i'm planning on looking at an 03 touring manual w/ about 16k miles on it at my local dealer TOMM. after many hours of research, generally the 03-04 are the worst years to get from what i heard and read. i'm still a 350z newbie and just recently read up on all this stuff couple days ago so some parts i may be unsure of so please take it easy on me as i know most of this stuff is redundant. the 03-04's are notorious and infamous for their tire feathering issues and tranny issues. but this is the part i'm still unsure of. have nissan really made drastic improvements on the tranny and alleviate the tire feathering issue that much more in the 05? i heard tire feathering is still existent even in the newer models but just not as severe as the previous models. as far as i know, there are no ways to fix the issue but just only methods to prolong the tire life by demounting and swapping the tires from left to right which i heard works out pretty well. also OEM tires suck as they are very soft, and have a UTQG of 140 AA. so i guess harder compounds, higher UTQG ratings will help as well, along with getting the most up to date alignment specs periodically.

I'm not too worried about oil consumption. its not really a problem unless you don't know how to maintain a car properly (if RX7 and RX8 owners can do it, then why can't i?).

as for the tranny, i think its really speculative. i heard theres a lot less reports of tranny replacements from the g35 owners compared to the 350z, and they both have the same tranny. i think its prob most likely due to the difference in demographics, particularly age. seems like G35 owners are the lesser of the aggressive drivers compared to the Z owners. again, thats purely speculative. if i do end up gettin the 03, i will be most likely consider getting the extended warranty as it will cover the transmission. The typical fix is to replace the transmission with a newer revision but is that i guess up to par w/ the 05 tranny? (if the 05 tranny is indeed better).

someone please correct anything that is wrong from what i just said. i'm trying to find some good reasons to actually get an 03 despite it being one of the worst years. the newer models are not within my price range and don't have a lot of time for an non base 05 model to swing in.

 

Car buying is a big decision. It seems that you are attempting to rationalise a buying decision.

Keep in mind that the 350Z is a performance sports car. By its very nature it will be more expensive to maintain than, say, a Honda Accord.

Shopping with a budget is smart. A 2003 with 16,000 miles is in your budget. A 2006 with 16,000 miles is out. Not point in crying about the 2006 that you cannot buy.

Happy shopping.

 

patience is key in car buying my friend

 

The 05 is definitely a great year to buy. The transmission has the revision that exceeds even the 04.5 revision. But of course the 06 has the revised version which bests the 05 and the 07+ have a totally different transmission. But I'd really look into newer years. The prices on these cars is falling fast. 06's are not too far out of the budget of a 16k mile 03. How much is that 03 going for? A 30k 06 is going for like 16,500 now or so.

 

I agree, for earlier model Z33's i think 2005 models were the best year (assuming non anniversary model since it has the rev up motor).

 

ah i see. well you have to understand, the Z is at a dealer, not private. prices are going to be generally higher. and i get sketched out easily when it comes to private deals. the process usually takes longer and have to throughly inspect the car yourself or take it to a mech.
the particular 03 touring i'm looking at has 16,569 miles going for which i think is a ridiculous $20,523. KBB quoted i think little over $18k.

they have an 06 touring manual w/ 42,916 miles going for $24,772 as well.

for the 03, despite its mileage, how much do you think i could talk it down for?

 

Make sure that you know for CERTAIN, (don't just take someone's word for it) that is has a CD009 tranny not a CD008 and make sure they give you a tranny warranty of some kind if it doesn't have the newer tranny.

As for tires just buy better ones and the problem goes away. I have Toyo T1R and no feathering.

There are a couple other small things with the 03, but I still LUV mine

 

ah, thanks for that info. i'm going to def jot that down and take it w/ me.

 

Having just gone through this experience myself, the best advice I could give you would be print off some reports from Kelley Blue Book and some other sites and memorize the information, or simply bring them to the dealer with you. I was over 45 minutes into the negotiations with our saleswoman when she came back with an offer from the manager that said "Final Offer WOW!" on it. I told her the exact amount I felt comfortable paying and refused to budge. It took a little bit, but I got 2 more offers after the "final" one.

