Its been fun!

Vegasboricua

Well guys, I didnt think I would be doing this so soon, but I had to trade down my beloved Z. I just moved in with the gf to a new apartment and when your car payment is as much as your apartment I think its time to make some changes.

I was paying 680/month 200/month in Insurance and about 120/month in gas. I live much closer to the base now so gas shouldnt be an issue, but everything else still kinda is.

I traded in my Z for a 2010 Altima 2.5s Sedan. I put no money down and went from a 9% to a 6.5% interest rate. I owed 32,600 on my car and they gave me 29,000. I think it was a fair deal. I now pay 480/month for my car and 120/month in insurance and im sure i will be paying WAY less in gas.

Im not hurting for money. I just wanted to free up some cash for savings to eventually buy a house. Its been a good ride everyone. I will still linger here on the forums and check up on you guys and see how your doing. As hard as it was for me to let this car go, I knew it was the right descision to make.

the 370z ain't going anywhere right? I figure I could always get another one later on down the road

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ImportConvert

Meh. To each their own, but why not a used C5 Z06 or something fun? Bit higher on the insurance, a bit lower on the note.

Vegasboricua

Well to tell ya the truth, as much as I love the Z i think its a better Weekend or 2nd car than a daily driver. I kinda miss the 4 door sedans

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ImportConvert

Which is what I suspected--it's not about $$.

More power to ya, man!

I went from this:


to this:


a few months ago. Traded at the same dealer. The "WTF!?" vibe in the air was palpable, lol

Vegasboricua

Nice lol. It was kinda a money issue to. I am in the military. We dont make a very handsome salary either. lol

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ThoriumHotdog

ImportConvert... that is a strange trade up.

ImportConvert

Yep. Considering my demographic (24/m/single/comfortable middle-class), noone at the dealership understood it, either. I like to keep people guessing, and fully admit that I enjoy "shock value". Trade was a 2002 Infiniti G20, loaded. Trade-in was a 2001 WS6 6-speed w/black interior, also fully loaded. 149K on trade-in, 112K on the car I got for it.

OP, you may be military, but I was good friends with an E5 who owned a Z06, low 12-second EVO, a cammed GTO, a Tundra 5.6L 4-door, a $120K* house, and a lot of other cool stuff. No, the cars were "one at a time", but it goes to show that military-pay isn't at all shabby if well-managed. Further, banks are more lenient with you because they can go to your CO and garnish your paycheck if necessary. You have some serious buying-power, debt/income ratio not withstanding, if you are military.


*he sold everything he ever bought for a profit, including 20K on the house when he moved.

ThoriumHotdog

The G20s are pretty nice and even though the WS6 is faster it draws a totally different type of attention. I can see why you made the trade. It's just opposite of 99.9999% of the deals you see.

ImportConvert

My take so-far:

WS6 reliability was so-so.
Thus far, G20 has been about on-par, maybe a touch better.

The G20 handles a lot better, tires not withstanding, when it comes to sweeping corners. The WS6 was better at transitions.

The G20 gets compliments from older/more mature men/women.
The WS6 appealed to highschoolers and gold-diggers.

I lose my G20 in parking-lots often. I like that. I never added a bumper-sticker or anything. It just dissapears. Another silver family car among so many others.

The interior is very nice. Bose 6-disk CD changer, black leather everything, cabin filtration, cliamate control, etc. etc.

It accelerates like a sick 3-legged dog and only gets 2mpg better than my WS6 did on road-trips. Efficiency-fail.

All that being said, I think the G20 makes a great DD and plan on not trading it in on my fun-car next year. (the reason I purchased it--low maintenance cost allows me to save more effectively for a downpayment on another sports car. I got tired of "pony" cars and want to step up to something world-class. Something I probably won't see other people my age rolling around in and acting a fool with).

Coming from a "2 seat" (the back seat in a WS6 is a joke) sports car, I can see why OP made the trade. If I had friends I hung out with often, I would get a 4-seater as well.

The G20 is what got me looking at the 370Z. We know my conclusions from that look, so I won't go into it, but I love this forum and the 370 in it's element is a darn nice car! Maybe when used ones are dirt-cheap in 5-6 years I will buy one as a cheap DD like I did with this G20.

Again, all-that being said, why a NEW Altima 2.5? I have a friend selling her '05 for $5K. Think of how much spare cash you could have had had you gone for one a few years old that was well-kept? That was why I went with the '02. I am curious why the "new" Altima?

*I owned Trans Ams for about 4 years total. I got a total of 3 tickets during that time. I drove fast. Not stupid (in traffic, etc.), just fast (road-trips at 90, etc.).

The G20 has yet to get pulled over, but I have only had it for 4 months.

ThoriumHotdog

"The WS6 appealed to highschoolers and gold-diggers."
"I got tired of "pony" cars and want to step up to something world-class. Something I probably won't see other people my age rolling around in and acting a fool with"

+1 for the truth

I'm coming from a little turbo CRX and before that a Prelude. I'm comfortable with no back seats [the Prelude had them but there was ZERO legroom behind me]. I really don't like having a car filled with people anyway. Besides, all my friends have enormous trucks so they can drive. I want to move away from the cheap-but-fast imports that are making the roads insanely dangerous on weekends and really want something RWD. The 370z fits that perfectly.

ImportConvert

I REALLY! wish I could have found an Integra/Prelude cheap. I would have bought. It would be a GREAT! DD. I would have left it bone-stock and just enjoyed it for what it was. I hate rice (not that preludes are rice, there are some very nice ones. We had a teggy running 10's around here for a while).

I just wanted to save up and buy something 400+bhp that weighed under 3400# and have some fun. That takes money, and I couldn't save up a nice downpayment CONSTANTLY fixing the WS6. The A/C broke, and I snapped (it was the last straw. It happened near winter, I kept it through winter and got rid of it the summer I graduated--this summer), and the car got gone.

The WS6 familiarized me with RWD and 350 horsepower and a Tremec 6-speed. For that I am VERY happy. Had the car stayed solid, I would have cammed it and been around 400whp, which would be the next stage acclimating me to a "real" sports car. As it is, I am going to jump from 350bhp to 450-550bhp, and I am going to have to drive like a grandma until I figure that all out. Wish the WS6 had stayed solid, but I like the "Oh you are such an upstanding young man!" look that people give me in the G20 vs. the "Oh I bet you drop X and work at burgerking and have sex with 16 year-old girls!" look they gave me in the WS6.

Thorium, most of my friends came from 4-500whp Civic's to domestics. They did it for RWD. The E5 I spoke of earlier had a civic that trapped 126 in the 1/4. It was pretty bad (ET sucked due to traction). He finally ended up in a C6 Z06 with headers. It was by far his favorite of the sports cars he owned (afformentioned civic, 12 second EVO8, 431whp cammed/bolt-on LS2 GTO)

ThoriumHotdog

I always check craigslist for nice deals. I'm not sure if I want to drive the 370z around in the rain since it floods around here somewhat easily. If I can find a nice 4th or f5th gen Prelude or RSX type S I'll snatch it up. It's almost impossible to find a stock Integra anymore.

ImportConvert

I just wanted to sell my WS6 outright. The dealership traded me even, and I really didn't care what my DD was as long as it looked respectable and everything worked. I took the trade as I needed a ride as soon as I sold my WS6 and that just worked out conveniently.

370Zsteve

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SOLD MY Z MARCH 2018 - another Core OG moves on - new ride 2019 Z Corvette Grand Sport - no mods necessary but already have eyes on HFC and intakes LOL IT NEVER ENDS.

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