Originally Posted by Chuck33079

These guys have it right. It's not that a boosted Z can't be reliable, it's just that it requires you to be on top of everything a lot more than a NA Z. Tuning and maintenance is key. You don't necessarily have to do the install yourself, but you need to understand how it all works together. If you do have an issue, it's usually because you've got parts from 11 different aftermarket suppliers on there, and sometimes that can cause issues. I daily drove mine for years, but having a second car can go a long way when you're waiting on the UPS guy to get your car back on the road. If you can't DIY and you don't have a local shop that has done multiple boosted Zs (install and tune), you might to want to punt on the project. Sure, you can ship the car somewhere for install and tune, but that doesn't help you when you're out in the garage gremlin hunting. You need more than a basic level of mechanical ability or be willing to pay labor on everything. And on a boosted Z, everything takes an hour or two longer when you're paying labor. There's just a lot of extra crap packed in there, and you always have to remove 14 other things to get access to the $18 part you have to replace.

It's all based on your comfort and experience level. It's not an entry-level project. If the idea of throwing $15-20k at the car, keeping another $10k or so as an emergency "oh ****" shortblock fund, and realizing the penalty for skimping on parts or maintenance is a low five figure hit, then you might want to stay with bolt ons. If you would get upset and frustrated when the car regularly steals $200-300 from you for random bs, you're not going to have a good time.

All that being said, a boosted Z is "holy ****" fast. It's awesome. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Again though, be realistic with yourself - would you be able to handle a car that will happily throw you off the road backwards in an instant if you do something stupid? 500whp is a ton of power. With all the videos and stuff on the internet with random 1000whp cars, it's easy to forget that 500whp is more than 99% of the vehicles you will ever see in your life and it absolutely requires respect at all times.

The other thing to keep in mind is that it's never done. You will ALWAYS want more. Anything you drive every day will start to feel slow, and then you have to buy more stuff to get that same feeling back.