I knew this would happen.
 

I have a 40th 370 and have had it for about a year. I love it to death. I have wanted a Z car since I was a kid and I wanted a 370 since the first teasers of it back when I was still in college. I have gone through several cars to get here and I finally have what I have always wanted - an awesome Z.

The prior owner neglected the car a bit. There are a good few rock chips and the goon used a heat gun to get the dealer tag off the back bumper, which left a scar below the 40th logo all the way down to the plastic. I have a goofy Nismo emblem covering that up for now, but I eventually need to have the front bumper replaced (drilled license plate holes suck and improper protection of the contact areas of the plate bracket suck worse) and the rear bumper repainted to get her back to better shape. Also, the side skirts are rough and probably need replacing/repainting. There is lots of debris that was kicked up onto the side of it.

All of this led to me getting a fantastic deal on this car since last year. I have made her look much better than she did when I bought her, but I still have a long way to go. She isn't a daily driver for me so she will stay in good shape for the most part.

Alas, my car ADHD has caught me, and I started doing a serious cost analysis that, if followed, will implement a 2 year action plan that will end in the purchase of a GT-R.

I want one. I have always wanted a Skyline but for obvious reasons never got one and I had previously written off the GT-R as completely unrealistic as far as attainability but life has changed in the last several years for me as it did in the time I bought my Altima in light of not seeing the 370Z as attainable.

I guess what I'm concerned with is... do I really want the car for me or do I want it because none of my other friends have one? Do I want a powerful fast car that can be had with throwing a GTM TT kit on my Z instead of buying a GT-R? Do I want it because some of my friends have told me that I just cannot do it? (that is enticing in itself - I kinda enjoy proving people wrong. lol)

I'm taxably single and have a relatively inexpensive house. I don't do much else aside from play with cars. I'm wondering if I'm just being impatient with the progress of my Z build and just wanting to jump ahead to a car that already has what I want to put into the Z without having to do much else to it.

There are a few guys around here that started in 370s and went to GT-Rs. Any opinions? Is the GT-R more/less fun to drive being it almost does everything for you? I have always enjoyed MT over AT. I have never driven a car the caliber of a GT-R short of a couple Vettes, but those were all MT. I have never driven a high end AT with paddles.

Should I just keep my 40th and clean her up nice and throw a TT in? Should I sell her off and get a GT-R in 18-24 months?

Don't know why this has come about all of a sudden. For some reason I just want to figure this out. lol

if i had the money for a GTR i would go with one as well, ......AND keep the Z :tup: for me you cant replace your first ever sports car. lol

all depends on you, and what you want.

if i ever got a GTR, id keep the Z also

I was kind of in the same boat, infact I almost made a GTR work when i bought my 370Z. I personally like the interior of the 370Z much better, it looks much better than the GTR's IMO. A big thing for me is the mod bug, if I bought one I would be tempted to mod it and void any sort of warranty there is on the car. If something happened to it because of a MOD I would be SOL.

Not to mention Nissian keeps track of the launch's you do and anymore than 5 (atleast this is what the dealership told me) you will void your powertrain warranty. If I owned the car I would do 5 an hour, lol.

So I turned to making the 370Z into my own while making it much much faster and more unique.

Gtr is stupid fast but I would rather have best bang for your buck corvette Z06 all day

If I were to buy any GM product ever made, it would be a 2012 CTS-V Coupe. Corvettes have never really done it for me for some reason. It may be due to the fact that the steering wheel is the same as the one that was in my mother's Pontiac Solstice.

If I'm going to buy a high end car, it needs to be high end inside and out. IMO, the Corvette has never felt high end to me. Fast isn't the only criteria for me when choosing a car. Now, a boosted C5 Z06 will take the cake in bang for your buck speed.

a GTR is a total different type of car. If you like the coupe style of the Z you might regret it. The gtr is crazy fast but are you going to be using the speed most of the time? I feel as if the Z has more usable power in the city. Are you in a big rush to get the GTR? my .02

If I had the money to blow on a GTR, I would buy a Porsche (911) instead.

The GTR is an awesome car, but I like the styling of the Z cars better (specifically the 370z), and my life long love of Porsche would win over a GTR.

