1990 nissan 300zx

[RED IS 91]

My son is looking to buy a twin turbo 300zx with 90,000 miles for 4 K .
Anyone familar with these ?? Reliable ????
I know it's fassssst .....
His first car . I can't talk him into a BMW.
I need some help.

[4over6]

a tt z32 would be a nice car for your son and if it is in good condition 4k is a good deal and if you do keep up on the work they are good cars but make sure you dont let the oil run low at all as far as other reliability go;s im not sure but your son has good taste i wish i could find that kind of a deal on a z32 here in my area and if possible get any kind of records for work done to the car

[D. Clay]

I do know that jump starting them can do very expensive things to the electronics.

[bim bim]

make sure all the proper, regular stuff gets done as soon as you get it. ive had friends with these cars and they are a beotch to work on so my suggestion would be this, get it, do the pm and leave it at that. are you guys planning on building this thing or stocking it? everything is very tight under the hood so set it and forget it until its time to set it again. im a former jap import guy, supras mainly but none the less, very tight under the hood of the z32.

[RED IS 91]

make sure all the proper, regular stuff gets done as soon as you get it. ive had friends with these cars and they are a beotch to work on so my suggestion would be this, get it, do the pm and leave it at that. are you guys planning on building this thing or stocking it? everything is very tight under the hood so set it and forget it until its time to set it again. im a former jap import guy, supras mainly but none the less, very tight under the hood of the z32.

His friends work on their own cars and he helps me occasionally . It is his friends car .lost his job and needs money.he'll keep it stock and just use it as a daily driver I assume.From everything I've read ,it appears to be a good car.
Thanks for the replies

[bim bim]

i am very familiar with the turbos on that car. very good and very reliable supposing you dont abuse them. turbos are my passion so my advice to you, dont let him turn the boost up to high, youll have atleast a blown turbo on your hands, if not more.

[Alpine003]

His first car . I can't talk him into a BMW.
I need some help.

I don't know your son but I do know that generally 16yo and fast 1st cars don't mix very well. If you are getting him something fast, I would also give him a package to some driving schools or car control clinics. Also let him demonstrate to you some added responsiblities too. Especially rwd + turbo + 1st car + teen = not good

300zx's can be reliable if taken care of. I used to live by Sound Performance so I got a chance to see anything and everything with 300zx's. They had the fastest 300zx's and Supra's at one point.

[RED IS 91]

I don't know your son but I do know that generally 16yo and fast 1st cars don't mix very well. If you are getting him something fast, I would also give him a package to some driving schools or car control clinics. Also let him demonstrate to you some added responsiblities too. Especially rwd + turbo + 1st car + teen = not good

300zx's can be reliable if taken care of. I used to live by Sound Performance so I got a chance to see anything and everything with 300zx's. They had the fastest 300zx's and Supra's at one point.

He'll be 20 in january so I can't tell him to much. Of the two sons that I have he is the best (responsible ) driver.
I remember when I bought a 67 gto and my father co signed for me .
He tried to talk to me but when your that age you know everything.
Just sign the papers old man . My brother had a 69 road runner which was very sweet .
You can't protect them forever but I do like the idea of driving school.
I just hope the zx doesn't take all his money for repairs.
thanks

[Alpine003]

He'll be 20 in january so I can't tell him to much. Of the two sons that I have he is the best (responsible ) driver.
I remember when I bought a 67 gto and my father co signed for me .
He tried to talk to me but when your that age you know everything.
Just sign the papers old man . My brother had a 69 road runner which was very sweet .
You can't protect them forever but I do like the idea of driving school.
I just hope the zx doesn't take all his money for repairs.
thanks

Well 20 and responsible is certainly better than 16 and clueless. Based on history, looks like you just want to pass the torch down to your son in having a nice fast car. I wish my dad was into the car thing.

As for the ZX fund, it might be a good idea to have him save up for a car control clinic as a prereq before having him spend 1 cent on any upgrades or mods on the car. And trust me, he will want to upgrade/mod that car.

Car Control Clinic ~ $40-$300
Helmet ~ $100-$300
Recovering from a slide and avoiding fatal accident = Priceless

[christophbmw]

just noticed this thread, had the opertunity to drive a '91 twin turbo the other day (friends). holy shit that car had some serious torque. anyways my freind is 19, he knows how to drive (kinda), and to tell you the truth, im kinda worried about him. i think its to much car for him, let alone a 16 year old. just my two cents.

