Hate to depart with it however the car started developing a tranmission problem, and before it became worse (I've read some horror stories here), the decision was pretty easy for me. The car also had the tire feathering, window streaks, and BOSE problem. Loved the car and will miss it dearly, but there's no way I'm going to get a tranny replacement and have to deal with it throughout the life of the car with the possibility of having to replace the tranny again and again as some have had to on this site.

Will miss the Z - especially that exhaust note - and will likely return to it when Nissan intends to make some changes to it in '06. May even wait for the possibility of the Skyline to come to North American possibly in 3 years.

It's been a ride, and now I'll be the jeolous spectator whenever I see the Z on the road.

 

Nissan are you listening!

 

so what you getting?

 

Picked up a VW VR6 2003 Jetta loaded to the T. Yeah I know, opposite end of the spectrum but it'll be good to be able to drive the car throughout the year as opposed to garaging the z in the winter and driving a beater.

 

Woah! Err, are you sure that's a good idea? Good luck w/that! Consumer Reports has always shown that every VW except the Passat (currently only the V6 Passat) has poor reliability. The Jetta 4 cylinders (both turbo and NA) have VERY poor reliability. They don't have any data on the 6s (probably not enough data, since VW sells very few cars in the US).

The April 2004 auto issue also had a chart of # of problems for 100 vehicles for 2003 models, 3 year old 2001s, and 5 year old 1999s. The avg was 17, 54, and 79 respectively. Nissan got 14, 41, and 46. VW got 19, 78 (3rd from worst), and 138 (dead last)! For reference, the best was had for the 03 was Lexus w/9, for 3 year old cars was Infiniti w/21, and for 5 year old cars Infiniti w/24.

 

I would have gotten like an Audi A4 Quattro or something like that if you wanted to go european, so that you can have 4 wheel drive when you need it during the winter, otherwise I probably would have saved up for an Impreza STI ... but yeah I've tuned VWs for about 12 years now and I agree with what was said above. VWs have their share of problems as well...some even more annoying than problems with the 350Z, but the Jetta VR6 is a good car nontheless...still won't be anywhere near Z though but good luck with the new car.

Check out www.vwvortex.com

Oh by the way, was your Z's tranny automatic or manual? I'm fairly new to the forums and was wondering which transmission everyone is getting problems with.