by flygt4 » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:08 pm
I have an EVO magazine article with quite a thorough 350Z buying guide somewhere. will see if i can dig it up for you.
from memory they are surviving really well as they age, first lot are getting a few years old now. bare in mind they aren't particularly thrilling in stock form.
edit: found it in the bog , skimmed over a few points , heaps of irrelevant bollocks about UK grey imports etc being a UK mag
engine: supposed to be reliable, doesn't have any common major issues, keep an eye on fluid levels, as its not generally a heavy oil user. should rev cleanly and avoid ones with tappety engine rattles.
gearbox/clutch: has quite a heavy action from the factory and on cars up to '05 the lever can vibrate quite noticably, was left this way intentionally to avoid damping out some of the feel. clutchs are reasonably robust, 40000miles seems to be the average.they can have a clicking noise from the rear, usually heard when moving off or under load is caused by wear in the driveshafts, easily fixed by regreasing or possibly replacing them. pretty sure they have a factory carbon fibre driveshaft too.
wheels/tyres: easily damaged by kerbs, generally wear on the inside edges once they've been banged around a bit. handling is supposedly sensitive to changes in rubber, some increase under steer or promote oversteer etc and ABS and traction control can be upset by different rubber, can tend to activate earlier than usual.
brakes: can squeal if not used very hard so can be a good sign if it happens on test drives. some owners complain of a long pedal when the brakes are cold.is nothing to worry about.
suspensions: little to worry about, if its spent a lot of time on track the dampers can get a bit tired, should be instantly noticeable on test drive.
bodywork/interior: blunt nose meant to take a fair hammering from stones etc and are often quite tatty. quality of factory paint good and rarely require respray. struts on the hatch can require adjusting, if left the struts can fail and require replacement. electrics are meant to pretty robust. cd players and speakers are prone to failing though.
can't comment on how accurate this is just quoting from the magazine article i have.