AndyB

Here's my 2 cents on all this (as if you care)

The factory system is decent for a factory system. The coded keys probably make theft significantly more difficult. Yes, I know, a pro will take it if he wants it. But I bet the coded key could stop a joyriding kid in his tracks.

Most alarms are nearly pointless because most people completely ignore alarms. Unless you will be where YOU can hear it (or have a pager) the alarm will probably go un-heeded.

Seriously, when is the last time you heard an alarm and thought anything other than "Heh, some dumbass set his own alarm off" or "I wish he would turn his alarm off". Have you ever called the cops assuming it was a theft? Or run out to check on someone elses alarm? I doubt it.

Sure if you get a really good alarm it adds some security. You might hear it. they might disable the factory alarm and not know how to disable the super aftermarket alarm.

There are cheap/free things you can do that (in my opinion) lower your risk.

Always lock the car. It amazes me how many people leave there car running while they run in to Starbucks. When I go to Starbucks there is ALWAYS an SUV or a BMW or something tunning with the keys in it. Unreal. Lock it and take the keys. (I am always tempted to just get in and hide their car around the corner to make a point.)

Also, I never leave anything valuable in view to entice them in to choosing my car. I hide the radar detector and cover any valubles or hide them in the trunk. No reason to make the break in attractive.

I definetley recommend locking lug nuts. They saved the wheels on my Camaro once. I came out school once and found all the lugs off exept the lockers. Those were scratched to ****, but they were still holding the wheels on.

Fortunately for us, the most stolen cars are usually the high volume cars (Camry, Civic, etc.). Their parts are easiest to sell and they can sell all of them. The Z is a relatively low production car so that should favor us a little bit.

The pros often steal for maximum parts/proffit. The joy riders usually steal the hottest cars. Thankfull the joy riders are usually not the most skilled thieves and our encoded keys can stop many of them. The thief we have most to fear are the professional thieves that export entire cars intact. Fortunately they seem to be mostly interested in high end luxury cars and SUV these days.