Looking to buy, first sports car experiences?

mastatikle

From a daily driver aspect, it’s a fun car shifting through the gears every day. It’s easier to find parking spaces because it’s small. Oil changes are cheap $20 at a chain location. Depending on the mileage it can be a reliable car. It’s not going to go out of control just because it’s 300hp and rwd. That’s all driver dependent. That will happen when you turn traction control off and punch it around a wet corner road. If you go out and try to drift your time with the car, chances are sh*t will go sideways and not in the good way. Again all I’m saying is respect the car. If it’s a 2010 chances are it’s higher mileage. If so and it’s a manual, don’t buy unless CSC has been replaced/upgraded or plan to have $1000+ ready to fix that. This would be a boring auto car.

Financially it would be stupid to pay that much in insurance for such a cheap car. You’re right, you’re paying 4000 for the idea of coverage. That’s WAYYY to much

JARblue

Not true at all. The Z is wide. Plenty of door dings to be had

don't treat your Z like that

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CRiZO

No kidding, the Z is literally wide as an SUV, with longer doors.

It's short though, good for sneak attacks from behind bushes.

SouthArk370Z

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MZ DAIZY

$20? My local Jiffy Lube charges me $90 for full synthetic, but they also let me go in the pit with him and they don’t piss and moan about the oil cooler.

JARblue

I can get oil changes for $20. But that's just the labor cost. I bring them Mobil 1 oil ($25 for 5 qts at Wallyworld) and a PureOne filter.

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mastatikle

Walmart, it’s decent quakerstate oil or whatever. Labor, oil and filter included. Its a basic Nissan engine. No turbos or 9000rpm redline. You’re not going to gain 50hp by buying the best synthetic made oil. I’m pretty sure I get more benefits from changing the oil every 1500 miles (it’s cheap so why not) then you do running the same oil and filter for 3000 or so miles. Why not save the 400 a year in oil changes? it’s like drinking tap water vs bottled water. You’re not really going to notice a difference on the stock engine.

bunk

Nobody is saying that quality oil will give a performance boost. But if you want to protect your investment, be sure to spend the extra few dollars for quality oil! It doesnt matter if you drive a Buggati or a Dodge Neon, the type of oil you use has the same effect on engines.

Theres a big difference between full synthetic and "decent" quakerstate oil. Our oil temps have a tendency to get hot. If the oil breaks down your protection breaks down. It doesnt care if it was changed 1k miles, or 10k miles, if it breaks down, it breaks down.

Also, using quality synthetic, if your car has been sitting for a while, synthetic oils will tend to stick to metal better than conventional, so youll have protection from dry starts.

I can go on, but I think telling the OP to go ahead and make a big investment because, well why not.... then tell him to cheap out on one of the cheapest maintenance items isnt too helpful.

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CRiZO

JARblue

If you're already in Walmart, why the hell would you buy some quakerstate crap and not Mobil 1?!? The price difference is minimal when you buy 5 qts. Its more like saving $40 per year than $400

And no one buys oil for hp

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AestheticCM1

Not to mention the cheapo oil change places' tendency to lose/strip screws holding the engine undercover and strip drain plugs/oil pan threads. Everything else aside, that alone should dissuade anyone from taking their Z to a monro/meineke/jiffy lube, etc. Further, if you bring your own synthetic and filter to the dealership, they'll do it for you for $15-20.

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MZ DAIZY

While I agree on (most) of the chain places suck and notorious for upselling and doing stupid stuff like stripping plugs and such, I have to say that there are GREAT places out there. I wouldn’t take my car anywhere else than my jiffy-lube.

I’ll only let one guy touch my car and he’s compensated with a generous tip. He has an older 300Z and treats Daizy like his own.

Like I said, he lets me get in the pit with him and watch what he’s doing, but we’re pretty much past that now. I’m getting old and lazy and have no desire to wrench anymore.

Expensive? Kinda. But you usually get what you pay for.

$90 for an oil change and a wash isn’t really that expensive for a piece of mind.