Help me decide s14 or 350z

[liquidchicken]

Hey all, was just curious what everyone thinks is the better buy... I'm 18 and going into college soon and really enjoy cars, I'm trying to sell my current car to buy my first "performance car"... I live in the Northeast so I assume both will be trash in the snow but that's what I'm signing up for... While I don't like throwing around how much money I have I've gone to see a nicely built s14 KA-T build I found on Craigslist and I loved it, but for the same ammount of money I could buy one of the cheaper 350z's ive seen online.. I want to do alot of body work to either one so condition isnt sooooo big of a deal, but I also want to take whatever car I buy to the track like once or twice a month to drift a little.. was just curious which do you guys think is the better buy? I love the looks of the stock s14 alot more but I love the out-of-the-box performance of the 350 more, along with it being an overall newer car with most likely less wear

[NiSilS14]

If it's going to be your only car, then 350z out of your two choices. Since it's newer parts will be easier to find. S14s are aging cars and in most cases, a lot of things need to be replaced. A lot of parts will be discontinued, hard to find or aftermarket sourced, and that won't help with keeping a car running. Being you will be in college, money will be scarce(unless you're a trust fund kid), time and effort dedicated elsewhere, last thing you need is thinking how to fix your broken shitbox on the cheap that you hope will last you forever.

[bjreynolds202]

Consider the insurance quotes for each car to, 350z has super high insurance based on those cars having so many crashes/deaths. Insurance (liability) on a 240 is dirt cheap. 350z parts are also more expensive if anything does go wrong. 350z tires aren't cheap either. Also stick to 2006 plus for the 350z to avoid tire wear issues, oil consumption, and several other issues from early models, also gets you the better engine. I would even consider a g37, they are dropping towards the same price range, share parts with 370z, and has the luxury/seating capacity to go with it.

240's are great, but finding one not drift taxed / beat to hell / running reliably is a tough find.

[brndck]

honestly I'd vote z33 also.
they're getting cheap enough that you can find em for $5-7k, and parts are fairly abundant

word to the wise though, buy a cheap daily too. get a $1000 ford Taurus or some shitbox that you don't care about, but that is easy/cheap to maintain.

you never wanna have your party car be your only car.

[liquidchicken]

Yea I was planning on buying some shit box come winter, but the other thing I'm concerned about is insurance price... I'm pretty sure old 240s are as much as insuring rocks at this point, but what about 350s? They still seem like a car that lots of people like to wrap around poles, so I would think insurance wouldn't be that cheap...?

[Maxstyle]

IF you're going to track. 240sx Leave the KA alone and just go Nissan Challenge Class 4 spec. 350z have all type of heating issues that you will have to pay money to resolve. CSF Rad, Setrab Oil cooler. Just my opinion though.

[greenwood]

how about a z32?!http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee3/northshoreracing/phrd08no003bmy1.jpg

[NiSilS14]

Yea I was planning on buying some shit box come winter, but the other thing I'm concerned about is insurance price... I'm pretty sure old 240s are as much as insuring rocks at this point, but what about 350s? They still seem like a car that lots of people like to wrap around poles, so I would think insurance wouldn't be that cheap...?
Econo daily is by far your best bet. Something cheap, decent and 4 cyl would be my choice (civic, sentra, etc.) At this point in your life anything sporty is going to carry a premium for insurance. When I was 21 insuring my 240 was almost as much as insuring my sti, I think it was 50 dollar difference for a 6mos policy. Obviously everyone's situation is going to be different, your insurance agent would be able give you a solid answer.

[jared420sx]

+1 for z32
I had one but got hit by a truck in it lmfao. Thats a story for another day.
The vg30 out the box is fun and you get all the z32 goodies (brakes/diff etc)
I'm in school as well and turbos are not college friendly lmao.
Especilly building a kat that isnt ghetto fabd.
I'd say z32 cheap and fun.
Depends on your budget though.

[Maxstyle]

z32 are great but they have about 12 points under the intake manifold that can leak coolant. It was a constant thing we would see at stillen when i worked there.

[LockOn!]

I'm just going to quote myself from another thread on this one.

I've owned both, and to me, the Z was to too impractical, not only for the day to day, but also getting to and from the track.

http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?p=6141523#post6141523
I had one last year and agree on your assessment between HR and the other models. Looks like you've also done research into the clutch thing, I too had the part waiting on the shelf for if I broke mine.

Frankly it was one of the best cars I've ever owned. Took a beating and kept on ticking. Comfortable, fun, looks decent.

THAT BEING SAID

1. It was so impractical, that I literally went out and bought a 97 Impreza wagon to do things like transport wheels and tires, get groceries, and do anything other then drive myself around and do sweet burn outs. Nothing sucked more then only being able to transport two wheels to the track with the rest in a friends car.

2. Their values are plummeting like a rock. I bought mine mid 2014 with 78K for around 17K, put 5K in parts on it, enjoyed it, moved it back to stock and traded it in for a value of around 13K. Not to terrible considering it had some love marks from the track. You will loose more value on this thing then a honda or BMW or something else, considering your going to be borrowing to pick it up.

BUT I did just watch two recently sell with comparable Mods to mine, on CL for around 11k. Soooo basically in two years, these things have dropped to the tune of 5-10k in value depending on the model and modifications.


All said and done, I now have a BMW Wagon I make payments on, and an S14 I beat on. Much happier now.


Just traded in that BMW Wagon for a V8 4runner to tow my s14 around when I want. Protip, never buy a first model year turbo bimmer. Holy fuck I took a beating lol.