Hey Guys. I'm new here.

First of all, NICE forum. I've driven/modded mainly German cars since I was a teenager and I have never seen a BMW, Mercedes, etc. forum with so much information/owner enthusiasm.

A little about me:

36
Dallas, TX
Business Owner
2003 350z Touring, 64k miles, 1 owner

I purchased this car for my daughter who will be turning 16 this year. It will be on the way to TX next week from a Mercedes dealership in FL, where it was traded in. The car looks like it's been pretty well maintained so I have high hopes that it will be a good driver for her. The reason I got it for her now is because she is NOT going to learn how to drive in my other child (Mercedes SL500). Bahahaha

Obviously, I haven't gotten my sweaty hands on the owners manual yet. Heck, I have never even ridden in a 350z to be honest. My brother in law does have a G35 and I was in it once about 4 years ago. Ha! As a result, so far, I have just been reading until my eyes bleed every day to learn as much as I can about these cars.

I have already identified the most obvious mods I want to complete right away. I have done this type of basic stuff on virtually every car I have owned, so no big deal. They are:

-Tail light update (will use 06 OEM LEDs)
-Satin Finish "Z" emblem front and back
-"Z" wheel center caps. Staying with stock wheels for now
-Front side marker change to clear
-Replace Turn signal bulbs with "stealth" bulbs to get rid of the egg look
-Replace License plate lights with high output ultra white lights
-Replace High beam bulbs with Sylvania Ultra High Performance bulbs
-Replace Low beam bulbs with ______ TBD


I have already ordered the parts to complete these projects. Actually, some of them started arriving today. lol

I will be staying away from speed/power mods as, in my opinion, this car has MORE than enough of both for an inexperienced driver as it is. I will also be staying away from lowering/wheel size mods once again because of the inexperience of the driver. I'm sure we all know how easy it is to rip the front end off of a car, bend a rim, or ruin low profile tires and that's when you actually know what you're doing.

Okay, so I'm going to post a link to the pics in the hopes some of you will be interested and have a look. I DO have my first noob question all planned out that I haven't been able to answer yet through research and I can't tell from pics, but I think some/most of you probably can with a glance. Are the headlights on this car HID or Halogen capsules??

I look forward to talking with you guys. Any and all constructive comments/suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Thank you again for the great forum that you have all created.

http://content.liquidmotors.com/cm/P..._139_LG.jpg%27

 

Welcome to the forum and congrats on purchasing a 350Z. It sounds like you know your way around the forums already.

As for your question, since you purchased a Touring, the headlights should be HIDs. Only the base models for 03-05 came with halogens.

Be sure to join the local DFW members for various events, including but not limited to meets, dyno days, track days, and tech days. Check out the TX Regional Events forum for more info on upcoming events.

 

Think there HID's if this thread is correct http://www.350zmotoring.com/forums/m...z-touring.html

 

damn u beat me to it when I was confirming. lol

BTW i love your avatar.

 

I love your car. You wanna trade? My avatar for your car - once in a lifetime deal here.

 

^ It's digital only...it's a trap don't do it!

 

Looks to be in great shape Drive the Z for awhile and put some turbos on it and let your daughter drive that SL 500

My girls are only 2 & 4 but I can't wait for the day they get there first car. I hope to teach them to be DIYers like the old man and the 4yr old likes to hang out and help me now but I fear by the time she is 13-14 the interest will be gone

 

Honestly, if this is going to be your daughters FIRST car I'd be looking at hiding that lil' TCS off button away from prying eyes.

There's an endless thread about teen's who have wrecked their Z's while tooling around with it off, and with that on she'll be hard pressed to get it out of control.

It's just clipped in from behind the dash, could probably get away with pushing it back into the dash and zip-tie it away from daylight till later on

 

Welcome. With 64,000 the Z has lots of fun miles remaining. This is about the time to replace the original springs and dampers.

 

.....

https://my350z.com/forum/2003-2009-n...zs-debate.html

 

Yay! Lets all go out and buy our 16 year old daughters a sport car because what ever would they do without one?

 

Thanks, I can not wait till I get it custom painted and completed but I appreciate to comment.

I would trade in a heart beat for the girl in the avatar. Course then I would be set and could get my GTR.


For the digital trade thou you only get the digital Z.


To the OP.

Some people will flame you for getting a 16yr old the Z, but I have seen where rich dads buy a 16yr old boy a viper GTS. Concidering she is a girl I think your better off than the Viper situation.


The boy totaled the GTS as well as his life. Saw it on wreckedexotics.com.

Course we all take this chance when we get behind the wheel and things happen that we have no control over nor caused.

