I have to ask...what's wrong with stiff handling? It's not unbearably stiff with oem suspension. Sure, on crappy roads it's not gonna feel the greatest, but on the interstate (which is where the most of your commute it spent) it handles like a dream. The roughness on crappy roads is more than worth it for the way it handles on smooth roads and in general. I love driving mine every single day, despite some "eh" roads I'm forced to take for work.

I just think you're comparing apples to oranges. Sure, the bmw is gonna handle differently. But that's because it's a sedan with a longer wheel base made for a comfortable commute. The Z is a rough around the edges sports coupe, but still capable of being a daily if you're willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort. (The Z is pretty damn comfortable if you ask me).

 

gonna chip in my two cents- The lexus is a seemingly boring car if youre into sporty vehicles. I would actually immediately cross that one off my list. Second, if the BMW caught your attention because of the sound system, and the sports car feel, then the Z should definitely be an upgrade to both. The small space in the Z plus the hatch makes it an impressive car for upgraded sound systems. the sound system part only takes a minimum of about $200 to upgrade to a high quality system.

All in all, it will be your car so please don't let any of us tell you what to buy. We're not the ones that will be driving the car 70 miles a day, so get what YOU like best and what you REALLY love. get the car you can't walk away from without turning around- the best sign of having the right car

 

Believe it or not, 0. Got my license at 19yrs old in April 2011. Rear ended someone in October of that year. Raised my insurance like $40. The final $10 or so increase came from the one day my dad drove my Blazer and he backed into a car that was illegally parked that he couldn't see because of the spare tire on the back and he wasn't listed on the insurance, so I ate it.

Ever since then, I've apparently been a terrible person to insure. I've also been rear ended twice in a two month period Oct & Dec last year. But that didn't affect the insurance

Nothing's wrong with it, just afraid of it being too rough that it's annoying/uncomfortable. Had I been driving it in the last month, I'm sure it would've sucked. Highway on my way to work has been falling apart real bad from the storms we've been getting. A million holes. Now it's just one street by my job that's real bad, which I can deal with.

But yeah. I read that you say it's pretty comfortable and I'm like yay! Then "Sacrifice a bit of comfort" and I'm like omg how much comfort?!?!

Yeah....lol

Yeah, the Lexus really was just for the luxury of it. Reminiscent of my old Caddy. Yeah, the Z is far sportier, and as far as the sound system goes, unless I was in a bad spot for radio reception or something, the BMW blew it outta the water. But yeah, upgrades can be done if need be (something I know zero about).

I couldn't help but smile at your last bit. That's how I feel about the Z. But at the same time, I'm trying to be intelligent about it and think ahead about how things might play out or how I'll feel. I'd hate to jump on it and regret it in a month, and be trapped with a car I have to pay off.

 

It's a comfortable car in terms of the seats, positioning, cabin space (im 6'2 and it feels plenty roomy). Only when you're on a bumpy road or hit a pot hole does the stiffness really slap you in the face. That comes with the territory of sport suspension though.

 

Well, you are on a 350Z website, so you may get biased answers.

The particular lexus you are talking about is nothing more than a glorified toyota camry.

German cars are crap. Of course, this is my personal opinion. I used to work at Enterprise-Rent-A-Car a few years back and my branch was inside a mercedes/bmw dealership and people would come in with stupid problems left and right that would cost them an arm /leg to repair.

I love my 07 Z, but it does have areas where I think the engineers could have done a better job. The interior is cheap and scratches easy, esp near the window controls.

If your insurance is sky high, you probably should not get a sports car. Think of the monthly payments and gas (you have to use premium).

 

I wouldn't go that far to say all German cars are crap. After all, the Z from the beginning took inspiration from European cars for it's looks, American muscle cars for it's power and Japanese cars for it's reliability. Since I had my E92 I had no issues at all and it's so fun to drive. OP if I were you I would hold off on getting a Z until you save up more to either buy one outright or slash the amount of payments you have in half. But I still won't recommend a Z, I suggest an G35 instead. +1 about that particular Lexus being a Toyota Camry with make up and a push up bra on. That's all it is really but it being a Toyota means it's reliable and has a bullet proof engine that will probably outlive you and your kids some day.

