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You say a E34 5-series, commonly regarded as bullet proof, is expensive to maintain, then rattle off a list of 80's and early 90's turbocharged cars notorous for breaking down (Especially the 300ZX). The ST185 Celicas are good.

Plus, how the crap is a 300ZXTT cheaper than a 350Z? They're at least twice as expensive, at least where I live.

MA70 Supras are nice, assuming you can pick one up for a reasonable price.

350Zs are, where I live, cheaper than most of the cars on that list. $16K is a reasonable price for a new Civic around here, AFAIK.

Have you looked into getting an E36 3-series coupe? Supposedly, they're well worth the money...

The E36 M3 is brilliant in European version, but a let-down in US market due to single throttle body rather than 6, and less refined cylinder heads.

steelsnake00 wrote:You say a E34 5-series, commonly regarded as bullet proof, is expensive to maintain, then rattle off a list of 80's and early 90's turbocharged cars notorous for breaking down (Especially the 300ZX). The ST185 Celicas are good.

Proof of how it's bulletproof? I just figured that because it's a Beemer, a luxury car with lots more electrics to fail would be more expensive to maintain than the "80's and early 90's turbocharged cars notorous for breaking down" (which aren't btw except for the 300ZX of course. Not to mention the R34 25GT uses a non-turbo'd R33 engine, the Integra Type-R is very famous for being naturally aspirated and front-wheel-drive, the ZZT231 isn't turbo'd and neither is the 5-series. Nor is the WRX notorious for breaking down. Far from it actually. I should know, they run in the family )

RedCarDriver wrote:Plus, how the crap is a 300ZXTT cheaper than a 350Z? They're at least twice as expensive, at least where I live.

Where do you live? You can easily find a 300ZX Twin Turbo around here for under 5 or 6k. I would be surprised to find one above 15k, unless it was mint.

Here they're anywhere from AU$7500 to AU$15. They're not that expensive RCD

What the frick? Send me one!

...wait. Okay, I did a search and saw one for sale for $11500. Not THAT expensive. lol

In that case, a 300ZX TT would be a real bargain.

And, I live in the United States. I guess I was going off of what t3ku on NFSCars was saying, but he's in Alabama so Japanese cars like that must be rarer there.

Indeed.

http://carsales.com.au/all-cars/private ... D100B9C9D0

Thats in AUD of course. So that'd be about what, 8 grand or so?

Here's 5 300ZX Twin Turbos I found in my general area under 6k USD just posted in the last week or so...

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ctd/1037014056.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/1036940476.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/1036347619.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/1034050341.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/1032194488.html

Wonder why they're so cheap around here. Here's the most expensive one I can find in the bay area (10.9k, non-turbo... very clean though):

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/ctd/1027943182.html

the guy who owns the last one think's he can sell it for a premium just because he slapped a front splitter on it, thats all. As for all the others, they look like they just wanted a quick sell or didn't really know the collection aspect of 300zx's

There's a collection aspect of 300ZXs?

donaldgladden wrote:the guy who owns the last one think's he can sell it for a premium just because he slapped a front splitter on it, thats all. As for all the others, they look like they just wanted a quick sell or didn't really know the collection aspect of 300zx's

I really don't think the aftermarket bumper had anything to do with it... I think it had more to do with how the exterior was nearly perfect, the leather interior had barely any wear, and the millage was below 60k if I remember correctly (the listing is gone now). And it was a '96 which was the last year for them in North America.

Koenigsegg_Rox wrote:There's a collection aspect of 300ZXs?

LOL agreed. Having worked on the bastards, I hate them with a passion. NO-ONE should ever fill up an engine bay that much!

But mate an R31? All I can say is I feel for you...

Well at least they're better than those bloody Holden VLs that people keep banging on about which are apparently "so much better"...the R31 is more powerful, has a better interior, doesn't weigh that much more and handles better. Really I should have looked around for a Silhouette but...meh.

