to buy or not to buy, that is the question
 

Hello all,
so I've been lurking this forum for the past few days trying to decide on whether I want to buy this car or not. Based on my budget I'm looking at buying a 2010 model 370z (probably touring, but maybe sport, definitely not base).

I guess one thing has really bothered me, leading to this post:
Why are so many of these cars sold with ridiculously low mileage? So many 370z's, even on this forum get sold 3 years later with less then 15k or even 10k miles?

Is it not a good daily driver (I plan on making it mine)? Are there long term reliability issues? expensive maintenance? poor driving feel?

I dunno... just seems strange. "Bothered" is a strong word, I dunno that I'm bothered by it, but it certainly makes me think twice before I buy!

Definetly do try getting the sport package if you can, these cars have low mileage's because people use them as weekend cars. As for reliability im sure the z will surpass 150k miles without any major repairs excluding oil tires etc etc. i use my Z as a DD and love it! You have nothing to worry about

The Z is one great car for the price. Do test drive before your purchase because it just might not be your cup of tea... ALSO i drive alot in the city and my mpg is at 14 flat take that into consideration

@ op - The car is great. Some drive more then others and there are many reasons for selling with low mileage and most if not all of those reasons have no correlation to the design, or wear or driveability. Mine has extremely low mileage but I love it and intend to keep it long term. Life happens and sometimes great cars with low mileage get sold on the earlier side; take a closer look around here and you will see many daily drive, track, and genuinely and regularly drive the hell out of these cars. No one can make up your mind for you, but if you choose to buy I doubt you would have regrets but to each their own!

:tiphat:

I bought mine new in May 2012. Now at 29000 miles. I have a beater but tend to drive this daily. You should buy something else. It attracts too much attention, everyone wants to race you, it handles like a go kart, tires are expensive, the temptation to mod does not end. Get a brz, a mustang, or a camaro.

Are you looking or 370Z Nismo Edition?

OP, def spring for the sport pkg and the touring pkg IMO. :tup:

did you just offer the brz as a substitution for the Z?:roflpuke2:

I bought my Z without even test driving. I knew exactly what I wanted.

As mentioned previously, many people only drive their cars on the weekends and/or good weather. I bought mine knowing it's going to be my DD and plan to put around 12k miles per year.

If you can save up a bit more get a Touring+Sport. I would have opted for a Nismo, but I liked the Touring seats more.

Unless you plan on gutting it -- find a low mileage sport + touring, 2010 or newer (but not 2014 -- I'd wait for the next gen one if you did that).

Fantastic car for the money!

In my case, I only put on a couple thousand mile per year because I can drive it maybe 6 months per year (due to the Cleveland weather). It is not my DD, but if I lived in a location that I could, I would have no problems driving it every day.

The only regret that I have is not being able to drive it more than I do.

I drive mine every day and love it.

I bought a 2011 sport package in May, so far put 6000 miles on since then (had 14k when I bought it). I love driving the car, but be advised the mod bug is gonna bite ya if ya get one. Car is parked for the winter and probably won't come out till April, hopefully it will go thru a transformation in that time frame.

Good Luck with whatever you decide!!!!

She'll be one year old next week and she's just passed the 21,000mi mark. I DD her and it's a great car to DD, even if the MT is a PITA in traffic (as any MT is).

Some people just move through cars quickly - I know several like this. They keep their cars for a couple of years, then get another and repeat the cycle (with far more expensive vehicles than a Z too).


So true.

Though, I haven't really gotten a lot of attention or anyone wanting to race me yet. :p

I DD my '09 Touring. Somewhere around 23K on the odometer. I love it. Not cheap to keep (premium gas, expensive tires, &c) but well worth it if you can afford it.

Many ppl only drive on weekends and/or store their Zs during the Winter, hence, many have low mileage.

2011 Z with nearly 45K miles has been both my wife's and my DD. As long as you can avoid traffic (we have MT - not really a problem with AT) and don't need to haul a bunch of stuff regularly, the Z makes a fantastic DD :tup:

I recommend the Sport Package at minimum. Get the Touring Package, too, if it's in the budget. Although, if you plan on doing lots of mods to it, you should do some research into specifically what you want to do - sometimes a base model is a good way to save some cash for all the mods you want, especially if you're going to be replacing stuff that only comes with the Sport Package (like wheels or brakes).