Ultimately the decision is yours to make.

Just clean up the 40th,think of it as a restoration process and the final result will bring more excitement once it's clean up and modded. The 40th's are sexy, just try to get it back to 100%, I think the slight imperfections are throwing you off and your losing your enjoyment from it.

This, I would have a hard time putting that kind of money down on a GT-R if I could have a Porsche instead!

But ultimately it is up to you. My next car will be a Porsche, if you want yours to be a GT-R then just do it. Don't waste a bunch of money in the mean time on your Z, put it away towards the GT-R

I was writing a response saying 'don't stretch yourself too thin.....' but F it. Get the GT-R.

At some point i couldn't afford a honda, till i got a job and bought me a cheap little integra for 2k. I then got a better job and bought me a better can and this trend continued on for a while till i was able to afford my Z, and i always loved each and every one of my cars.
So i guess my point being, even if you have the money, you dont necessarily NEED to buy the next big thing. You obviously got the car because it appealed to you at some point. And there will always be better STOCK cars out there than a GTR like the new lambo. Instead of dropping 100k on a new car why not just modd the Z, make it unique. Make it faster than a lambo if you can.. Possible? Ehh prob not. Who knows, But that would be cool to see!!! :) or at least thats what id do. Make something of my car, not just give up on it every time i can afford a better one. Just my 2cent. Hope it helps.

Yup its like when choosing between a Mistress and a wife!!!!
At the end of the day if you can keep both...Who said LIFE is not full of complications.

For now Im torn between a GTR and a GT3.
To satisfy my craving and frustrations Im creating my Z to be a super car in my own world. Well that's me.

only live once. :tiphat:

i really wished the gtr had a manual gearbox..

I would get the 370z stock and go for the GTR...
one of the things about the GTR it gets compared to everything and does a great job of hold its own....

Sounds like you could pay for one but you can't really "afford" it. When you have these types of thoughts, you can't afford it.

I wouldn't mortgage my financial stability for a GT-R. There is a big gap between cars as a hobby and cars as a liability. If you find yourself having to cut this or that and squeezing out every penny to get a GTR I wouldn't do it.

I would definitely take a GTR over a Z and I don't even like the GTR because it is "souless". Comparing the 2 is impossible, you're talking about Nissan's elite bargain supercar v. a $25-30k mass produced sports car. The Z is great but Nissan doesn't put it in the same class as the GTR so neither should you.

:iagree:

TR is not a good daily-driver ... too hard, jiggly, transmission shunt blah blah blah .........

But press hard with the right foot and find some twisty road, mega-grin factor.

So the question is can you live with it between "push-hard with right foot/twisties" - thats the real question.

would the gtr be your only car? I wouldnt get one unless I had another for bad weather/long trips or whatnot. I'd still drive the hell out of it but I wouldnt want the GTR to be my ONLY car.

This is the best advice I can provide. Most purchases like this are "impulse" buys that can set you back for some time. The best sound advice I can give you is, "if you have to ask, you can't afford it". Not that you really can't do it, just that the costs of ownership might not be worth the totality of the ownership of such a car. Look at the cost over say 5 years.

I'll go ahead and elaborate on my situation so you guys don't think I'm being a dumb kid contemplating an impulse buy.

My Z is not currently my daily, and should I buy a GT-R, it will also not be a DD. I have a Mazda 3 wagon for my daily so I can carry my drums and hockey gear. It is still financed.

Basically, I have a fixed monthly cap on car expenses. I have a separate savings for any surprise maintenance costs, etc. (Which I occasionally dip into for modifications, hence the recent addition of an Ark exhaust to my Z). I have studied maintenance, et all, on the GT-R and given I drive it how I drive my Z, the maintenance will fit into my budget for that.

My two year plan for a GT-R would start the day my Z is sold. The money from the payment of the Z would be pushed into accelerating payoff of the Mazda. In two years or less, the only monthly payments I would have would be my house and its related expenses (utilities, internet, HOA). No other debt. That is granted my annual income is unchanged from my current situation.

The money isn't going to be a problem as long as my preparation for the financial responsibility of having a GT-R will not impact my lifestyle, retirement investments, emergency savings, etc. I can do that in two years.

