dryseals

Yep, Hurricane Ike flooded my little town and along with it, my Z. I had just bought it two months ago an 07, used, paid 22,200 for it with 6200 miles on it, enthusiast model, stick, the sells man low balled me to see if I would bite.

Any way, salt water went about six inches above the lower door line, but they totalled it any way. Insurance gave me 26200 for the car, so I made four grand on the deal.

So now I want my little toy back, I'm buying a brand new one, but having some trouble. I can't stand an automatic in a sports car, should have been the eleventh commandment, Thou shall not drive an automatic sports car. Sorry my take. I'm 50 and every car I ever owned was a standard, always had hot rods. Only the truck and the Yukon are autos.

My problem is that the only ones I can find with sticks are the base models, seems that every car above the base model is equiped with an auto. Mine was an enthusiast with a stick. So my question to you folks is....is there that much of a difference between no traction control and having the traction control. I only see the limited slip rear in upper models and being a rear end kind of guy, I want that limited slip. Is the base model a single drive rear end?

350zsunshinefl

iTrader: (1)

base doesn't have LSD, i'd say look around maybe a little further from your house, I got my 350z from Florida and I live in GA. mine is enth with a 6 speed

pangoman

If I were in your shoes (I very nearly was...I'm in Seabrook) I would either wait for the 370 or at the very least wait till I found an Enthusiast or better. When I was shopping for mine I drove a base and the TCS and VLSD made a big difference.

IIQuickSilverII

iTrader: (13)

maybe not new but looks for one in good condition and use the rest of money on mods or for something else u need..

good luck and sorry for the original loss

sry110

iTrader: (17)

Why not see if your local dealer will get you the car you want from another dealer?

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

You must be looking in the wrong places, most of the Zs I've see are 6MTs.

Don't buy the base. Search around and find another Enthu or a 6MT Touring.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Looks like “Manual versus Automatic War XVII" to me.

black06z

iTrader: (1)

I'm surprised no one asked him why he didn't take the Z outta harm's way.

pangoman

I live in a town named Seabrook. A lot of folks here lost everything. Many homes were literally washed away. During Rita a few years back we were mandatoried to evacuate. One of our friends brought their little Miata and what should have been a 2.5 - 3 hour ride ended up to be 22 hours with lots of stress over finding fuel for our vehicles. We could've cut that time to at the very most 12 hours if all of us were in our 4 wheel drive vehicles or at the very least trucks with higher ground clearance where we could have just driven where the heck we wanted. During this mandatory evac for Ike I was at work on the thursday before the storm and at 8:30 that morning they announced the mandatory evac of our area in Seabrook. We were all supposed to be out of our homes by 12 noon that same day. My first priority was my wife and kids. Once I got home from the office we loaded up all the important papers and all of our pictures, most of my firearms, our dog and 6 - 5 gallon fuel cans into my Tundra. Remembering the limitations that a low ground clearance vehicle had I left my Z in the garage knowing full well that it was a great possibility that it would be lost. We were lucky that all we had was wind damage and my Z was OK. the bottom line is the Z can be replaced...my family can't. I hope that I explained it where I didn't come across as a dick...I just wanted you to understand what many of us were up against.

Voboy

iTrader: (58)

Just wait around awhile OP, M/T Enthusiast/Touring are kinda hard to find around in Houston. I know when I was in the market for buying my Z there would only be 2 or 3 Manual Enthusiasts out of 5 different dealers! But if you check their website for their stock one will pop up or let them know your in the market for one and they'll call you when they get one in.

UMW350Z

iTrader: (18)

wait for the 370Z at this point

dryseals

Thanks, I know full well what you are talking about. Rita hit us very hard, that was just three years ago, I had just finished cleaning up the last little bit. We lost roofs, fences, trees and small buildings. We evacuated from Rita, again we were hit by the little surpize Huberto, then I think Edwardo, I'm losing track. We didn't leave for Gustoff, I didn't feel the need.

I was let off work Wednesday about 2:00, they wanted to shut down the plant, takes about 48 hours. Thursday morning we packed up what we could and took off. After having been in the Rita traffic, we wanted to leave early. We made it to Arlington in 8 hours, a normal five hour drive. So it wasn't too bad.

As another poster asked, why not take the Z?

I have a nice two story home, full of turn of the century antiques, furniture, tools, silver, crystal, glassware, etc, etc. 7 computers, two entertainment systems, tons of vintage electronics and all kinds of things. I also have my wifes two car garage for her stuff and my shop, which is a brick four car garage with two offices on the end. My shop is full of every tool you could imagine for metal working, word working and mechanical stuff. Over 30 plus years of buying tools, you name it I probably have it and maybe a couple of them. I build cabinets, furniture, and my specialty is speakers, tons of electronic test equipment, signal generators, scopes, frequency counters. Like I say, it's loaded.

And to keep it a man cave, TV, surround sound, darts and pinball machine. I almost bought a pool table but need to clear the space. Also in the shop is a 1968 Firbird under construction, 5 4 speed trannies, 3 Muncie M21s, 1 BW ST10 and 1BW vintage early Corvette. Three Pontiac 400 blocks and two Chevy 350s beefed up, a couple of later 60's 12 bolt rear ends, try buying one of those now. Behind the shop is a 72 MGB and at the body shop of one of my freinds is my 66 GTO, he got five feet of water so I'm not even shure what will become of it.

And I haven't even touched on the shed in the back.

So in reality, the Z was fully covered. When one of these storms head your way, you get out what can't be replaced, your family, my wife of 20 plus years, my son, daughter and grandson.

But back to the Z, I'll keep looking thanks for all the replies.

WTX350Z

iTrader: (8)

Same is true here....dlrs here don't sell 6spds. except they do have a red Nismo...if you like the boy racer look...there is one in Midland.

Try DFW, SA, Austin. between the 3, theres bound to be a cpl good choices. In a few solid months, there will be the "Next great Z"

dryseals

Found a red one in San Antonio!!! I really want the Carbon Silver though, I'll just keep stretching further and further out.

Get_Zwole

iTrader: (34)

just look around i got mine delivered from missouri for 400 bucks or so.

Arondos

Delivered? Screw that go get it and drive her home!

Chaser720

iTrader: (30)

Plane ticket + gas + miles on the car itself... hmm > $400

Matosman6

I purchased a 2008 350z base model 6MT back in April.. It runs just as good as all the other models, just doesnt have as much inside features as the other models. I like my car to be stock to the bone, I like putting my own stuff into it. Im sure you wont have a problem finding one.

raulzito

lol, with the shop you got.... I would get a base, and mod it with the extra money you save. Drive both, I have a base, perfectly happy not having LSD.....and it's definately funner to drive

VENOMSZ

iTrader: (4)

Go to nissanusa.com
Configure and build a Z.
Do a dealer inventory search of your area.
You can adjust the search in miles of your zip code.
I see lots of 6 speeds available in Houston area.

Hope this helps you out