I daily drive my 2009 and have almost 75,000 on it now. Plan to keep it for many more years. Absolutely love the car and always puts a smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel. Sport package is definitely the way to go--love the rays wheels.

I'm guessing a low mileage 2010 Z would run in the low to mid $20's these days?

I'm also guilty of the low mileage crime...I put about 4k a year on my Z. Damn PA winters!!!

Had I did more research earlier, I would have found out that only the touring model had lumbar support and maybe I would have gotten that instead.

Anyway, like mentioned it's all about the owner. Some DD it, some people drive it on weekends only, and others only during the summer time.

I'm the type to drive it only on the weekends and with no snow. Purchased March 2012, and have 3100 miles on it.

The 370Z is a good looking sports car with power that costs more than a typical low income person can afford. This means it ends up being a lot like a Corvette; babied and driven only on the weekends, if not being a straight-up garage queen car to owners who blush with pride just because it's in their garage. This all lines up to having plenty of specimens that are not heavily driven over the years, and they tend to be driven somewhat carefully, since they were 40k new.

It's a good DD, though some people may be a tad bit too large to feel completely comfortable in the car. Others garage it in the winters and stay out of the snow/salt. Many have this car as a third car, so it only gets driven on the good weather weekends, leading to much lower mileage.

I've not seen or heard of any longterm reliability issues at all, so this shouldn't be a concern. The only thing to look for would be a salvaged title or one that has been in a big wreck. Definitely get it deeply checked out. An accident doesn't equal issues down the road, but you should definitely make sure the frame is good, the body is good, and you've got OEM parts and all VINs present.

Maintenance isn't that expensive, but there are three exceptions:
- gas -you'll be paying for premium gas and the mileage isn't great unless you drive it like a prius.
- tires -you'll go through tires, and they're not cheap. Many get 12-15k out of their tires, but I wore out my first pair of rears in 8k.
- insurance -just be sure to grill your insurance on what your rates will be. And keep the hell out of trouble. Invest in a radar detector and be very judicious when you decide to test the acceleration. If you're clean, this should be surprisingly livable.

:tiphat:First of all, you are probably not gonna DD it in Illinois and I don't suggest you do that

Bought mine new in March of 2012, daily driven, winter too, I have about 35k miles on it. No problems at all except when I got hit by an old dude. Plan on 100k+

I DD mine as well as track it, and it is still strong showing no signs of giving up.

The reason most sports cars are sold with low mileage is that people buffet buy, they buy more car than they expected, they don't like the work associated with driving a car like this, hell it's way more work to even get into it and out of it than they are willing to expend the effort on. They are surprised after a few months how it's not like their cushy BIG car, so they hang on to it and then eventually sell it after they realize they aren't cut out for a driver, they want a "floater" that caresses them from the time they get in till they get out. They like comfort more than performance.....besides, they also realize that they never use the performance they sacrificed so much comfort for.

When I bought my Z the sales guy told me he had one but it was so hard to get in and out of after a few months he sold it.
Mine is my DD, and I love it.

thank you all very very much for giving me so much feedback, gives me something to think about and also raises a few more questions :)

Some of you mentioned winters and others mentioned "Illinois". I live in the neighboring suburbs of Chicago. Is winter a real issue in this car? I have a couple friends that own it and drive through winters, but the last couple winters have been fairly mild here, and quite frankly my friends are nuts. lol
--I am more concerned about safety then I am rust/salt etc. its a car and I fully intend to drive the hell out of it year round, as long as it won't kill me.

Some mentioned the packages. I was actually leaning towards touring first, and then sports package, likely staying away from Nismo. Main reason for this is based on the forum and formal reviews, it seems this car can get loud (sports/nismo being the loudest). Honestly it won't bother me either way, I used to drive a riced out civic so noise isn't an issue, but still something to consider since I have no plans to race this car anyway. Might as well go for a bit more comfort (that's my logic anyway). Of course if I can find a car with both packages, that'll be ideal!

Mod bug. Yea I probably will get hit with this at some point but its not something I want to think about right now. Kinda going the "out of sight out of mind" route on this! Not easy to figure out a budget if I start dreaming of customization. haha

Lol. Glad you see the humor in it.

