I'm sorry but 300zx's are a nightmare to work on. love them but its true. 0000 room under the hood. same feelings about everything else as richee3

or look for a subaru legacy 2.5 rs
those are badass but hard as hell to find.
or go NEW ass audi (not old) or some american muscle, GTO.

how is a 350z boring to you?

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I just dont like the way the look theyre just plain to me except fot the nismos.

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have you driven one? I understand that looks are an "in the eye of the beholder" subject but after owning one for a short few weeks it has honestly changed my mind on every car i have owned before it (including the 2 6gc's ive owned). Also the first car i have not felt the need to change anything about the car, i am very happy with the stock performance and have no want or need to change anything.

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Havent driven one but if it was like the RX-8 disliked them at first then drove one changed my mind so mabey Ill drive one.

Dude... Get the Z32...

Personally, I LOVE my 350z. And I feel like it's nothing boring at all to look at or drive.

The 300's are really nice, but working on them is a pain. RX-8's get bashed on a lot, but truth be told, it's still fun to drive, and still an upgrade from the 6gc. If you're actually interested in that RX-8, I live an hour maybe an hour and a half from Kokomo if you need someone to test drive it or w/e. WRX is a great car, I mean AWD and a turbo, but you need to find one that wasn't beat on too terribly bad. I have never been a big fan of any MR, but again, everything is in the eye of the beholder. You really need to just make a priorities list and start checking cars off. If carrying stuff is a big deal, the 350z is done. No back seat and virtually no trunk.

I just bought a 2005 whitewater pearl rx-8 6 speed manual a couple months ago and I'm in love. Don't forget they all have an extended 8 year 100k mile engine warranty now, and getting a rebuild if the engine fails thereafter is actually really quite cheap since rotaries are so simple, only 3 moving parts in the entire engine. Check out rx8club.com and read up on all the details. I was on the fence for a while between the G35, 350z and RX-8 and after driving all 3 I fell in love with the 8. As long as you don't care about gas mileage (or torque ) it's an awesome car. So far my best tank to date is 21.7 mpg and my worst is 9.5 mpg
Here's a pic of my baby:


Car and Driver just ranked the 2010 RX-8 as the 3rd best handling car under $100k, behind the porsche boxster and lotus elise. It's really a blast to drive. But stay away from the automatic, it's a dog.

edit: I thought I would chime in a bit more. The 8's have pretty weak and finicky ignition systems. The spark plugs and ignition coils on the renesis NEED to be replaced every 30k miles or so. If your rotary starts to misfire then kiss it goodbye, as misfiring nukes the apex seals on the rotors (lowers compression). The car also consumes oil, as it is injected into the combustion chamber via an OMP to lubricate the apex seals. Expect to add a quart every 1,000 miles or so. On the 2004-2008 models there wasn't enough oil being injected on the original factory flash, so engine life suffered as a result, thus mazda introduced the extended engine warranty last year.

The reason I was confident that my RX-8 would be reliable and last a long time is that the previous owner was a huge gearhead, bought it new and took amazing care of it, always performing proper maintenance and adding fuel lube every tank of gas for apex seal longevity.

If you decide to get an 8, try to find a single owner one or at least one with complete maintenance history. That might be difficult in the price range you are looking for though. Expect to spend about 14-20k on a properly maintained 8 with low miles 2005 or newer.

I chose to avoid 2004 models when shopping for an 8 since that was the first year it came out and the most popular, so people bought the car who actually weren't interested in cars at all and didn't properly take care of them. Often letting the cars starve for oil and neglecting the ignition system, reducing engine longevity.

Pretty much the only reason the RX-8 has a bad name for reliability is because idiots don't know how to properly maintain it.

I guess you could say it's a PITA to maintain, but I think it's completely worth it for one of the best handling, most fun-to-drive cars money can buy. Plus it shoots flames!

/end rant


This post has been edited by flyinglizard: Oct 9, 2010 - 3:31 AM

The only thing I have to add to flyinglizard's post is how the RX8 doesn't like to be driven, shut off for 5 minutes, then start right back up. I've always heard bad things for the rotary in that department, and I experienced it firsthand when I was test driving cars. We took the RX8 out for a 10 minute drive, got it back to the dealership, I shut it off, looked over the car for a few minutes, and when I left, the salesman could barely get it started again. The car was in great condition. It really turned me off from buying it.

I'm not saying don't buy an RX8. There are moments when I wish I had one instead of my IS 300. But be prepared to take care of it if you do buy one.

