What new car

Originally Posted by neillfergie

Im sorry but anyone who is struggling with this decision is clearly unsure what they want from the car in the first place,

the crossfire is hopelessly bad and in my opinion not much to look at either but its definatly one for the posers

The alfa is also hopeless and to add insult is front wheel drive and has a diesel option, no no no, painfully pretty but just say no

as for the 350z its a real blokes car big engine, sounds good, goes well, looks butch too which is rare in the current crop of coupes but its due for replacement and the older ones have a renault sourced v6 from an espace so expect it to leave you at the side of a few motorways in a cloud of steam from time to time. late ones have the new v6 and are much much better, look for the bonnet bulge as a giveaway goes up not down like the earlier models.

anything german is too common or boring to consider realistically unless you look at m3s but then you look like a 318i with a bodykit wannabe,

a rx8 is the only other option close to the 350z, the 225 is just as fast and just as thirsty, feels razor sharp to drive though cos it soo much lighter and has a pair of doors to confuse old people but you can pick one up cheap as chips.

between those two, for me the 350, love the noise and looks just make sure its a late spec!!!

What do you base the quote that alfas are hopeless??

Jeremey clarkson slates the 350 when he drove it!!

Quote from an article jezza did!!

" if I had £30,000 to spend on a set of wheels, I'd have an Alfa Brera. "

I cant believe people would buy a nissan over an alfa that blows my mind!!

Originally Posted by neillfergie

as for the 350z its a real blokes car big engine, sounds good, goes well, looks butch too which is rare in the current crop of coupes but its due for replacement and the older ones have a renault sourced v6 from an espace so expect it to leave you at the side of a few motorways in a cloud of steam from time to time. late ones have the new v6 and are much much better, look for the bonnet bulge as a giveaway goes up not down like the earlier models.

The face lift model was done in 2007 that has the power bulge (funny how they lowered the engine 14mm yet put a bulge in the bonnet), it also has 19 BHP more to get it up to 313BHP.

There is also a new model coming out in 2009 and they are calling it a 370Z and they are doing a DIESEL option that you were so againt the Alfa having.

Originally Posted by dissuade

it's not a proper car unless it has 4 rings on the grill or the little blue and white button.

Edited because I was being an **** and I apologise.

DD I have not driven the Brera but know folks who have had them. Consensus of opinion is the GT is a better car. So much so the dealers are reporting people choosing 2nd hand GTs over new Brera. But that could be due to the Brera depreciation downslope being vertical.

I think all you can do is drive them all and choose the one that best suits you. Good luck with whatever you go for.

Trace

[Viney]

Originally Posted by DoubleD

I'm in the mood for a new (second hand) car and I have narrowed it down to a couple of cars, insurance knocked a few more off the list so I am left with 2 cars that I like.

Nissan 350Z

Chrysler Crossfire

I've opened up a poll to the org to see what you would want out of the 2 cars above to help me.

Out of those 2, the 350Z

My boss had a 3 crossfires. the 1st blew up (Engine died and sized 11 miles from the showroom), they replaced it. The second spent 44 days out of 2 months in thier workshop, and the 3rd was just as bad. So he got his money back (After a brief court case) and bought a merc SLK (Which apprently the crossfire was built on). He now has an astra VXR

Originally Posted by mototech

I cant believe people would buy a nissan over an alfa that blows my mind!!

One word

Reliability.

As for style, i agree.

Originally Posted by DoubleD

Been looking at the german cars but the insurance laughed at me when I tried to get a quotes on the likes of Porsche / BMW Z4 / Audi RS5 / TVR / Lot us

No such car. S5 yes, RS5, sadly not.

The new Diesel A3 is going to be a corker.

[yorkie_chris]

Do not resist ze mighty german motor-car or zu vill be shot!!

Dont get me wrong on this, the alfa gt or brera is a very very good looking cars, really, but they are both front wheel drive cars (or four for some models) and aren't proper coupes, they have shocking reliability records too and are far from cheap to get parts for too.

clarkson tested the earlier nissan and it was an import model brought in before it was officially available in the uk so had different suspension settings etc but granted he didnt like it, however, clarkson himself will admit to going on gut instinct sometimes and coming off with slightly strange opinions ( thats why he is so good to watch!) he for example hates all porsches and motorbikes... therefore not the best opinion to take.

evo mag is the best source of info for coupes and they rate the 350z very highly so id take their opinion more seriously considering they ran one for a year!!

ps, i work in the motor trade and have driven all the above cars at one point or another so im not giving a opinion based on what ive read and im a massive fan of clarkson too

I think with £30k, i'd rather buy a new type-r or Type-S diesel (The Honda diesel is a cracking engine) and spend the other £10-12k on a bike and a fancy holiday (plus some money for leftovers).