I would normally agree with the idea of not buying a car in it's first year of production...but with all the talk about Nissan putting a lot of hopes for revival into the '03 Z, I felt they would make every effort to produce a first year run of exceptional quality...as a matter of fact I'm counting on it...as far as being able to buy the car under MSRP in a few years...a lot of people thought they would do that with the S2000...not in So. Cal. anyway

 

Well Nissan can talk all they want, but the latest JD syrvey put Nissan initial quality even behind GM. Nissan has lost ground in intial quality because of all the cost cutting. So i will wait until Nissan improves on the Z in the future. The profits that nissan will make today will go towards imptoving the shabby interiors of their cars in the future.

The S2000 is a limited production car, that is why its price stayed at MSRP. The 350Z will be produced in large numbers. After the initial euphoria the supply will exceed demand and the price will drop to invoice.

 

Make sure not to mistake anecdotal evidence for statistics.

In this case you have far too small a sampling size to tell anything useful: 1

I'm not necessarily arguing for or against your point, VQ, but my girlfriend's experience with her Jeep Cherokee has been exceptional. After 10 years, not a single failure. But that doesn't mean Jeep as a car company is rated first statistically, or that her experience is typical of Jeeps.

 

The list of problems will be or has been addressed by Nissan. I agree with an earlier post, if you don't feel its cushy enough, get your money back and buy something else.

I do believe the preorder process has been unsatisfactory and the info too sketchy( really, marketing a product for so long and not having a good implemention plan sucks). However, I agree with Qracer; this ordering process probably has saved us a lot of money. See BRACKETMAN'S survey, over 80% of us are getting their Z for MSRP. I doubt it will be true for the dealers' allotments in the future. My friend waited, on a list, for 2 years and 2 MSRP changes and, had to take an option costing a lot to get his '72 240.

I encourage you to exercise some restraint at this time because I want a finished product; not some rush job like Detroit used to do and let the dealers take care of the problem, they won't because of lack of experience with the car. I want the "finished" car, not something that has been rushed into production/delivery before it was truly ready and have to suffer recalls of any kind. Remember, ladies and gentlemen, interfering at this point, during production could saddle some of us with a substandard car or even a lemon.

They pushed up the production date 1 month, from May or June to use the extra time to make our cars as flawless as they can, the Japanese take great pride in their work. As you know there are fewer workers at Nissan than before Renault took over. I don't know if they have ever had a preorder event like this before or not, but they need to take note of the timing and the information flow flaws in their process.

Go back to your confirmation letter, the time period for receiving our cars is August-October. I don't like it but, it is generating a terrific car. Let them do their jobs. The Z is Nissan's "halo" car and if it falls flat because of them doing a rush job, we all lose.

At a projected 30,000 Z's a year, they can make it profitable but, its a drop in the bucket for them. The Z is not going to make them rich, the Maximas and Altimas, etal, will. While the Z can pull its weight and not lose money, they can get back into racing like they did in the"70s. The Z's halo effect will improve the breed and has already gone a long way toward national and international prominence again given the mostly favorable reviews.

My suggestion is to let the Regions plan how they are going to deliver our cars to us. Call the National office, the number's in your confirmation letter and your dealer if you need to rain blows on someone's head, don't be a constant irritant to the regional offices, and be nice, polite and firm to the National Office. If your dealer doesn't have the info, Nissan North America certainly should have access to it.

Boomer--dead serious and biting a hole in my tongue to avoid going postal. I hate when I try to be the voice of reason, it doesn't come naturally.

BR/FR-Damn it!