2014 Nissan 370Z

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by Davey

IMO... The Z driving experience is lacking, overall.

Pro: It's fairly quick, decent power, looks pretty good, steering feels nice with good effort and speed. Cruising on the highway the ride is great, and taking corners at 50% - 70% the chassis feels great.

Con: Past 70% or so the car just pushes. The engine doesn't make a lot of power below 4,000 RPM and isn't very pleasant to listen to above 5,000 RPM. The throttle response is fairly slow, and the shifter is kind of clunky, doesn't feel like something that belongs in a proper sports car. The stability control has only one mode - "ZERO FUN ALLOWED." Sport mode would be nice, to let you get just a little bit of slip before killing all the power. I don't turn VSA off completely unless I'm on a track/closed course.

Overall I think the Z has everything you want on paper; less than 10 lbs of weight per HP, a 6-speed, 2 doors, huge tires, but when you get behind the wheel it kind of comes unraveled. It's not a bad car but it's just not a great sports car.

The Z will clearly rape the BRZ/FR-S in terms of performance but the actual driving experience of the Z is far less enjoyable.

BTW I've owned both a 350Z and 370Z and traded the 370Z for the BRZ.

I find my experience to be the same as yours. Straightline performance in the 370z is fun, but you can feel the weight and imbalance in hard cornering. Now if they could remove 150-200 pounds off the curb weight and keep the power levels the same....

[FR-S.13]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

I find my experience to be the same as yours. Straightline performance in the 370z is fun, but you can feel the weight and imbalance in hard cornering. Now if they could remove 150-200 pounds off the curb weight and keep the power levels the same....

Agreed. I also had a 350, then 370, and now an FR-S. The Z car's biggest downfall is being saddled with the same chassis as the Infiniti FX (and the G, of course) which was unfortunately the only way they could make it affordable. If it was on a purpose built chassis like our car, it would be quite a bit lighter and perform considerably better. But with the exception of a bit more power, the FR-S checks off all the performance criteria for my ideal sports car.

[Davey]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

I find my experience to be the same as yours. Straightline performance in the 370z is fun, but you can feel the weight and imbalance in hard cornering. Now if they could remove 150-200 pounds off the curb weight and keep the power levels the same....

Less weight would be great. The blind spots are also terrible.

I considered modding the 370Z rather than selling it. I was OK with the stock power level, and felt I could probably fix 90% of the handling issues with a square wheel/tire setup, sways, and springs. But... Mainly I really hated revving the damn thing because it felt like it was shaking itself to pieces and the shifter is pretty terrible for a "sports car" and there's not much of a fix for that.

And the blind spots.