After lurking here for more than a year I finally pulled the trigger and invested n a black 2005 Z350 with 40 000km (sorry we do metric) on the clock. We only have one model available her so I am not sure whether it qualifies as a tourer/basic/performance etc. Has manual 6 speed box, Bose system, VLC control, Bremco brakes and leather interior. Thanks to all the advice given on this site I new exactly what I was looking for. Only had it for 3 days now but have according to the trip computor done 21 hours and over 2000km in it. Needless to say - awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Congrats on the new ride!!!

 

welcome

 

sounds like a nice one. welcome.

 

Welcome to the forum, NZ'ers think in kms too. I can't imagine that there would be many 350's in SA. What part are you in??

 

I'm from East London, a small city on the south east coast. Although SA is predominantly Z4 and TT country the Z is well represented. I bought the Z in Johannesburg and did a bit of a roundtrip down to the coast (some 2000k's). Some observations:

Fuel Consumption - At speeds between 140 - 160km/h (with the odd blast to 200km/h) I averaged between 10.3L/100km - 10.8L/100km (9.5L/km). The vehicle appears to be heavier at the coast. On a 80km stretch with the cruisecontrol set at 140Km/h I averaged 9.6 litres/100km.(10.4L/km) In town I avr 12.3L/100km (8.1km/L). A lot has been said about the poor fuel consumption but I was actually impressed. The Z is much lighter than my Isuszu Frontier (3.2 V6) wich only gets 4km/L in town and at best 8km/l in the country. A friends Jeep cherokee averages 18L/100km (5.5km/L) in town.

Performance/Handling - I am not going to preach to the converted. lets just say wow. I have test driven the MR2, Z4, Z3,RX8, TT and they do not come close, especially in the handling department. (I didnt fit into a MX5) Only cars I have driven which impressed more was the BMW6 and Jag XJ supercharged.

Interior - I've often read that the interior looks cheap. I found it quite practical with all the instrumentation easily visible. The bucket seats did pinch my back a bit after the first 6 hours but I guess that is the price you pay if you are slightly overweight yet develishly handsome. Of annoyance was the fact that both VLC and Fuel cap buttons popped right through the dash when pushed. Have not read anything about this problem elsewhere yet. The rear door pillar creates a bad blindspot but is easily sorted with small blindspot mirrors.

Styling/Looks - I obviously love the shape but in hindsight the silver/grey model would have been a better option - black is a real mission to keep clean, especialy if she is parked 30 metres from the ocean. Black looks better though. A funny compliment (or perhaps rude insult) was when a pretty young surfer girl asked me if it was my "porche" parked outside.

I am sure I am going to keep this car for a long long time to come.

P.s I promise to search before I post.

 

Any pics of that gorgeous Z with some exotic SA backdrop???