why does everyone call the 370z a muscle car? Lightest > 300hp fr car. >0.95g skidpad. Beats the super lightweight twins in autox. Like one of only sports cars left with real double a fronts instead of macphearson. Super great road track times for its cost. It's designed for road racing, not for quarter mile.it's not set up well for 0-60 or quarter mile.

you do know that the 15 STi is faster in a quarter mile then the 15 WRX right? The STi is still worth is price compare to the WRX.

If you look at modern day muscle cars, they're usually designed using the company's corporate v6 or v8, stuffed into the company's platform-shared RWD chassis, converted to be a coupe. See Mustang, Camaro, etc. That description also happens to fit the 370z (and Genesis Coupe).

Objectively speaking, the 370z is also pretty chunky, weighing in at 3278 lbs. That's more than most family sedans, like the Accord (3192 lbs.), Mazda 6 (3183 lbs.), Camry (3190 lbs.), etc.

I also wouldn't call the Twins "super lightweight". They're fairly lightweight at under 2800 lbs., but there are much lighter cars like the Elise, Miata, 4c, etc. that are more deserving of that title.

Why are you trying to compare the weight of a fr v6 with I4 front wheel drive cars? And the heavier v6 accord coupe doesn't make 300hp.

The 370z is pretty impressively light, especially given the cost. It's about the same weight as the 2015 wrx , so why don't you call that a "muscle car"? The 370 has an extra 60hp and is much faster than the wrx on road tracks. so does "muscle car" these days mean cornering ability as well? Because the 370z out grips the crap out of the twins and oter budget sports cars. It also has a pretty flat ride and does well in transitions, like in auotx. I can understand using the term boring or uninspired, but straight line muscle car it is not

Fr has extra bits and pieces that makes it unavoidably heavier. Higher hp and tq requires beefier everything. Of course you can find lighter mr cars, but go and look at the real weight of other fr sports cars. The only other fr car >300hp (maybe >250hp) at a similar weight is the c7 corvette. But the corvette does have like a billion more hp and tq.

Edit the Camry v6 is also heavier and only makes 270hp. Is the bmw m235i a muscle car? Because it is heavier than the 370z. Is the e92 m3 also a muscle car? It's a lot heavier

Edit2 bmwz4 I35? Heavier. Benz slk v6? Heavier. Really tired of people calling the 370z heavy. It's like you think hp and engines and transmissions are insignificant amounts of weight

double wishbones really play a great role here. I think Nissan did a fantastic job with this car considering options they had (FM platform which is shared with some of their SUVs and the VQ motor that is more for luxury cruising).

the Z and the gen coupe is heavy because of the origin of its chassis, and yes that is why the twins are more pure (built to be only the twins, not a derivative of anything else), but I think these cars deserve a lot of credit and respect.

Read my post again. You've managed to miss about 90% of what I was saying. I explain why the 370z has similarities with other muscle cars, particularly in the design of the chassis, sourcing of the engine, and the weight compared to 4-door family sedans.

I also never called it a "straight line" anything. Nor did I say it didn't grip. Nor did I say anything about transitions. Not only are you missing what I'm saying, you're putting up your own straw men and beating them down.

Another way of looking at it -- the Mustang GT has impressive grip and will destroy anything in the sub-$30k price bracket on the track, but it's still a heavy muscle car.

and i'm saying you're missing the point, especially about weight. The 370z is very light for its engine and hp and drivetrain. Go look up the weights of any >250hp "sports car" are all of them muscle cars because they weigh more than a 4-door i4 ff econobox?

And your definition of muscle car is very whack. Is the m3 a muscle car because it shares a chassis with the 3 series? the rs5? So the sti is a muscle car? and the lancer evo?

I would say it's more like the g35 is a stretched out 350z than the other way around. The setup of the 350/370z are not that of family econo-boxes with a fat engine strapped in. It is very much a sports car set-up with double-a fronts, multi-link rear, front midship design, 53/47 weight distribution, super stiff chassis.

It wouldn't be the first time that the M3/C63 coupes were called German muscle cars, nor would it be the first time that the 350z/370z were called the Japanese muscle car. The 350z/370z are much cheaper in price and not aimed at luxury, so they come closer by definition and purpose IMO.

I owned a 350z, and have driven many 370z's. Trust me when I say they feel closer to Mustangs than actual lightweight sports cars, especially at the track. They're no lightweight Miata, nor even a somewhat light FR-S. In fact by weight, they're much closer to the Mustang V6 or Genesis Coupe. They're not obscenely heavy, but also not the lightweight sports car you seem to be trying to make them out to be.

You keep bringing up double-wishbone front suspension. Until recently, Accords came with double-wishbone front suspension. And Caymans have always had macpherson struts at all corners. Doesn't change which one is the sports car and which one is the family car. Not to mention that every sedan and SUV that the 370z shares its chassis with has the same double-wishbone front suspension setup.

The Cayman S is a great example of a sports car. (1) Designed from the start to be a sports car without borrowing a chassis from a sedan/suv, (2) Comes with an engine designed from the start to be put into a sports car, and (3) Weighs less than your average Camry or Accord. Pretty easy to follow that definition. Once you start missing any of those traits, it gets harder to call something a sports car.

haha, alright, so to you, basically the fr-s/brz, mazda miata, the porsche cayman s, kit cars, and super cars are sports cars and nothing else is.

The porsche cayman is MR, how it saves a lot of weight (and it is not cheap).

Do me a favor and name me an >300hp front engine mounted sports car, or do you think there is no such thing?

Your definition of sports car is basically something that is fun to drive. Where my definition of sports car is that it is good for motorsports.

If you want the classic definition of a sports car, you'd exclude anything that wasn't a lightweight RWD 2-seat roadster. If you want my list of sports cars, modern or recent: Miata, RX-7, RX-8, MR2, MR-S, FR-S, BRZ, GT86, NSX, S2000, Cayman, Boxster, 911, Elise, Exige, Evora, 4c, Vette (C7 is starting to stretch it in terms of weight/dimensions, but it's got the other attributes), Solistice, Sky, a number of exotics, etc. Probably leaving some out.

It's not a short list, if that's what you're implying.

Naming a 300+ hp, front engine sports car is easy -- Z06 Vette. Although as I said earlier, they're starting to stretch it in terms of weight. The C5Z at 3118 lbs. and 405 hp fits comfortably, but the weight has ballooned since then. Not surprising that a lot of owners feel the C5Z is the purest of the evolution.

You seem quite fixated on my definition of a sports car, muscle car, etc. If you have a different view, you're welcome to it. Nobody is stopping you from believing what you want.