Fr-s or 370z?

[Createddeleted]

Want to feel connected to the road but slow at times? Get an 86.

Want to feel driver aids taking over but is nice and sporty with enough oomph? Z

I wanted a nismo, the only z I considered, but I went with the brz.

[noobcake]

Originally Posted by CAMBAM_6

Did they drop the prices of the 370Z's finally? When I was car shopping last year it was between the 370 and FRS also but the FRS was over 10K cheaper so it became a no brainer (both 2013 models)

They dropped the price last year on the Z's.
Currently its
370z 29.9k
FRS 24.5k
BRZ 27k-ish?? once u start adding options it isnt too much more expensive than the 370

you will get more +132hp in the z but i think you will lose on the interior goodies + gas mileage..but you have to pay to play ..

[B-R-Z]

Figure out what you want overall (power/style/size/mpg/brand), if you can't decide based on that, drive both, and that will definitely decide for you.

I wasn't giving the BRZ a legitimate chance as a potential car until the test drive. The car has plenty pep for daily driving IMO IDC what anyone says.

To add to the previous post, my limited manual was $27,300

[Sleepless]

Chris Harris' video comparison is spot on (I've owned and tracked a 2006 Cayman S and have owned a Z; Nissan hasn't engineered that car properly since its intro in 1990 and it hasn't changed much under the skin since then)

[derekk]

I test drove both.. loved the 370z.. i like the 350 more but i like the interior better on the 370.. i drove my buddies 370 all the time.. Driving the 86 now.. i love it even better. I still like the way the 370z looks more than the fr-s but for a DD id go with an 86.

[RojerLockless]

Coming from a 350z it's way faster. however... the tires on the 350 and 70 are about 100-150% more expensive than the FR-s for a daily driver that's a huge blessing to me personally. I love my frs and my 350 but they are different cars. go drive them.

[billwot]

The Z is more refined, faster, slightly pricier, and (imo) better looking.

FRS handles a little better, and has a better "driver-car connection".

Had a '06 Z before the FRS. It was an oil burner (a common problem apparently unique to '06 models with manual tranny). Really liked the Z better, but my experience left me not really confident about Nissan quallity.

[Josharooni]

Originally Posted by Cliu91

Probably can't even afford either, considering he thinks FRS and 370z are priced similarly.

They actually are pretty close...

[totopo]

Originally Posted by Yuji

Been lurking on the forums for a while now .

Now that I'm about to purchase a vehicle namely: the 2014 monogram Fr-s or Nissan 370z. I'm torn between the two as they are both around 30k. I'll be using them as my DD, so I won't be heavily modifying either of them in anyway. So which one would you guys prefer?

Also, do you think insurance rates will differ between the two drastically?

Thanks!

Hey, so I thought about both of them and decided for the Z. It's really up to what you value more, I'll give you some of my reasons, and you can decide if it applies to you.

I needed a car both for HPDE fun and a daily driving, so I kind of thought them a seperately.

For the HPDE part, my goal is to learn to be a faster driver. I haven't driven either one at the track yet, but talking to experienced drivers at the track this is kind of the picture I have of each of them.

I think either one is decent, but different in terms of track driving for an intermediate driver. The 86 definitely will be a lot more fun. In the corner it will feel very responsive and easy to keep on line and easy to yaw. Like a go-kart it will make you more confident in your car control, and lets you get comfortable with yawing the car. But it is like a miata, it is a momentum car, and the way you drive it is a little different. Kind of the biggest thing that steered me away from the car for HPDE is similar to that tire rack comparison. I don't think I can resist putting on sticky tires for the track. Once you put sticky tires on, the car kind of has way too much tire for its power. Like some high speed esses just becomes straights. Because of the daily driver part, I don't really want to be messing around with the engine. So for me (not same for everyone) turbo, E85, or engine internals aren't really an option.

