yah it's not too bad if the Z's your only car and drive it daily. it's when you have other MT's. it kinda throws you off the first few miles each time. the Z has a wierd clutch feel until you remove or replace that clutch helper spring.. and on top of that, throttle with latency, light flywheel doesn't help smoothness either especially when new to this car.

after you get the hang of the car, no issue. very smooth.

For me I've only stalled a handful of times in 2k miles, all of them when in the first few weeks of owning it.

So driving the Z isn't too hard, driving it well is. Unless I am ripping and tearing, shifting smoothly is tough. At least for me it is. I either feel like it catches way to early, or I'm giving it to much and it's slipping. I can't ever seem to get the sweet spot for a smooth shift. At high RPM's it's no problem, smooth as butter. Just starting and low RPM's.

:tiphat:
Mind you, I killed the engine 3 times in a 10 minutes city drive with some open roads. The salesman with me who came from a BMW, Audi & Mitsubishi dealerships in the past i.e. he knows how to drive a manual sports car, kindly suggested he drove back to the Nissan dealership. Never felt so embarrased in a test drive before:icon14:

Load up the revs before letting off the clutch on Zs. It's really the best way.

this thread is funny

"Low" torque + gear ratio + long useless travel + short engagement = kind of spongy and difficult to use at first. the first 2 poins in that equation are the most important to me, and thats why I think its so hard on the low end and so smoooooth on the high end. Plus, and maybe this is just me, the fact that the gas peddle is attached to the ground and the clutch is "hanging" affects me a little. I'm coming from a car where all 3 were "hanging", much easier to toe them. Gettin used to it hough, and I'm sure you will too :D

The 350Z and like it the 370Z are more difficult to drive than any other stick shift car I've owned, and I've owned a bunch. It's absolutely possible to drive them smoothly with practice, but requires far more "getting used to" than nearly any other car I've ever driven.

Has NOTHING to do with the power level and everything to do with the clutch. I've driven cars with much more HP than the Z that were still far easier to drive.

Thats what I was suggesting, that high horsepower/torque is easier to drive MT because it takes less harmony between gas and clutch release, that extra power gets you where you need to be within the RPM range without "manually" putting your feet there. If that makes any sense...:ugh2:

I owned an '07 350Z Roadster, then a MazdaSpeed3, and now have an '09 370Z Coupe. Shifting the Roadster and the MS3 was very smooth. The 370Z takes a little more effort to get a smooth shift especially going from 1st to 2nd, that's if you don't have the Synchro Rev Match tranny available in the Sport Package. I've found it to be much smoother if you get the RPMs up to at least 3k in first gear before shifting into 2nd. I have driven M/T cars my entire life (58 years old) and you can't compare a smaller engine car with the Z to begin with. Personally, I like that you have to work a little bit to get a smooth shift in the 370Z and you have to focus a little bit more when you drive it. That's what owning a sports car should be all about. If that's not your cup of tea, I suggest buying a Toyota Corola or Honda Civic with M/T. I'm sure that shifts very smoothly. As for me, I wouldn't want the 370Z to be any different in the way it shifts.

My experience with the Z isn't that it's hard to drive but rather that frequent stops were annoying, since the shifter and clutch both seem to be on an on/off switch. Very notchy when trying to put it in first and very tiresome to move a couple feet at a time with the clutch.

I never stalled it though.

:tup:
Thank you lord! I still have problems from 1st to 2nd, i thought it was just me getting used to a MT again.

It sounds just like my 06 G35 I used to have. It wasn't the power of the car because i've driven cars with less power and torque and also cars with more power and torque but it was just a tricky clutch to get used to.

I didn't read all 11 pages but I will say this. From my experience, my two Z's, '09 coupe and current '10 roadster, shift easier than my previously owned '96 Ford Aspire and current 2011 Honda Civic coupe. There is nothing wrong with the gearbox in a Z other than the annoying clunk.

Before getting my G, I test drove all 3 (370z, g37 coupe and sedan). I honestly can't say any of these three shift differently from one another. In stock form, all have vague clutch feel with narrow friction zone. The weaker clutch spring does help alot. However, if you got $$$, there is a fully adjustable replacement clutch pedal assembly available. IIRC something like $200 or $250 for the kit.

More info available here *RJM Performance.com - Home

For me, the weaker spring is a fine fix. I'm used to driving cars with heavy clutch pedals that have high uptake and small friction zones (my late 90's camaro was very similar).

Ive only owned my z for a month and I do notice the z's clutch tends to feel just on and off. Ive driven other cars and IMO its probably the most challenging (but not difficult) cars to drive.

I messed around with shifting the car when I frist got it to get used to the clutch. Ive noticed that when you engage the clutch slower and release normally it tends to be smoother between shifts for 1st and 2nd. Thats what work for me, i dont know about everyone else.

stalled once so far, but it was because I was trying to feel for the sweet spot in the clutch haha/:driving: