blacklist hunter,makes predictions for 2012 Z...
 

http://www.blacklisthunter.com/3638/...70z-preview-2/

According to this magazine, the updates will be an updated grille and sideskirts for the exterior and they claim most updates will be in the interior. I would hope so because we are probably the only car over 20k without bluetooth/usb and other little conveniences being standard. Not that I personally bought the Z for gadgets, but on a standpoint much larger than myself. People looking for a sports car or any car base a cars cool factor on gadgets and gizmos. Mustang has that sync, camaros have on star. They all have bluetooth. They all can get upgraded stereos without buying $4000 in unnecessary leather pkgs.
Z loses a lot of buyers due to the too little/too much factor. In other words. Not many want to pay over 40k for this car. But want a little more that's in the base package. When you compare to the GT cars, they offer more for the dollar as far as gadgetry and music for less money. The best examples are mustang and gencoupe.

What I found most interesting, this article stated that nissan may lower its msrp to compete with the likes of mustang and other sports cars. I can definately see that as well. With the rise in competition. The Z has to offer more. 40k is not cheap. Car companies are going back to the basics and offering more for less. Nissan must adapt as well. They make the best sports car for the money but some key ingredients can definately make it an even better buy.

What you guys think?

i hope they don't lower the price, and you dont need to pay 40k for this car...

you can get them new with options for ~32

I don't want the 370z to turn into a boy racer

Stop with the boy racer crap. Reason being an EVO runs in the same price range and has the boy racer rep. The Z insurance is as bad as any other boy racer car so its not exempt from that reputation no matter how much you are trying to seperate yourself from the harsh reality that the Z is built in japan and is a japanese racer car and has a ricey shark faced grille. If it wasn't a rice mobile the Z would not have been in every fast movie to date.

You can get options touring for 32k if the dealer wants to sell it for that much. They are talking msrp.

Lastly, I doubt the price drop will be gencoupe 3.8 rspec low. That car is 27k with brembos. I'm sure 30k is the lowest they will drop it.

If people want fancy gadgets that weigh down the car, BUY A CADILLAC!!!! Nissan should not lower the price or add more gadgets. What they should do is add more power to the engine, add an oil cooler, upgrade the brake pads to more aggressive set up, stiffen the suspension a bit, have a better exhaust, and better more sticky tires. That should help the z catch up to the mustang gt, cayman s, and audi tt rs

lol my favorite part of your inchoherent response was ricey shark faced grille

boy racer has nothing to do with where the cars are made. If the price drops too low, we'll get a bunch of kids parents buyihng the cars for them and ricing them out left and right. I personally dont believe there will be a price drop of any measure, but just playing devils advocate if there was (which there wont be).

and i got a New touring for 26K. (24 miles). dealers will go low, you just need to work them right

I agree with pharmacist to a point. But on econ's response. It seems like young people can afford our cars just fine. I see young kids in our cars, in bimmers and lexus is300's that are new. I see them in evo's and wrx sti that cost the same as our car.
Incoherent. Well I'm on pain meds... lol. I'm just calling a spade a spade. I love the Z, but we aren't driving Aston Martins. Our cars are. 31k to 47k cars depending on coupe/vert and packages. Many wealthy parents seem to find that to be an acceptable price range to buy cars for there kids as well as young 20 somethings out of college to buy there rides. I don't see how a possible $1,000 drop will change anything???

true, however a 1,000 price drop will not cause nissan to sell more which would be their primary goal in a price drop...

i dont think people turned their back on buying a Z b/c the msrp was $1k too much.

anyway, interested to see what nissan has in store...

lowering the price is not really going to help sales imho.

Hopefully they finally listened and add that $700 oil cooler.

I doubt they'd lower the price with all the costs going up and Japans economy pretty much taking a nose dive after the earthquake/tsunami. A 2 seater sports car is a hard sell to most people, so in that respect you can't compare it to those GT cars.

