All right, I suppose I'm jumping the gun a little. Taking in my '03 Track (6K miles) for the tire feathering TSB Monday morning to a dealer whose service department was rumored to be good, but now questionable. Probably a big fight with a lowlife SM. Blast it, this car (bought used at 4.5K miles), is my first cool car since my 1965 Shelby GT-350 Mustang (sure wish I had that one back).

Now I'm just dreading the litany of problems I've read about. Yes, I've got tire feathering. Yes, my transmission crunches into 3rd occasionally. Yes, I've got the grease streak (doesn't bother me). The Track doesn't have Bose, so at least I avoided that.

When I first got the car I couldn't apply enough coats of Zaino. Now I'm really wondering if I didn't do enough research. Probably should have gone with an Evo, or used BMW, or the like. Oh, well, my bad luck. Seduced by styling and hype, I guess.

Judging from the loathing on this forum, the only happy '03 350Z owners are the ones with less than 1000 miles. Oh, well, maybe my worst fears won't be realized.

Sorry, just had to vent a little. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

 

Um, I've got about 17000 miles and I'm pretty damn happy still. Sure, there are a few problems, but overall, very satisfied.

Just wish my car had 3 coats of Zaino on it right now.

Instead of 3 coats of dirt.

 

I have had my Z for almost a year (only 3,500 miles though) and love it. Only problems I had were grease streaks that went away on their own and drifting to the right that was fixed at 1,000 miles with toe adjustment. Hang in there!

 

I've got 12,000 miles on mine, and I've had no problems whatsoever.

 

You need to realize that HAPPY people post less than 10 percent of the time that ANGRY people post.

I have almost 16,000 miles on my 03 Z. I had the feathering issue, and my dealer went out of the way to make things right. Sure I was upset and angry that I had the problem, but my dealer was GREAT and took care of the issue with no hassles at all.

The 03 Z was a first year model. ANYONE that buys a brand new first year model car SHOULD expect a FEW problems to surface. I am VERY happy with my Z and I am CERTAIN a lot of others are VERY happy as well.

 

Now that you're done venting... get out and drive.

I had ALL the same problems you did within 3k miles of ownership...

Now 27k later, she has seen two road events, countless autox's... and MULTIPLE Porsche kills along the freeway!

Since that short stay with the dealer she has been BULLETPROOF.

... tis better to enjoy, than is to complain. Best of luck.

 

Buying used may be your error.

see below for my problems.

 

Grease streak tsb and no other issues. I'm sure there are a few polls created for this very topic if you search.

 

i got mine in sept 02 and have had a total of 0 problems

 

NismoKid you only have 3500 miles in a year?? Thats nuts.

BTW, nice sig...are you gonna catch The Mars Volta when they are on tour with APC this year?

 

A little over 7 months of ownership, ~ 12,000 miles, and zero problems. Just thought I would try and offset that percentage of happy owners a little

*knock on wood* as always

 

Mistake #1) Never love anything that is materialistic
Mistake #2) As a doctor, you should know that nothing in life is perfect.
Mistake #3) Every car has its problems, from the old Mustang to the new BMW. If its not one thing its going to be the other.

 

Damn Drew... who's that in your avatar?

So far, so good. That are little nuances with my Z, but I've yet to experience some of the biggest complaints that are heard on the board. Which I hope to avoid entirely.

 

yeh, drew who is that on your avatar...did we find out who "blondie" is?....

I have 13,000 miles and goin really strong in this winter weather. The cold aint got nuttin on the z

NO transmission problems-auto
NO tire feathering-19 inch rims/kumho tires...still waiting
NO pull to the right

-window streak-eventually dissapeared
-sometimes the z didn't like the gas pump-now it loves it
-gas release button sometimes didn't work-now just press twice to make sure NEVER had a problem since.
-slight air coming through the window after 45 mph...water does not come through...will take that to the dealer after i feel fully confident they wont mess up my window(reading other threads)
-bose system sounds great with a CD

so all that i stated above eventually solved it's own problem exept for the slight air noise at 45mph.

 

for those of you who say you have high mileage (~10k) and have no problems. are you *sure* you are able to recognize feathering? just wondering if some people just don't notice they have this problem. depending on its severity and how much freeway driving you do, you might not notice the problem (tire noise).

 

I am SURE I know what it is, I HAD it. Luckily with new S03's and an alignment, it has NOT returned. I did not have any hassles from my dealer (they even replaced my RIMs they scratched without me having to so much as ASK them to do it. They brought their mistake to MY attention and corrected it appropriately.)

I now have more than double the miles on the S03's with NO sign of Feathering as I did when my RE040's were already destroyed.

 

No problems so far. I got the wheel thing taken care of within the first month to prevent feathering, and my service advisor still can't remember if he did it already, so he's always reminding me to be sure to get it done before the warranty runs out. Hehe, so I know he wants to make sure things are right for customers.

As for the other problems, I've been paranoid about them whenever I've read about them, and I've brought it in numerous times, but now, at 8 months and almost 11,000 miles, I've got no problems.

But, you did buy used, and more problems tend to happen with those, I'd imagine. Like, there's a reason why somebody got rid of it. Still, here's hoping that things work out for ya!

 

I have an 03' Track also and the ONLY issue I had was slight slight grease on the window, which went away in afew weeks or so and I'm over 1,000 miles. So WE DO EXIST! (people over 1k who like thier 03 Z that is, lol) Hang in there, all you agonize over can be corrected. Its a 350Z dude.. lol, 'Nuff Said. I love this thing, I'd love it more if it was ATI'd up tho

 

jackass