i preordered my Z and i have two months left to wait until it comes. should i just get my money back considering all the problems the car have? or just think my car is a lucky Z without any problems?

 

Well considering all the problems w/ the new Z i would. I mean i pre-ordered 9 months before i got mine in Sept. of 2002 and i have had my alignment redone once and the car pulls to the right now. i also have grease streaks not gonna get those fixed cuz they may mess it up more. from day one my fuel door doesnt open on the first push of the button it takes about 5 pushes. if i had to do it all over again ...... no way. unless your a rich guy who can afford to throw some $$$ away. if not then buy something reliable dude.

good luck!

 

My $0.02
Wait until the tire feathering problems are resolved. Unless you are rich and willing to drop another $2-3K in suspension and tire upgrades into the car to POSSIBLY fix a major design flaw.

I know many people will say the tire feathering is a minor problem to an otherwise great car. My take is that yes this is one fun car to drive and is drop dead gorgeous to look at. For about $33k there really isn't any equal in the market right now.
However you should not need to spend $2-3K to fix design flaw problems that Nissan should take care of. I am not made of money like many on this forum are and can't afford it.

Having owned serveral Z cars in the past that were built with quality, reliability, and low ownership costs I expected the same here. Except for the tire issue this would be true.

So you have to make the call. Tire feathering may never get fixed so keep that in mind.

 

i bought my 04 in august and i have no problems at all. so you picked ppw eh? great color =)

 

It's been a while since I studied Greek/Latin, but the word Forum must mean "incessant bitching." I'm surprise people don't complain their farts smell in the Z. But all forums seem that way... I'm sure if I look up the maybach forum, they'll be people bitching about the cheap interior and brake pad wear from sensotronic.

The Z has a few small quirks, I'll give you that. I have one of the first Zs and am immensely happy with it. The tire wear issue sucks, but it will be fixed by Nissan or aftermarket. I'm hoping the fix will not be too expensive. The suspension "bounce" has only happened to me once on a 5 mile stretch of road that didn't even look paved. I've got the window streaks as well, but no other problems.

Tons of other cars have much more serious problems, but their owners are not what i call auto-centric and consequently you hear more crap about the Z. I don't think any of its competitors are more reliable. Perhaps the S2k, but that car seems much less practical.

NzZ

 

I pre-ordered a SB Roadster in December. Should be here by march. In light of all the "problems"...I'm still very excited about getting my car and will deal with the ''problems" as the surface. Not sure how many feel the same. This is still a very good car for the money. I considered the boxster, s2000, TT roadster, & BMW and came out with the Z on top. I hope it was the right decision. We'll see some time in March. Good luck with your car if you don't cancel.

Nagle

 

If you are concerned about it then don't do it. If you think these problems that you are referring to would bother you then get your money back.

I'm in the process of having the car bought back. My Z has 15 of the numerous problems that you see throughout this section of the forum. Today was the original date for my arbitration hearing but NNA could not make it because of schedule conflicts (too many owners fighting to have their Z's bought back). For me this is a love/hate relationship and now the hate is stronger than the love. This car does have some strong points but for me the bad outweighs the good. I have a early production 2003 and I'm convinced that the 2004 models have not addressed all the major issues. Another factor for you to consider is that NNA is not standing behind the product the way that they should (Check out the threads from people that have gone through the arbitration/buy-back process to see what NNA thinks of those of us who spent 30K for their car).

IMO this car is a model year away from being the car that Nissan should have brought to market when it introduced it last year.

 

I've had a bunch of small problems with my Z that I plan on getting all checked at the same time sometime in the near future. Otherwise, I love my car. I traded in my 2001 Audi TT coupe because of some problems it was having and got the Z thinking I would be trouble free. All cars have problems, you may just not realize it because you don't follow it as closely as you've been reading up on Z things. Im sure once you get the car all the little problems will be forgotten and you'll be very happy with it

 

If you are on the "fence" about buying, don't. We don't need another complainer on this forum about how disappointed they are.