Keeping the price the same and bumping up performance I think will boost sales. The current packages and trims I think are pretty on point with potential buyers. What they should do is make the Nismo version in a class of it's own with maybe a different engine all together or better yet boosted from the factory.

does this mean I should wait for the 2012 model? I was really thinking about picking up a Z this summer.

So there was no talk of making the engine a direct-inject (correct me if i'm wrong) for better MPG while delivering more HP?

This article reads as if written by a search engine throwing random things together. I don't trust an article if I have to spend the bulk of my time figuring out WTF they are trying to say.

"What will bring to an incredible upgrade Nissan sports car? The most likely answer is very tight foreign and new side skirts and an updated interior that is likely to be filled with quality materials that most closely resemble the price tag and its coupe counterpart expensive grill.":icon14:

:iagree:


Also guys, keep in mind, people have a different idea of what it means to 'afford' a car. for some people 'affording' a car is paying for it up front in cash. others its taking out a 7 year loan with no money down, and then theres a whole middle ground. someone who can pay for a Z up front in cash can afford to finance a 911. someone else could afford to pay for a 94 honda civic in cash, could afford to finance a Z.

the point is that the price point of a car does have an impact on the demographic that buys it, however, taste has more of an impact. Z's have never been 'boy racer' cars. not because they are in this untouchable realm of awesomeness, but just because they simply haven't been as riced out as other similarly priced cars

This. How was this a reliable source of anything? Half the sentences did not make any sense at all.

But they can compare to miata sales, corvette sales and bimmer sales. Vettes sell over 60,000 units annually and miatas sell over 20,000 annually. I'm sure nissan wants to sell at least 25k units a year. They steadily sold the 350z between 25k and 30k units a year.

I would like to see a more interesting color pallette, better standard stereo. Bose should be standard and nav bose should be "the" option. I would like to see standard bluetooth and usb and 35 extra lbs taken off the car. Maybe a new sport wheel designwith upgrades to the grille and skirts to break the monotoney. Lastly, the nismo tune for the sport pkg and add even more power to the nismo. Like 370hp @8000rpm

One other thing. I had to jump on this to add... OIL COOLER. That would rock.

I found this link as well. Someone is claiming on you tube this is the 2012 370z? If its true then it will look sick and I will wait. But I personally think its a bodykit on a current Z...

YouTube - ‪Beautiful 2012 Nissan 370z on 20s‬‏

That is just a white non-sport with wheels & blacked out fang.

Unknown, I know you're on pain meds dude, so I'll be gentle, but my insurance went DOWN from an Audi S4 to the Z. I also think the boy racer stigma has more to do with the amount of cars modded in that particular style, as well as being performance model variants of commuter or econo cars. The current Z has no downmarket variant, it is essentially an automotive one-off, the closest thing to it in house being the G37. The Evo has it roots in the humble Lancer, STi same story. I could on and on with examples, but I think that has far more to do with the boy racer stigma than it's build location. Not to mention cars like the Dodge SRT4, which are about as heavy on boy racer/ricer image as you can get, despite being American.

there are like 5 different trim levels of corvettes with different power plants. They have something for everyone. the Z is more or less the same car in any trim.

Where are you getting your sales numbers from? 60k vette sales? really? Do those include used or new model sales?

Production numbers overall have been dropping for the Z since 2003. Oh yea I'm sure Nissan would love to sell 25k to 30k units a year, which by the way they haven't even produced more than 25k units since 2005. I'm talking US sales production btw.

What they could maybe do is spend a little more on Z advertising. I barely see any commercials at all.