 

If you think the Z has a ride that is too stiff, you should try out an English sports car from the 1960's. Go for a ride in an MGB, An Austin Healey Sprite or a big Healey and you will think the Z has a soft ride.

 

I've made my decision. I'm not yet announcing what it is until I actually have the vehicle in my possession. Right now I'm awaiting to hear from both dealers I've been talking with regarding payment costs, and assuming it's not too outrageous, I know what I'll be getting. I was able to recruit my mom to at least let me be under her insurance, which is going to save me something like $83 a month.

So all I'll say in the meantime is, it's not the Lexus.

 

Just to add BMW 3 series has been rated top sedan for the past 12-15 years. Both the Z and BMW have big aftermarket followings. Z will be cheaper to fix than BMW but Z is not cheap, just cheaper parts than BMW.

 

Saber i will say this at 23, i should have bought a g35, there have been plenty of times where i needed an extra seat to get two biitches in teh car and didnt have it resulting in some illegal lap sitting. But if you dont have these problems with girls than by all means get the Z, its not really luxury but you will have fun drving it. I still look at it every time i park it no joke.

 

In terms of style, german cars are hott. I was talking about in terms of quality, they're not that great, esp. for the money you pay for those cars.

OP, honestly, with everything you are saying, you should really focus on landing a decent job, build up your credit, getting your own place, and then going for a nice car. You are worried about monthly costs AND going under your mother's insurance policy to save money, which would lead me to think you still live at home. And what's on your record to where you will be saving that much on insurance costs?

And what's your budget? You don't want to be one of those people that have that nice car, but still lives at home with parents and have no money to spend because it's all going towards the costs of your car.

 

damn allshownogo dropping some proper advice, OP he is right though, even though i have the Z i got way more bishes just for the simple fact that i had my own place and a job. Think about these things, nice you have a bmw or z but if you have to go home to mommys house, its no sex in the champagne room.

 

Shiite bro, in college I got creative when I didn't have a dorm to go back too during winter and summer breaks. You can bang a chick on the slides of a children's playground at night if you choose the right words to say or she drinks the right amount of alcohol lol. I never had trouble trying to find somewhere to go plus my parents...well my dad was cool with it and convinced my mom to leave the house and I'll give him a heads up when I was all done. Plus there's always a hotel as the backup plan or if a girl is older than you most likely she has a career and money in order (which is what you should be doing) she'll have her own place.

But, that's not the right example to give OP though. Save up your money bro. If you conserve long enough you could probably do better than those cars and get a Maserati instead and you'll be looking back saying "hyuck hyuck hyck. Glad I didn't do that." But if you do take the other route just remember, you can always bang the chick in you car (only thing possible in a Z is road head and even that is tough to pull off), a hotel, back alley, on a playground at night, a bathroom in a bar or club, send your parents out to eat and tell them to not come back to the house or you'll deck them in the jaw, slip it in on the dance floor of a house music concert, her parent's house, your friend's house, in between class breaks, etc. It's a huge world out there and there are plenty of places to fck in or on. Explore my friend.

 

I do have a decent job, and an amazing one if you compare it to when I was working at Pep Boys making like half what I do now (not that I make a ton or anything)

What's on my record that's so bad is an accident 6 months after getting my license. Rear ended a dude. Increased insurance by like $40, and then the other $10ish was when my dad got into a minor one when driving my Blazer.

I've got my budget squared away. I made sure I could pay the necessities first. True I'm staying at home. I'm focusing on putting some money together, and taking care of student loans, which are a pain in the ***.

lol, nice list of locations. I'll keep those in mind.