If you can live through the problems without going crazy then get the car. This forum is one of the best for getting information as well as support.

The car is a new platform for Nissan. It will have problems for awhile and hopefully Nissan will take care of its customers.

 

There are some sacrifices that are made to have a fun sports car and the ones with the Z are not that huge, if you want something that is troublefree probably get a nice sensible sedan this car is really reliable the issues that have come up are not reliablity but rather maintenance expense and Nissan is stepping up for the first pair of tires and alignments. I had mine aligned and not more problems.

People make it sound like this is Hyundai and braking down every day give me a break.

 

Yeah, 5 pushes for the fuel door, and grease streaks make a car not reliable

Whats your last 4 VIN #'s

 

I have 27K on my car. I love the car. no tire feathering but I did upgrade to S03s at 10K--no subsequent problems.
The dealer did not have much info about the Z when I first bought mine in Nov 02 but they are now quite knowledgeable and helpful about the car.
fixed the window grease--no subsequent problems
fixed the hatch opening, window roll down probs--no subsequent problems.

Its been a great car. Over the years I've had alfas, datsuns, porsches, volvos. Get several owners of those cars together and sooner rather than later the conversation will go toward problems everyone has had.

I have no regrets at all. but if you are gunshy about potential problems it probably would be better to wait or look elsewhere.

 

My real complaints are:
1. Oil dipstick can only be used when car has sat overnight.
2. Can't get my guitar and amp in the back.
3. It takes me forever to find a parking space where I won't
be hit or get door dings.
4. I think about cars all of the time.

 

You know, I'm really a complainer if my car doesn't have the kind of reliability that I expect. However, we need to ask our dealer's service dep't to fix those things that don't work. I had several problems that built up for several months because I was too busy reading all the complaints here.

I finally got off my a**, made a list and took it to my dealer. It took 3 visits to isolate and eliminate everything except tire wear on my list. That includes ordering parts and leaving the car for 2 days to install parts and chase down all the rattles. All I have left to complain about is the tire wear, I believe its worked out,we'll see, and grease on my windows which is so minor I don't even notice unless I look for it. I won't fix it.

The only other complaint is the ride and that is not a warranty item. As much as I hate it, I will not get Nissan to give me the new eurobuilt springs, struts and bump stops. At this point, I really don't care. I have upgraded struts(Konis) coming w/lifetime guarantee(Nissan's won't be), valved to match my stock springs, which will be much better than stock, euro or not, and Tein has some luxury springs that I doubt I will need, but have in reserve. I have changed the OE tires to Michelin A/Ss and eyeballing the rears, they are getting some inside wear.

So, I will take my car to my friendly alignment specialist who cured the wear problem on my 91 MR2T, and change the rear camber alignment to absolute minimum, -1.1 degrees, its -1.9 now. I will, after consultation, have him change the front toein setting to either 1 or 2 degrees, depending on the wear pattern at 6400 miles on these tires, they are at 0.0 now. If that doesn't work, I will purchase new a-arms with a camber adjustment and count it done. I will have the alignment checked every 6 months, but unless I hit something, I don't think I will need to re-align anything. BTW, 25-30,000 miles until wearout is a good deal on a sports car with the Z's capability, W/O CUPPING! Anything over that is gravy, believe me.

The 350Z's build is very robust and the chassis is tough as hell, all it needs are some finishing touches and my car will get them, Nissan helping or not, and be a better car than I bought. So, I would advise everyone to stop fighting with their dealers to get things done, if they won't help you, call NNA and/or go to another dealer who will do the work.

P.S. The fuel door fix is a simple matter of taking up some slack in the line, not brain surgery, any tech and a lot of owners can do it in 10 minutes or less, COME ON!

Boomer--my opinion, use it or lose it, I don't care.

 

Boomer,
Well said. I am looking forward to the Konis!

 

if i were you, i'd take that money elsewhere