Advice on whether 370Z is the right car for me...

Adam_W

hi,

I'm about to buy a used 2010 370Z and suddenly thought, "hey, maybe I should ask some people who actually know something about these cars."

So here is my situation: I've recently gotten "into" the idea of owning - and being able to drive well - a sports car. I think the car I want is a Corvette Z06 (please, hear me out!) , but I'm not dogmatic; could go for a used Porsche 911 or GTR. I don't want to drop $60K+ while being fairly ignorant of sports cars or how to drive them.

So I thought I would start with the "driver mod" first. I know how to drive stick but have never owned one, so I don't know how to drive one "well" or with skill.

I want to buy a stickshift sports car to learn on, take a course at Skip Barber, go to autocross a few times, get into HPDE 1 and 2, and then by the end of this year, decide what sort of car do I really want and then know how to drive it well at that point.

I started with the idea of getting a Miata until I found out that for HPDE, I'd need a rollbar (convertible), and probably remove foam from the seat for a 6'1'' person like fit with a helmet (head must be beneath level of rollbar).

Wanting to learn on a rear-wheel drive car - and being unable to find a decent 240SX in my area - I thought I'd get a 370Z for 23-25K and then sell it after a year.

Questions:
1. Is the 370Z a good car for my purposes? Since it's newer, I was thinking it would sell better than a 350Z, i.e. I would not lose as much money.

2. Is it true that the 2009 370Z "burns oil" and should be avoided?

3. Do you think I'm going to lose a lot of money when I sell the car, e.g. I buy a 2010 370Z with 30K miles, in good condition, for $25K and then in 12 months I sell it? Would be losing a 2-3K or are we talking losing more than 4K?

Thank you!

lemon-fresh

1. S2000 is what you need. /thread Edit: Something much cheaper is what you need.
2. Any year can burn oil, steering lock failure is what you should be looking out for. Install oil cooler and upgrade brakes.
3. If you are planning on tracking the car I wouldn't expect to get much money out of it when you go to sell.
4. If you are planning on selling the car in a year I'd just buy the car you actually want.

Adam_W

With S2000, I think I'd still have to install a rollbar for HPDE (right?), which I don't want to do, for fear that when I sell it the value would drop.

lemon-fresh

Good point. You should probably look for something wayyy cheaper.

1st

Get a 2013 Honda Accord.

lemon-fresh

This maybe?

Adam_W

Accord is FWD. I want a RWD because Corvette and the other cars I'll be looking at are RWD. Other than Miata, S2K, and Nissan Z cars, only other RWD are the muscle cars and I'm looking for something that handles well, not an old mustang.

As for getting something cheaper...

for example, if I get a 240SX or Miata for $4000, will I be able to use it for a year without much maintenance and then sell it? I fear that I'd be paying a lot for maintenance (than a 2010 370Z) and then I won't be able to sell it. But true that my losses would be limited to $4000.

lemon-fresh

FYI a 2010 370z is NOT a "track ready" vehicle. Get ready to lose money either way. At least with the older beater your initial investment and potential loss will be muuuuch less.

JungleZ

Dude you've never even driven stick.. You would probably crash my old fwd all motor prelude

dP3NGU1N

There are plenty of beater option you can look into. I would recommend a used FC RX-7 or MKIII supra, both can be had for a few thousand dollars and resell for a similar amount even after you track it for a bit. I wouldn't look at such a modern car if you're planning on trashing it and don't know if you want to keep it.

JungleZ

Never driven stick wants zo6 or porshe. Get the gtr! Haha

Felix 808

You might want to slow down & read the OP's post before bashing. He knows how to drive a stick, never owned one. He souds like he's going abouit it the right way & doing research instead of just dropping $60k+ & crash landing in a sports car.

To OP, there are drivers courses you can take with cars available. It could make for a nice vacation

Here is just an example of such a school in FL Sports Car Driving Experience Racing School Cars | SportsCarDrivingExperience.com

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Adam_W

Felix - I've heard people recommend that school, and am considering that one - in addition to Ron Fellows/Spring Mountain (NV) and Bondurant - for later on if I still want to get a Z06, since those schools use Corvettes to teach. Those schools also tend to cost over a $1000 per day, so I wanted to "get up speed" with shifting comfortably, heel toe, finding "the line" or correcting early apex, etc etc before I attend those schools.

As for BRZ... I've seriously considered that, only thing is that they're all either new or being sold at near-new prices. I don't want to be the one to take the up-front depreciation hit when I sell it in a year.

I suppose I should seriously consider going the beater route... I guess I just had it in my head that if I bought used a 2007 350Z or 2010 370Z and drove it for a year (not really tracking per se, just one or two HPDEs where the guy sits next to you, and autocross a couple times) , that I could still sell it for maybe 3K less than I bought it for (e.g. pay $25K for a 2010 370Z now ---> sell for $22K at the end of this year), on top of cost of tires and other maintenance costs.

280z/300zx

The 370z is not HPDE ready. You will need to spend a decent amount on brakes, tires, fluids, oil cooler, etc. Auto-x is no problem. I've done multiple events in my stock Z. It's the HPDE where you are going to have to pay to play.

My thoughts are buy an old car, not a beater per say. You can buy a nice condition 240z/280z/280zx/300zx (80's) for 5k or less. Spend another 1-2k in prep work/parts and have a nice good to go car. Other options are older supras and corvettes. You can get a decent condition C5 Vette for less than a used 370z and for the same price as a used 370z you could get a C5 Z06. Vettes are a lot better preped track wise than the Z is but being that they are used brakes and tires will still be an issue BUT they won't require an oil cooler like the Z does. Personally I'd probably buy a C5 Z06. Vettes are cheap to maintain and fix (relatively) compared to other cars in it's class

That being said, if it were me I'd probably just buy the new car I want and learn driving it. It will have a higher learning curve but it will also be cheaper in the long run rather than buying one car now and another later. Remember, the money you spend on tires/brakes/fluids/oil coolers/etc won't be recouped when you sell.

dP3NGU1N

300zx also comes to mind.