What the %Q@#%! WHenever i pull something off that has plastic clamps on it, it breaks. The Kick plates for example, the plastic clamps on the bottom broke off, how cheap. Also, the front grille piece where the tow hook is, the plastic clamps for the little piece broke off. whats going on? why did they make the pieces in this car so cheap??

 

Sell it, if you dont like it...

 

Yeah, sell it, look for and old Yugo, they had no plastic

 

I took the piece in the center of the grill off a couple of times before the small clips broke. Ended up cutting it so that the tow hook will still fit and glueing it in place. Then put the black after market door guards over the grill.

Other plastic pieces haven't broken. The kick plate on the drivers side has some fuses behind it. If those clips broke, I would think the dealer should cover that as part of a warrantee, assuming it hasn't been forced or tampered.

 

You cant really expect the Z to be high quality. Nissan was never known for good quality/reliability in the first place. Car and Drive always favor new cars but there was a small article on it about the interior falling apart. For all that you're getting the car is only 30 grand. You get what you pay for.

 

BS. The problem is with their new line. The z32s never had quality problems. The leather is cheap, the interior is cheap and I agree with the originator of this post 100%. Still love my car though

 

Passanger side door handle (inside) : broke off... :-(

I am at the dealer as I type... Getting my BOSE TSB AMP...

 

Oh, and no, I don't have to sell it, and I CAN complain as much as I want because this is America and we are free to do so. So, if you don't like the thread, don't read it.

Every day there are hundreds of threads here, of which I don't read many. Some I read, and of those, some I post on. Everybody is free to wyne, complain, or talk about any Z issue, this one happens to be about things that break...

And yes, for $35K, I do expect better quality than a Yugo...

 

slaponte: Is the inside handle aluminum or plastic? It's hard for me to tell.

 

that is really weird... maybe too much force used..

I have had almost every single panel off on my car more then once and I have not seen a single porblem and I think that the parts are better made the the most cars out there excluding the lux marks. The panels are complacated though and are hard to take apart unless you know how they are attached to the car, where these points are and have experence pulling alot of panels on many different cars.

 

The cover seems to be metal (maybe), but that comes off with a plastic piece that holds it.

Let me state not too much or too little force. I never removed it! A couple of passangers pulled on the door, and it came out from the bootom, making the top flex. This last saturday I looked into it and behold, it fell off. Seems the plastic flexed and flexed until it broke... Maybe it was on loose to begin with, who knows.

The bottom of it seems part of the rest of the door piece that holds the power window buttons, so they ordered the parts under warranty. Oh well.

 

I have broken that part a few times on accident... If that door panel has been taken off since it came from the factory it is likely that it was not reinstalled corectly. That is how I broke mine.. If this is not the case then just a production porblem

 

Why are so many of you guys so blindly defensive when someone has a complaint. I agree the car has alot of cheap materials...and I don't want to hear that "buy a Yugo" crap. I owned two RX-7's and a Miata, all relatively inexpensive sports cars, and never had these kinds of quality issues with them. So give the guy a break...he's just complaining about the obvious.

 

I hate the fact that the car wasn't quality made, but all in all, i still love the car. I never said that i wanted to sell the car, i just wanted to know if other people were having the same problems as me, thats all.

 

No, but then again I dont go pulling on all the panels, to see if they break..

 

Why must you post in such a negative manner? I merely was asking other Z owners THAT TOOK OFF PANELS if the same problem had happened to them. If you havent taken any of the panels off, then why are you even posting in this topic?

 

I agree the Z has some cheap-o parts. Of course it would be nice having a more expensive cockpit but that would have meant a more expensive car. Nothing has broken in my car so far. I take extra special care of it so I dont expect to break anything. Anyway the Car is awsome, I am sure we all agree on that!

 

So where is the $35K going to, I would ask?

Yes, I love my Z, blah blah blah... but let me ask this :

- V6 engine, nice, but not WOW...
- 4 wheel disc, most cars now have them.
- 6 speed manual, not a new invention.
- BOSE sucks...
- Nice leather, but not the best.
- Paint, colors cool, application nothing to write home about.
- Cruise, power options, most normal on most cars today.

If the interior is cheap to save cost, then where did the $35K go?

I didn't buy my Z for technical value/edge. (Don't get the statement wrong. I think it has great technical merit as a car, but did not break any new technology barriers).

I bought it for the design. I saw it, and fell in love, before even driving it. A design that is very cool, even inside, until you realize it is mostly painted plastic (even to resemble metal).

 

If you paid 35K you must have gotten a Track model.

So you get 4 wheel disc brakes - but they are nice Brembos. If you overpaid and don't have a Track, then the brakes you have are still top notch.

So you get a V6 motor - a Ten Best motor 9 years in a row

The BOSE has a great fix now.

You also have a lightweight aluminum suspension, a carbon fiber reinforced driveshaft, lightweight 18 inch wheels from the same manuf. as Volks, for 35K you better damn well have Navigation, you get Homelink built in, tire pressure monitors, a great VDC system, LSD, HID, EBD, a five star crash rating, and airbags all around you as well as better styling than any car in its class/price range. For 35K and down, you don't get that with another car. If you paid 35K for anything less than a Track, you paid too much. But that is what you get for 35K. The Z starts at 26K and you get only the things you mentioned except the Bose.

 

Sorry, Touring. $35K out the door...

No Rays, no Brembos, no Nav. Bought Jan 2003, availability was still fairly low.

Got the BOSE fix, seems the same to me. While I was there they ordered my passanger side door handle, "plastic" that broke... :-)