Nissan 350Z or Mercedes SLK200

FastMachine

I'm getting a new car in about 2 - 3 months and I've narrowed it down to these two. I'm kind of leaning towards the 350Z but I'm looking for some opinions.

unkel

New? If so the comparison is hardly fair. You need to compare the 350Z with the (marginally more expensive) SLK 280

Performance on paper is the same. The 350Z will lose it's value like a brick, the SLK is one of the slowest depreciators about

I would fork out another couple of grand (yes - that's all!) and get the base Porsche Boxster

Vegeta

Neither to be honest, get a lotus elise for that sort of money

Anan1

Vegeta wrote:

Neither to be honest, get a lotus elise for that sort of money

Or why not go the whole way and buy a superbike?;)

TheBazman

Hi

I own a 350Z (2004 kuro black). I can only give my opinion on this as I have never driven the merc (altho I do agree that the SLK200 has no where near the same performance)

Starting with the performance - you are probably aware of the stats 0-60 in 5.9 secs, top speed 155mph, 280bhp. You really do get a surge in the back when you push it, and as there is no turbo there is no lag. It is also very comfortable at speed, you really would not notice yourself doing well over 100mph (which is stupid of course)

Economy - On average (doing 50% motorway and 50% city driving) I tend to get 25 mpg. If you drive like a granny you get around 28mpg and if your push it hard you get no worse that 22mpg

Looks - I have to admit it turns heads everywhere. Also there are very few on the road so I suppose there is something in that

Extras: generally everything is standard -heated electric leather seats, cruise control, xenon lights with washers, air con, bose 6 cd changer...etc

Bad Points? - I am 6 4" and I am just comfortable with the seat back to the last. If you are any taller it is worth test driving it. Also the boot space is limited with the strut beam, but then again I dont suppose you buy these cars for practicality. Tax: bloody 1340 euro!

Just to note they new 2006 model has a few small changes - about 20 more bhp, but lower torque, as well as one or two minor adjustments in the interior

As regards other alternatives - as I say I have not driven the merc. The boxter would not have the performance of the 350Z unless you go for the boxter S. They are also more expensive and dare I say it more common. Maybe a slightly older M3?

And now to the sad part - due to a new arrival (which of course is good news) I have to sell mine and go down a more practical route (ie) something with back seats!!

I'll try and dig up a couple of photos and stick them on

TheBazman

some pics of mine

Mayshine

unkel wrote:

New? If so the comparison is hardly fair. You need to compare the 350Z with the (marginally more expensive) SLK 280

Performance on paper is the same. The 350Z will lose it's value like a brick, the SLK is one of the slowest depreciators about

I would fork out another couple of grand (yes - that's all!) and get the base Porsche Boxster

Its a pity about the irish tax and insurance situation. In the UK this car is practically the slowest depreciator around party due to its excellent value for money, good looks and performance and partly due to Nissan UK limiting the amount of cars they bring in per anum

FastMachine

TheBazman wrote:

Looks - I have to admit it turns heads everywhere. Also there are very few on the road so I suppose there is something in that

Yeah, I think it's one of the best looking cars around at the moment, better than all the other cars in it's class - Mazda RX8, Audi TT, Porsche Boxster. And there does seem to be fewer on the road too, I hardly ever see any.

Bad Points? - I am 6 4" and I am just comfortable with the seat back to the last. If you are any taller it is worth test driving it. Also the boot space is limited with the strut beam, but then again I dont suppose you buy these cars for practicality. Tax: bloody 1340 euro!

Well the interior size won't be a problem here but I was wondering what kind of insurance I'd be looking at for this type of car.

As regards other alternatives - as I say I have not driven the merc. The boxter would not have the performance of the 350Z unless you go for the boxter S. They are also more expensive and dare I say it more common. Maybe a slightly older M3?

I don't like the look of the Boxster and as you say the base model doesn't match the performance so basically I'd be paying (a good bit) more for less.
Nice photos btw.

And now to the sad part - due to a new arrival (which of course is good news) I have to sell mine and go down a more practical route (ie) something with back seats!!

Go for the Mazda Rx8.

unkel wrote:

New? If so the comparison is hardly fair. You need to compare the 350Z with the (marginally more expensive) SLK 280

Performance on paper is the same. The 350Z will lose it's value like a brick, the SLK is one of the slowest depreciators about

Yeah, your right I should be comparing it to the SLK 280. Looks and performance wise I'd say they're about equal so I suppose when you take into account the pricing the Nissan comes out on top. The Mercedes is a more desirable marque all the same. Hmm.....tough one.

unkel

FastMachine wrote:

I don't like the look of the Boxster

Well, that's the end of that one

TheBazman wrote:

The boxter would not have the performance of the 350Z unless you go for the boxter S

FastMachine wrote:

as you say the base model doesn't match the performance

There's actually not much in it either way:

Porsche 0-100km/h 6.4s Max speed 256km/h
Nissan 0-100km/h 6.3s Max speed 250km/h

The Boxster S is substantially faster than the 350Z, but a lot more expensive too

FastMachine wrote:

when you take into account the pricing the Nissan comes out on top. The Mercedes is a more desirable marque all the same. Hmm.....tough one.

I'd imagine it possible that whatever the Nissan costs less than the Mercedes, it will depreciate more in the first year alone. After that first year, the Mercedes is actually cheaper. Tax, insurance and petrol would also be cheaper but I suppose these amounts are peanuts compared to depreciation. You are sensitive to the status that comes with the Mercedes, so should not be that hard a choice

How about the BMW Z4 3.0? Some people don't like the looks, so that would be the end of it. But if you do like it, it's again only a couple of grand more than the Nissan and performance is significantly better. Handling of the Nissan is very good, but again the BMW is better

Funxy

Have you test driven both and how do they feel?

