I'm a college student, alternatives?

280z/300zx

If it were me, oh wait it was, I would go with a S30. At 17 I bought my 84 300zx (back in '99). Loved it so much but it was auto. Rather than sell it I kept it and bought a 77 280z when I was 18yr. From then on I've loved and driven both my Z's. Now, just this last weekend I got my 370z. Yes I had to wait and all those years in college having to wait sucked, but now it's paying off. At 27 I'm done with med school and crusing in my new 370z, BUT I started with old school Z's. Just buy your time for now. Nothing like having 3 Z's, except maybe having 4, hmmm

Why a S30 over a 240sx or 350z? Because you don't see them very often, especially in good condition. Sell your current 75, take that money and what ever other money you have to buy a car and find a good condtion S30. Honestly with very little money you can make an S30 fun and fast. Simply spend 500 on a 280zx turbo motor swap with another 500-1000k in mods and you have a 13 sec car. Spend another 1k on suspension and you have a Z that is rare on the roads and will be faster/corner better than the 350z, all while costing less.

Thats just my opinion. I like driving cars that you don't see very often. It never fails when driving my 280z that peoples necks snap trying to take a look. You won't get that with a 240sx or 350z.

Caravanshaka

I had a 1990 240sx all through high school, bought it foor $1,900, did an SR20det, full suspension, C-west body, all on my own dime and did my own work. I LOVED that car until the day the emissions laws changed where I lived and I had to sell it :angry:

Since graduating college, I've had an '04 Z touring roadster, and now the '09 370z.

My favorite is of course the 370, but my second favorite would have to be the 240!

the 240 is fairly lightweight, really close to 50/50 weight ratio, RWD, and has decent power in stock form. that in itself can make the car a blast to drive. Through in an SR20 or RB20 and you have a fantastic ride for less than 5k. The problem is you are in a car that most likely has over 100k miles, so there are going to be routine fixes you'll have to make. I had a few things like starter and fuel pump go bad on me, but it is a nissan so you shouldn't have too much trouble.

My opinion would be get an S13/180sx/240sx and enjoy it in stock form while you save money for your Z. If you feel you need more power then do the Sr20 swap yourself, it isn't too hard and saves you a bunch of cash.

shabarivas

woah - you should get a nice qual 300zx TT and call it a day man...

dharr67

I really really appreciate all the feedback on this thread that had a bit of a slow start. Insurance and emissions are big on my list next to cost of the actual car. That’s why I jumped on my 280z that I have since it’s a 75. Here in about 6 months I'll be a bit better off financially because this town gets really slow during summer(college town what can you expect?). So far everyone has made some good points on all three cars, the S30 is unique, the 240sx is a good cheap performer, and the 350z is the next best to the 370z, but is still in the 9-12k range for a high mileage clean title manual. I did find a 350z down in Sac-town for fewer than 5k dirty title and the front was a bit marred, but it was a 06 with 12k miles. At the moment that’s a bit out of my range and I don't have the tools here with me to do the work. I am able to do more than just change the oil on a car thankfully, I come from a long line of mechanics on all four sides of my family (parents are divorced and both remarried). I like the idea of conning my parents into buying one for me haha, but I am only starting on my 2nd year of schooling in business and management, with the possibility of minorring in accounting or financing. So I know I’ve been rambling for a bit now, but I'm starting to feel as though the 350z, even a wrecked one, is a stretch due to lack of tools, but the s30 and the 240sx are still too close to tell what to do, this one may come down to insurance and smog ability (that’s why the 300zx was not even mentioned, 200+ a month for insurance for me screw that haha).

bigaudiofanat

Buy a cheap honda civic and save your money and pennies.

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dharr67

That is what my rio5 is for

chubbs

Keep looking for a 350z. They are a joy and the prices will get very good, if they aren't already.

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Spikuh

I don't know much about the older Z cars before the 350z (outside of my uncle's 50th Anniversery 300zx), but I do own a manual '91 240sx SE hatchback (or an S13) and it has been an absolutely wonderful vehicle.

I have owned the car for about 7 years now (my uncle was previous owner and kept it for me because he knew it was the car I wanted to drive since the day he purchased it) and even with 196,000 miles on it, the car is still very responsive and doesn't look to dated. Handling is still sharp and the engine still pulls very hard despite having that many miles.

If you want a good, solid, cheap sports car, I can't speak highly enough for a well taken care of 240sx. After all, it has a truck engine...

BillyGoatGag

I hate to bring you back to our planet earth here, but I think someone needs to. I was going to buy a Z34. I had set up a bit of the paperwork and coordinated with the seller these past few days. I checked with USAA (I recommend setting up an account with them as a servicemember) for an insurance quote, and the yearly total is over $6500. Like a swift kick in the nuts. I'm 25 and an E-4 in the AF but live in Germany so that may be different than rates in the states.

-Clay

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Tim

i have an aunt that works for nissan who can help me,
i get half of my bonus ($10k) , i'm an e-3, i get paid between 1400-1800 a month for 12/13 months (living & food is free), and a half a semester of school and i'll be a registered nurse (on my way to become a doctor)
so my feet are on earth, if i dont pay it all off during the purchase i'll be pretty darn close.

but i just set up my account with USAA last week too

dharr67

i'm really leaning in the direction of the 240sx, just curious, what are the benifits/downfalls between the coupe and the hatch s13 model. i'd ask on their forum, but my past experiance with established forums, is most people tend to be (ocks, you know? ehh anyway, if an experianced 240sx owner would care to enlighten me, i would much appreciate it.(On a side note, usaa is a fantastic company to work with)

shabarivas

Honestly - get a boosted gen4 prelude and save up for whatever else car you eventually wanna get - those things can be FAST and handle really well

dharr67

I have a lot of respect for a well built Prelude. They used to be my #1 car, until I realized that a fwd can never be as fast or handle as well as a rwd, from my experience at least. I do appreciate the suggestion though.

Spikuh

Given the choice, I would go for a hatchback everytime if its an S13 model. The coupe looks like utter trash in my opinion because the shape and "flow" of the car make sense until you hit the rear quarter-panels, where it appears they chopped off the remains of a great looking car and stuck on a dinky trunk and spoiler. (Given the spoiler is just as dinky on the hatchback model, but I removed mine )

Beyond that, I can't really make any sort of comparison, but I doubt you could really carry much more in one model over the other.

Speaking in reguards to the hatch only, it has more than enough room for 2 people and you can fit a 3rd full size person in the back if they stretch out over the whole thing. On a side note, I have actually fit 8 soccer players (including myself) into the vehicle with 8 school backpacks filling the hatch, so it has room.

Just in general, the layout of the interior is in my opinion pretty damn good. Cruise control is on the steering wheel with its large on/off buttons on the left side. It has a MASSIVE hazard lights button to the right of the steering wheel and the instrument cluster is very easy to read with none of it being covered by the steering wheel.

The center console is just as simple with large push buttons to control airflow, and AC and heating. It has 2 slides to control the air speed and air temp. All of this together makes driving very simple compared to many other vehicles I have driven. Can't give you much of an opinion on the CD/stereo as I replaced mine with a Pioneer CD player many years back and a little storage compartment to fill in the open space.

Umm....in case you decided to do something with the engine, you can definitely do an SR swap, although I personally feel a well built KA engine is the way to go for the extra torque, and deeper sound.

Hope this helps some.

CrownR426

350z or evo.

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