Mel-Z

Hello everyone, I thought it would be a good idea to hop on here and get some advice on a potential financial move I'm about to make and that is finally purchasing a Z. I love my C-Class Benzo but opportunity has presented itself with a (nearly) stock 2004 350z sold by a franchised dealer which is hard to find here in Michigan. Some details:

- Silver
- 127,500
- 6 owners, 2 minor accidents, 1 reported theft
- Aftermarket radio, stock wheels, mishimoto radiator, comes with aftermarket wheels
- Driver's seat funky, didn't work when I went in to look at it
- More road noise than my Mercedes, although they are two totally different cars, once u get used to the quiet it's hard to get used to anything else
- Driver's mirror rattled when driving at high speed almost to the point of no visibility, if this had to do with the mirror or engine I did not have time to investigate nor do I have the mechanical aptitude to have done so - luckily there is a Nissan dealer just down the street.
- brakes strong
- starts right up
- clean exterior, minimal rust, aftermarket components in interior(dash etc)
- sushi mirror ornament

Original price was $9995 which is ridiculous. I made an offer just to test the waters for $7,000 and he said yes after speaking to his sales manager. Car also belonged to his gf according to him for 2 and 1/2 so it's "chick-owned" if that makes any difference... Dealer just recently dropped the price to $7,995 so i'm just sittin pretty to see how low it would go. How much would you pay for this car? Am I correct in my observation that market value ranges from fair - $7,000 to great $9,000? Thank you!!

mr. sparco

iTrader: (13)

Everyone has a different budget so only you could answer that question on whether it is a good buy or not since we can't even see the car in person. Everyone has their own threshold for what quality is on a car, which means my standards would apply only for me and would be very different from yours. Based on what you described, personally, no thanks. If I ever bought a used Z it would have to be: 1 owner, all original paint with paint meter verification, absolutely no accidents, under 30k miles on ODO, all original.

Ashton Wilson

7000? Absolutely not, Is it a manual? Does it have a clean title? You can find clean title 100k mile 350z for 7k-8k near where I live.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

says the person who was looking at a 186k mile car for $7500

me personally i would not buy a car that has been wrecked or has rust. my nissan was at 35k miles when i got it, the vette was 9990 miles (being 7 years old at the time) and now my cadi i got it with 26k miles. it is very true that you get what you pay for

Mel-Z

There's so many damn things about a car I forgot to mention some - it's auto, and the accidents are reported as MINOR. The car drove pretty well and does look pretty clean... I'm just looking for a general ballpark price I know everyone has different budgets circumstances etc.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

it doesnt really get any better than this.... but not sure what your budget it

low mileage hr

travlee

iTrader: (8)

or even this.... 40k less miles for about what the original asking price of your first one was

06 interlagos

Chihuahuamaster

Chick-owned... does that mean general maintenance was overlooked?

Truthfully, that's a $4000 car, especially being so many owners and accidents, although I don't know if your market prices are that drastically different than southern states.

Also you mention a lack of mechanical knowledge, well a car like this is going to cost more than the purchase price, due to age and how it is used. If you're unable to do your own mechanical work on it, it will end up costing more than its worth.

Depending on what kind of maintenance has been done, it could need bushings, ball-joints, suspension arms/ components, fluid changes, etc... items that deteriorate with age.
Just some things to keep in mind besides the purchase price.

Mel-Z

Ahahaha that's what I told the guy and from my experience girls may not press the gas as much as guys(aka meatheads) but I have witnessed some doing u turns at 90mph and caressing the occasional curb... not to say all girls are bad drivers and the car was free of scuffs, scratches etc but still 6 owners... after some more research and thinking I do think it's worth no more than $5,000 which isn't a lot of money for a car. Not to mention I don't do too much driving - work is 1 mile away, the gym, library, grocery store and many other shops are within biking distance(I've put 15,000 on my Benz in 3 years)...

