Okay, I test drove this today here are my first observations:
Clicky


- They are asking waaaaay too much. Would it be unreasonable to ask $21,500 ?

-The service engine light was on when I took it for a test drive. The salesman said, "the oil might need to be changed" I looked at the oil and it was fresh and clean...he's an idiot I believe! I told him I wanted the codes checked and it would have to be fixed for me to even consider buying.

-When I first floored the car on the test drive I heard an odd squealing come from the back...sounded like a differential squeal. It was intermittent and went away after 5 minutes. Could this be because the car has been sitting for a while?

-The car felt solid and tracked straight, brakes were awesome and the car has a ton of power.

-Interior was clean, and in decent shape

-Taillights have gotta go!!!!

-Tranny was a bit louder than I am used too, mind you I'm coming from a BMW 330Xi auto. Should it kinda grumble a bit...not in a malfunctioning mechanical way, but a rev and going through the gears kinda way?

Anything you all think I should look at or ask about?

 

hold out for an 05, get a 6 speed.

 

I'm kinda in a car bind right now...otherwise I would hold out for an '05. My BMW is too much to maintain and I'm getting really tired of driving a 4 door sedan with an auto tranny. Worst part is that there are hardly any Z's around my part of town and the newest I've found in my price range is 04's. BTW, this one is a 6MT

 

Welcome.

For general pricing guidelines check KBB. Also consider that Utah is a 3-season state for sports cars. Demand and prices are less than, say, Florida. Is the car worth $21,500 to you? If yes than offer $21,500.

 

Thank you for the welcome! Average retail for KBB is $24800 for the '04 enthusiast. I'm thinking that, assuming they take care of the engine light problem, that I will start at $20500 and go from there. The car only has 25k miles on it and I'll be asking for a Carfax report also...if there is only one owner and no history of damage then I'll have some bargaining room.

I did speak to a Nissan Dealership and asked about warranties. Does the factory 60,000 mile powertrain warranty transfer to other owners? If so, that will be piece of mind right there!

 

Yes.

 

Welcome,
I hope you get the car, but I would wait a bit for a different one
The transmission is noisy and always will be, thats how they are...it goes away after it warms up...

If the Dif, and the tranny are noisy, the engine light is on
this car has been DRIVEN....that is just my thoughts...
A freind has one that has 60,00 babied miles on it and it makes no noises at all....
Just my .02

 

Well, I have some good news. I found an '05 Touring with pretty much all the options and they're asking $25480...I'm waiting for pics before I drive an hour to go look. I think I'm going to start low and basically test drive and if I like it I will offer $22k on the spot..with payoff of $23k on my car. I've got neg. equity in my BMW right now...so I would expect them to tack on the remaining $1500 to the price of the Z to bring it to $23500. We'll see...wish me luck! If not, there's not a whole lot of choices...bottom line is I'm willing to go no higher than $24k with full trade, including taxes.

 

Luck!

 

So I have another question...don't blame me if it sounds stupid as hell because this is what the salesman at the dealership told me. I asked about the service engine light and he said their mechanics checked it out and nothing popped up...but they did notice that the car was almost out of gas and supposedly they saidthat the light came on because the car was out of gas...

I honestly was floored when he tried passing it off as that. So, I'll go ahead and ask the question...does the check engine light come on when the car is out of fuel? Don't flame me too hard if this is totally not true...because A) I should know better B) I've never looked into one of these cars, so I don't know for sure!

 

no, the low fuel light comes on.....yellow led next to the fuel gauge will come on to get your attention

 

Ok, great, the salesman is just an idiot ...my thoughts were right on track!

 

BTW, I never did get to the dealership to test drive the '05 today...my BMW decided to **** the bed and the tranny went out with 67k on the clock!!!!

 

I would not buy the car in question here. Not at all.

 

Duly noted!! If I do go "back" to that car, I will be taking it to Nissan to have it inspected. Only then will I even start considering it.

 

Ok, I am thinking about going to look at an '05 Touring with 8,103 miles on it today. It's the one I mentioned above. They are asking $25,480, which is still a little outta my range I would like to buy at. The car is in Utah and RWD around this time of year is iffy...I can deal with that. Armed with NADA and KBB prices, I'm thinking of offering $23,000. Do you think I would be lowballing or does that seem fair?

 

Okay, I went and looked at 2 Z's yesterday. The first one was an '03 for $19,966 with 43k on the clock. They had the nerve to only offer me "auction" pricing for my BMW. I could not believe it!!! Can dealerships seriously offer auction pricing for trades? They wanted to give me $16k for a '02 BMW 330. I told them to shove it up their asses and left.

The next car was the '05 touring. I didn't have a chance to drive it, but it looked beautiful. I have decided, however, that there is no way they would sell that car to me for $23k with full trade on mine. If they could do it for $25k then I would do it in a heartbeat.

I've still got my eye on the '04 enthusiast...but I would need to have it checked out first though...it only has 25k on the clock. I'm sure I could get it for around 22-23k with a full trade on my car.

What do you all think?

 

I recommend that you shop by mileage not model year. In other words a 2004 with 25,000 miles is a better deal than a 2005 with 50,000.