For someone who makes at least $50k yearly salary + benefits + bonuses and had paid off his current vehicle, the brand new 2006 350z enthusiast was not a stretch to afford. Paid $28,300 (which was $300 below invoice for the options I got), and put down the $13.5k trade-in plus another $1.5k cash. They offered me 8% loan and I told them it was bullcrap because I had a very high credit score, it was a new car, and I also told them my bank was offering loans at a better rate. I don't really know if that was true, but the salesman disappeared around the corner, had a coke and a smile and came back with 5.54% thru Nissan's financing....so of course I took that : ) Monthly payment is $297.00 for 60 month term, and currently I have some other money invested in mutual funds that make about 10% per year on average, so I really don't mind paying Nissan's bank 5.54%.

As far as the perception of the car, it is definitely more flashy than my old Mazda6. I work in a small company (12 people) and in the back of my mind I kept thinking that the owners would see my 'frivolous' purchase parked out front and decide that they were paying me too much. Luckily that has not been the case. Then it would go through my head again when I dumped $2500 on new wheels, $1000 on front lip and side skirts, etc. But as long as I am still saving money, then I say I have the right to my toys.

The car does get a lot of looks and of course there is the negative attention. But I don't like when I pull up to the local convenience store for lunch (Wawa for the Philly folks...) and there are a lot of landscapers, masons, other contractors there too, and they seem to look at me and my car in resent. I can understand it too...I was fortunate enough to go to college and get a nice engineering job that pays well and affords me the luxury of wearing my $60 button down shirt to work and drive a 350Z to lunch....while these guys mostly did not get education beyond high school and make a fraction of what I do, and they have to eat their lunch with dirt, fertilizer and mortar jammed under their fingernails.

I can see why they might resent me, but then again a lot of it is the result of the choices we make.

***sorry this post is getting long*****

There is a small outdoor skatepark not too far away that I go to sometimes (I'm a big kid but I still skateboard), and I always get the little kids around there (some punks, others not) complimenting me on the car, like "wow that thing must be fast!" or of course "wow that's an expensive car!" I always smile on the inside when I convey to them "...yeah if you do well in school, work your *** off and gain some appreciation for the $$ your parents throw at you, you could have one too some day". In some twisted way I feel like I am getting through to them .

EDIT - I just read through my post and realized how disjointed some of it was. Sorry, it's been a long day and I am tired. I swear there is some point being made in there, somewhere.

 

Apology? It does not even exist now a days!!! Im pretty sure Zlleh has cursed many people in his life and didnt make an effort to give an apology, why would you expect someone to make an apology at the forum?

If it was me, i wouldnt make an apology!!! But i do respect USAF for protecting us against terrorist. Thats why they are there for!

 

You dont have to apologize for doing the right thing and getting a degree. Not to say that degrees, money, or any material things make up who you are as a person. But, having a good paying stable job that you LIKE goes a long way to making one a bit happier or content. There are a lot of people who make good money but HATE their jobs. I feel for those people to have to spend 8-12 hours per day doing something you hate. To me that would be a miserable life.

As for me, right now I am in the real estate business and I actually do love the job. I have made a pretty decent living over the past few years. With the market turning like it has I am seeing more and more people do things in the business that I cant stand. People with no ethics what so ever just to try and make a buck. So with all that said and done, I am going back to school the get my teaching lic. to be a high school health teacher.

I will make about 30-35/year to start off here where I live, thats about 50k less than I am making now. But I actually want to have a job that is more rewarding to me. There is nothing more rewarding that preparing the youth to be successful and making this country even more great than it currently is.

 

people are just jealous

 

The reason I think people perceives our car as being expensive is because of the Z32s. I remember seeing those cars go for like 50k brand new. So when people see the new Z, they assume the price would be equal to or more than the previous generation.

If people do think that, it just means that Nissan did a great job building a 30k car that looks like it cost 50k.

 

srry110.......i was right there with ya till ya had to go talking **** about contractors and construction guys who u think cant afford your car........

i never got a college degree and i make 30 thousand dollars a year more than u. i not only have a 07 z in my garage which i put 15,000 down on but i also have a 2005 chevy 2500HD silverado extended cab 4x4. that is one year away from being paid off. and yes i do own my own house. at the end of the day i might look like someone who might pick up your trash, or have people like u walk in to the store and automatically think i am below them. F-U

 

yup 350z looks pretty damn expensive.. it is to some extend,
the base model is more expensive than accord!!
lol

 

no no no you misunderstood....or I did not make myself clear (that is probably the case). I 100% have nothing against people who work manual labor, or do not have college degrees. And I 100% understand that a person does not need a college degree in order to earn a healthy living. You are proof of this.

I was only talking about the people who look at me with resent because of what I have, and the example that came to mind was the contractor types that I see on my lunch break, and I picked this example because it is the only circumstance I remember it happening. I did not direct this toward an entire group of people...I only meant the people who look at me with some sort of attitude like "why does he deserve a reward like that when we bust our asses out in the 100 degree heat while he sits in an air conditioned office". Obviously any of these guys who can afford the car (or better) would not give a second glance, and I was not talking about those guys. And please believe me that I understand that point of view...every time I see the guys outside maintaining the corporate park landscape on 100+ degree heat index days, I can't help but think that it's a little absurd that they don't make at least as much money as I do. I am really not being facetious here. I understand that an independent lanscape business owner can be covered in fertilizer at the end of the day and make 4 times what I do on a yearly basis.

