Hi all,

This is my first post here. I'm looking at possibly buying an older 350Z, most likely a 2004 model with a manual transmission.

Is there anything in particular I need to look for on these cars? What mileage would most consider to be too high? I have to keep it under $6000, so the ones I'm seeing have 140K+. Is that an issue?

I'm at work, so I don't have time to search the forum, but plan on it tonight.

Thanks!

140k miles isn't a big deal, 200k or more is fairly common. $6k price range isn't much, buy the nicest best cared for most stock car you can find. I know from my experience shopping a little more money got you a much nicer car and the cheaper ones will likely cost more to fix than the cost of buying a nicer car. Lots of badly modified hacked up cars out there, hold out for the right one.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I have to keep my budget there because I really can't have a car payment right now. I agree about finding a clean stock one as well. I've seen many highly modded ones for sale, and I don't like the looks of most of them. I've always preferred stock cars and motorcycles.

My question is more to do with issues/problems. Is there anything specific I need to look for when checking out a car?

Thanks!

Outside of the other wear & tear that goes along with a 140k mole cat, two pretty common issues on the '03 &' 04 Zs are window motors going out and a noticeable gear grind I'm the 2nd-3rd zone.

I know you're trying to keep your price down but I'm a huge advocate for pre-purchase inspections. They can easily save you a major headache and I've had more than a few friends that renegotiated a deal even *after* issues caught by the PPI were taken care of.