 

Bro you definitely should try some of those locations. You'll get a thrill out of it. A buddy of mine that had a part time job at a car wash use to give free washes to girls he liked and next thing you know he's in the back office or in the booth getting serviced while people were outside waiting on getting their car washed. I tried the in between classes locations, got caught by a librarian with a girl in the library and tried the playground at night locations. It's a rush, not so much fun when you get caught though.

 

Alrighty, so now that everything's done, time for the reveal.

After quite a lot of consideration about what I should do, I settled on the 350Z, which I now have in my possession. As with many things in life, financial consideration was a major player in my decision. As a number of people have pointed out, BMWs, while amazing vehicles (depending on who you ask), are high maintenance. They're not cheap fixes, and with the insurance and car payments I would've had to make, I doubt I would've been able to afford much work on it.

In the bit of driving I've done with it, it's quite nice indeed. The low bumpers are a pain in the *** as I can no longer park in my friend's driveway which means I just have to hope that there's spots on the street when I come by now, and I'm super paranoid when it comes to the bajillion potholes in my area since these last few storms. It's quick as hell, handles great, and while it's not the smoothest ride, the bumps are noticeable, but not in a sharp sense, if you get my meaning.

If anyone's interested in actually seeing the car, I saved the pics the dealer had uploaded because why take a bunch of my own right now when I've got these? I've added a few of my own; the one on the street, and the night ones to show the aftermarket lighting changes a previous owner had made. The blue headlights are kinda cool on the streets, but also kinda suck on the highway.

http://imgur.com/6NUmo00,ByrKCAi,Hy8...KPOeJF,WmT7zMO

I thank everyone for their input. It was invaluable in helping me making my decision. Some of you are probably disppointed/irritated by my decision, maybe a couple cool with it, and some who don't care either way. But at least for the moment, I'm satisfied with my decision. Hopefully it stays that way.

So yeah, for better or for worse, I'm now a Z owner

Now that I have it, any advice/comments/etc for me? Comments on things you notice in the pics that I might not have picked up on are of course welcome and appreciated too.

 

Congratulations! Welcome to the Z community!

As long as the purchase makes you happy don't look back.

I would give you some advice on modding the Z on personal appearance but that is only going to be purely from my opinion.

I would get rid of the antenna and get the honda s2k antenna its shorter and makes the car look better. (20 bucks) - ebay the trade off of course is less reception for looks. so you won't get as good a signal as the stock antenna.

Perhaps get some new rims? I had those exact rims on my 04 as well I swapped it out and man it made a huge difference...it can run you between 500-2000 grand depending on the brand of rims you want..

again these are my opinions, do what makes you happy with your z check out the forums and see what you like.

 

Well the thing about the antenna is that it already gets terrible reception it seems, which is disappointing, especially since the cassette adapter I have from a friend sounds horrible and the CD player is apparently busted.

And as far as rims, yeah definitely wanna get those eventually. Whether to go Chrome or something dark is to be decided. And the funds are yet to be created lol.

 

Your '03 Brickyard Red Touring with Frost interior will get tons of compliments - Congratulations !

Picked nine up just last fall - I too commute 70 miles a day, and it makes for a fun drive. I have other vehicles I can take on the bad snow days, but you're much younger, and back when I was 22, all there was were RWD cars, and we all managed just fine.

As I pointed out above in this post, no need for me to go on and on telling you that you made the right decision.

OK, time for me to use this opportunity to picture ***** another shot of mine:



Once again, Congratulations - Welcome - Enjoy !

 

Looks nice but why does your shifter say P, D and N? Is that some kind of mod you just did? Mine has 1-6 and an R. Lol jk, I would just take off the antenna and not replace it at all. It looks smoother without it and no one listens to the radio anyways. Get a plenum spacer and a cold air intake to give it an even sexier VQ sound. Maybe some ART test pipes. Z1 has a nice plenum spacer which has the same gains as some of the motordyne brand ****** like to live by, it cost less, easy to install and gives it a nice sound. I think that should be your first mod because it's the easiest.