[Massimo]

Im only 21 years old my first car was a e21 318i. Iv driven bmw's 325s a porsche boxter, holden manaro, and many other cars. But even though the power is fantastic, to be honest i am glad i did have the e21, or i probable would have killed my self. Being young an dumd i thought that cos the car had no power i couldnt loose control till one day on the way to school it was a dry/wet and i was actually driving normal. Anyways i turned left down a street doing about 20 km/h and the the car with the snap of my fingures did a full 180 it scared the SSHHITT out of me lucky i didnt hit anything. But i learnt quickly that i you dont know whats on the road and anything could happen, i assumed there must have been an oil patch on the road. Then a few years ago i was still learning and racing some guy, coming up behind him doing about 100 km/h i quickly changed lanes to go around him, but being very dumb and stupid the car put the back end out, and i over took the guy looking at him in my front window once again a very luck not to have and accident. Now being older i save the stupid driving for the track. But if i didnt have the slow car i had when i was young i could say that i would be dead or seriously injured. If your sons wants a fast car that fair enough and he is 20 so im assuming he has brains but jumping into a 300zx turbo isnt a good idea you should try and bribe him into something like a e28 535i it has 180kw and isnt to heavy +its NON TURBO but its still very quick it dose something like 0-100 km/h in 6.5 and with alittle money spent on suspension it would be just as good as a 300zx. but a lot safer with out the boost. I think that someone should learn how to drive a N/A with power b4 getting a turbo with power so that when the boost dose kick in you can handle it. but this is just my opinion if you know your son is a good driver then you shouldnt have any problems.:)

[sheepdog]

Bad choice for a first car unless you want to see him wrapped around a telephone pole.

Get him a piece of junk and tell him if he can go a few years without destroying it, you will get him a Z. Not many cars survive being a teens first car, giving him something like that, may be the worst thing you could do.

I would also hate to see what the insurance bill would be.

Actually, teach him to drive like many in my family... No insurance, expired tags... He will learn to pay attention to everything around him real fast. May want to secretly have insurance though.

[RED IS 91]

Too late ........ He has the car already and it is quite fast .
He doesn't live with us anymore ,has his own apartment and a good job at the bank.
I didn't buy it for him ,He bought it himself with his own money and pays his insurance, so not much I could say . He is a responsible adult now and makes his own decisions .
He has a winter beater right now until nice weather comes for his Z and
he needs to install new turbos on it . All I can do is impress upon him how carefull he has to be .Hell, I had a 67 GTO when I got out of high school .
Both my sons learned to drive standard on my 318is (one of the reasons I bought it) and they drove it quite often .I think everyone here will agree that our cars are as fast as a 300ZXTT. ;) NOT !

[sheepdog]

Too late ........ He has the car already and it is quite fast .
He doesn't live with us anymore ,has his own apartment and a good job at the bank.
I didn't buy it for him ,He bought it himself with his own money and pays his insurance, so not much I could say . He is a responsible adult now and makes his own decisions .
He has a winter beater right now until nice weather comes for his Z and
he needs to install new turbos on it . All I can do is impress upon him how carefull he has to be .Hell, I had a 67 GTO when I got out of high school .
Both my sons learned to drive standard on my 318is (one of the reasons I bought it) and they drove it quite often .I think everyone here will agree that our cars are as fast as a 300ZXTT. ;) NOT !

Sounds like you did a decent job teaching him and he has some respect for cars, he may be one of the few who will not kill their first car.

[gearheadE30]

that is an amazing first car... I originally looked at these but I didn't really fit-I'm 6'3" but like others have said, be careful with the turbos

[RED IS 91]

that is an amazing first car... I originally looked at these but I didn't really fit-I'm 6'3" but like others have said, be careful with the turbos
My son is 6 foot 3 also but the car has a t top so I guess his head can stick out the top. ;)
It is quite the car with hicas steering and push button suspension where it goes from touring to stiff with a push of the button.

[bim bim]

alot of the jap cars had the tunable suspension then. i used to build mk3 supras and it was an awesome feature of them. i know the rx7's and the 300z's of the same years had it aswell.