Original price?

[Gio]

Hallo - I am trying to find an original reference to the price of a new 300ZX back in 1990-94. Maybe a brochure or price list or magazine review? I know they were pretty expensive (over £35k IIRC) - but what was the "list" price?

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

Hi,
In the May 1990 road test in Autocar magazine, the UK spec 300ZX TT was listed as......
Total (uk)..............£34,600
delivery/tax/plates..... £220
On the road.......... £34,820
elec. leather seats....£1150
Total as tested..... £35,970

 

[Gio]

Jez, that's terrific, thanks
Do you actually have that magazine? Reason being I am trying to get some form of context for the Z in the UK: eg what else was available at the time for the same sort of price - or what else had the same performance. That sort of thing.

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

Hi,
Yes I have the magazine in front of me...found it under the bed when spring cleaning the other day!
Autocar listed the rivals as being the Audi Quattro £33,819, Mazda RX7 II £21,999, Porsche 928 S4 £60,792, Porsche 944 Turbo £42,296 and Renault GTA V6 Turbo £29,995.
The 300ZX was only slower in acceleration and top speed than the 928 (at twice the price!).

I will see if I can scan the Autocar article and post up some links to it.

 

[STEVE BURNS]

Hi,
Yes I have the magazine in front of me...found it under the bed when spring cleaning the other day!

Sorry Gio for going of topic
But bloody hell what else have you accumulated under the bed in the 17 years since the mag came out

 

[Gio]

hahaha wine over keyboard moment

And the Enthusiast's Companion says

the Euro spec 300ZX Turbo lapped the tortuous Nurburgring in 8min 40sec - some 6 seconds faster than Gunther Steckkonig could manage in a 928GT

and

By things you can measure, the 300ZX may better a 944 and be nearly half the price of a comparable 928...

Anyhow, I found some house price stats and the Z in Autocar cost 52% of the price of the average house in 1990 (£69,000). If it cost the same proportion today, it would be £98,500 (HBOS says Jan 2007 average house price £189,000). Now what other 2+2 sports car costs that these days...

 

[Mr.F]

Newspaper archives for the Romford / Southend area (or elsewhere in the country - I only remember the local ads) may show the last model 300ZXs under the post-Botnar regime selling at a knockdown price of under £30K. The AFG Nissan garage chain were also doing cut price 200SXs with steel wheels at the same time. The group later moved from Nissan to Citroen and Peugeot - their current dealers may still have some historical record.

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

Hi,
In Brian Long's book, he says that in 1992, the basic spec Uk car without leather trim or CD player, but with standard autobox, was priced at £32,200.A manual gearbox was a no cost option!
Autocar stopped listing the 300ZX in September 1994 ,with a list price of £35,115.

BTW... the box of car magazines has only been under the bed for 3 years, since we moved house!

 

[chunk]

I had the original bill of sale for my '91 UK TT Auto, fairly specced up (i think)

I cant remember the actual price, but i do remember it was £36'???

Bargain

 

[suzy]

Jez, that's terrific, thanks
Do you actually have that magazine? Reason being I am trying to get some form of context for the Z in the UK: eg what else was available at the time for the same sort of price - or what else had the same performance. That sort of thing.

sounds like a good idea for a magazine article are you up for it?

 

[red baron]

yes i bought one in 1992 seriers two black full leather all manual and lux pack all options £38grand sold it 12months later to much money and dep loss

 

[alanz]

HEY YOU LOT!!!!

I GOT MY '91 Z32 TT (IMPORT) FOR UNDER £3000 OVER 3 YEARS AGO, AND HAVE SPENT AROUND £10,000 ON HER!!!!

TOTAL PRICE OF £13,000, (ALMOST) BUT VERY MUCH WORTH IT!!
MY WIFE DOSEN'T THINK SO.

BUT I DO!!!

YOU CAN'T BEAT A ZED, I LOVE 'EM.











ITS A ZED THING BABY!!!!

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

Hi,
I've now scanned the Autocar Road Test from 1990!.......
First 5 pages

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

The remaining pages......

 

[wow300]

I have had a 928 s4 and i can tell you the z is dam quicker and 100 times better to drive, could wait to get rid of the 928 yuk..

 

[Oestergaard]

Hi Gio.
I can tell you that much that the car had a price in Denmark of 900.000 DKR (about 80.000 £). That was a cheap starting price and in 1994 it had a price of about 100.000 £. I know that this isn't what you are asking for, but I felt like giving you some examples of the Danish car prices........just so you don,t think that cars are expensive in UK.
Have a nice day
Regards, Michael

 

[JEZ 280ZX]

I have had a 928 s4 and i can tell you the z is dam quicker and 100 times better to drive, could wait to get rid of the 928 yuk..

Hi,
I've always quite liked the 928 but expect it costs much more to fix than the Nissan!...Also like the BMW 840/850, but again the cost of repairs could be formidable!
A new neighbour has moved in across the street and he has a nice looking Triumph Stag...It does sound nice when he starts it up in his garage and burbles off up the road, anyway!

 

[tali]

In 1992 it dropped in price by 3.5k to 31k.