After that my own opinion is this. Someone said for that money get a lotus elise. Now that is exactly what i did. For me i was coming from an audi tt. Sure great theres a merc slk. But for a year i was very lucky to have a merc sl to drive around. Loved it, nice car, lovely interior, all so lovely. But boring as hell. So when it came for a new car it was between a merc slk, elise, speedster, 350z and a tuscan.

So 350z vs tt. Loved the 350z beautiful car. Much more then the tt. So definitly better then audi. Then vs the merc. For me i was so unbelievably lucky to have the merc sl. So an slk to me was boring. My reason for a no to the merc slk is, beautiful, comfortable. But i wanted different. I didnt want cruise control. I wanted a car after the tt that i wanted to sit into. That i was dying to drive daily.

I drive alot of miles a week. I didnt want to hop into a car and put the cruise control at 60 all the way to dublin and thats it. I wanted something i was half excited about driving. Well **** that.

I got a weeks test drive of an opel speedester. Nice car but i like comfort too. It was a bit too spartan. Id always loved lotus's and elises's. But once i set foot in one wow. I tell you see one nicely done up. Im not talking heated seats, thats not what its about at all. Who the **** needs those, i never used them in the tt. But wow. That car, once you drive it. Theres nothing close to it. I cannont stress it enough. I drove the speedester, mx5, mr2, celica, tt, slk, sl, bmw z3,z4, anything, its just different. If you want a car from a - z get an slk. If you want a car from a - @ - z get a nissan 350z (there a beautiful car) But if you want a car from a - (oh my got whoa how can driving feel like this) get an elise.

Ernie Ball

Funxy wrote:

I got a weeks test drive of an opel speedester. Nice car but i like comfort too. It was a bit too spartan.

I always thought the elise was even more spartan than the speedster.

Apparently Lotus is coming out with a lower-priced model Elise using the Toyota 1ZZFE engine from the Celica and MR2.

TheBazman wrote:

Just to note they new 2006 model has a few small changes - about 20 more bhp, but lower torque, as well as one or two minor adjustments in the interior

I've heard it was a more significant update than that with 300HP, much better gas mileage, better brakes, better steering and better road holding, carbon-fibre driveshaft and an instant on drive-by-wire throttle. New and lighter engine moved behind the front axle so it's now front mid-engined. Handling was always the weak point with the 350Z (which is a very heavy car) and they've taken steps to fix that, though it's still heavy.

TheBazman

I suppose at the end of the day you need to go and test drive them. Get whichever one is within your budget and makes you feel best. I know thats what I did when I drove the 350Z. These type of cars arent about practicality etc, they are about making you feel good and wanting any excuse to drive somewhere.

Cyrus

personally i love the 350z its an individual choice in a country full of bmws and benzes

i didnt realise depreciation was so bad on em tho? if so great for me, ill have one some day

altho unkels z4 3.0 is a good suggestion, lovely cars in my opinion

Funxy

Ernie ~ Thats exactly what people said to me when i started saying i was interested in the elise. "Oh no you cant do that theres nothing inside it. Are you mad how could you use that everyday?" Which was true of the 5 year old ones etc. I got the 'touring' elise, which is just carpets, nicer stereo etc. I also color matched the interior and got the dealers to paint it which makes a massive differance.

The 111r at the moment uses the celica engine. But once rover stopped production the cheaper elise the 111s lost its entry level engine. So your right for 4 grand less (english) you can now get the entry level with a nice toyota engine

http://www.pistonheads.com/lotus/default.asp?storyId=14089

TheBazman wrote:

These type of cars arent about practicality etc, they are about making you feel good and wanting any excuse to drive somewhere.

Too true!

FastMachine

Thanks for all the advice, I'll have to go and test drive them soon.

bspoke

What about a Nissan Skyline Gt350? Its essentially a 350z with a different body. Due to it being being the same kind of balls out racer as previous generation Skylines there are not that many in this country. To import one from Japan it actually works out cheaper than the 350z aswell

optiplexgx270

bspoke wrote:

What about a Nissan Skyline Gt350? Its essentially a 350z with a different body. Due to it being being the same kind of balls out racer as previous generation Skylines there are not that many in this country. To import one from Japan it actually works out cheaper than the 350z aswell

ewe picture nearly made me sick. The stock 350Z is much nicer looking.

bspoke

pfft no accounting for taste i suppose:p

optiplexgx270

lol but seriously that car in the pic is ****e!!!!

BRM

Id go with the new SLK over the 350Z you’d prob get a decent used 911 for the same money tho – less depreciation and a superior car.

MercMad

Lets face it most people want a prestige badge for that money, from a depreciation point alone. The Nissan doesn't cut it in that circle and I doubt anyone will notice the difference in acceleration between any of those cars mentioned !

BTW I reckon an auto car will outrun the manual ones in any real world situation !

A test drive is the only answer, a decent test drive, not around the block !

Vegeta

MercMad wrote:

BTW I reckon an auto car will outrun the manual ones in any real world situation !

Are you serious, explain???

Again i have to say it, if you're buying a car for pure driving pleasure in that range get an elise

prospect

I had the pleasure of driving a 350z once. It is beautiful, and the performance was certainly impressive, but I did feel the quality of the interior let it down.
It was just the same parts of the interior of an almera arranged differently. I would seriously consider the 350z if:
a) I could Afford it
&
b) If they improved the interior