Hello everyone. I recently bought a 2003 350z with 155k miles. I must've been real lucky but the interior is absolutely perfect. No scatches whatsoever in the interior or broken parts. Im actually quite surprised because of the mileage. Almost every 350z ive seen has had a lot of scratches in the interior. did my car come with special paint in the interior? There are no signs of the interior parts being repainted.. My center console is a light grayish color and not the black color that scratches up that most 350z's have. Were there certain 350's that had interiors that didn't scratch? I know this sounds dumb but i even tried using my nail to check and see if paint would rub off and it didn't haha. Did I just get lucky with mine?? What do you guys think.

 

My 2003 has 145k and doesn't have scratches

 

I think you got lucky with the fact that you came across a 350Z without a scratched interior, but I don't think your Z's interior durability is any different than the rest of them. You just came across a well cared for Z.. As far as my Z, I'm almost 100% sure the PO was a female that had long nails and wore high heels constantly because of the circular scratches around the HVAC ***** and the 4in. rip right under the dead pedal.

 

I've wondered this too as my '03 is scratch free while everyone else's seems to be a mess.

I have some clear coat peel just above the cruise control "accel" button... but that is it. Door panels, arm rest, center console, etc, all look NEW. People are always shocked when they look inside. Now my gear shift **** is a mess, the clear coat is long gone and the leather is getting pretty bad too. I just hit 75K miles, as the previous owner garage queened the car.

I wonder if metal watch bands are to blame, I wear a sports watch which is resin/plastic so it doesn't tear up the arm rests.

 

Mine only has 50k miles but still has 0 scratches. The only ones in it are from me getting into the panels to replace stuff.

I get a few scratches but like above some Z’s look worse than movie trucks I’ve seen. God only knows how or why someone needed to put interior to that much use on a cramped sports car.

 

 

I'm starting to think 2003 models had a different paint on the inside that was more durable. like livin z life said my interior also isn't black. Its like a smokey gray color. I think I remember reading somewhere that when nissan changed the color to black they used cheap paint on later models.

 

Yep everyone that has replied has a 2003 like me. So i'm starting to think out year models had different interior paint or something.

 

yep mine is exactly how you described it. My button for the front cubby is also different from the ones with scratched inteiors.

 

Yep mine has that peel too :/ kinda sucks. But other than that its good as new. I have the nismo carbon fiber shiftknob. definitely worth the price! I recommend it.

 

Well I mean paint durability. Mine does not scratch off whatsoever. My Z wasn't that well taken care of from the outside. Front bumper cracked, ricey taillights and plasti dipped oem wheels.

 

Okay. So why is the word interior mentioned 6 times in your post?

 

03 and early 04 had the gunmetal finish, it doesn't scratch easy because it doesn't have the rubberized finish like all other years, all other black items in the car for those years will have a metallic black paint instead of the rubberized matte black. Also the silver trim on the 06+ is shiny and 05-will be satin instead. Any more questions?

 

'06, 106k. Black rubber.
If I look at it wrong it's scratched.

#lifeinthefastlane

 

Lol, I bought my dash pieces new about 4 years ago and they are already scratching, that's why I'm covering them with vinyl so I never have to see it happen again. The stuff I'm using looks really close to the stock finish.

 

Ohh alright. Thank you for answering the question! Wonder why nissan down graded.

 

cost savings proly

 

In a sense it's not a dowgrade, it's matte and has a soft feel, so it is nicer. I don't think they knew how terrible it was going to hold up over the years. The 04.5 and 05 were probably fresh and didn't scratch so they used even more in 06+. I like how it feels and looks but this is the second waterfall dash pieces I buy and I'm not about to spend another $500 so it can start scratching in a few years lol.

 

Mind you I don't touch my waterfall pieces other than to wipe them down when cleaning the car!

 

This is how the vinyl, came out. Not bad IMO.