350z

After spending 2 days slaving over the clutch on my daily driven 03 Mazda6s, I have decided that it was time for something more sporty and with more support from the aftermarket community. The Mazda6 is a very nice car but the aftermarket following is far from desirable. The drive by wire Ford Throttle body can really use some improvement. There is this say about new car. "You should wait a few versions before making a purchase, so they can work the bugs out of the first one". It's definitely true this time around.

I started looking around on auto trader and surprisingly, There were over 190 used 2003 on up 350z available. I thought about a new one but that would put me on the poor man status for another 5 years or so. I vowed not to buy a new vehicle ever again. The depreciation on them is so great that it's almost like paying a premium just to get the new car smell. The used car market for the 350z is an excellent example. The very fully loaded Track Edition 350z with navigation in 2003 was stickered at almost $40k at the showroom. I know because it was my other choice for a new car back in 2003, but it cost way more than a mere $25k fully loaded Mazda6s. The average price now for a used 2003 350z Track Edition is about $20k. This one was listed for $21k on Auto Trader. It was even listed on Ebay for $20k but the highest bid was only $16,800, which didn't reach the reserved price. The car was located at a car dealer around the corner from my house. To make the long story short, I stopped by and test drove the car. It was solid and I gave the dealer my best offer. The rest was history.