How to Keep with the Jones's

BrianMSmith

If all you want is Hp, then you should be buying a Mustang or Camaro, no question. Heck, you can get 500Hp in a sedan these days, that will kill a Z from the lights. But, there's a lot more to a car than Hp. I love my Z because it's NOT a muscle car, and because there are few of them on the road - I do not like having what the "joneses" have. Call me a snob, but the Z is for drivers with refined and multidimensional preferences, sure we like to accelerate fast on occassion, but it's more about steering, connection, precision, corner to corner poise at the limit on the canyons. And I can appreciate an upscale interior and modern (not retro) design, it looks appropriate at the office, at the kid's school, etc, getting in/out wearing a business suite. My old Camaro SS was absolutley incredible performance for the money, with some chassis and suspension mods, but it did not offer near the same connection and poise on challenging roads - and I as long as I owned it, I always felt (and looked) like a kid who never grew up, fancy suite or not. It's a matter of style and image, and muscle cars don't do it for me (the GTR is frankly questionable in regard to style, but probably makes up for it with performance).

ImportConvert

I agree that the Z is nice and more up-scale than the mustang or camaro, but most owners I see are young people (under 25) and don't fit well with the suite/tie image unless they are the salesman selling the car. You sound more like a BMW or Porsche customer with your talk of "refined and multidimensional" and "appropriate at the office and wearing a business suite". 370Z evokes the image of the younger military and college guys that inhabit my town. This poll seems to corroborate that.

http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...poll-38-a.html

Econ

I work on Wall Street, and Im in a suit/tie in my Z everyday

...only 21 though

shadoquad

Actually, I've met Z owners of a wide range of ages and stations in life. I haven't noticed any one trend in age or social status tied to this car over any other.

ImportConvert

I have never met an older Z owner. Just what looked like 35 (at the oldest) and below. Demographics differ, though, and living near one of the largest military installations in the country skews things around here.

m4a1mustang

That's funny because I saw the whitest beard I have ever seen in my life this morning, and he was behind the wheel of a silver 370Z sport. The guy looked pretty badass.

BTW, I am a businessman and have been a businessman in both a 370 and Mustang. I feel "refined and multidimensional" in neither of the two cars. They are sub $40k toys that kids have easy access to. Nothing "refined and multidimensional" about them.

If I was driving a BMW, Audi, Porsche, Merc, or other luxury/high-end car maybe I'd feel that way. But I don't. I just feel like a successful professional who, outside of the office, absolutely refuses to grow up. Bottom line is I *should* be driving one of those cars but I'm not.

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ImportConvert

Biggest/whitest beard I saw was behind the wheel of a drop-top 98-02 Z28.

It's all about preference I think. I still LOL at the idea that the 370Z could ever be viewed as conveying the type of maturity, and discrimination the poster above indicated.

I even view the GT-R as a younger guy's car. Maybe some nanoengineer or IT guy in his late 20's.

Just my perceptions, surely many will argue against.

m4a1mustang

The thing about sports cars or really any type of iconic car (Z, Corvette, Mustang, etc) is that you get a very wide range of ownership. From 16 year olds who get them as birthday presents all the way up to retired guys just wanting to have some fun. We can stereotype all we want, but the fact of the matter is that affordable performance cars tend to attract a very wide range of customers in terms of age, background, etc.

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southercadesi

That's what I was trying to get at

cptspeed

I saw a fat girl driving a new Z. She was multi-dimensional.

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dad

She wants sex.

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m4a1mustang

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ProfessorDave

Are the Jonses multidimensional?

I'm in 3D...does that count?

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Rain, snow, sleet, hail: 2009 Mazda 3 sGT HB
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cfweber

it's all about bang for the buck, and to keep up the Z will need to get quicker.

if the sales are indeed down, they may move the price point up

at $40k a Z could hang out between the Mustang and the Corvette

the current Z is the best buy for quickness, agility, speed

and it turns heads.

But time waits for no man-or sports car.

Lug

For me the question is simply..What will improve the 370Z's overall performance the most? Right now I believe adding horsepower will give you faster track times, strip times, etc. than any other mod. It already handles extremely well, it has nice enough egrodynamics, it looks great, and it seems to be fairly reliable when compared to other sports cars. It's biggest weakness is power at this point. Many other companies have upped their game, Nissan needs to step up soon as well. When the 370Z debuted, there was no Camaro, there was no 5.0 mustang, and the porsche has less power (the last big thing for them was a power bump as the 370Z came out).

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