Picked up a '06 Daytona Blue Base Wendsday night. From Wednesday night until 2 hours ago, I put 1900 miles on it...LOL. Will explain later. Thanks to all in the forum who shaped my choice! Love the car!

 

Congrats! I gotta ask, how did you put so many miles on it?

 

Dang... I'm gonna say, you picked it up from some where and drove it home!

Congratz though!

It's either that or you drove that bad boy till you got tired and decided to go home!

 

CongratZ. I did similar to you with the miles - but not THAT much lol.

 

That's exactly what happened. I had been on leave for a couple of weeks, and had planned on visiting family in KY for a couple of days. Left Wed and returned 1 July. It's a 700 mile trip one way, plus I did some running around while I was there. I didn't want to break this car in like that, but oh well....

On an interesting note, on the trip there I averaged 68 mph and 26.5 mpg. This was from I-40 (basically) in Raleigh to Nashville, then I-65 N to Bowling Green KY, then a stupid toll road that damn near beat the fillings out of my teeth, then a couple of backroads. A friend I graduated with owns a muffler/brake/tire shop with 3 bays and 2 lifts, so when I hit 1000 miles, I bought some Mobile 1 and a filter and threw the car on the lift. I decided to change the oil because I felt bad breaking a car in like that, and changing it certainly wouldn't hurt. Plus, going through the mountains, I was able to get some, though little, RPM variety. Anywho, on the way back yesterday, I averaged 72 mph and 28.3 mpg. So, to summerize:

New car+700 mile trip=68mph avg/26.5 mpg

Oil change @ 1066 miles+ 700 mile trip=72mph avg/28.3 mpg

Factor in the trip there was at night, with temps ranging from 75 to 67 degrees. The trip back was during the day, with temps ranging from 73 to 94 degrees.

When I had the car on the lift, I had several observations:

The tranny looks like it would take all of an hour to yank out. I was suprised at how little is in the way, and was pleased at how well things in general were laid out. Looking at the exhaust, those of you that have changed headers, did you do it from up top or from underneath, or a combo of both? They look like it would be easier from the bottom, but I didn't look all that hard. Another thing, I was suprised at how big/long the cats were, as well as the pre-muffler (resonator?). Truthfully, I was expecting a much smaller exhaust system overall (I'm a muscle car guy by tradition). That explains (to me, anyway) why you don't see that big of a HP increase with an aftermarket exhaust, the stock one isn't too restrictive IMO (Yes, I do realize that aftermarket exhaust is better).

I hope my rambling didn't bore you all too much, just thought I'd share some observations from a new Z owner!

On a side note, whilst driving through the mountains yesterday in Ashville NC, a 20-22 yo girl in a Ford Focus was riding my ***...I was already clipping along around 75-80. I didn't feel like going faster, traffic was building up, 4th July weekend (so you know cops were out and about). So I slow down and let her pass. About 15 miles up the road, people were getting off the Biltmore Estates exit, so traffic went from 70-80 mph down to 30-40 mph pretty quick. I was 3-4 cars behind the same girl, and low and behold, she rear-ended the Chevy Trailblazer she was tailgating. I saw all the brakelights ahead, and I hit the brakes pretty hard myself. I kept from hitting her from about 3 feet. THEN I saw the front end of a Lincoln Town Car filling up my rear-view, but thank God/Buddha/Powdered Toast Man that he was able to get around.

For what it's worth, during my trip, I saw

23000 Mustangs
18000 Camaros
30-35 Vettes
1 Z (Silver)
1 G Sedan (Silver)
5 G Coupes (2 black, 2 silver, 1 white)
6 BMW Z4's

Sorry for the long post!

 

Seems like you had fun, Congrats on your new Z!

I should make a list of cars I pass by when I'm on the road