Know what the car is worth, and more importantly...what the car is worth to you. If the dealer won't sell it to you for that, find another dealer. Stick to your guns, but be reasonable. If you come in lowballing them to a rediculous degree, you're not likely to get anywhere at all.

To give you an idea, I had 6 "offers" from the manager. The 4th was the "final" offer and the 6th was the one I took. From start to finish I shaved about $2600 off their price, however they started pretty high so it's understandable. Don't let them bully or pressure you. They probably want to sell you the car more than you want to buy it :-) If you feel they aren't being reasonable they probably aren't!

Best of luck

 

Telm, you did buy a new car right? I doubt a dealership will shave $2.6k off a used car. Correct me if I am wrong?

 

Oh my. Had no idea 06's were still selling in the 20's. Well check this out. I bought my base last year for 19,999 or something. 21 otd. They were asking 24 for it and I said I have so and so. So they said ok. 18k miles at the time. There are far better deals out there for you. Be patient. A couple months back I was going to put my car up for sale. A 30k mile clean 06, for 16,500 so trust me there are excellent deals out there even if you have to buy private.

For the KBB stuff though give me a sec. I keep a KBB handy.

2003 Nissan 350Z Trade in Private Party Retail

Coupe (F)$7800 (G)$8950 (G)10850 (E)$14050

Enthusiast (F)$8050 (G)$9225 (G)$11150 (E)$14400

Performance (F)$825 (G)$9425 (G)$11350 (E)$14600

Touring (F)$8550 (G)$9775 (G)$11700 (E)$15000

Track (G)$9050 (G)$10300 (G)$12300 (E)$15650

(F) Fair
(G) Good
(E) Excellent


Basically that's what they are going for or should be at least.

 

of course they will. they probably payed 13k or less for the z when it came in for trade. my first and only offer on my 06 was 2k less than sticker price and they accepted.

 

Most of the ads I have seen goes as the following

2005 Black 350z Touring M/T 35k miles

$18k $3k down/trade in

That is basically $21k is it not?

 

Hey Kev, I knocked off 5k from my price before Taxes, Tags, and Title last year. And the car had been on the lot for a month. It's not unheard of these days.

 

came back from the dealer empty handed. i was gonna trade my max in but for some reason there was a lot of smoke coming from the rear engine bay, near around the EGR system if not the EGR. so the trade in idea fell through. when i got there, those b@stards inflated the price on that very 03 Z up to 1k+ more. Price was $21xxx.

their best deal was $192xx + tax, title, registration which is still absurd.
i couldn't get them down any further so i just left. sooo dissapointed right now...

 

Smart move, they will call you back when they can't sell it. Did you try autotrader.com, overstock.com, cars.com, and craigslist.org ?

 

i tried only autotrader.com. i'm going to start looking into private, along w/ those other sites you listed.

i was actually pondering this over, maybe the dealer inflated those prices by looking at their website hits or people inquiring about the z's over the phone.
i mean initially, that 03 was 19,5xx about 2 or so weeks ago. then it went up to 20k and to 21xxx when i got there.....

 

This was what I was told ...

Right when you walk into a dealership, the first thing they do in their mind is categorize you. They make an assumption on how much you are willing to spend on the car based on what you wear, ethnicity, car you drive, etc. If you walked in there like a bum, they wouldn't take you seriously. Likewise, if you wore a suit or some business casual, they will be all over you (because they think you have money). Anyway I been wanting to try this since it works for my boss every time ... walk into a dealership with business casual on, have your business card with you (company card) and say you are buying this car for so and so company and ask for the manager. When speaking with the manager, tell him you want to buy this car today and you want to make a quick purchase with no games. If you agree with his offer then shake his hand and sign the paperworks. You will be out in 10 minute (not counting the inspection of the car or the test drive) with/without the car. If you can't come down to a price your comfortable with then move on to the next dealer. Usually the manager will give you the lowest price possible which a regular salesman won't give you.

 

^^^ interesting, sounds like a good idea. we pretty much ended up consulting w/ the manager in the end, it just took over an hour consulting w/ the salesguys first.

 

By the way, what year is your Maxima and how much did they offer you before it started smoking? I am currently driving an 00 Maxima Se Auto right now and at the same time looking at Z's during my spare time.