Yeah this talk of $120 oil changes is crazy. I just bought my own oil for like $30 at walmart and the dealership charged me $20 for filter and labor to change it.

I was trying to buy a house with my parents like 2 years ago, but it didn't work out. So, I took the money I was going to spend on a down payment for the house and bought my Z :D

Buying a house will be my first priority after graduating this May though :tup:

Once your home is paid for you can at least think about retirement.

My house represents more to me than people see. It is my home. It is not what I can sell it for that matters. I have grown roots essentially. I would rather stay home than go to eastern Europe where the most beautiful women on earth live.

No longer having a house payment allows me to spend like a SOB, but I never developed a rich lifestyle. Lucky for me. I just save, buy gold, and give my mom money, because I can.

:tup: i hope to be at your level soon. :D i will be done with mortgage in a few yrs. from there it's all going to our retirement fund. :) and i too agree about having your own home.

:icon18: :tup:

for what it worth..i paid 69 for an oil change using that special Z oil..at the dealer My biggest surprise was that the tires that came with the car wore out after only 20,000 miles and i was only moderately aggressive in my driving...
I am about to buy four continental extreme contact DWS and with alignment, repair to two damaged rims and detailing including wash, claying, way and polish the dealer is going to charge me $1450...
My fault for damaging the rims but I am not happy to see the tires wear so fast..but I am told the Contis will last about twice as long...
I would say the biggest expenses you are going to find are the cost of gas because of reduced millage and the quick wearing and expensive tires...

2011 Nissan 370Z Base Model Cost to Own - $0.64 per mile

2011 Honda Civic Base Model Cost Own - $0.39 per mile

So.... the Z will be 60% more expensive to own than a fairly modern Honda Civic. That's a big jump. You may want to buy used to offset the depreciation a little and/or start off in a 350Z.

:tiphat:

^ Keep in mind my Civic is an SI, so it's a little more costly than a base (not much, probably). It's also turbo'd, so my gas mileage is a solid ~6 mpg less than it was stock, I change the oil every 3k miles, tranny fluid every 10k, etc, so my maintenance is higher. I realize the Z will still be more, though.

And yeah, if I go this route, definitely used. I got my SI new, my civic before that new.. it's not worth it imo. My SI smelled new for like 2 days and then it was like any used car. Of course, it's all dependent on what kind of deal I can swing on a used one. This damn car doesn't seem to depreciate much!

my Z is 2.5yrs old and still smells like new.

Nice to see another Minnesotan as well :tiphat:

Coon rapids is a bit of a drive (Rochester), so I was just checking out the dealership in Roch. Probably won't buy from them since they lied to be a few times already, though. And $400 for one tire.. ouch. I realize OEM tires are absurdly expensive, though. My crappy-*** A/S tires that came with my car run over $700 IIRC, I recently replaced all 4 with wayyy better Conti DW tires and it was ~$500


I realize it's probably all carcinogens, but I was really bummed that my SI smelled new for a few days and then just disappeared haha. Usually you get a few weeks of that

take a shower? ;)

And holy crap, I just looked it up and my stock tires are $906 on special. For a civic. $906. I'm that shocked that I had to repeat it.

stock tires are always expensive. i remember re92 shitola were like super expensive while they were garabage. were popular tires in the late 90's early 2000's.

:iagree:

Thanks for this post,,but can anyone really put a price tag on the pleasure of of driving a Z...? :driving:
But we sure as hell take a depreciation beating the first year no matter what the car..