Let me know if I am still not clear. I certainly was not attacking people without college educations, nor was I making an assumption that all manual laborers lack college degrees (hence use of the word 'mostly' in my original post). I was just stating an observation and my hypothesis for why it happens in this particular sitatuation.

Not trying to get into a pissing contest here, but I just wanted to clear my name a bit. I'm really a reasonable person who believes that unless you apply yourself your college degree isn't even worth the money you (or your parents) paid to achieve it.

 

Damn that guy sure got offended. Maybe he doesnt like the 100 degree heat.

 

Shhhh don't say "degree"...

 

lmao

 

First off, the apology was extended to him from me. I was not suggesting in any way for anyone else to follow suit with me. I believe everyone else speak for themselfs. As for me, I made an asumption and he proved me wrong. Therefore, as a man of integrity and honor that I am, I extended the apology for jumping all over him without knowing all the facts.

 

Oh! Was there actually a point to this story? Oooops, I missed it.

 

 

yea man its hot as hell in florida.....my dirty ,sweaty, hardworking *** has too bring an extra shirt to work everyday to change into at about lunch time so im not too nasty when i get something to eat....i dont want to offend the highly raised nostrils of the other patrons dining at the convience store.

im glad u are doing well......i am glad i'm doing well.

reminds me of this guy i pulled up to at a 7 eleven....it was before i bought my z, i was thrilled because it was the only carbon silver i had seen around and that was good because i was trying to decide between cs and silver alloy, i complimented the car and color and told him i was going to be getting a enthusiast very soon......he proceded to tell me how his was a touring model and that it was bigger than most other z's. with a puzzled look i had him repeat that....then i said...no im pretty sure they are all the same size, the engine is slightly better in the 07 and it might be just slightly heavier with leather seats but that i was positive that since 03 every single z was the same size. he got pissed that i was calling him a liar. i asked him where he got it and he wouldnt say he just got in his car and drove off.. then again he was 60 yrs old, had a perm and said his prevoius car was a crossfire.....

i guess i just wont be good friends with overly pompus z drivers.........now if u had a porshe, then i might resent u

 

You are lucky in the US with your cheap car prices and cheap gas. Finding an '04 Z with 22000 miles for $29.000 is a bargain, and you would usually have to pay even more. For a gallon of 98 octane gas here in sweden you would have to pay $6.50

(Note: We use Litres here in sweden, and we also have a different currency, so I had to translate all the digits)

 

Move to California (no, not really).

But if you do, you will get your wish and people won't give you the time of day in your "expensive" Z.

And when you park your Z next to the F430s/599GTBs, GT3s/CarreraGTs/997Turbos, M6s/M5s, and LP430s at Crystal Cove (now Cars and Coffee off of Alton), you'll wonder why you were patting your back all this time at how other folks supposedly "marvel" at the "expensiveness" of your daily commuter.

I do understand the pride that comes with self accomplishment and the arrival at certain milestones in life ("Look! I bought a sports car!"), and you sound like a good guy with a good heart and has done well for himself, but lets bring it into focus here. Someone had posted earlier that the Z is $30k car, and that's where it stands.

Don't get me wrong. I love my Z as well and wouldn't trade it for anything else. But I'm not about to get into a self-congratulatory delusion here preach that everyone envies me for the perceived "expensiveness" of my car...because they simply don't.

 

Well in Brasil the Z cost $230,000. dollars there. And the dollars is 1USD for 2BRD so even at two times the money the Z cost a lot more than 2 times as it does in the USA.

http://www.nissan.com.br/flash.asp

 

Hang on a second guys.

When I typed my first post here I should have worded it better. My intent was not to offend anyone. My intent was to point out an instance (albeit one that has occurred a few times) when it seemed that people perceived my car as being expensive. I used the contractor type guys as an example, only because it is the only situation where I have encountered this.

I don't think highly of myself, nor do I think highly of the car. I do not pat myself on the back for this "achievement". I am actually truly sorry if anyone was offended, because I really don't like to get under anyone's skin.

So anyway, for anyone who misunderstood my post (which I already admitted was poorly written), I am sorry, and I will decline to post further in this thread in case anyone is fired up or thinks I am just trying to backpedal or something.

Thanks for your understanding!

 

it was even the way u described the dirt or mortar under thier fingernails as they ate lunch, like they were dirty pigs or something....jeez it sounded like u had such distain for them. did u know in florida a small two person landscape outfit can easily make 100 grand a year? i install wood and ceramic flooring, showers ,tubs, kitchens........i often eat lunch with mortar under my fingernails. your right though...not everyone in construction has thier **** together. sorry to have been so offended, but like u.....i have my own pride in what i have accomplished. no hard feelings hopefully....at least it seems we share the same financial sensability.