Why 03's? (Multiple questions in thread)
 

I'm new to the forum and to the Z community, I haven't actually purchased my Z yet but I'm going to within the next month once I find all the right information on them.

I was thinking of an 07, but I notice a lot of people get an 03, or an earlier year than 06+.

Is there a particular reason for this? And if someone could tell me what the differences are between the separate years (03/04/05/06/07/08) that'd be really helpful.

Also, I'm wondering which would be my best bet, touring, track, etc and what those differences are.

As far as reliability goes, how do they handle in the later miles? My lexus has 176k and runs like a champ.

To be honest, I know I looked at the earlyer years because they tend to run a little cheaper both for the car price and later insurance price, you can usually find them with low miles due to most owners garaging them in the winter.

Base-No steering wheel controls (as they have no cruise control)

Enthusiast-Has steering wheel controls, but cloth seats, no bose (quick way to tell is no cassette deck), and no heated seat switches on the center console.

Touring-These will have leather and bose no matter what. Leather will be black or white, doesnt make a difference. But NO BREMBO'S.

Track-Brembo brakes, but NO LEATHER or Bose.

Grand Touring-This will have leather AND brembos.

03s are a lot cheaper (naturally). It's a matter of budget. Given unlimited funds, most people would buy a 2011 370Z, right?

If you can afford it, get an 07/08 HR motor Z.

Model breakdowns can be found here.. https://my350z.com/forum/buying-leas...0z-models.html

Top 100 Questions thread and the New Member welcome message are excellent starting places for all kinds of info on Zs.

Look at the models and amenities. Decide which best suits your needs. Models build on one another as you step up. In other words the Touring is an Enthusiast with additional amenities.

just some things to be aware of
 

06 models are notorious for oil consumption and 5th gear grind. If you look into an 06, make sure you know whether or not the short block has ever been replaced, and maybe the transmission. 03 models, as far as I knew, are incredibly reliable. I had one before upgrading, ran like a champion and never got tired of it. Beware of these few things:

rear axle click - you can only hear this with your windows rolled down and without any songs playing. Its a simple "click" that you hear when you get the car to move from first, reverse, change gears, and throttle off.

Window motors and window grease - my 03 had window greasing (streak on the driver side door), so I was always hesitant to roll it down (i'd roll it 50% down). Some peoples' window motors die on them: mine never did but I think they're mainly on the 03-05 models (correct me if I'm wrong guys).

06 + models also are known for having this rear clunking noise, either coming from the passenger or drivers side (you can hear it around the rear strut, some people fixed the noise via suspension, other changed strut stiffness, and a whole lot of other things.... theres a big thread about them. Mine is having this issue and I have not resolved it yet)

These are my top concerns when looking into a 350Z. I'm not trying to scare you out of buying one, they're beautiful cars and have one of the best engines out there. But I wish someone told me these things before I bought mine (never thoroughly checked forums, so that is my fault), could have saved me some dinero. So heads up to you my friend, good hunting. You'll love the car. Been driving them for 2 years now and never ever get bored of it.

Its natural for the first model year to sell the most and then tail off selling less each year.

If your on a budget, check out the 04 and 05's.. But if you have a bit more to spend, 07+ because of HR engine, and upgraded head lights, tail lights, wheels, interior, etc..

I greatly appreciate all the feedback from you guys. Its all very helpful. I took a pretty good look at the top 100 questions, I'm gonna keep skimming through them over the next few passing days so I can learn as much as possible.

Budget isn't too big of an issue, but I would like to know if all 07-08 350s are HRs? I'll probably be looking at the grand touring if I can find one. (if they have a grand touring, it seems like I saw one online somewhere but I could be mistaken)


Hopefully I can get an 07 HR in PPW or just pearl white. I haven't seen very many white 350's around here so I'm hoping it won't be too hard to find.

My 2005 base is pretty solid for having 101,000 miles on her. I get compliments all the time... my new boss wants it lol!

Yes. All 07-08 Z's will have the HR engine.

