planning to get a Z by the end of this year.... price range, up to $25,000 max!

questions/advice:

1. Ok so the 2003 is out, too many problems I've read on here and in general the first generation first year of any product is not 100% the best-- from ipods to iphones , i prefer not to get the 2003 Z..........question, what would be my best year Z to get to modify in the future as well !

2. The horsepower difference from 287 to 303 is not THAT significant to me, but what is the minimum amount of $$ im looking at to some decent upgrade HP in there to get the car in the mid 13's. this is JUST an ego question and once posted before..... jus wanted to get an overview from all years 2003 - 2007.


3. anyone know any good dealerships in Chicagoland area?

 

07

 

07

 

whats wrong with the 05, 06 ? just asking

 

03

 

jw, but what do you plan on doing with your Z?

Will it be a DD?

If so the newest year Z with the options you want with the lowest mileage that you can afford.


Will you go with F/I?
If your going to go all out with a F/I setup (such as a twin turbo setup) get the cheapest Z you can find that has the options you want. The actual year and miles on the car will not be not important. You will most likely going to be re-building the engine with fordged internals, as well as replacing a lot of other odds and ends. So why put out 25K for a Z when you might find yourself a used one for 18K and then put the rest towards making some massive HP.

 

i plan to have the z as an everyday car.
NO doubt its stock HP is sufficient, fast, quick and fun to ride but;

- id like to know what Z or which year has had the least problems--ive read oil leaks, brakes, wheel feathering, power window and other issues on here.

- i want to increase HP on my car but i seriously don't plan to spend over $10,000-$15,000 on it OVER the next 5 years. Here's the INTENTION; if it can get in the 13's in a quarter mile--- I'll feel goal (cough cough ego) accomplished.........again this is just a thought.... in general i just want to know which years Z has had a decent HP and least problems.

 

05 base or enthusiast. Do not get the 35th anniversary ... you don’t want the revup engine.

 

if you want 13's in quarter mile go 07 and mission accomplished

 

Then IMO get the newest Z you can afford with the lowest mileage with the options you prefer. The 07's seem to be the cars with the least amount of problems at least that we know of.

The tire feathering had to do with Nissan needing to fix the alignment specs of the Z. Nissan also had their dealerships get their alignment machines re-calibrated to make sure they were with in spec. iirc this forum suggest having your alignment done once a year in order to keep feathering in check.

 

'05 or '06.

 

have you done quarter mile in 13? if so, with our without heels?

 

every car will have their problems no matter what the year

 

I would say find one that has the lowest miles for great price. I bought my 03 for $19,000 and it had 26,000 miles. Now i just broke 30,000 miles

 

I would suggest the 04.5 Z. Any of the issues that existed were resolved by then and it is a decent year for the Z. I have an 03 and haven't really had any problems except for the tire feathering but mine was a late 03 so some of the problems I didn't get. The 04.5 Z can be identified by the knee pads on the driver and passenger side center colum.

The Z stock should do a low 14 or maybe just dipping into the high 13's. Adding the Motordyne spacer was a noticable gain for $300. Combine that with full exhaust from the engine on back, headers, HFC, exhaust will give you a good start and run about another 2K for parts and maybe an extra $500 or so for the header install unless you attempt it yourself but I hear its a b@#tch. For under 3K you will have some nice gains in the HP area. From there save for the supercharger, 6K to 10K installed and you will have plenty of power and all your previous mods will still be effective and in place. That should leave you several thousand to improve your handling with other suspension items such as swaybars, springs or coilovers and tires/rims.

If you go this route I would also highly recommend upgrading your braking if you don't get a track model with Brembo's. With all that power you it will be best to get some improved braking.

 

Hey Solar Orange, your pretty close to me. Our club has a number of events coming in September if your interested in checking them out. 9/8 is a free detail day at Meguiars in Irvine, CA. Posted in the events section of this forum. 9/15 is a Z/G run in Monterey area along the coast. 9/22 is a meet and greet with raffles in Tracy at the Texas Roadhouse and 9/30 is a meet n greet general membership meeting for our club at Elk Grove Nissan... right in your neighborhood! There is also a 3 day run to Death Valley planed for early October.

To check out these events and get more info go to our clubs website:

http://www.zonc.org/

Congrats on the Z purchase btw.

 

For objective reliability data see...

Never mind. I said that 100 times.

 

Get: 2003-2005 => tire feather fixable

Don't get: 2006 => oil consumption + gear grind cannot be fixed

 

03 FTW...get one under 30k miles.
to minimize the tire feathering problem, replace those oem 17s with 06 18s.
03 actually got the strongest oem clutch btw.

 

thanks everyone...

from the analysis of what everyone said , 03 is OK but 04 seems to be where the problems are resolved.

05 and 06 have been highly recomended based on what you all said but 07 is what everyone is recomending for me to go 13's WHEN i do modify it.

brickyardzee : without teh supercharger, what kinda gains am i looking at????? 10hp?20?

ive read the thread of 287hp vs 300 BUT what i want to know is, is there seriously a difference between racing A STOCK 2003or2004 VS 2005 or 2007??

DUH theres the HP difference but I read something on here about the weight and other drivers saying 03 is faster than the others.