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The engine probably wasn't completely warmed up then if he had trouble starting it up again, or the battery was dying. You have it a bit backwards. The issue is with starting the car and turning it off before it's fully warmed up. If you do that you flood the engine and soak your spark plugs due to the vast amount of fuel being injected while the engine is cold, and might have trouble starting it again. You just have to make sure the car is warmed up before you shut it off, which in the scheme of things isn't really a big deal. As far as shutting the car off for a few minutes and turning it back on again, mine always fires up immediately when I'm sitting in traffic or waiting in line and turn the car off.

This post has been edited by flyinglizard: Oct 9, 2010 - 2:52 PM

Buy a toyota sienna, modern, reliable, practical (you can fit a whole soccer team), V6 options, AWD like the ST205, wow anybody hear a 3sgte swap.

JK,

go test drive cars before you make choices, Thats why i bought the FJ, I test drove it. Now im itching to offroad it.

dont make your mind before you kick some tires.

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This guy.... Ha just get one amd do the swap yourself so you know it hasn't been beat to hell and back by someones who thinks there a drifter and hits walls.

Im doing it.

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VERY TRUE, touché good sir.

Correction: RB26 swapped 240s. Only responsible people do those because it take so much money lol

If you ever went RB25, I hope your prepared to drop atleast 10K in mods. Minimum, my friend has over 15K and it hasnt even been put in the car yet.

The SR will give you more bang for the buck. So if you did choose a 240, try and find a 5 speed, and you can get a SR for around 1500 or so, I know on 240sxmotorsports.com you can get a complete swap with everything needed, clutch, exhaust, water pump, oil pump, belts, pulleys, everything for 3K-4K.

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Think of the payoff though. You'd be so damn proud. "Yeah, I have an RB series motor, no biggie. Yeah I can take on your Corvette and leave it in the dust." LOLV8

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Ok, but who is going to do the rebuild, and have you priced the parts for the pistons and such? Surely you don't want to pay a lot for one and just drop it in, only for it to leave you on the side of the road. Stock, I can tell you right now it isn't going to be a new corvette. Sure the engine will allow one to compete against muscles (personally, I think most muscles max vs most imports max is no comparison, the muscles simply outclass).

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Maybe... but think about this. 1,200hp gutted Supra and 1,200hp gutted Camaro, Challenger, Charger, Nova, etc. Who'll win? Supra. Because it's much, MUCH lighter. 3.0L engine vs like 8.0 or 9.0L? No brainer man. But of course once you get into funny car and NHRA top fuel... then yeah, 8,000hp is hands down haha.

Parts for a RB are ridiculous compared to a SR. You better have deep pockets if you wanted a RB. And besides, I know countless people have the SR in there cars now and its been done plenty of times. The SR just screams for more and more HP with minor bolt ons. Just my intake mani put me up almost 30hp. Then the other supporting upgrades as well. If you went with a 240, S13, S14, S13.5, S14.5. I promise the SR would not sadden you. Ill post pics of all my stuff this afternoon in my O/T thread of everything I have.

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Just be wary of buying an already swapped SR like JuMPiiN said. Chances are it's already been beat to hell by a drifter.

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Exactly, Almost EVERY car that has been swapped has been beat to hell and back. When I got mine, it still had the KA in it and came with the SR and tranny and everything. So the SR i snatched up came with receipts and everything, and with the cluster with 22K on it. So i found a super rare deal. If you decide to go with a 240, and with your budget, find one with the KA and buy the SR. I got extremely lucky.

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I love SR's, but you can build up a KA REALLY nicely as well. Thanks to my friends, I know this. They're super KA loyal and they give me sh!t for siding with SR's

@ flyinglizard my 350z best tank mileage- 30.2 mpg worst- 16.4mpg

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I know a dude with a built KA in an old celica boosting 20 pounds, and it rips even though its nowhere near my cup of tea. SRs an SR... If I had a 240, it would at least have an RB20 in it, I got a couple friends with RB20 240s and I guess they are pretty cool even though parts are expensive and hard to come by.

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I have a buddy with an S13 coupe in the process of an LS1 swap. I don't condone American motors in Japanese cars when his turbo KA did the trick perfectly. He's a drifter and you don't need mad power to drift. Plus that LS1 is heavy. Throw off the weight dist! But I digress.

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The LS1 weighs less than a KA. But has WAY more power than a KA, and thats stock, so more reliable than a boosted KA. I don't like the fact that its an American motor in a 240, but it is an ideal swap, haha.

This post has been edited by mak5603: Nov 3, 2010 - 3:51 PM