Owned 5 Zs in the past, now a 370Z owner- DFW

MacCool

I wish I knew. I'm hoping that there's some way to enable CarPlay on the current model Nav systems. Right now Nissan is all over me to upgrade the map software in my wife's Murano for $129. I'd pay that in a heartbeat to upgrade to CarPlay capability, but not to upgrade from one lame map coverage to another.

I loved that 280ZX Turbo. My 370 Z would outhandle it in every way, I'm pretty sure, but when you stepped on the gas on that thing, it would fly...



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Funkdoobiest

The only thing about the 280ZX I didn't like was the notorious rear suspension squat under acceleration. Looked for a turbo numerous times over the years and again, always instead found odd combos such as 2+2, auto, or both. Where the hell are the 5 spd 2 seaters??? I also had something rare in my 79 apparently. My speedo had the 130mph gauge as opposed to the very common 85mph which even the turbos had. I made mine look like an 82-83 with upgraded hood, wheels, tail lights, bumpers, and B-pillars. The front bumper eventually got the Motorsport Auto one along with their cat-back. I also put 1988 300ZX seats which was a really sweet mod cause they were like Recaros. I hooked up all the wires for them to work, they were adjustable in every damn way and hugged your body good! Changed the brown interior to black using salvaged black interior pieces and new too. The only thing I didn't complete was the paint although I did get the bodywork and primer done.

I always refer to that car when talking about how long it took American cars to finally get with the program. I know somebody might bring up some instances from the past that I'm not familiar with. But that 79 had electronic fuel injection, independent rear suspension, and 4 wheel disc brakes. Damn mustangs still had rear drums for many more years and camaros into the 90s had carbs and throttle body injection. Oh and let's not forget both had live rear axles into the next century!

MacCool

The 280ZX Turbo was only available with an automatic transmission, at least in the first year 1981. Their manual couldn't stand up to the torque. Rear end squat was common...I remember installing springs and sway bars on both of mine.

Interestingly, that turbo made it one of the fastest imports in the US back then. They added the turbo because the thing was becoming fatter and emission-laden to the point where the normally-aspirated 280ZX was slower than the 240Z. As fast as I remember it being, 0-60 was like 7.1 seconds. My 370Z supposedly does that in 4.5 seconds according to my Dynolicious app, 4.8 seconds according to Car & Driver, and 5 seconds according to Edmunds.

Funkdoobiest

Yeah I remember them saying the turbo was faster than the Vette at the time which wasn't what it used to be either. Later also finding out the ZX was the red headed stepchild in Zs cause it had blown up in size and weight due to luxury and comfort.

The 82-83 looked really good, vs the 81 with the mesh wheels and chrome. 82-83 cleaned up nicely with the covered bumpers, strakes in the b-pillars, tails, and those nice swastika wheels. I scored me a set back then and they were the sportier size, a whopping 15". I installed some KYBs to help with the rear end squat after the Z kept busting up the hydraulic shocks I had prior. They knew me at Western Auto cause I had a lifetime warranty on the shocks and I kept bringing in dripping shocks to get warrantied. Did it probably 5-6 times until they finally asked to put it up on the lift to see what the problem was. They didn't find anything but they saw I even replaced the springs. Got tired of replacing them so I went with KYB. It helped but I realized it was just a flaw in the design.