Sunderland

I've had my Z for over a month now and have put enough miles on it to confirm that I DO NOT have any oil consumption problems! My Z was actually manufactured in late 05 and not within the affected dates. I blacked out the emblems and handles and tinted the tails, redline's looking sexy now.

But I do have some bad news. I bought my car thinking it was the grand touring model, as that's what Carmax advertised it as. I didn't know anything about Z's when I got it so I took their word on it. Well as far as I can tell its just a touring model. Has everything but the Brembo brakes. Unless the PO changed those out then I got fawked because I'm paying the GT price. These cars are not cheap here, average price for an 03 with 80k is about $15000.

But aside from that I'm actually pleased with the car. Was kinda bummed for not getting the HR model untill I raced an HR on a closed road and wasn't impressed with how it performed over the Rev Up. Before the HR humpers retaliate, yes both cars are stock and 6mt and we made several passes, the 08 was never more then half a car ahead and he couldn't walk. I don't plan on modding as of now so I'm happy lol.

Just thought I'd share my opinions on this awesome car. Hopefully a 370 will be in my future as well!

Bmurray350z

iTrader: (34)

you can get 03s w/ 80k for $10-11k all day here in NC. lol.

also, so you have grand touring wheels?

Sunderland

I went to every place within an hours drive of here and only ones I could find for that price was over 100,000k. I don't deal with private sellers so dealers are my only choice.
Are my wheels GT wheels? I noticed some 06s with different wheels but never considered that.

Bmurray350z

iTrader: (34)

If you do not have the GT wheels or Brembo Brakes, then you more than likely have a Touring model. Also I don't think the Touring model came with VDC, so if you have a VDC Off button to the left of your steering wheel, then you have a GT model. If there is only a TCS Off button, then you for sure have a Touring model.

And yes obviously dealers are going to mark up every single car on the lot. Private sales are best, imo.

Sunderland

I do have the VDC under the steering wheel, but I'm under the assumption that touring and GT models have that. The reason I don't deal with private sellers is I just don't trust them. Got screwed when I was younger and I like dealer warranties.

KornerCarver

iTrader: (2)

I think the Touring manual models came with VDC. The automatic models did not.

Bmurray350z

iTrader: (34)

Yeah that sounds right ^. So assuming yours isn't an automatic, you probably just have a touring

ksuberk54

iTrader: (2)

I also have an 06 and it has 69k miles and I've never had any oil consumption issues after owning it for almost 2 years. The only problems I've had are the window motor (of course) and a few things here and there that everyone experiences.

Syner

MT Touring came with VDC.

EDIT - damn I'm slow...

NinerZ

My '06 Touring has VDC.

On another note, I have had a horrible experience with dealerships. People are people and as I can tell, even from your experience, you can not trust dealers. They will straight lie to you face with a smile. I will ask questions that I already know the answers to and they will still lie.

350zsunshinefl

iTrader: (1)

You could have saved a ton of money by going private, in my experience the majority of dealers out there are crooks, while the majority of private sales are legit people.
When I bought my Z I saw about 4 HR's at dealerships and every time the dealer would either omit some detail about the car or straight out lie.
Most of the horror stories about car purchases usually involve dealerships, cases like dealers providing falsified carfax printouts, hiding accident history, blatantly lying to make a sale.
I almost fell into a dealer trap, car checked out perfect, then I noticed a switched under the dash - long story short found a mounting bracket for a nitrous bottle in the trunk and the fuel lines inside the engine bay were previously modified.

Ended up buying my car from a private sale, found a decent guy, it's really easy to tell if someone is being shady. The guy I bought it from was an engineer, his garage was spotless - showed me all maintenance records, talked to me for hours and gave me every little detail about the car. I felt much safer buying from him then any dealership. Oh and I saved about 4k over a dealer markup

An 03 touring with 80k miles will go for around 8-10k in FL

ksuberk54

iTrader: (2)

There are pros and cons of both. Buying from an individual u get a better price, buying from a dealer you can get warranties and assurance the car works great. I bought mine from an individual and saved 2k when I got mine.

sk8r776

I have had my '06 6mt for about 4 months now and i still love the thing till this day. No oil issues. Just hit 78k. I did replace the clutch because of the PO though.

zakmartin

Does Carmax have some kind of guarantee when it comes to giving you bad info on their report? Either way, I'd call them on it.

Flick Montana

Even after 4 whole months? That takes commitment.

NinerZ

hahaha I was thinking that myself.

dcains

iTrader: (15)

After 3 or 5 days, I forget which, CarMax doesn't want to hear from you. A few years ago my wife bought an 16K mile Acura TS-X from CarMax in Tampa. She got the car home and the next day when I crawled underneath to change all the filters and fluids I saw gross amounts of red overspray on the wheels, chassis, and exhaust, as well as half-@ssed fiberglass patches to the inside of both the front and rear bumpers. Car also had a bad front airbag sensor, and many missing fasteners replaced with cable ties. You'd have to be blind to miss these defects during any sort of pre-sale inspection or maintenance, which they claim to do. Really, this is a CarMax "certified" car? They're really no better than any corner buy-here/pay-here local used car scheister, except they spend big $ on advertising and creation of a false reputation. They do have a 30-day service warranty, but that wouldn't have covered the issues that TS-X had, and I'm lucky to have crawled under it the day after purchase. A week later, and we likely would have ended up in court.

Needless to say, that day the car went back to CarMax and the @sshole sales manager did everything he could to get us to keep the car, saying that such repairs don't affect the operation or reliability of the car, and he was refusing to take it back. Only when I threatened to call one of the local TV stations and get one of those "Consumer Advocate" reporters to investigate, he caved and backed us out of the deal. Buying a used car from a dealer, IMO, is often far more risky that buying from a private party.

kingdom

I bought my 05 touring from carmax. They said it was an anniversary edition but I knew it wasnt. Still a good deal. I had the "clicking" rear axle from needing to be greased, brought it back to them within a week of buying it and they fixed it free of charge.

Review of carmax.... 50/50

HK350 Z

Would never go to Carmax, they mark up ALL the vehicles...worst than any corner dealer car-hustler.

Slyguy_38

I bought my '06 Touring Roadster from CarMax in January. 45K miles and besides being an oil burner, it's in fantastic shape. They claimed it was a "Grand Touring" roadster in the ad tho. I didn't know better but the price was right for a Touring roadster.

I've bought several cars from them and had good experiences each time so it's just the luck of the draw with a dealer I think. YMMV...

Ryan