The z is more of a standard road car in how it drives. It is very mild at the limits, with mild understeer balance, high traction, and good power and torque. It doesn't yaw as easily, and the stock shocks probably aren't great, but it has high mechanical grip and is pretty quick in infield corners. It takes more work and care to get it to yaw and to stay on line, but it's not that big of a deal if you are slightly off line, the car will just plow some and not get unsettled. It's also good for learning throttle control on corner exit, something that you don't really have to concern yourself within a fr-s. I'm still breaking in the z and haven't tracked it yet, but fully expect to have to get a better radiator and brake ducting of some sort. 19" tires are also painful, and I probably will go with 18's after the oem set. Don't let people fool you though, even though it is heavier, it is pretty quick through corners and produces a lot of grip. It's not like you'll be losing to miatas/fr-s in the infield if you are a similarly skilled driver on a similar tire.

To answer the question of what's the use of going fast on the track... For me that's the purpose of a sports car, to go fast. I feel for me I am at a point where I would rather learn how to drive a fast car, rather than to prioritize fun over driving. It's not very practical in a utilitarian sense, because the lap times don't get you anything. It's kind of like why doesn't everyone drive miatas at the track? why are there so many bmw's, porsches, and vettes? Because some people just like driving fast cars.

For daily driving, as a personal thing, I don't understand a test drive. I guess it's good for ergonomics, but all sports cars for me have driven fine and similarly on a test drive. I think driving on the track has drained of me the desire to drive like a punk teenager on the street.

For daily driving, for me, the z wins hands down in almost every respect, other than cost. The mileage sucks ass and those bling bling tires are freaking expensive.

I'm kind of older (low 30's), so i prefer the z in terms of looks. I polled a few non-car enthusiast people my ageish who know absolutely nothing about cars and even car brands, and they all preferred the z hands down. It's more car enthusiasts who know what the 86 is that will like the 86, but the novelty is quickly wearing away i think when you see like 5 a day. The z is more of a respectable car for the vast majority of the people I have to interact with on a day to day basis: co-workers, family, and friends. Even my tracking friends feels the z gives a more mature impression.

The blind spot on the z I hated at first, but it's not so bad once you are actually driving, because the short butt and mirrors cover the blind spot in the next lane over, but you really have to bend your torso and head to turn left when you are pulling out of driveways. This is compounded by the stupid front plastic diffuser thing that hangs off the bumper. To not scratch that, you have to angle the car as you drive out of driveways. And when you angle the car, usually left when you want to turn left, the blind spot basically blocks where you want to look, and you have to contort over to see.

The hp and torque is so useful on daily driving and freeway driving. Being able to be lazy and just accelerate in 6th is much more leisurely. And being able to accelerate in 6th up good sized hills is nice.

anyway, these are some of what I went through, ask me any specific questions if you like.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Yuji

I'm just looking for something that is easy to maintain,fun to drive 40-60miles a day and look nice.

Seems to me the 86 is a no-brainer. It gets much better gas mileage for those long drives, and I don't see how anybody with any taste can look at the two and think the Nissan is a better looking car. The 370z is kind of sterile-looking, without a whole lot of style. It kind of reminds me of what prop builders for 1970s movies thought cars would look like in the future.

Originally Posted by CAMBAM_6

Did they drop the prices of the 370Z's finally? When I was car shopping last year it was between the 370 and FRS also but the FRS was over 10K cheaper so it became a no brainer (both 2013 models)

I went to the Nissan website just now and priced it out. These are MSRPs, so they don't include haggling with the dealer.

The base 370z starts at $29,990. So at least they can pretend it's a sub-$30K car.

The same car with the "sport package" (limited slip differential, bigger brakes, Ray's rims) gets you to $33,000 MSRP, not including packages and accessories.

Going up to the "touring" model gets you leather seats and an entertainment system for $35,270.

Go up to the NISMO package, and it starts at $43K. I suspect once you add the options you want, you could easily end up with a $50K car.

So only the lowest model stripped down 370z is even remotely in the same price range as the 86. I wouldn't really consider these two competitors on price.

Originally Posted by kdmBRZ

However, Z is a nice grand tourer DD car with rev-matching manual gear box.

