A&Q about 350Z
Q:
honestly..not sure how much quicker a 350 is than a GT
David
1974 260z...
1975 green 280
A:
I agree with drivenZ. My wife used to have a Ford windstar with that rag of a 3.8L v-6 that ford also put in the prior gen Mustang. All I can say is that that was one headgasket blowing SOB of an engine! Don't know if the current Mustang v-6 is any better or not, but I do know my wife wrote ford a 10 page letter about the 3.8L v6 and her "displeasure" with the quality thereof. And that letter would acidically melt paint right of a wall. And in case anyone thinks this was an isolated issue with one car, there were successful class action suits that ford was forced to respond to on that engine. Ford extended the warranty for blown head gaskets to 100,000 miles. My wife's blew a headgasket at 38K miles, 108K miles, then blew the whole engine at 122K miles. Cracked pistons, bent rods, it was ugly. And we changed the oil/filter every 3k miles and other maintenance was meticulous. And she certainly did NOT race it and a minivan is the LAST car I'd ever drive real hard. I did some research and there were definitely design flaws in that engine (heads, valve springs for sure) that were put in as a result of the el cheapo bean counter marketing geeks at ford over ruling the engineers in order to save a couple of dollars per car out the door. Ford has to show a lot better with the new v6 long term before anyone should even consider buying a car with an engine with such proven unreliability IMO in the prior generation. Just a word to the wise. Do a lot of research and wait and seeing before you fork over good money for a ford v-6 in any model.
A:
More Power...doesn't surprise me what you said about the 3.8L V6 engine. But why on earth would you even keep an american made vehicle and drive it to 100k...lol. I don't know what year the Windstar was but I know there was time where I wouldn't dare keep an american brand car past 80k. Most of them by 100k were toast...lol.
I don't follow american brand vehicles any more because they have no style and just plain suck! Maybe that's why I own all japanese vehicles now. What is even funnier is I grew up in the metro Detroit area which is so pro-american vehicle brainwashed it's silly. When I go to visit my parents I still marvel at how few foreign cars there are. There are definately more now than when I left in 1996.
drivenZ...I can think of a worse Mustand than the V6...the 4 cylinder model!
2005 350Z Touring Roadster - Super Black - 6speed
Borla Exhaust and K&N drop-in.
Other toys include:
2006 Subaru WRX Wagon
2002 Isuzu Axiom SUV
2002 H-D Electra Glide Ultra Classic
2002 H-D custom Fat Boy
2001 Kawasaki Drifter 1500
Post Edited (May 21, 10:03am)
A:
Yeah, that was pretty STUPID wasn't it! That is not a question, ha. Ford lied like a dog to her (us) and said the new type headgasket they had was a "cure" and it would NOT happen again. Well when you have disign flaws like that, putting a better headgasket on it was like putting a bandaid on a cancer. My wife wanted to keep the POS around as a 4th car so she could haul her gardening/flowers/shrubbery stuff around with it like a truck. I told her it was wrong and we'd regret it, but you have to pick your battles when you are dealing with women. You know, I won't raise hell if you get a relatively impractical 2 seater 350Z if you will do thus and so for me. Yes, it was my own damn fault. She didn't know any better, but I did. But at least she is cured. She now has an '06 Sienna minivan and it is a very nice car. And a good reliability record as well.