- Every once in a while we make mistakes.
Dakota made a mistake when he thought he could beat me
in Mario Kart for a live giveaway.
Jokes on him, took the dub.
Mario made a mistake when he shaved his beard by accident
and went back to looking like a 10 year old
so I made the mistake of making a so you want video
with the 370 Z without talking about like,
the, you know, the other one, (coughs).
The one that, (coughs), the one that
a lotta people actually own so we're back.
We're back to a time of slow, slopey lines,
you know, thick with the two Cs
versus the angry parallelograms of today.
We're here to talk about a naturally aspirated V6
that sounded okay.
I'm Alex, Alex at FI on Instagram
and today's episode of So You Want,
we're talking about the car that I wanted
in high school.
The car that is now one of the go-to cars
for the drifting scene, one of the go-to cars
that just is good to just buy
in case you just wanted to have a fun summer car
and gets you all the followers on Instagram.
We're talkin' about it, ladies and gentlemen,
the Nissan 350Z.
(upbeat electronic music)
(engine roaring)
(upbeat electronic music)
And of course if you're already beginning
to type your trombone jokes, don't forget
to subscribe so we can keep makin' bangin' videos
like this and if you're lookin'
to pick up wheels, tires, or suspension
for your newly acquired 350Z or otherwise,
check out fitmentindustries.com.
I just noticed I have toothpaste on my pants.
(bleeps)
If you're lookin' to win a free build,
you might get a little bit of crap for saying build
but we're giving away a free set of Cosmis Wheels,
a free set of Michelin Tires and a free coilover set
from Silver Suspension.
We're doing a full wheel, tire, and suspension giveaway.
All you have to do is check out the description link below,
pick up one of these sweatshirts,
it'll get you automatically entered to win everything.
And of course we'll be making a donation as well.
So we're actually super stoked.
This is the biggest one we've ever done
and now we're gonna get into it.
So, when we talked about like my mistakes
and mistakes past, we're here to talk about the 350Z
because the 350Z would be the 5th generation Z car.
Was produced from 2002 to 2009.
The 350Z was initially a car to grow and expand
on the success while minimizing the failures
of the 300ZX because that was a big boy.
And although you got farther into the years
of Nissan's million trim level marketing scheme,
it really only entered the market with only a coupe.
There was no targa or anything like that.
You'd see these cars come in the good ol',
like, roadster variant but we don't really, (coughs),
talk about that because it's a roadster.
In its conception, the 350Z had some serious shoes to fill
after the death of the 300ZX,
Nissan really didn't have a strong plan
to fill its shoes.
Kinda like firing your A-list actor
and not knowin' what to do afterwards.
Their first attempt at it was to bring back
the legendary 240Z which is still one of my favorite cars
and if Brandon Zeidel can't fix their ZL1,
I'm takin' the motor outta the ZL1
and I'm putting it into a Datsun.
Anyway, the initial prototype was shown to everyone
including Yutaka Katayama, the father of the Z.
Now, spoiler alert, he did not like the concept at all
and they would go back to the drawing board
to go full retro slash synthwave on the platform
because that was popular at the time.
But Nissan didn't like the idea
and they just eventually scrapped that one, too.
So, now, while Nissan touts that this initial discussion
of a new 240Z was actually just a marketing strategy,
I wouldn't put it past them to legitimately think
that that Jaguar looking boy was cool
until Yutaka hit with the denial stick
because not sure if you know this,
very large companies aren't actually very good
at figuring out what consumers want.
Eventually, Diane Allen would come into frame
to bring a new design to the 350Z
using the 240Z concept model as quote some inspiration.
To come out with the 350Z and boy at the time
and still to this day, one could say it looks really good.
The car would be released with the million trim model mayhem
which still is very confusing.
Base, which had absolutely nothing.
You had the enthusiast trim which came with nothing
but also traction control.
A VDS and cruise control.
Performance came with nothing
but also had some wheels, a rear spoiler,
some better brakes and VDC
and touring was the fancy one with all the power internals,
the heated seats, the leather, the nice headlights.
The ones that would probably go
to the inevitable 45 year old
that was having a midlife crisis
but didn't wanna buy a Corvette.
The car would get some makeup halfway through its life
with a slightly revised engine,
blue headlights versus the yellow bulbs
and some other noteworthy differences
that you probably want to pick up if you're lookin' for one.
2006 plus.
The more you know.
The car would enter every form of motorsport
that exists because it's Nissan
and Nissan has a Z platform which means
they gotta do it all.
So they had everything from like Grand Am.
They had GT, JGTC, Super GT
with them replacing the Skyline GTR
for Nissan's factory and customer teams
in the Super GT class.
Wow.
Super Tycoon, British GT Championship, SCCA,
and pretty much everything else.
They had drifting.
They has NASA.
No I'm not making that up.
Speed trials and they even had open road racing.
I'm pretty sure that's just called street racing.
But anyway, overall the 350Z had quite a few dollars
put behind it originally for marketing.
They had a lotta money.
So most people loved it
and for the record, it did do quite well
right out of the gate.
It even won a few awards.
Here they are.
The most significant vehicle of the year,
two years running, edmunds.com.
Not sure who uses that site anymore
but it still seems to be attached to absolutely everything.
Editor's most wanted, 2003, edmunds.com.
