... but just so damn expensive to import from Japan!!, I will try later this year to bring one over and see how it goes but prices are remaining so strong at the moment.

 

Also no one ever seems to mention the Lexus Soarer?? better built than all the cars mentioned... the later versions came with a single turbo set-up and VVTI, nice cars but too much of a cruiser than a driver's car...

I've always liked the Soarer. Looks a bit dowdy as standard though, but a subtle drop and set of dished rims sets them off. The Turbo models came with a funky digital dash. Very modern interior.

I've always liked the Soarer. Looks a bit dowdy as standard though, but a subtle drop and set of dished rims sets them off. The Turbo models came with a funky digital dash. Very modern interior.

 

to me a soarer would have to be black! unfortunatly most are green and look grandad-ish but i have seen some nice ones, lowered, deep dish 5spokes and subtle kit would tempt me

don't get me wrong i like the nsx - i prefer the zx without a shadow of a doubt - but it's a case of horses for courses - on a track an nsx is better than a stock 300zx... also i prefer turbo power to normal breathing engines full stop. plus the nsx only keeps it value because there are fewer of them - rarity and scarcity have kept the price high. but why is it scarce? because it didn't sell as well as the zed... and why? because it cost too much and delivered to little... zed people didn't buy it as it was too expensive - porsche people didnt buy it as it wasn't as good as the porker of the day - or so the market says. just economics. you can talk superiorty all you want but in my book the zed is the better car for a lot of reasons... and honestly those air cooled 993s were a real blast to drive...

soarers are ugly to me although toyota and lexus are way up there in terms of reliability...

soarers are ugly to me although toyota and lexus are way up there in terms of reliability...

I wouldn't say there were ugly, the styling is definately more conservative, but ugly no!! here's one I have for sale at the moment and the standard spec is brilliant!!

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170184040061

to me a soarer would have to be black! unfortunatly most are green and look grandad-ish but i have seen some nice ones, lowered, deep dish 5spokes and subtle kit would tempt me

 

 

 

:duffer:

don't get me wrong i like the nsx - i prefer the zx without a shadow of a doubt - but it's a case of horses for courses - on a track an nsx is better than a stock 300zx... also i prefer turbo power to normal breathing engines full stop. plus the nsx only keeps it value because there are fewer of them - rarity and scarcity have kept the price high. but why is it scarce? because it didn't sell as well as the zed... and why? because it cost too much and delivered to little... zed people didn't buy it as it was too expensive - porsche people didnt buy it as it wasn't as good as the porker of the day - or so the market says. just economics. you can talk superiorty all you want but in my book the zed is the better car for a lot of reasons... and honestly those air cooled 993s were a real blast to drive...

 

 

Very good point, was it in 03 or 04 or both they only sold 2 world wide. To expencise for what they are

 

As for soarers i didnt realise they were that cheap. It it worth importing them lee?? same price range as the zx