Based on my experience, with my car having ~5300mi on it, and having driven it hard all day for the Bullrun rally, an oil cooler is not necessary for everyday driving. The first day of Bullrun driving from Monticello, NY to Pittsburgh, PA I did actually cause the ECU to cut my max revs back to 6k on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. So an extended drive of 5+ hours while pushing past 100mph most of the time can cause a slight overheating problem. However normal driving over the same time will not.

That said, temps do get in the 220-240 range easily under normal long-haul highway conditions, so an oil cooler could be considered a good investment anyways to keep the engine in better shape over time and allow you to safely lengthen the amount of time between oil changes
I do believe Nismo has an oil cooler, and I know Stillen does as well.
Maybe. Possibly. When I bought my Z back in April, they drove it down from NY (I live in NJ) for no charge and threw in the Touring package for a discount because it was the only car they had in the area that met my needs (black 6sp). With dealers and manufacturers so desperate to sell vehicles these days, you could haggle something out.

....

I am wondering since i live in germany if I should get an oil cooler. The temps don't get as hot in germany as they do in the states. But 100mph is like normal driving on the autobahns for me there. Since the Z just released in germany I wonder if there will be more problems over there as you can drive whatever speed you want during most autobahn driving.

In my experience, sustained high speeds aren't going to cause oil temp problems in the way that more track-like driving does. When you're sustaining high highway speeds (I regularly do so here, but at more legal risk than you :)), you tend to drop off to a reasonable gearing/RPM, and the extra airflow from the speed helps as well. It's the other end of the spectrum you have to worry about (low airflow due to low speeds, combined with lots of time spent in the upper RPM ranges, which is what you expect more at a track). Especially given German weather, I don't think cruising on the autobahn is going to give you any issues.

According to the link you gave me, it doesn't look like I'd be able to negotiate the oil cooler into the price because they wouldn't install it there.

So essentially I'd just try to haggle them down just so I can spend more money on an aftermarket part just so my brand new car will run properly. I don't know f it's worth the hassle...

Review the facts, not the hysteria. Your car will run just fine on the street without a cooler. There are 10,000 Z's out there now. If this was REALLY an issue, Nissan would not have come out with the statement that they did. (saying it's OK, but if you track the car consider a cooler)

It's tough to read through 50+ pages though of people claiming daily driving is doing the same to their cars.

Would the rising temps be noticeable if I did a bit of spirited driving during a test drive?

Yes it's tough to read through all the posts about this "issue" but did you start out your first post in this thread by saying you had just read through all 50 pages???

"People" can make a lot of claims about a lot of things; don't give "claims" more weight than they deserve.

If you are going to track your car; get an oil cooler (just like you would need with any car you are going to put on a race track).

If you are going to drive on the street as if you are on a track; get an oil cooler.

Otherwise, you "need" for an oil cooler is minimal but if you are really that worried about it, get an oil cooler.


Only if your test drive is a couple of hours long on a 100+ degree day and your "spirited driving" is constant throughout.

to summarize the 50+ pages, there were initially 2 complaints

1) the car is a sports car that should have been created to be able to handle being driven in the track with out going to limp mode
2) during stop and go traffic (or some cases of "normal driving) on hot weather, the oil would go up to temps above 250 degrees, which led to engine longevity concerns and such

it was communicated to AK370z by nissan USA that if the car is being tracked then they would recommend an oil cooler... if not, then you dont need it.... also that the nissan motorsport oil cooler if installed by dealerships..would not necessary void the warranty...

in my opinion... and as evident by many who have already change their oil to syntetic... it has become extremely harder to get the oil pass 240 degrees in normal driving (even in stop and go traffic)... so a lot of us have concluded that the issue of oil temps is because of either the engine break in period or the ester oil that everybody change to on the first oil change... if i have mistated something please let me know... :tup:

Thanks guys. I don't want to come across as a bastard, it's just that my luck with car reliability seems to be...well, I have none. So I just assume that if there's any kind of problem with the vehicle from the factory then I'm 100% certain I'll encounter it.

Granted, every car has its problems but this being the first brand new car I've ever gotten, I'd like it to last a while.

This is why every new car has a warranty to protect you against Manufacturers defects. If 3 years isn't enough you can buy extended coverage to put your mind at rest. Don't overthink it. Nissan is a respected manufacturer. They do not sell junk..

I thought I remembered reading a 3-year bumper to bumper and 5 year on the drivetrain. Is this correct?

Honestly I don't know. That might be right. Check the Nissan site. I don't care much about warranty coverage. I only had to use it once or twice in 40 years of car purchases. Things generally don't break in my care..and the small stuff I fix myself.

i concur
i just switch to redline synthetic oil last thursday drove her hard on saturday and first thing i notice is that the oil temp takes a lot longer to heat up compared to when i was running on nissan ester
on normal driving condition i am now running cooler(no shifting past 4k)
i am at about 210-215 instead on the normal 220-225
but mind you i still saw 240 when i was redlining and "riding" 3rd and forth
but as mentioned it did took a while to get there than usual
as soon as i start crusing again temps went down

im still planning to get an oil cooler just for the peace of mind but at this point i dont think it is really necessary for a daily driven car:tup:

just curious, whats the spec of the redline oil you're using now? and wht was the previous spec oil u were using?