Meh. If all I wanted was a nice daily driver for the highway, I would go with a big heavy car or truck with big American iron (so to speak) under the hood. For the same or less money, a Charger R/T would get better gas mileage with more straight line power out of that big hemi, and it would be a more comfortable highway car than a 370z. A camaro would give you similar ride, performance and price. So would a Silverado or Ford F150.

If you want a sports car, I think there are much better options for the money than a 370z. If you want a decent highway car, I think there are also much better options for the money than a 370z. If you're going for looks, I'm not sure why you'd be looking at the 370z in the first place. I wouldn't.

[totopo]

Originally Posted by Yuji

Why I also asked a 370z forum as well. It'll be interesting on what people say.

which 370z forum? don't think i saw your post.

[totopo]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

Seems to me the 86 is a no-brainer. It gets much better gas mileage for those long drives, and I don't see how anybody with any taste can look at the two and think the Nissan is a better looking car. The 370z is kind of sterile-looking, without a whole lot of style. It kind of reminds me of what prop builders for 1970s movies thought cars would look like in the future.



I went to the Nissan website just now and priced it out. These are MSRPs, so they don't include haggling with the dealer.

The base 370z starts at $29,990. So at least they can pretend it's a sub-$30K car.

The same car with the "sport package" (limited slip differential, bigger brakes, Ray's rims) gets you to $33,000 MSRP, not including packages and accessories.

Going up to the "touring" model gets you leather seats and an entertainment system for $35,270.

Go up to the NISMO package, and it starts at $43K. I suspect once you add the options you want, you could easily end up with a $50K car.

So only the lowest model stripped down 370z is even remotely in the same price range as the 86. I wouldn't really consider these two competitors on price.



Meh. If all I wanted was a nice daily driver for the highway, I would go with a big heavy car or truck with big American iron (so to speak) under the hood. For the same or less money, a Charger R/T would get better gas mileage with more straight line power out of that big hemi, and it would be a more comfortable highway car than a 370z. A camaro would give you similar ride, performance and price. So would a Silverado or Ford F150.

If you want a sports car, I think there are much better options for the money than a 370z. If you want a decent highway car, I think there are also much better options for the money than a 370z. If you're going for looks, I'm not sure why you'd be looking at the 370z in the first place. I wouldn't.

The z is not selling great, pretty easy to get it below invoice. Basically they are going for like 10% off msrp, so out the door price is pretty similar to msrp. so the base with sports is like $33k, goes for $30k, out the door at $33k.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by totopo

The z is not selling great, pretty easy to get it below invoice. Basically they are going for like 10% off msrp, so out the door price is pretty similar to msrp. so the base with sports is like $33k, goes for $30k, out the door at $33k.

Allow me to draw an analogy.



That's a Milo's Cheeseburger. It's pretty simple, just meat, cheese, pickles, onions and special sauce on a toasted bun. No lettuce, no tomato, no mayo. Just a few simple ingredients. But it's a really good burger, because each of those ingredients is of reasonably good quality, and they cook it up fresh for you right then. And it has special sauce.

The FR-S and BRZ are a Milo's cheeseburger. Just reasonably good components put together in a simple format to provide a really good driving experience. The handling and the styling are the special sauce.

Here's a Burger King hamburger:



Let's call that the NISMO Triple Whopper with Cheese, because like the NISMO 370z, it has just about everything on it. But of course you can scale that down. If you take everything off of it and add a little bacon, you get this:



That's the base model 370z that you say we can get for the same price as an FR-S. Okay, it has the mighty horsepower of bacon. But it doesn't have any special sauce. To get something as satisfying as the Milo's FR-S burger, you really need the NISMO Triple Whopper for $45K. But even then you're tasting a mediocre burger underneath that huge splatter of mayo, and you know deep in your heart that you're just covering up a frozen patty that was cooked this morning and has been sitting in a heated drawer for the past couple of hours.

So.

Plain Jane 370z (with bacon horsepower!) for under $30K (with some very aggressive haggling)?

Or fresh, delicious BRZ with special sauce for the same price or less?

I know where I'm headed for lunch.

[litemup]

The base-model z still comes with skid marks.