 

When my girlfriend, now 24, was in high school a friend of hers (another girl) managed to total 2 Supra TTs. From what I gather her dad was a total d-bag though and didn't know squat about the cars he was buying. Just knew his little girl wanted one.

You, sir, seem to know your way around a car. So lets hope some of that rubbed off on your daughter and she respects whats under the hood.

Or you could simply do like my dad did to me. He took me out in his '71 Mach1 Fastback and scared the hell out of me before I got my first car. Seriously the dude is still nuts. Either way congrats on the Z and welcome to the forums.

 

Nice replies fellas. Okay, well there was one troll, but I don't feed trolls so it's all good.

@350junkie - Very nice suggestion. I'll definitely take a look at that. I know that with the wide and low stance the car will be hard to lose control of as long as that baby is active. I wonder if there's a way to simply unplug the switch or to have the ecu programmed to have the TCS always be active?

@davidv - A friend of mine is an auto tech at a Toyota dealership. I am going to have him give the car the old once over at my father's shop once it gets here. I digress, but my father has a 5 bay shop behind his house with 2 lifts and all the tools you could ever ask for. He is retired and restores cars for fun. Then he sells them. Anyway, the point is I have a proper place to do whatever work is required and I will definitely mention the springs and dampers to him while we are talking tune-up, brakes, etc.

@themadhatterxxxx - Lol, yeah I know it's a little disconcerting for some people that a 16 year old child would be given such a car. I think I had about 10 accidents between the ages of 16 - 21. I have only had one at fault accident since that time. So, I know from experience that those first years can be rough if you don't have the maturity to handle the responsibility that comes along with driving and even if you do the inexperience factor may get you. Honestly though, and no offense to anyone who might read this, I don't consider a 7 year old Nissan an irreplaceable heirloom. Truly, this car will be a mid tier car when compared to what some of the other kids are driving at the high school she attends.

That said, my vote was for an '02 Landrover Freelander that cost about $3k. Ha! Anyway, while alone, she will be restricted to driving it from home to school and back, and to specific locations around town if given expressed permission, for at least the first year as I watch the development of her driving skills. This particular kid is a rarity in that she actually follows the rules that we set for her without complaining and I have faith that she will adhere to those rules.

@Sylvan Lake V35 - Woaahhh. Twin turbos would be scary on that car. I'll stick to my heavy roadster thank you very much. I mean, how would it look if I wrecked the Z?

@solar_n_orange - You're right. I grew up in a family of auto enthusiasts. I LOVE cars very much. Old cars, new cars, muscle cars, luxury cars. I love them all. I really do hope to pass some of that on to the kid. At the very least, she will be educated about how her car works from front to back, how much power this little car really has, and how easy it is for an inexperienced driver to underestimate said power to their peril.

Thanks again for the welcome guys. I still have a lot to learn about these cars. Hopefully, I will be able to minimize the dumb questions by using the handy search tool. This forum is huge though, and it's easy to miss something, so please bear with me if I throw out a bone headed question from time to time.

Here's one question that I haven't been able to resolve. If I wanted to get a, I suppose build sheet, detailing the options that came on the car, etc. Where would I go for such a thing? I called the local dealer, but they were no help on my first attempt. Still, I may just need to ask the right person or phrase the question differently. If anyone has had occasion to cross this bridge I would really appreciate a little insight here.

 

you could probably get away with unplugging it, just don't know if it will through a warning light or anything

 

go on-line to nissanusa.com and request to have one mailed to you. You may not find one for an '03 but might have it for the '08 and it will at least give you an idea of what options come with each model. I had one mailed to me before I bought my '08.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003-...item5ad5b1c95b

 

@350junkie - Yeah, once the car gets here I will probably just try unplugging the button and see what happens. I'll make a new thread once I do it just to share the results with any others who might consider eliminating the TCS option in the future.

@Dan Garcia - I actually tried to call Nissan consumer affairs (800-Nissan1), but they won't be open again until Tuesday. I'll give them a call next week. I'm wanting something that is specific to this vehicle. I didn't know if there was a way to cross reference the VIN or something and make a print out of some kind. I am probably dreaming, but it's free to ask I suppose. lol

Thank you for the link. I will wait to see if an owners manual is included with the car once it gets here (being shipped from FL). If not, I will definitely buy one from ebay. I've had to go that route before. I consider an owners manual an essential item though, so one way or another I will have one soon.

 

I'd rather a 16 year old girl drive a 2003 Z than a 16 year old boy. I'm sure she is excited.

 

^^ What he really means is that he wants to see pics of her.