Tom R.

Underrated my ***. Every magazine said the Z was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

crappy manufacturing my ***. the Z has a much more reliable drivetrain than any porsche. dont forget the Z put MG, Triumph, Sunbeam, and almost Jag out of business.

The only achillies heel of the Z was rust, and lousy carbueration on the 260.

The only complaints magazines had with the ZX was that it went luxory. the contemporary test had the newman/sharp zx kicking the butt of their z because of the extra rake of the windshield.

the z and zx had no competition until the rx7.

in 83 my two seater choices were either z, rx7, or for twice the price 944 (4 seats) or corvette. as for 4 seaters it was the celica (sporty, not sports) supra (GT cruiser), starion, camaro/firebird (couldnt turn, heavy 140hp v8) supra, or for twice the price 944. i think the isuzu impluse is supposed to fit in there somewhere.

the Z in the early 80s was the it. i would have preferred one over my first rx7 but didnt want the same car as my best friend whose father had a 944.

i lived with all three when they were new. dont knock the z.

AndyK

I definately remember how sad I was with the ZX when it came out. Way to disco-cruiser like, and too far removed from the simple yet cool Z series. T tops and pin stripes...bad.

Also, when I said bad manufacturing...I meant the lack of rust prevention. I guess that happened to ALL Japanese cars of the era though.

Big E

My dad had an '85 300 ZX Turbo that was, as reliable transportation goes, flat out the best car anyone in the family has ever owned by a huuuugggeeeee margin. He bought it when it was 1 year old, had to have the steering rack replaced about a month later (covered under warranty), and then after that the next non-routine maintenance was an alternator at 183k !!! That thing started everytime, the engine never had anything more than new spark plugs done to it, it didn't leak, it still pulled hard at 190k, it had the original clutch for cryin out loud!

Oh did it have rust though. We started getting afraid of jacking it up.

RIP good buddy

MM951

LOL, tommrow I'm gonna jack up my Z and take some pictures of the rust


you will cry!

-Mike

Red 944

lol mike, you brought this thread back from the dead - that had to have been 6 months ago. I was going to buy that car too, but he had already sold it when I called him back - shame. I hope you enjoy the new Z, keep us posted on the progress.

Jay W

I heard that it was the chemical makeup of the steel that Nissan was using at the time which made it prone to easy corrosion.

MM951

and Toyota (I have an 85 LandCruiser...rust bucket) and I think every jap. company in the 80s! People around here are amazing when I say my 944 is an 86 (no rust!)

-Mike

Mark Parker

Running gear is rock solid,,rust is prevalent. Look especially at the "frame" channels where the firewall and floorpan meet, they were real good at rusting through and letting the body droop. If it's bad enough the hood will chafe against the cowl. Replacement pieces are available. Also, the Japanese didn't use a very heavy upholstery fabric. Big American asses hitting the seats would explode the seams pretty quickly.

MM951

Your 100% right Mark. I'm worried about the rust ahead of the firewall.

1 bit of info that might upset some people...it "feels" faster then my 86 N/A 0-60...