Hey I bought my Z beacause I wanted something that not everyone has and turns alot of heads especially as clean as I keep mine. My sticker was $32,675.00 if they would have taken $4,000.00 of that I would have said fair deal. But that was'nt going to happen in south Fla. on July 4 th. weekend 2003. So what I got was I put $15,000.00 down they lowered $1,000.00 of sticker they installed the aero dynamics package on my touring super black which is the rear wing and the front areo piece under the front lip cost $795.00 2.9% for 60 mo. and I sold them my F-150 supercrew 4bye4 Lariet 2001 at my residule buy out price which really saved my *** because they were going to shaft me $2,700.00 because of over miles some dings and so called bald tires since they new I was not planning on buying another ford. With all that said this deal worked for me especially on such short notice. Its better than just having an a$$hole stand there and tell me hey you like it well I can let you have it for M.S.R.P. with no chance of working something out. I dont feel that bad cause I shopped around and g35 were msrp and 5.9% the cadilac cts was $500.00 of msrp 5.9% and my beacon score is 782 which is not bad. As for the Z down here in south fla. no dealer was taking anything lower than msrp. Oh I forgot my payment is $320.88 With all that said I dont think anyone really gets a good deal on this car especially if you consider all the defects in my case light feathering ,radio, rear axel pinging sound when slow speed sudden accelerating. and the list is much longer for others. But we still all remarkably love our Z's. We have all at one time or another over paid for something, but when have you felt so good and looked so cool while doing it.

 

ferrari enzo
brand new one costs around 650,000 and there are few people selling for 1.5mil
but i heard once u sell enzo, ferrari won't invite u anymore for another limited production car tho...

 

When you order some cars light a 140k mercedes, or some the Ferari f50 they appreciated.

I am a sales manager at a Toyota dealership. A car is only worth what a person is willing to pay for it.

Biggest problem with the Z? It's a 200X nissan? Nissan has sucked ever since they became french.

 

Thanks for all your replies.

Don't get me wrong here. I expected the Z to depreciate. I've owned enough cars in my lifetime that I know as soon as you drive them off the lot, they depreciate. But different cars depreciate at different rates. I thought the Z would remain such a hot car that it would depreciate about $2,000 to $3000 per year. Right now it looks like at least $4,000-$4,500 per year. That amount is very surprising to me. Perhaps some of that is in the discount that was not given when the car was sold during 2002. Practically everybody paid MSRP, or even more in 2002.

Perhaps we should be asking ourselves why there are so many Z's for sale. My hunch is that a lot of people determined sports cars weren't a good long term option for them. The Z may not have fit into their family lifestyle.

 

Alot of people buy the car as a sort of impulse purchase and don't think to themselves if they can really live with 2 seats and small storage and a car that doesn't go too well (if at all) in the snow. They then turn around and sell it.

 

Your car will not depreciate at a $4-5,000 rate each year. If that were the case, in 7 years you would have to pay some one to take it.

Look, you bought yours a year and a half ago. Odds are you paid above MSRP for it, perhaps a lot. I bought mine in Nov and paid a good bit under MSRP. That cost difference between yours and mine is not really a function of depreciation, although it has the same effect. In my opinion, the very worse time to buy a new car is in the first year of production; because you pay a premium for it and because you pay the price of the manufacturer's first production run mistakes.

Also, you're including sales tax in your definition of depreciation. You lose that whether you buy a Z, a Ferrari or a Focus.

As far as how many you see on used car lots. Well, first I don't think we really see that many. It's just that every time we see one, it registers with us. However, ckny said it best when he descibed the Sports Car impulse purchase. I've had 5 Zs, a Corvette & a TR7. I can't tell you how many people have commented on each of them - "what a great looking car". Then, after I took them for a ride, their comments were often - "whoa, how rough was that?" or "damn, I'll bet your butt hurts all the time" or "how do you ever get a suitcase, or kid in here?". Sports Cars aren't for everyone. Actually, they are for very few. And, if you want to talk "real" Sports Cars, it's very, very few.

I think everybody here feels your pain. We've all had it before; some of us more than others.

BTW, thank you RitchieZ.

 

All cars depreciate. Cars are not an investment.

The Z is rated one of the top 5 mass-produced vehicles (all types) in terms of depreciation. That's pretty damn good.

And $28k on a trade in? That's amazing. TTL shouldn't figure in, because you eat that no matter what.

 

One factor I didn't mention is that when the Z was introduced, it favorably compared to the Porsche Boxster which sells for 10-15 thousand more. This is another reason I thought the Z would keep more of its value. But, as someone pointed out, sports cars are a niche market, and are meant to be driven hard, so the depreciation is warranted for used models.

 

I have seen this stated before, and I respectfully disagree. I'm not trying to start an argument or debate semantics, but obviously some cars depreciate more than others - we all know that. But, just to say that "cars are not an investment [and that you should expect to lose money and not worry about it]" does a disservice to inteligent buying. If you "invest" your money in the right car, you will have less monetary loss when you go to sell it. Likewise, you can invest in the stock market and also lose money and some stocks lose more than others - and some gain value. Whatever.

WayneTN

 

Cars (at least ones that you drive) are not investments. Investments are assets that you expect to appreciate. Cars are assets that you expect to depreciate. If you do your homework you know what the car will be worth in the future. It shouldn't be a surprise. Check out leasecompare.com. You can determine the residual value (its' depreciation) of any car you are interested in that they list. What you really want to know when you buy a car is the COST OF OWNERSHIP. That's the price you paid less its' residual value. The real way to look at cars is to compare the cost of ownership. Many of us purchase our cars with more emotional rather than logical input. We tell ourselves that the Z is special and rare and won't depreciate much. It ain't so.
rich

 

i think the issue here is that the Z depreciated more than expected. Where I am in Canada, a brand new Z (Performance) is $45k. but on the classified (~20 at any one time), the avg price is about 38k for a 2003 model. That's dealer price. I can only assume that the trade in for it is about 3-4k less. In total a 10k hit after 1 year is quite a bit for such a car. It's not a Ford after all but the depreciation seemed like one!
i think leasing the Z makes the most sense in this case. Unless you want to keep it forever.

 

HA!!! here's a solution---- we all us the LEMON LAW and NISS'dum buys back are Z's and we go buy new ones.

 

is nissan really this DUM ???

 

Finaly something we agree on.

 

 

Take a look at some of the used Vette prices.I have seen some 03 ZO6's for sale in the low 40's when they paid low to mid 50's brand new.Now that is depreciation.

 

Just shows you what politics and religion can do to otherwise reasonable people.

 

hmmmmm

i think losing a few k here and there is aite

i mean

it is a sports car

pplz do rev it up and a lot

my cuzzin does too much

 

know what? WHO CARES. Geez, The car has barely been out for two years, and people are worried about trading it in!?
I could care less if someone told me I would only get 10 grand for it. I plan on keeping it for at least 5 years
I`m having way too much fun with her, and am not worried at all what it may be worth years from now.

 

I've often been told that the general rule of thumb is that your new car loses 20% of its value the minute you drive it off the lot. It sucks, and it's also little surprise that the Z hasn't been immune to such depreciation. We all know that its reliability in the short term is suspect, and we can only guess what long term issues will arise. Add to that the simple fact that the Z appeals to a relatively small number of car buyers and any surplus of them on the used car market is gonna make it rough for sellers.

That's a great question, and it'll be interesting to see how many used Zs are for sale a year from now.

Scott