MrDBM

Thought I'd never consider any other car but a Scooby, but after nearly four years, starting to look around.

Still want Japanese, still want pace, don't want Evo RX8 not too pretty, so that leaves few choices.

Love the look of the 350, reasonable pace, although not what you would call 'maximum attack'

just wondered if anyone (or knows anyone) that has made the switch?

thanks all

ScoobyJawa

Baz did..............

And most likely better to ask on their forums www.350zuk.com

Fimo

Test drove one the other week. Engine and suspension setup great. I thought the stability control was a bit eager but it is a great car.

What put me off is that it was about a year old and paint was peeling off the front bumper (this was a main dealer demo car!), and was looking decidedly tatty on the inside. Also reading on the 350z forum, after sales care doesn't sound as good as what I get with my Subaru.

Driving as a one off- excellent

As a 2-3 year ownership prospect - i'll stick with my Scooby
All IMHO of course!

Gutmann pug

They look a nice car. Nice engine, bit different to a scoob so yeah I reckon you would be happy.

Plus they always get good reviews.

Gary

Keigo

My friend has just bought one, with GT pack on. Went for a drive in it at the weekend. Everything about the car is smooth. It is very nice car. I'd have one if I wasn't buying a new flat.

CRAIGFIN

MrDBM,

I think I'm in a good position to give you an opinion. After two years ownership of my MY99 STI Type-R, I thought I'd go for something a little classier. I spent £27,000 on a new Kuro black 350Z with GT pack......... Twelve months later the Zed has just been sold and I pick up a MY03 Prodrive STI on Monday.
Don't get me wrong the Zed is a fantastic car, but I think I suffered from the "you don't know what you had till its gone" syndrome.
The Zed, for me, is slightly underpowered for its weight but the exhaust note is the best you will hear for years. The paint, as mentioned, is absolutely terrible, it seems very soft, so expect stone chips galore. This might seem a bizarre write up as I would definitely reccommend one. You can even get about 32mpg on the motorway with the cruise control set at about 85-90mph. You may get a shock when you fill the 80 litre fuel tank with Optimax for the first time.

Hope this helps,

Craig.

KG386

Considered a 350Z before I bought the Scoob. Loved the looks, good drive, nice engine noise but the build quality felt poor and the biggest issue that put me off was a design flaw leading to tyre/alignment problems. Who needs all this s**t?

As one reviewer said 'the car looks the business but you also have to live with the 'b**ch'

READ THIS
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66548

CRAIGFIN

I agree with the above...build quality could have been better.

v8voodoo

Ewwww.. those outside door "handles"..... Why oh why didn't they design something a little more subtle..?

Terzo 333

I went from this :



To this :



I loved my Scoob, and like you thought there could be nothing else for me. Oh how I was wrong ! The Z is much classier (not that that takes much ) and will hold its money far better than any Scoob. IMHO they are also still very few and far between.

Can't fault it one way - I don't have any issues with the paint on mine, no rattles / squeaks etc

I do miss the feeling of the turbo kicking in though, the Z doesn't feel as fast as my Terzo Impreza, but I can assure you it is.

If you aren't bothered about 4 seats, and like the attention when you drive a car, the Z is for you.

Matt

KG386

I should hope you noticed an improvement between these 2 cars, they are slightly from different generations aren't they? I chose a new WRX300 (with PPP) over the 350Z - faster, more practical but still think the Nissan looks the business - nice photo!!

farmerwrx

we wanted one but not practical with only 2 seats so went for one of these.

K8donn

Hi I work for Nissan and drive 350z's quite alot. I currently drive a DBM 99 classic and personally i would rather have the impreza as my everyday car than the 350.

Craig We have just taken back a 2 week old black 350z when you look at the paint you can see alot of imperfections, I never recommend the black to customers I much prefer the Azure blue.



Simon

Mmmmm

I drove a nice 350Z at Bruntingthorpe with some other very nice cars, from the write up I did at the time

"The 600bhp R34 I had driven a couple of years ago and it had been modified again since, still turned in fairly well and although still had a little understeer was more neutral now , it was faily fast to 5000rpm then above then a huge warp factor turbo surge of power giving traction issues , loads of waste gate noise and roar, still tramlined a bit. Very impressed by this modified 350z (370bhp Supercharged) it had the best steering, good feel, turned in well, excellent torque and flexibility, nice supercharger noise and exhaust note, quite rear biased handling and could be steered on the throttle, great drivers car, very quick, best handling car on the day."

Vids

The 350z and R34

http://www.geocities.com/mrjumjum/s55amg350zR34.wmv

Racing off the line Abbot Saab turbo 280Bhp as race starter and camera car

http://www.geocities.com/mrjumjum/s55amgrace1.wmv

The 370 bhp 350Z does well against the 500bhp S55 and the 600 bhp R34 Skyline

The Supercharger mod cost about £9k I think

class_A

G35, nice. How much and what's servicing/insurance like?

jbwrx300

Had a spirited drive with my mate last night round the twisties and nailed his 350z. On shorter straights so long as the turbo is on boost the z cant catch up, and I even dropped back then overtook him. My05 PPP

Is a fine looking car and I love the sound of my mates but it is not really my cup of tea.

Boarder1

I would agree with Terzo's comments, as I went from the Scoob to the Z.

Just had a 2 day stint driving through europe, all I can say about the Z, it was 1000miles of effortless driving. The car cruises a dream and also give better MPG than the Scoob did. Who cares about the fuel tank size whn you get just over 400miles to a tank @ about 85mph.

Smudga

I agree with all of the above, we are fortunate enough to have both. Mines the MY03 Sti with PPP and the wifes is the 350z GT. You are however talking two totally different cars and there really is no direct comparison.

So I wont state the obvious!

But if your asking if the 350z is a good car and worth the investment the answer is YES 100%

You will find on the <350zuk.com> site as you do on any other forum positive & negative comments. One which consistantly rears its head is the 'soft' paint issue and the question of chips. The paint is not soft, it is as all manufactureres now use, water based. So as protection, we had paint shield fitted to the front bumper etc., from new and there are no chips whatsoever in 10K miles.

Peformance is as good as the scooby but power delivery is in a different way, despite only rear wheel drive it holds the road as well with virtually no body roll and with the ESP off makes for entertaining driving.

Unless you buy an early second hand version there are no issues with tyre feathering all models from 04 I believe have the new tread pattern, but in saying that most owners of earlier models would have had the tyres replaced under warranty anyway. It was a tyre tread problem not a suspension or geometry issue.

Just look at the spec you get in the GT for the money by comparison to a scoob, Leather / electric heated seats / cruse / gauges / computer etc... etc...Oh and dont forget the 200W Bose sound system with 6 CD changer which can really rattle the windows, much better than the tin toy kids radio you get with a Subaru. Yes I know its more expensive, but it also holds its value better, look at those poor peeps who bought new WR1's !!

Although I dearly love the scoob and the buzz it gives, if I was say taking a drive to Spain I'd go in the 350. You also see very few of them by comparison to any other car as the dealer allocation is limited PA.

If I drive both cars in the same way the 350 will average 25mpg and with a cruse will rise toward 30 ish...STi averages 18mpg, never got 25 out of it!

Hope its of use, take one for a test drive you'll have a grin from ear to ear

Cheers.

Smudga

Just out of interest this is an American site and UK cars do differ in many aspects from those in USA or europe.