Z4 Let down, maybe a 350Z?

[SLK Driver]

Hmmm, the Z4 I was supposed to be getting has gone Pete Tong. The cars been wrapped around a post and repaired, but it's not a CAT or anything. The AA guys noticed a load of unusually new components and told me.

Understandably, I dont want a 2 year old car thats been mashed up, so I'm now on the lookout for another. Ideally a sport with sat nav in black or montego blue. Now, someones suggested I go have a drive of a 350Z to measure it against. Seems logical.

Anyone here tried a 350Z that can offer up some comparison? Is the extra power made null by the weight increase?

 

[csmith319]

Yep - great car, feels a bit faster - it is heavier, but more powerful. However, the interior isn't great and it is much heavier to drive.

They're both great cars.

 

[mikedav]

I tried one. It feels huge compared to the Z4 but still has a small cockpit. Interior very Japanese but you can live with it. Driver and passenger seats are different, which is interesting. Gearbox has an extremely narrow gait and is quite notchy / vibrates through your hand but you get used to it. Bloody FAST. Sounds good too. Concept car styling looked great back then (07) and I was quite tempted, but couldn't get my head around spending nearly £28k on a Nissan. Ended up in an M3....at current prices I may have made a different choice...though the chavvy body kits starting to appear brings them down a bit.

What Z4 is this up against, 3.0 ?

 

[SLK Driver]

I tried one. It feels .......against, 3.0 ?

The one I've just lost out on was a 3.0 Coupe, Sport, in black with black leather, 2007 with 25k, price was £18995. I am particulalry keen on the all black colours, or the montego blue with cream leather.

I've seen a couple with the Nismo kits on (yuk!) and the wifes not keen on the nissan badge, but EVO magazine rate them. I gather they're not half as good on fuel as the zed? Coming from the SLK I don't really want a bigger car, give me small and nimble any day.

 

[3.0 Si Anderson]

I may be selling my wife's Z4 Coupe which is Sapphire Black & Black leather. Car is Nov 06 with 19k miles on it and has been our pride and joy so is mint . My wife is 7 months pregnant and this is reason for sale. PM me and let me know if your interested.

 

[henry1]

Hi, This may not be one of the things you are considering but I believe the Nissan gets about 24mpg. I have not reset my computer gauge for 8 months and it is showing 32.4mpg (imperial gallons for the guys over the pond) and I do use the heavy pedal on my 3.0 roadster.
I did test drive the 350Z when it came out and it felt fast but so does my Z4.
Henry1

 

[Kaide]

Ahaha! My neighbor and I have these... I'm convinced the Z4 if a bit quicker through the range. (He'll deny it, but too bad)

The clutch is WAY heavier! and you need to get the revs higher to get that feeling of power.

My opinion on it, is although it is a nice car, at the end of the day its a Nissan... I'll take my Bimmer.

 

[DELBOY]

Regardless of reality, that BMW insignia means a lot! . . . . . . So you're in the pub with some aquaintances and a relative stranger asks "How did you come down tonight?" . . you reply . . . "I just popped down in the Nissan" . . . . .erm, maybe not too impressive . . . . . Ok so I know that is pretty shallow, but after a couple of test drives, in my experience, the 350z is definitely "Nissan" quality, absolutely shoddy interior, lower than "Muppet" dealership staff, surprisingly unreliable ( check the 350z forums), what should be an amazingly smooth engine feels more like a four than a six,resale poor, practicality . . NIL, I'll stick with BMW Z4s . . . .also recognising that there is no such thing as a perfect car, no matter what it costs . . .

Delboy

 

[Kaide]

I'd have to piggy back what DELBOY says...

I'm pompus, but i know it...

I actually bought my Z4 from a Nissan Dealership.. I was able to talk almost 2.5k off the price, because the guy didn't know CRAP about the car. He even said so... so I played it down as much as I could.

I also think he just hated getting in and out of the car, he was 6'5" 350lbs.

 

[SLK Driver]

32 Vs 24mpg is a significant difference, about a grand a year after the 15k I'll be doing. That more than offsets the price difference.

I've just seen a pic of the boot, what the hell? Who on earth decided that rather than have a decent load space, they thought it would be clever to put a sodding great brace across the rear towers?!!? That throws a major hinderance, we're due a nipper and I couldn't even get a little pushchair in the back of that! Hell, I can do it in the SLK and thats a smaller car! :thumbsdown:

I think I'll go drive one but by the sounds like I'm not really going to like it for probably all the reasons mentioned above. I love my SLK because it's built properly, and I suspect I'd moan about cheap cabin plastics and rattly bits I think the jump from 184bhp to 260 odd will be enough to get on with.

