I sold my E30 M3 many months ago and am once again looking for a car that I can:

• Drive to work if I desire. I also have another car that can be my DD in poor weather.
• Have fun with on the weekends on back roads.
• Do ~4 DEs a year with a few AutoX thrown in.

I'm a bit confused by the levels of trim on the 350Z but I believe I would want a current Grand Tourer as I want:

• LSD
• Brembos
• Xenons
• Bluetooth
• nicer stereo
• also has to be manual.

I prefer the orange but would settle for the blue. Black interior only. I believe the Nissan warranty is 3yr/36k miles so I'd prefer one that's still under warranty, at least for a little bit. I'm shooting for a price in the mid 20s or so - not sure what's possible. CPO would be great but I couldn't really tell what this added besides a longer drive train warranty.

I'm also looking at Elises that are in the low 30s, although I have yet to drive one. I originally started out with a much higher budget and test drove the Cayman S - great car but not enough character for me. The Z4MC is interesting enough, but I think I'd rather spend less and buy a fun family car as well (S4 avant perhaps). So my fun car has to be in the 25-35k range for that really to work.

I test drove a base 350Z about a year and a half ago, back to back with the RX8 no less. I was impressed by the engine and brakes in the 350Z but felt that the RX8 was more balanced and had a better drivetrain feel. I'm not looking to buy the car until after the new year as there's no point in me having a car sit until the next track season, and since I just bought a house I won't have any free time for a few months.

Thoughts? Anyone here also test drive an Elise?

 

Well that gives us 4 months to get all this figured out.

 

Yeah. I'm also not opposed to buying a new one of these puppies as the changes for 07 sound pretty nice. I'd hope I could get one under MSRP, however, but I'm clueless to the Nissan market at this point. Owned 2 BMWs (2000 e46 convertible, 88 E30 M3) and 2 Hondas (96 Civic EX, 00 Civic Si). I'm normally a die hard BMW guy but the Z4 coupe starts where a fully loaded 350Z stops.

 

i think you would enjoy a Z...i wouldnt buy a elise unless its strictly for the track...ive test driven them and they are no were near comfortable, plastic seats, no radio, i believe no AC or heat...its has 190 hp (toyota VVT-I engine), but only weighs 1900 lbs. almost a perfect power to weight ratio and believe me its a very fast car, and is probibly one of the best for auto cross. but as a daily driver or anything like that, i would stear clear.

RX-8's are nice to, better looking interior than the Z IMO. not as fast, rotory engine (hard to find people to work on them if you dont know how to your self) very nice handling but hence the rotory engine it doesn't build power as well as the Z does.

Jake