Also when doing the test drive it was fun to drive and hard not to press on the gas, something to consider - how many times it's been pushed to its limits. Anyway, if they take $5,000 I'll buy it. I'll be trading in my Benz they estimated 1,000 to 1,500 for it. I usually look at old heavily depreciated luxury cars driven by older people. My first car was a Buick, then I bought my Benz both from older people. The only thing that's gone wrong on my Benz is the ESP which I actually fixed myself... so I'm not that mechanically unable but I won't be getting down and dirty with any major components like suspension etc...

Thanks so far very good advice!

And sorry forgot to mention BUDGET: Which the max is $8,000 including extra fees like tax etc so the car would have to be $7,000 or so.
Just some things to keep in mind besides the purchase price. The most I've paid for a car was $4,000/

Ashton Wilson

7500 for a car with a ton of stuff done to it no accidents and a clean title? For 50k more miles and 2500 less? Yeah I think that's much more reasonable lol.

Ashton Wilson

What year is your Benz? Older benz have become super popular, might be worth selling on craigslist privately.

Mel-Z

2001 C320. It is finally showing signs of wear and tear, there's a rattling coming from the cabin... Everything electrical works great and it's probably the cleanest 2001 Mercedes you'll ever see! I still get compliments - people can't believe how clean it is. One gentleman stopped me at Starbucks to compliment the color, "It's beautiful!" It's a dark midnight blue. I bought it for $3,350 3 years ago and apart from oil changes($100 every 5,000) I haven't put anything into it. Again I don't drive a lot being near the city where everything is close. I'm an environmental protection freak too so I try to ride my bike to places and get exercise in too.

So yeah, someone might want the Benzo for more than the dealer is going to give me but I don't feel comfortable selling it with the rattling noise and I'm scared to check it out at the shop lol - jk will do soon. Maybe you're talking about the old diesels or 190E etc...

travlee

iTrader: (8)

I would spend more for a lower mileage car, most would. hell the highest mile car I had was the z, and I dumped it at 82k miles

bad boyz

iTrader: (1)

Everyone is giving you some very good advice I would look for a newer Z 2007-2008 it should definitely fit in your budget 7500-8000 out the door not to much more than 80,000 to 90,000 miles all original no mods you can do
that yourself don't get in a hurry to buy and just take your time until the right one comes your way,you'll probably get more enjoyment with a manual if you have cash there's no way you can't get a helleva good deal!

travlee

iTrader: (8)

op and ashton be like

Mel-Z

You're right, honestly this isn't the best deal and unless it goes way low like 4 - 5k I won't be buying but I'm still scouring for a really good one to come up near me. Everything is molested! The right time will come that's what I tried to tell myself too -- unless another heavily depreciated benzo with low miles shows up!

tmdz

Too much. That’s closer to a $4k car...

Chic’s are REALLY hard on cars - This isnt a 80yo granny we are talking about, it’s likely some bleach-blonde-multiply-augmented skank with an enormous attitude that never did anything but have someone fill it with gas for her.

Not sure about others but I rarely ever see other Z’s on the road, I do however see tons of them on CL. They are out there. You just need to define your priorities and embrace patience.

Mel-Z

Totally agree... not to be judgmental but to be honest the salesguy seemed like a huge douche too so I really didn't trust anything that came out of his mouth... he did have a nice set of aftermarket wheels though. Even though I shy away from aftmarket wheels because a lot are less quality than stock which absorb shock better... something vital here in pothole haven aka michigan. The aftermarket touch screen radio was nice too and the sushi ornament tickled my fancy hahaha. I will be passing on this though. Thank you everyone, I'm glad I made the decision to come on here and ask. I might linger and read other threads to get some better idea of the Z because I really do love the car and I want it to be my next car for sure.

tmdz

Also keep in mind this model is at least 11 years old. There are literally thousands of diy vids on YouTube covering virtually anything you could possibly want or need to do to these cars. Plus, they are actually very well engineered and comparatively easy to work on. It might be a good time to drop $100 on a Craftsman set and learn to wrench. Doing something like replacing the diff bushings is one of those things that gives you a huge sense of satisfaction but costs you 1/10th the price of paying a shop to do it.

Mel-Z

Yea I tried to fix my bicycle all day yesterday with no success lmao