 

[un1eash]

I love the 350Z and nearly got a 300 GT but the running cost put me of in the end. Tax was £400 a year and the mpg is way to low for all the town driving i do. I love the Nismo kit aswell, its not boy racer and to over the top.

The car was actually designed by a student that went my university, DMU in leicester.

 

[mikedav]

I've just seen a pic of the boot, what the hell? Who on earth decided that rather than have a decent load space, they thought it would be clever to put a sodding great brace across the rear towers?!!? That throws a major hinderance, we're due a nipper and I couldn't even get a little pushchair in the back of that! Hell, I can do it in the SLK and thats a smaller car! :thumbsdown: ]

Hmmm, the Z4 Coupe might be a problem then? And the Z4M definitely would be!

We have the battery in there, hence that lump on the right...3.0 doesn't so a bit more space, but a buggy might be tight? No experience there tho

 

[a11y]

I love the 350Z and nearly got a 300 GT but the running cost put me of in the end. Tax was £400 a year and the mpg is way to low for all the town driving i do. I love the Nismo kit aswell, its not boy racer and to over the top.

Same here too. A 350z (Coupe, not the Roadster) was on my shortlist of cars to test-drive, I went as far as having a good poke around one at the Nissan dealer but discounted it before even driving one, mainly down to the running costs:
- official mpg 24.8 vs 31.1 for my 3.0i, that's an extra £300 over 7,500 miles (£1100 vs £1400 at prices 14 months ago)
- road tax £245 vs £455 (from April 2010)
- tyres cost more on the 350z if you go non-runflat on the Z4
- insurance was neglible for me

Badge snobbery doesn't come into it for me, but the interior was horrid compared to the Z4 IMO. And up close the exterior wasn't that great either - doesn't come close to the Z4. Of course, the 350z is supposed to be a better drive if you believe evo magazine, but I couldn't justify the extra running costs.

 

[SLK Driver]

Its not an M I'm looking at, so the boot thing in the 3.0 is about right. We do have a particulalry small buggy bought specifically for me to drop in the MB (missus is having some sort of McLaren F1 Turbo mega superseat with 18 inch farleys rusks and chewable spoilers).

Although I'm gonna be honest, what prat put the battery there in the M??!?! Seriously, the 3.2 aint THAT much bigger

Went and had a look at a 350 this morning and come hell or high water, no buggy is going in the boot, at least, not in one bit, so in fact, all becomes a bit academic!

On with the search!

 

[gannet]

The battery is there because in the non-M z4 the battery is under the boot floor...

The M has two back boxes on the exhaust so the space where our battery is is taken by the exhaust...

 

[SLK Driver]

The battery is there because in the non-M z4 the battery is under the boot floor...

The M has two back boxes on the exhaust so the space where our battery is is taken by the exhaust...

Wierd, makes no sense to me, I'd have settled for a single side and more boot space! :roll:

 

[gannet]

cj10jeeper has done a quad conversion on his non-m and managed to keep the battery under the boot floor. Guess it was just cost :roll:

I can get my folding bike in the boot of my roadster - but it wouldnt fit in the M which would rule it out for me.

I've heard about a few other M owners who have managed to source a slimmer battery etc to liberate the space...

 

[ksher]

I don't like 350Z. What about new Audi TT Coupe? Both exterior and interior look better than 350Z. But if I want one, it will be the 3.2 Quattro, not the 2.0 front-wheel-drive. But the Quattro will have similar 350Z's running costs, i.e. road tax, fuel, insurance.

 

[SLK Driver]

I don't like 350Z. What about new Audi TT Coupe? Both exterior and interior look better than 350Z. But if I want one, it will be the 3.2 Quattro, not the 2.0 front-wheel-drive. But the Quattro will have similar 350Z's running costs, i.e. road tax, fuel, insurance.

Bah, TT drives all the wrong wheels and its engines pointing the wrong way

And why oh why does Spliff Needle insist on calling it a Qwattro :roll:

Can you tell I'm not a fan

 

[un1eash]

They now do a 2.0T Quattro, was considering one for my next car but theres too many on the roads around my way and i like to be abit different.