New guy, moving from an S4 to 370z?

mr_sk

So, I went over to Advantage/Westbury Nissan tonight to take a look at a black sport, do a test drive and talk #s.

Overall, very cool guys over there.

So, 1st impressions on the test drive.......not as fast/quick as I thought it would be. It felt slower in 2/3 than my S4 and didn't seem to have the punch my STI does off the line...that could have been me just not *really* pushing the car and the fact I've been driving an AT the last 10 months and my clutch skills are subpar...the car rev'd high, but I didn't feel any real "power" behind it...just my initial thoughts...

Second, its damn small inside. Like, no room for skis, paintball equipment, or even my dog. That's a serious bummer for me.I thought it at least had a trunk.

Otherwise, loved the car, the styling and feel on the road. Price was good and they offered me an actually decent trade on my S4 (still pending formal appraisal).

So, my questions to you guys:

1) How do you combat the storage issue? What do you guys do in the winter? I don't want to have two cars, but ****, this thing has no room.

2) Speed. I see figures for a ~4.7 0-60, where my S4 is considerably slower at ~5.6 .. and 04 STI is stated 4.5, (I was stage 2) and that's quoted around 4.1 but I can't recall.

With both the STI and the S4 I "felt" the acceleration/torque so much more. Is it just me that thinks the Z feels a little slow compared to the vehicles I mentioned.

3) I've never owned a rear wheel drive car, how can I expect the winter to be driving in it? My last two cars (S4, STi) are AWD.

Well, I'm not trying to sound like a downer, I did enjoy driving the car, it just raised some additional questions.

Thanks again for all the feedback so far ... and I'll see you guys tomorrow night.

Z_ealot

can't really answer any of the other questions, but as to your question about "feeling" the acceleration, well thats mostly because the Z "builds" up power through the RPM's is the best way i can put it whereas cars like the S4 and STI deliver the torque at lower RPM's and then taper off at the higher RPM's where the Z will still keep pulling due to the mostly flat torque curve on the Z.

mr_sk

@Z_ealot: Word, makes sense ... and I wasn't really driving the car that hard so I didn't experience the continued high rpm acceleration.

I'm doing research now into trunk space and snow driving. It seems the trunk is not as small as it seemed at the dealer - people have been able to fit a decent amount of stuff in it.

I'm seeing threads about not really using the Z for snow driving ... without a proper setup: Anybody planning on driving your Z in winter?

Not sure if this is the best car for me.... = [
I would really like more space and winter capabilities.

FL 4Motion

Def the Z is small on the inside (5' 10", 290lbs here but i fit), but the hatch can hold a decent amount of stuff. As far as winter driving, can't comment first hand, but there are some crazy canuks out there that slap winter tires on them and drive the Z year round. Personally, I like having the Z and our other car, nissan Xterra, give the best of both worlds. If you are really into doing outdoorsy stuff, mountain biking, surfing, snow boarding etc, then honestly, the Z as a sole car doesn't make the most sense. Still hope you pick one up tho, there a great car. Maybe you could get a fwd beater to go with it at some point so your hauling/snow issue would be resolved.

The new Golf R (r32 replacement) comes out soon, it's awd and 260hp turbo, not a sports car, but sporty and practical and around 30-35K. I hate to even bring up another car, but I just don't want to see another thread where someone is selling their Z 1-3 months after purchase cause it's bad in the winter or is only a 2 seater...