My fear is going through all of this and being disappointed in some way. Is it THAT much more fun than my Z? The only way I will feel comfortable doing this is to offload my Z. I'm not sure I want to do that. I'm more of the mindset that I would like to pay it off, recondition it, and bring it to car shows in 20-30 years and blow people's minds like the all-original 240z owners do around here.

I drove my Z for the first time in two weeks today and it honestly gets me to the point of "I don't need a GT-R to have my fun... the Z is my car." I kind of just wanted to hear from anyone that went from one to the other and what they think.

How much would you use the GTR vs how many more years will you need to work before retirement.

You could fix your 370 up and drive it at the track every weekend for years* or buy the GTR and then budget for track events once in awhile.

Bragging rights can be expensive.


* and become a better driver.

I consider the GTR to be a very fast car but you seem to be looking for a great "driving experience" and I don't think the GTR fits that need. I car is blazing fast but it does so with as minimal driver involvement as possible. If you want more than speed then I don't think the GTR is for you.

I'm in the same boat as you, the driving experience and fun factor are the biggest factors when I buy a car. For that reason alone I prefer my "fun car" not to be paddle shift because it is far less engaging that a traditional manual gearbox. For 3 years the Z satisfied my fun factor hunger, I drove a 1M on numerous occasions and while it was built better than my Z it wasn't much more fun although it was faster.

The funnest car I've driven is my current ride, but I put the Honda s2k high up there as well. I guess it comes down to this, do you want to have a fast car or be a thrilled and quality driver.

I remember someone saying recently they would never sell their Z. Asked if I would do it I know you remember my answer. But everyone has different preferences. But my answer was not in its entirety and halfway joking. Would I trade in my Z (or sell it off) for a GTR? Yes without thinking twice. Now with more thought put behind it the answer would be "No" unless I had the kind of money to drop on the car to pay it off outright. As I would void its warranty from day one modding it to become the likes of the Alpha Omega GTR. So at that point it isn't feasible to own as the GTR to me isn't some beauty to the eye. It is a playstation on wheels that can go very very fast. While that is fun in the short term I know I would grow to hate it in the long term. If I was saving my pennies to purchase the one car I would need something that is amazing to drive and also to look at years down the line. Right now the cars on my list that fit that bill are the 458 Italia and the all new SRT Viper.

Maybe one day I will be in the position to purchase one of these vehicles.

Finally I say get that GTR :stirthepot: cuz I want to ride in it!

I dunno, I'm biased to the Z. The GT-R is all sorts of impressive, but the feels more like a blank canvas. I say don't think about it until you're 100% ready to switch. Enjoy every bit of the Z. From a performance aspect, the GTR has few competitions, but if rolling in something nice is your thing, there are tons of new cars coming soon. Personally, if I were in your shoes, stuck in between price ranges, I'd buy a Porsche.

Having never driven a GTR I can't say how it'd make you feel driving it, but based on the countless reviews of "Holy **** this is fast" - I'm sure it's a blast. That being said, keep it on the back burner. Fix up your Z like you said you wanted to (that will help keep the ADHD surpressed for some time) then once your done, drive your "new" Z and enjoy it. Once that wares off, hopefully it'll be a few years from now and you'll be ready for your GTR.

No need to rush into a purchase. Of course you can probably afford it, but if you still are loving your Z, then keep up the mods/refurbishing process.

I've had my car for almost 2 years now and LOVE it still. But I came across a Z06 and was like... oh I'd leave the Z for that. But if I had the cash and the space to store 2 cars, I'd absolutely want both. But I'm in no rush to get rid of my car, I still love driving it on the weekends when weather permits.

If you're really curious about the GTR go to a meetup and try to get a ride in one

I hope its not just me who realizes that the GTR is by no means a good looking car. The best analogy I could think of is that it is the fat girl who is decent looking trying to spar with supermodels. Thing is this girl is a freak in bed and fux like an animal. Haha I like that one.

If buying a GTR will change your lifestyle keep the Z,buy the GTR when you know that nothing will change for you,for me initially a GTR was 1.5 to 2 years away,more I got thinking of it i would have to change my way of life a bit to achieve the GTR,which i am not willing to do at this point...5 year plan..GTR will be mine.