They are playing with you-I'LL TELL YOU THE HONEST TRUETH
 

The Z is a nice sweet car, but after 25k the heads start working as if they are missing 2 camshafts. So people are afraid to buy a 370z above 20k miles.

Be afraid, be very afraid.... Kidding.

You drive it a lot! and you are from MA. Rep ya'.

It all boils down to personal preference. I love my Z and after test driving a host of cars from the Corvette all the way to an s2000, I ended up with the Z because I liked it the best. As others have stated, many don't DD their Zs which is why you can find a lot of low mileage preowned ones. I personally don't DD mine and wouldn't want to either as I find it on the small side. As a fun weekend car though, it fits the bill perfectly! I would say spring for the sport package if you can, you won't regret it.

Good luck with whatever you decide on!

I bought a new 2010 touring sport and have 22K miles to date. I drive the car as much as I can but have another car for Winter driving. Modded with Fast Intensions exhaust and an UpRev tune to get a little extra performance and love it.Never had any trouble with the car at all, just oil changes and tires. Get the touring sport and you won't be sorry.

you can pick up a low mileage 09-10 base sport manual for a bit over 20k,

Nothing wrong with the car at all, it's just there are so many factors out there it is inevitable that low mileage Z's end up on the market.

Some people like to switch cars, others have to downgrade or upgrade, meanwhile others run in financial problems or just get tired of not having rear seats. The market is flooded with all sorts of sports cars, making the prices very appealing. What does it mean for a used car buyer? Great news, a used 10 sport package car with under 15k miles for ~22k? not much out there that can compete. As time goes on the prices will get better (for buyers). 09's base sports are dropping in sub 20 range as well.

I've been tracking the prices for a while now, the best time to buy is a Z carr that's about ~3-4 years old with very low mileage, best time to sell is after 2 years (3max) to recoup most of your money.

I moved away from Chicago in 2012. I DD my Z here in sunny SoCal. I think your friends are nuts. Salt, potholes, snow/ice... nopenopenope. IMO that explains why you're looking at such low miles—previous owner(s) probably only pulled it out of the garage after mid-April.

I also live in the 'burbs' of chicago. I hate the salt and thats mainly why I garage it however if you're not concerned, a good set of winter tires and wheels will be fine. We will get the occasional 4-6" of snow and in that case you're likely stuck but for the majority of winter you'll be ok. Personally I would recommend two cars if you can afford it.

This I guess is what I was looking for. I'll assume snow tires are a necessity (adding about 3-4k to my cost if i get a wheel/tire package).

As long as it's driveable in snow I'm off to a good start. I have 2 other cars within my family that I can use for emergencies on those really rough winter days when the city is too cheap to plow in a timely fashion lol.

Also, just to correct what I said about my friends, only 1 friend has this specific car and he bought it this year so I don't truly know about it from my crazy friends. however 2 of them on 350z's, 1 has a 335i, another a g37s. I imagine their snow performance is comparable to what I should expect out of the 370z.

I am about 90% sold on buying a Z at this point. Just a matter of price and required/immediate winter expense.

Thank you all!

Absolutely run winter tires if you're going to drive in the winter. Where are you located, if you don't mind me asking.

I hated the Z in snow, yes snow tires help but a second car really is your best bet. We used ours as a DD and my wife was getting around 22 in town. If you have a lead foot it will be less, much less. My wife loved it as a DD, great for getting through traffic etc, good acceleration when you need it stops great. For a DD where only one person is commuting you cant beat it for fun as well as just a good car. We put about 33k on ours in the 3 years we had it. The wife decided she wanted an SUV though so the Z is now gone.

Nailed it!

Buy! and sell later if u want cars are like shoes switch em every few weeks and you can keep running. :tup:

probably don't need to spend that much on winter wheels/tires unless you are looking at expensive wheels. i spent about $1200 combined. check out this thread:

http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...cs-ak370z.html

I bought a 2014 with substantial discounts and love it. I was fully planning on driving it daily but I have a 2001 Mustang GT that I'm using for that task now. I got a base car with the sport package. I wanted a car with the non-Bose stereo b/c I'm not that impressed with the software Nissan has on their Bose stereos and I wanted the cubby at the top of the stack rather than a screen. I wasn't planning on spending anything on mine either...$2k later and here we are. I've wanted a Z car for a long time and despite the wife's desire I not get one...I figured it was time. We don't have kids and I'll be 40 next year.:tup: