Hi there!

I was looking for an 86' 300zx but the choices were just too few and awful and everybody seems to think they have a high dollar car no matter the condition. Even this old lady in my neighborhood.

So! My father and I are shopping a 350z mid 2000's as a 2nd fun car and for when he visits. It has to be a manual and most likely will be a convertible but I'm not opposed to a hardtop if it's a good one. I can see a fair amount of 2006-7 with somewhat low miles 40-80k selling these day around 12-15k. KBB is around 12-13.

Any general advice? Things technical to look for (I am very technical used to be a mechanic and I work on other my other cars still)

Best years? Worst years? Tips tricks? I appreciate any and all advice. I have yet to even test drive one. Doing that today.

There really aren't a whole of of " weak spots" with these cars other than the fact that by now a great many of them have been either beaten on by young drivers of badly modified.

I owned two 350Z never any problems beyond what is "normal" for what is now an older car.

I did have a bad MAF one time but thats not a weak spot ; thats something that can happen to any older car ( gasket had gotten weak with age and whenever there was a high pressure carwash or a strong rain I would get lots of error messages. Fixed by replacing MAF with an OEM part)

The first few months of production of the 2003s had an odd alignment specs error that would lead to cupping in front tires but thats not to worry about now since Nissan has figured out the improved alignment specs.
Both the manual and Automatic transmissions are strong and short of extreme abuse generally do not break until you get to very very high milage.


Clucth replacements cost a lot though.. so if u can get a manual with a recently new clutch that would be a plus.But if u do the labor yourself then this is not an issue.
At over 150,000 miles you have a good chance of some seals/gaskets starting to leak but again this applies to any car.

Do not ignore a error code for bad catalytic converters. They do need to changed if they show an error code.. a bad converter can desintegrate and then be sucked into engines by back pressure and cause havoc.
but again this applies to just about any modern car.

PS: There were a couple years when excessive oil consumption could occur. I think it was 06 to 07.
They were made with slightly looser rings than prior.
This does not affect all or even most 06/07. But enough of them that enthusiast will have heard about it as a possibility.

If memory serves.
06 in manual have the so-called revup up motor with raised redline and the internal changes to make this possible. (auto tranny had still the prior engine)
07/08 have a dual intake version of the revup motor with even more raised redline and better breathing throughout.
They can be recognized by a "bump" in the middle of the hood.
For this most developed version of the motor, some say the last 2 years of 350Z may be the most desirable ones, but IMO with any used car condition really trumps everything else IMO and even an 03-05 can can be a lot of fun especially with the manual.

Thanks for that info. I was wondering why the last years had the 'bump hood' and if it was functional or not.

One thing I was wondering is it normal for the engines to be a bit 'clacky' after startup? The one I just test drove had some of that but after a good drive quieted down a lot.

I test drove one today. 50k mile car. But they were asking way too much money and the interior had been a bit ragged and beaten on. Exterior and paint was a 7/10. Dealer would not negotiate down one inch so I didn't buy it. Will keep looking. They wanted well above Blue Book value for a car that was not "excellent" condition. All kinds of jive about how no one uses Blue Book anymore. Top dollar for an 06' seems to be aroune 14-15k which....if I'd pay that much for a now 16 year old car it had better be garage kept perfect with minimal road rash.

Only manual for me and yes I can certainly do a clutch but would have to take the flywheel to a machine shop. I even have full access to a shop with lifts and air tools at work. I'm a computer guy and I work on a base with a real deal shop that they let me use for a reasonable fee. This one I tested had a sticky clutch pedal at the end of travel. Don't know how normal that is. But I'd imagine these low mile cars did a ton of sitting.

I'm eyeballing one that is 23k miles 17,000$ and 200 miles away. That's about 2-3k more than I wanted to spend for the base price but it's a high end model. Problem is you often get there and find real issues with the car. But such is life. I'll never buy I car I can't see.

Ideally 13-14k with 80k miles in great condition would be my calling card. This will be a fun car for my father and I, not a daily driver. But will probably do some big road trips for sure.

They are wonderful road trip cars as I said I owned 2, in the pic my Blue 2004.
The wheels are painted G35 Coupe wheels from a same year G35.

Great seats.
Effortless power.
very good unrefueled range due to the 20 Gallon tank (which is very large for this size car)
Ergonomic controls
Easy to read gauges
Very direct and immediate steering
short throws and after installation of a short shift kit even shorter throws.

I once drove a 2004 for 2950 miles in 3 days from Gardena, California to Wilmington Delaware, partially through a winter storm.
I might still have the pics somewhere.

When they say "the market is so hot right now we dont go by book", Remind them KBB already accounts for the market being "hot", the KBB IS a reflection of the market.

Yes I told him something along those lines but he was just arrogant and not in a mood for negotiation. They just got the car 2 days ago and think it's the hot thing. Watch it sit on the lot for months like all the others. Probably want some fool to come by and finance it. He all but told me to shove my all cash offer of as it was worse than credit because 'cash isn't king anymore'.

I'm def leaving that dealer a bad review. What goes around, comes around. This is why I HATE dealers....esp now that they feel they are totally free to set fixed prices even on very old highly marked up cars, and then walk away from them

"A bunch of good ole boys" made up KBB is what he said. Code words in Virginia for hicks, rednecks...offensive. Now some background he's a British guy in a less affluent (but still pricey AF) suburb of Washington, DC. It's very international here but lots of 'good ole boys' in VA still especially as you get away from the radius of D.C. So that was kind of a douchey individual and my inclination at that point was to just give a very low price and walk away from it. Didn't like the car anyway.

Generally speaking does anyone know why the Convertible 350z has the 287 HP engine for 06 but the Coupes have 300? Then the next year they both seem to be spec'd for 306. I know not much difference. But just curious.

That's cool that they have a 20 Gallon tank. My Audi S4 is also a great comfortable, fast handling car for road trips and Summer 2020 I drove it from VA, to CA to WA and back. 8000 miles. Range is kind of small as it only has 16 Gallon tank. But it gets almost 30 mph highwayt even with a 333 HP Supercharged v6!

Planning to do lots of road trips on a 350z w/my father. We've both always wanted t roadster, manual box drop top. So this is the best low cost reliable option. But they are getting hard to find un-chopped and under 100k. I'm willing to drive around 12 hours away from here.

jthan.ami wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 13, 2022 8:44 am

Yes I told him something along those lines but he was just arrogant and not in a mood for negotiation. They just got the car 2 days ago and think it's the hot thing. Watch it sit on the lot for months like all the others. Probably want some fool to come by and finance it. He all but told me to shove my all cash offer of as it was worse than credit because 'cash isn't king anymore'.

Dealership get "finders fees" if you finance through them and its part of their business model to stay afloat.

Feel free to share your experience here I am kinda curious which dealer, as I used to live in that exact area (Springfield/Kingstowne/Alexandria)

jthan.ami wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 13, 2022 8:51 am

Generally speaking does anyone know why the Convertible 350z has the 287 HP engine for 06 but the Coupes have 300? Then the next year they both seem to be spec'd for 306. I know not much difference. But just curious.

If memory serves, the new engines in 06 came up first paired to the manuals.
I do not believe there was connection to which body they were in but I could be wrong as this is a very fine point of Nissan trivia.

(There are actual physical differences in the engines not just a retune and rerating)

[/img]Palmer, I went to Dallas TX and got a nice silver roadster with 48k miles. Few typical service issues. Brakes belts, soft top issues but I’d like a new car and it drove 1400 miles home.

This dealer dropped price 1k and had super low processing fees…they were awesome. AutoPark Dallas! Way more honest and better than any of the East Coast dealers.

One dealer in PA was in Bethlehem PA 3 hrs north of me. “Starr” -something or other. They were a bunch of cobwebby old fart stains and totally unreasonable …car had numerous defects too including a carfax documented accident not fixed perfectly well and yet they would not even negotiate!

I don’t even remember the 1st dealer I went to in Woodbridge but they and their car was not even worth considering though it was not total junk and 1300 cheaper than the Texas car.


This must be an older forum…every iPhone jpg photos says “too large”

jthan.ami wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 26, 2022 12:33 pm

[/img]Palmer, I went to Dallas TX and got a nice silver roadster with 48k miles. Few typical service issues. Brakes belts, soft top issues but I’d like a new car and it drove 1400 miles home.

This dealer dropped price 1k and had super low processing fees…they were awesome. AutoPark Dallas! Way more honest and better than any of the East Coast dealers.

One dealer in PA was in Bethlehem PA 3 hrs north of me. “Starr” -something or other. They were a bunch of cobwebby old fart stains and totally unreasonable …car had numerous defects too including a carfax documented accident not fixed perfectly well and yet they would not even negotiate!

I don’t even remember the 1st dealer I went to in Woodbridge but they and their car was not even worth considering though it was not total junk and 1300 cheaper than the Texas car.


This must be an older forum…every iPhone jpg photos says “too large”

Tell us more about the car?
What years is it
manual or auto?
Which trim level?

You can always make the pics smaller and then post. I put pics from my fone on my computer and resize.
(And yes Nico has been around since the year 2000)