Muahahahaha. I have a PPW Z. Beautiful color, and it is a pearl paint. I love angling the sun while looking at my car, and seeing all the nice pearly colors. :)

Okay thank you. It seems like an 07 with decent mileage would be the way to go for now, if I can find an 08 that seems reasonable I'll take a look into that as well.




I'm having some issues finding an 07 or 08 online in PPW :/ The only thing I really care about besides the year, mileage and color is that it has leather and that its a manual transmission. As far as the sound system goes, brakes, wheels, etc, I can always spend a bit and have something nice put in. I don't want to have to paint the car or install the leather and at this point 07-08 is mandatory.

I got an 03 because i couldnt afford any HR's at the time, i read some people getting frustrated with the non HR rev-up (06) and decided i had to have brickyard (as stupid as that sounds), which was only made in 2003.

::Two years of research and homework on my next car::
- Sunday night- Found one with 48k at an infiniti asking $16.4k for it
- Monday morning- deposit over the phone
- Tuesday- Test drive
- Wednesday- purchase ~$12.5k
- Thursday- Thanksgiving (longest day of my life lol)
- Friday- Brought the little girl home

I was scheduled to look at an SRT10 Ram at the same time...

03's are being purchased so much because their price has fallen a lot. Note the huge influx of 16-18 people here.

Bought my '03 because it was the only exact model I would compromise on an HR engine for. It was either wait a while and save and get an '07+...or I would want an '03 Black 6spd track edition. Well I found my 03 Black 6spd track edition with only 44k miles on it and it was a garage queen. Clear bra on it so little to zero paint chips. It's got the window grease and axle click (soon to be fixed), but hell...I love the thing. It's raw, the interior isn't quiet. No convenient cup holders, no leather seats...but it's exactly what I wanted.

I bought an 03 because it was the first year of the NEW Z.I'm prpbably a bit older than most of the guys on this forum.I owned a 240z(Datsun).Bought it new when they first came out.Check the year.It'll give you an idea of my age.I was contacted by NISSAN to be on a focus group in the design of the new Z.Probably got my name off a data base...?
At any rate,the 03 embodies much of the original design of the original Z.2SEATER,GAUGE
PODS,SAME LINES BUT UPDATED.The 03's were in short supply..in 02...ordered mine in Oct.02..came in Jan.1.HAVE 70K ON THE Z...NO PROBLEMS.Only exception,the legendary
front tire wear problem(took 4 sets on warranty to fix the alignment).The "grease" window..big deal!Replace battery,rear deck supports,some brakes...thats it.I've done mods:CF interior,front Mine's lip etc.Nismo cat back,JWT&Berk Z TUBE,Plenum spacer,
ACE Strada 19's/Hankook evo v-12's.
My Z runs better than when I first bought it.Most people that see it think its a new car.
The design is timeless.Looks great from every angle!

burnt orange(baseball glove) leather avail on early models.
Similar color used by ferrari

Basically,there were 2 earlier "series" for the Z.
03-05 BASICALLY THE SAME
06-08 CHANGES MADE FROM FIRST SERIES.

The only difference in the models from the earlier cars,take 03 for example,
is larger wheels...track had 18's from the standard 17's and,Brembos on the track.Everything else except for interior leather/no leather was the same.
Also,auto vs 6 speed tranny.
The power train is great.The engine virtually bulletproof.I had a Nissan SUV
with a variation of the Z engine.Traded it in to buy the Z...200K MILES
NO PROBLEMS

i purchased the 03 as well because i was buying it during the 1st year it was out. but i can surly say compared to many of my customers who have 03's and newer mine is the one with the least problems. not saying because it is an 03, or because i actually take damn good care of it, but i just think it has the least probs despite the "tire feathering" issue from way back.

EDIT: actually i have a performance model and have no issues. every other model out there has had issues and complaints.

I was also unsure of which year to buy. So I did alot of research on sites like this one.

Test drove a couple 06's, then I found an 07 SMB that had been meticulously taken care of. Test drove it on a very windy, back road. Drove it back to the dealership and took out my checkbook.

I will now purposely leave things in the garage so I can go out and stare at it.