My mate got an R30 2 door (of the two types available he got the less valuable one though!). It wasn't that impressive performance wise until I went 180kmh through a corner that tuned cars suffer after 160kmh. Though we later found out it was because the suspension was soft (read knackered) and the tire walls took the mod corner bump out of the equation!

He saw the light though and got WRX though. Really nice one too for about 12K...

Oh and totally agree with ya on the VL's!

I've started taking out the stereo and doing a general detail on the R31, as I'm going to be selling it within the next few weeks.

Basically I've half-decided on what my next car is going to be. I'm on the fence though because they're two cars which I like equally as much: the B5 Audi A4 Quattro and the 2nd Gen Subaru Liberty RX AWD. I'm sure I will have made my mind up by the time The Cereal Box is gone though. 'Til then, I gotta make this thing look a million dollars...though considering not even Silhouettes go above $5k I doubt that's going to be possible.

The central locking kit I installed on it is going to stay in, but I'm removing the speakers, sub and amps to either sell or transfer over to the new car. The Kenwood head unit on the other hand is going up for sale as well. It was the most expensive thing I bought for it but it has a couple of flaws that plagued it (namely the occasional freeze and the $30 USB/iPod cable that refused to work). I'm going to buy a new, much less complicated head unit for the new car instead.

I've long been considering a B5 S4, having driven a number and "borrowed" a mates for a few weeks last summer. A little dated inside but still extremely competent, FWD ones aren't so great but his was "mildly worked over" to say the least. Quaiffe 4:1 preload centre diff, twin K04/16's from an RS6 and 2.8 cams, gutted precats, Integrated Engineering rods, 034 software and Cayenne 6-pots all round. 550+bhp and by far the fastest thing I've ever driven.

What engine would you be considering? If you don't mind the rather dull note, the 1.8T is the best bet- massively tunable, pretty pokey and cheap to run, maintain and modify (350+bhp with bolt-ons, 275-odd bhp capable on the standard K03 turbo). Avoid the 2.6 petrol, as the cams are made of chocolate and they don't respond well to engine work or high milage- 2.8's are much better. Of course the S4/RS4 is the holy grail, but they're SO expensive to run (18mpg combined though I was driving it on boost the whole time) and have a bad reputation for eating turbos (hence why his ended up with RS6 K04/16's rather than K03's on it)

Well I can't afford an RS4 or S4, most of the ones in my price range are the 1.8s, though there are a couple of 2.4 and 2.6 V6 ones.

So far as I know I won't be insured for a turbocharged model of any sort though as I'm still on a provisional license for another year. So I guess it would have to be the 1.8 atmo unless I can be insured for the turbocharged model.

From memory, they didn't do an AWD 1.8 non-turbo- well at least they didn't for the UK market. The 2.4 is a little underpowered compared to the other V's but should be fine as a daily hack- don't expect it to set the world on fire though. Oddly, the 2.5 TDi is actually very good- it's the old style 5-pot, has 170-odd bhp and loads of torque and if it ever goes wrong you can bolt the top end from an ABY/ADU/3B/AAN Audi 2.2 I5 Turbo petrol engine directly onto it! That was the eventual plan for the S2 before I sold it- 2.5L bottom end and stroker kit, would have seen north of 500whp probably. Shame I did my back in and couldn't handle the so-hard-they-were-silly buckets in it, or the CSL.

Here there's Quattros for the 1.8 atmo and turbo, 2.4 and 2.6; and there's no 2.5 TDi, or at least not in price range.

Koenigsegg_Rox wrote:Here there's Quattros for the 1.8 atmo and turbo, 2.4 and 2.6; and there's no 2.5 TDi, or at least not in price range.

From memory the 1.8 N/A is only about 130bhp. That plus 100kg's worth of extra AWD system means that acceleration will be about as rapid as plate tectonics. Go for a 6-pot if you can afford it.