Now Most Wanted was a great Need For Speed game
and I'd highly recommend buying it
if you haven't played it yet.
International car of the year most sex appeal award
for 2003 Road & Travel.
That is confusing and sounds like something
that was made by a mid 50s year old
that was single or recently divorced
and just wanted to talk about sex.
Canadian car of the year.
Apparently Canadians still have cars.
2003 Automotive Journalists Associations of Canada.
In case you wanted to add more ehs
into association language.
Best new design 2003,
Automobile Journalists Association of Canada.
They're back with another award.
Driver's choice best performance car 2003, Motorweek.
Now that one actually sounds pretty standard.
Probably put that one up in the garage
or even the living room.
Winner 12 best cars under 30K road and track.
They also got it because they were an affordable car
at the time.
Car of the year, 2004, Top Gear Magazine.
Top Gear has a magazine
but it's not the Top Gear that I think we know
but I'm not too sure so don't quote me.
Automobile of the year, 2003, Automobile Magazine.
That seems pretty self explanatory.
But we're done with the history lesson
because that's not what we're here for.
If you wanted a history lesson,
you come back to North High School
where I spent a lotta my time just goin' to Hardy's
and prayin' that I didn't have any homework.
We've all spent time on Craigslists looking
for coupe cars under 10,000
because they got a button for it.
They got the little dollar amount.
You click both, you hit enter,
and you just pray somethin' comes up
and it's fun and what else are you supposed to do
while you wait for your ramen to warm up
because it's cold outside
and there's snow on the ground and it's Halloween.
Then randomly one day, 350Zs just took over
the category by storm
and now you're here with me.
So you want the Nissan 350Z.
Well put down the Monster energy
and grab your headlight restorer
because we're gonna be jumpin' into this car
that I like to say is pretty dang good, I would say.
The first thing to remember is that
when you're buying this car,
you're buying it for the exterior,
its platform performance and because it's actually
just a good deal.
The interiors are not where you want
to have a fine-tooth comb
and they're not exactly where you're gonna see the value
of these cars.
In addition, it's important to know which one to pick up.
And honestly, it depends on what you're looking for.
So, you have the DE and HE engine platforms
with the DE being slightly more modifiable
but the HRs being better just straight out of the gate,
depending on how much you wanna throw at it.
When I say throw at it, I mean money.
It's gonna depend on which one you wanna get.
However, most would recommend staying away
from the rev up engines
as they absolutely chug oil
because it's a Nissan and it's just what they do.
The cars are extremely well known
for their aftermarket community
with monster channels like Zociety or Society
or Zciety or Zosciety and other platforms
through IG which helps fuel the community even more.
Although the VQ platform has suffered
from some exhaust drone issues.
(exhaust sputtering)
Which is okay.
People can make mistakes.
That doesn't mean you can't make them sound good.
It's just a lot more expensive
but you can make them fast and look proper.
The wide wheel arch is perfectly compliment to wider set up
with three piece or rotary forged wheels.
Which is beautiful.
You don't have to always wide body cars.
Air suspension makes these cars look even wider
and they look fantastic on the ground.
With some upgraded seats, HIDs intake,
exhaust, maybe a turbo or two.
(car roaring)
The cars are incredible to own
and they're a blast to drive.
That, paired with the killer Z community
that exists out there, and you just can't go wrong.
People buy 'em for drifting.
They buy 'em for show cars.
They buy 'em for swapping
and turning 'em into garage builds
that they inevitably never end up finishing
and they can do it all pretty practically
without much issue.
The platform is great.
The Z platform has always been great
for the garage enthusiast.
Plus, that with a bangin' price point
makes them an easy car to snap up
as long as you can give it some love
because most of these cars have not had a calm
nor peaceful life.
They are driven like a high schooler that stole one.
They look a little bit rough.
Mostly all of them are gonna have faded headlights
or faded taillights or bumpers poppin' off
or plastics peelin' off
and you just gotta deal with that.
It's rear wheel drive.
It's got killer steering.
Two seats, it's a Z car.
It's not as expensive as a 370Z
but it's not as old as a 300ZX
and in our eyes, it's a car that should
and can be welcomed by pretty much anyone
that enjoys a car that can be used, played with,
and changed without immediately breaking down.
You're just gonna wanna check
some of the weird things about it
like the rear trunk struts
that are probably blown, the head struts
that are probably blown.
The fact that oil drips everywhere.
The fact that they don't sound super good.
The fact that people just don't take care of 'em.
So, hopefully, we stop getting bullied
for skipping past the 350Z in our 370Z video
but if there's another car that you'd like to see us cover,
be sure to drop that below.
So you can stop bein' so angry
and if you're lookin' for aftermarket wheels,
tires, and suspension, be sure
to hit up fitmentindustries.com.
And if you just want to, you know, pick up wheels
and say hey I'd take another set of wheels too,
we're givin' away free wheels, free tires,
and free suspension with pickin' up
one of these sweatshirts
so check the description link below.
Also, we're gonna be at SEMA so shoot us a DM on Instagram
if you'd like us to, well, I don't know.
We may not, we may not actually do that.
I don't even know when this video goes up
in all honestly but we're gonna be at SEMA
and if this goes up in time,
we'll see ya at SEMA.
Probably at the Acura booth.
Anyway, I'm Alex, from Fitment Industries.
We will see you later, peace.