jesus! is this a "what work car to buy" thread?

[Stix Zadinia]

If I had a champion like you working for me I would give you $30k not $15.

That's the beer talking :D

aww thanks for the kind words muz

back to the cars. i'd be looking to keep the car once the lease is over so i don't know if i'd want to get a 380 considering parts availabilty might turn to shit if mitsubishi oz goes the way they're heading.

are nissan parts incredibly expensive? obviously not going to be the price of falcon/comodore stuff but what are they like?

[slip]

maxima coils are over 200 retail each. 6 of the bastards. Knock sensor is 300+

This is on my 98.

[itsnotagsr]

mate they are very diferent from the old one, very modern, a good drive and very good value imho

a bit of a bargain if you ask me

I agree. My mate has one as a company car and it goes pretty well.

[Ze]

If I had a champion like you working for me I would give you $30k not $15.

That's the beer talking :D

You just want to tap his missus whilst he's out on jobs.

[Captiva Fan]

awesome idea simon, i remember looking at these when my mum bought her falcon. the only thing i didn't like was the ride comfort but that might've improved in the current model might have to go drive one.

We got one for my dad about a year ago, 'tis a VQ35DE but it's not quite the same thing as in the 350Z ... for some reason it's detuned, which is a bit odd 'cos the US Maxima (slightly different styling but essentially the same beast) gets pretty-much 350Z power. Apparently it's mostly ECU & cams that make the difference.

You mention ride comfort - it's probably got too much of that. It's not really floaty, but it is a bit soft IMHO. Doesn't seem to affect grip though, they'll do 7s 0-100 which is what Liberty RS's used to be capable of when they first came out (and which was relly quick back then) ... and they really do have a lot of go for a car of that ilk.

Something possibly of interest is the fact that Nissan offer a warranty extension that doesn't cost that much. So long as the car hasn't got too many kms on it, it's around the $1k mark to extend the warranty out to 5yrs & (I think) 150k kms. Judging by what cars were worth a year ago I'm surprised you can get a good low-kms one for $15k (it was more like $22k at auction then) ... but if you can, maybe it's worth getting the warranty on top?