My Z Story

I am orginally from Detroit. I have gasoline in my veins. I have always wanted a cool car, but never was able to have one as 8 years of post-HS tuition drained all my money. Now, I have finally graduated and finally have a job that pays me enough to buy my toys!!

I needed a car badly. I have a '95 Concorde whose transmission is about to go (typical with that car from what I have heard). So, this last weekend was the weekend to go car shopping. I pretty much stopped buying Road and Track, Car and Driver, etc. as those kind of mags didn't really fit into my budget. Plus, it is pretty damn depressing to read those mags when you are a poor student. So, I was unsure of what was out there and what I should get. I have always been partial to the Trans Ams since they did the slight redesign in the mid-90's. All through school, I had my eyes on a decked out, TA with ram air. Then, they go and cancel the damn model!! I looked a bit for that car and no luck. I did not know what to get now.

My wife and I hopped in the car and went searching. We looked at the Jag X-type, the Lexis IS, but I wanted something with a little more oomph (the IS would have been ok, but the jag was just not what I wanted right now). I don't need to have the fastest car out there, I just need some testicles, ya know. I had seen that Nissan was coming out with a new Z. I had always loved the 300Z, so this was perfect. We stopped at the local Nissan dealership and were told 2k down to get on a list with the wait being about 4 mo.! Well, that was out of the question. I could not wait that long.

So, we go home. I get the new Consumer's New Car Buyer guide and mark the 3 cars I would look at and that will fit into the budget: the G35, the IS300, and the 350Z. Not all in the same class, but close to what I wanted in terms of performance (I am not sophisticated like some of y'all....I looked at hp and 0-60).

We make a plan to go out on Monday night. I have my wife call the Nissan dealership by her work and see what they say about the 350Z. The guy says he has 4, 3 are spoken for and the 4th is available if someone were to take it soon because the guy is jerking him around. I finally get to see one in real life and it is awesome! It was the Enthusiast model. I would have liked the Touring model, but I figure the hp and 0-60 are the same in all the Zs. So, he lets me drive it and boy it was fun! (Turns out they are one of the older Nissan dealerships in the area and have a bit more pull than the other dealership we checked on Friday. They were around back in the old Datsun days.)

Anyway, after trying to bargain (you don't have much leverage right now on these cars! ), I became the proud new owner of a silver Nissan 350Z last night at about 11:30pm!!!

Why did I go with the Z over the G35 (or the IS)? Because I am young, with no kids. I wanted a sports car. Finally, after all those years dreaming about having that cool sports car, I finally, finally got one.

Will I do anything to supe it more or deck it out? No immediate plans right now. Who knows about the future. It may be cool, but as I said I am not looking to blow everyone away. Right now, stock is fine with me and more than enough.

Anyway, I am on Cloud 9!

I guess I will become a Z enthusiast (no pun intended! )

Congratulations!!!!
I was looking at many of the same vehicles you did. I also chose the Z; however I ordered mine. Not because of the lack of finding them, but I wanted the car with every option available and the color I liked. My Nissan dealer has a black touring six speed I test drove today it had a 4,000 bump sticker on it which brought the total to $38,426. I than perceeded inside the dealer and talked to the finance manager I told him that I was not going to pay over MSRP for the one I ordered 3 weeks ago. He told me it was fair market value. I told him that Nissan is planning to ship 20-30K a year to the states and there will be plenty sitting on dealers lots in a year. I also told him that there are other dealers within a couple hundred miles I could have ordered it from at MSRP. He went off to talk to the general manager and came back 5 minutes later and agreed to my terms.

Have you gotten her sideways yet? Thats the first thing I will do when I leave the dealership. Enjoy your new toy.

I would have liked to order mine with the options I wanted, but I needed a car badly. Next car, I will be able to be more choosy. This is my first new car, so I would have been happy with just about anything!!

I have not turned her sideways yet. I am trying to keep the rpms low until I get her broke in. Only about 800mi. to go!!