Considering one for a new daily.
Issues?
Problems?
Pros/Cons?
Alternatives?
Year-Round ability?
I was (and still am) considering a GTI as well.
I just really enjoy the styling of the Z.
Figure I should buy dumb two seaters while I can before I end up with kids.
Makes a great supercar.
From what I hear the Automatic is a piece of crap. Other than that I’ve heard great things about those and G35’s. 350Z > GTI in my book but I don’t care for VW’s so what do I know.
ugh, drove an auto '03 g35 last week
i can’t figure out how they’ve sold any of those in atx form
the manumatic is akin to submitting a reservation for the next gear
There are a few problems with the 03 to 05. The transmission is defected. Many owners had replaced about 3 transmissions. The newest trans is CD009. The older trans will have sign of gear grinding. Sometimes 3rd or 2nd gear. Another issue is called tires feathering. The front tires will wear out un-evenly which later on creates road noise. That are the 2 biggest issues. If you still under warrantee then the dealer will replace the trans. As for the tire feathering…they will give you the 2 brand new tires in the front. To learn more about TSB and other issues, you can go to my350z.com. It’s the biggest 350z forum.
Yeah, Those are the two major issues I have found, But I was more looking for personal opinions on the car.
Wondering how it treats ya 
Well, I love how the Z looks and the low end power that it has. I wouldn’t recommended it if you need to drive it all year long. Being RWD, it’s can’t go anywhere in the Winter. The stock suspension is kinda bouncy, but can be fixed with a good set of springs. Over all I love it alots and had put so much money into it. It’s kinda expensive to mod it if you’re planning to do so. To me it’s an all well rounded car. It’s fun on or off the track.
my aunt and uncle own an 05 z roadster with the crapamatic. nice car, not being able to shift gears sucks, and i dont like how low you sit in the car. I’m 6’ 1" and i find myself having to stretch to see over the door and check my blind spot. I also dont like that i cant rest my elbow comfortably on the window sill (just something I like to do when driving i guess) because the door is so damn high. other than that, its an ok car, not my cup of tea to begin with but i’d take one if someone gave it to me.
you sit low in the z because nissan designed it to be an almost race car.it has tons of bracing under the car for rigidity reasons, for those of you that kno about 350z’s kno that the z is 35% stiffer than the g35. they really are nice cars. if you want to see what they can really do i suggest watching the cool jdm vid best motoring. they did a whole dvd about the z.
I drove one from LA to SF, a nice 10 hour drive.
It was an 07 08 model HR engine. I can tell you this, the way they designed the seating ergonomics is amazing, I felt no fatigue driving that long. I think it would be a very good daily if your lifestyle can fit around the restrictions it poses.
I drove both engines as well, an 03 my buddy had, it is a slouch compared to the new 07/08’s. I would never recommend getting a pre 07 now.
Good Luck
being an ex 350z owner, i absolutely loved the car, when the weather was nice. however, it’s a sports car, so there are a lot of variables involved with that being said.
the suspension is stiff, so the ride is pretty bumpy. it’s also lower than your average car stock so you’ll have to take that into account for everyday driving. i had snow tires for mine, but i only drove it in the snow once, it wasn’t god awful, but it wasn’t something i wanted to drive all winter.
my biggest problem with the car was two seats. it didn’t seem like it’d be a problem for me as almost all of my driving is by myself anyway. but if you want to pick up a couple of friends to go out, you can’t. you have a nice car and you want to be the one to drive somewhere, but instead you have to say, can you pick me up? or, i’ll meet you guys there. it just sucked in the long run.
so after all was said and done, i loved having the car, but as far as being a daily driver in buffalo? not very practical. if you can afford a decent beater then do it up. i couldn’t at the time so i had to sell.
i have driven 3 06-07 z’s and i have fallen in love. they are so fun to drive. my best friend also has a gti so i have had plenty of time in the driver seat of that as well. if your looking for a car year round… gti is the way to go, but if you are looking for a real fun car to drive, and dont mind that they suck in the winter… an 07 350z is the car for you. both are great cars and are hard to compare so good luck, you cant realy go wrong though.
my friend han lee just got an 07 last october?? idk but I helped him pick out snows and he also learned stick on the z. from what he said it was a pretty good time.
I personally drove 240’s year round from age 16-18 with no traction/stability control, no good tires and the cars were falling apart. I was fine… I dont see how a Z can be any worse.
Also I had a BLAST driving rwd in the winter those years, nights with heavy snow turned into hours of parking lot drifting, it was a great time. If I still had something rwd that was a beater I would take that over my civic in a heartbeat.
I love my 350Z, yes it is an automatic however I’ve used the “auto shift” and I keep up with everything in my category the nice part is I can redline to 7000 and than slam it to the next gear.
I love the car, you get tons of looks and you can turn off the TCS and drift if your into that!
If you get one, pick up a K&N air filter and a throttle body spacer definitely gives it a sexy sound!
Just my 2 Cents…
DJ MC
you want a car with no back seat as a daily? don’t people use daily drivers to haul around tires and parts for their weekend/track cars?
if you could stick a bike in it… id have one right now.
love mine, put 15k a summer on it, but I have the bmw for when I need to take friends or cargo and the winter
I wouldn’t drive the z in the winter just because of ride height, even with snows your maybe 4 inches off the ground… Too low for ny winters…
I avg 26 mpg (lots of hwy) and love the car, no speed demon but spry can take care of that cheap
Well i have driven a few now that i am selling nissan, so for long term i cant help ya out. However the tq in these are great you can be in 6th at 40mph and it just pulls!!! However the back window is usless you cant see shit with the suspension beam thing that runs right behind your head… but i agree Z>gti in style/performance/sound IMO the best sounding n/a 6cyl ever!!!