Why I Sold My 2023 Nissan Z

if you look behind me the Nissan Z is gone we got rid of it it's gone sold never coming back and a lot of people might be asking why Alex are you like TJ hunt are you going to sell every single thing that you build the answer is no it's not when we bought the 2023 Nissan Z was initially meant to kind of be the start of this next chapter with Martini works the whole goal was to have a really emotional tie to what I was going to consider like the first true build underneath the brand and kind of connected to the first Z that launched me into modifying my car which was the doson 280z that I had way back in like 2013 now so before I talk about why we decided to sell it it might be good for you to know what it was like so starting way back off way back in the beginning we had an allocation for like 2 years so long that I actually forgot we even had it it was one of those things where once we got called up and we said we had an ikazuchi yellow performance spec sixspeed manual LSD available at MSRP it kind of was just like a no-brainer we decided to pull together some funds and actually just make it happen and I'm going to be honest with you that was a $900 a month payment that we decided to put onto a loan to see if we would actually like the car it was a huge decision and uh it was an expensive one and right out of the gate if you're looking to buy one and you want to know if it's worth it I would say yes it is a great car what I found that I really enjoyed about it was the fact that the infotainment system was awesome the way the car felt was incredible the way that you could drive that car for a super long period of time I drove it all the way down to Tennessee and back which was I think 12 hours one way and still feel like I had a good driving experience was it was great I would say it's obviously still a Nissan so there's a lot of Nissan bits that kind of feel maybe copy and pasted like the buttons and some of the steering wheel and the cloth and the seats and things like that but that's just that's just how Nissan do so with that being said the one thing I did realize as we were keeping it stock is that the car felt a lot more like a grand tourer than it did a sports car what I mean by that is is when we were driving it a lot of times it felt like it was more so meant to just kind of be comfortable over long periods of time it was the Quirk band was super aggressive if you got on it sure but for the most part it was like above higher RPMs you just kind of chilled everything was just supposed to be comfortable and connected so it never really felt like a sports car to me it honestly felt more like a I don't know like a detuned AMG almost but for some reason or another it didn't feel like any of that was bad it just didn't feel as much as a analog sports car kind of like the gr86 you know we've had a really good time being able to drive the j6 M2 competitions Toyota Supras C8 Corvettes and a lot of that would sit in the same price point as the new 2023 Nissan Z and so we were constantly comparing it to those things which I really loved cuz I was saying it was like an upgraded gr86 but it still wasn't as refined to me as something like a Toyota Supra so you watched the episodes you watch the videos where we put the works Z r10s the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S's the BC racing BR series coilovers and then the EBC rotors and paths and I do have to say that changed the car a ton it was awesome everything felt like it was way more connected the body roll was just minimized the BC racing coilovers did an excellent job on the track and the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires just connected the car I love the way the car felt like this versus the Vol forged Performance Wheels that are still super cool but with the tires it just was kind of a soshy feeling we ended up throwing an fi exhaust on it which was a catback which sounded better but it still sounded like somebody was just blowing air through a straw and it just was super quiet so we ended up taking that entire thing once we got it all done we drove it down to Tennessee we drove it through the mountains it was absolutely awesome the exhaust sounded better but it definitely needed more and so when we got the car back it ended up just kind of sitting around for a little bit until we decided to put the down pipes the tune and the intake on it which really opened up the car I mean I would say if you're looking to buy an exhaust for the Nissan Z you're going to have to do down pipes and uh the downpipe experience is so how does it drive though like is it a fun car to drive and modify absolutely the biggest thing that didn't like about the car is that it is still a very expensive platform to do anything with which is kind of contrary to what Nissan are typically known for which is being affordable mods now I know the car is new so don't don't don't get mad I get it I get it I get it but it's like an intake is $1,000 uh heat exchanger $1,400 an exhaust is $4,000 because it can be because the car is new and a lot of those things started to add on to the experience that I had which was it was just getting more and more expensive I love the FI exhaust I love the coilovers I love the wheels I love the tires but you guys know us there's a lot of times where we're not paying MSRP on a lot of those things we paid full price on the wheels because Dakota and I were kind of going back and forth and getting the right wheels for the platform and Dakota said we had to get something that truly encompassed what the Nissan Z platform was meant to be so when we dished out $2,900 for work Z10 that was a lot of money and everything about the car continued to be a lot of money the monthly payments the insurance all that sort of stuff just kind of holding on to it so why did I sell it I mean because of this you know we talked about moving at the beginning of February we moved into a shop it's been awesome we've got like six seven cars in here we got the whole team working together with all our camera equipment in one spot and it's been probably the most exciting step we've taken with trying to make the whole Martini thing Martini Works thing work and also just like my personal content and kind of separating my work and my life and having a place where I can go home and actually feel like I can relax a little bit and I've always taken it as a way where cars are a way to experience new things and try new things it's been a little bit less about the car itself more than it is about the emotion that the car gives me and I know that sounds super cheesy but that's why I love such weird that's why I love Nissan Gloria and I want to build an old 7s Mercedes car and I want to build a DTM car and I want to build some of these weird funky Alfa Romeos that I keep seeing that I've love since I was a kid but it's more about the emotion that it gives me rather than saying I've got a super fast super awesome brand new car I'll tell you walking into the shop every day being with the team and doing what we do without the car payment makes me feel incredible and and that's why this thing that we're trying to do right now is way more important to me than having a big bright yellow twin turbo Nissan 370Z so there you go and hopefully you guys are comfortable with that because we talked about our 2024 goals at the beginning of this year we talked about how we wanted to have a shop which we've gotten we talked about wanting to have a track car for time attack we've got the S2000 Series going which if you haven't picked up an S2000 T yet please go do that that would mean the world we talked about wanting to go to fall Matsuri we talked about making Martini Works huge and there's a little bonus of trying to hire my friends and so this was the first step towards that which meant we had to take a sacrifice we had to sell a car so that we could afford doing this because at the end of the day it's literally just us and you and hopefully people moding their car at Martini work so I always want to be honest with you about what we're doing and why we did it and hopefully you guys are comfortable with this decision and if you're not I'm sure you'll yell at me and you'll tell me below but I'm Alex Martini hope you enjoyed this video we'll see you on the next [Music] Oney

Channel: AlexMartini

Views: 83,712

Keywords: TJ Hunt, Regular Car Reviews, Alex Martinez, cars, Aftermarket Car Modification, car education, The basics of car modification, AlexMartini, Alex Martini, How to Modify Cars, Basic Car Modification, Best cars to buy, Nissan Z, 2023 Nissan z, 400z, nissan nismo, gtr vs Z, 350z, 370z, SKyline vs. z, MSRP Nissan

Id: xzThXsB3iCU

Length: 7min 18sec (438 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2024