350Z U.S. Sales, copied from Wikipedia. I'm not claiming these numbers as the gospel, just a baseline
Year U.S. Sales
2002 13,253
2003 36,728
2004 30,690
2005 27,278
2006 24,635
2007 18,957
2008 10,337

True on the advertising. Aside from the one for the Maxima, I haven't seen anything even showing the Z. Even a few months ago, with the big ad campaign for various sales they had, they didn't even show a Z amongst the other offerings

Here's some production numbers from My350

2003..... 36,728
2004..... 30,690
2005..... 27,278
2006..... 24,635
2007..... 18,957
2008..... 10,337
2009..... 13,117
2010..... 10,215
2011..... 1,138 (through Feb)

Vette production from Corvette Action Center:

2003..... 35,469
2004..... 34,064
2005..... 37,372
2006..... 34,021
2007..... 40,561
2008..... 35,310
2009..... 16,959
2010..... 12,194

I don't know the accuracy of these numbers but it's clear production for all sports cars has been in decline. Adding a few interior bits isn't going to suddenly increase new Z sales...

Looks like we had the same numbers on the 350Z production. As sad as it is to say, I think the only thing that would boost Z sales in this day and age is 2 more seats and a whole lot of interior repackaging. As has been said many times before though, it does make the Z a lot more rare (exclusivity implies some restriction on entry), and does add some appeal to me personally in that regard. I'd also be curious to see Miata and Z4 sales in comparison, I looked around a little but nothing turned up.

News flash. neither the Z nor the GTR are the bread and butter, cash cow's of nissan. They don't make that much money selling either of these cars. Nissan makes its money selling altimas, maximas, versas, sentras, rogues. They could make hte GTR more fuel efficient, ditch the turbos and DCT and it would be way cheaper then everyone who would otherwise by a maxima could afford one, and they'd sell a hell of a lot more of them. Point is, i'm sure they'd love to sell more Z's but they are more focused on selling more of their main money makers than compromising their higher end sports cars to try and appeal to the masses.

And next up on the nightly news...the sky is blue. In all seriousness, I think the general consensus isn't one of attempting to make the Z a volume seller, more setting it up as a "halo" car along with the GTR simply to attract brand attention.

This is all fine and dandy and great information. But the topic at hand is being derailed. As far as being gentle on me??? Well you had info and schooled me... is there any reason to get at me harshly other than giving me the info. Anyway thank you for clearing up vette sales for me. I was always under the impression vettes sold more 2 seat sports cars, than any other 2 seat sports cars sold in america.
And as far as the Z being its own car or whatever. Again, hey that's great. My only point is. The car is still affordable enough for a huge chunk of society to obtain. The amount of people that can afford a 33k new car or a 26k used car is pretty high. So boy racer obtainable it is. As far as Z insurance being lower than audi... well that is purely subjective to the area of the United States you live in and what is going on in your area. When I insured my Z. I paid the same rate as my G37 and Altima for full coverage. My insurance is going up in june but its due to increased services. What my insurance will increase due to my accident is still unknown.

Back on the topic that excites and motivates me while going through all this B.S. that I'm going through, is the 370z refresh. I'm just wondering what will be addressed in the refresh. The Z interior is pretty nice for the price. The only thing I can think of is stereo upgrades. Its the only crappy thing on the Z interior. The nav option is among the best in the industry at any price range. Maybe adding a little more color selection on base model seats? Charcoal is the only fabric color. Maybe leather bolsters with cloth inserts will be added on base models like on the hyundai? Lol.
As far as fascia updates, I hope the 2012 grille gets closer to that blacked out GT-R sort of look. It would definately give the Z an awesome look. The Z looks awesome now but the blacked out design is the only design I can dream of worth changing its current look.

The being gentle remark was a joke, which I guess didn't come across as intended. I think that there may be some confusion with obtainable vs. feasible. Yes, the majority of Americans buying new cars today can afford in some way or another a car priced between 26-40k. However this car has to be able to do far more things than the Z can, essentially making the Z completely unfeasible. I also never claimed that the Z was untouchable based on price, my point was that I believe it has a vastly lower "boy racer" appeal due to the fact that it's a standalone model, not a tarted up version of a lower end model.

In regards to the 2012 refresh, I would imagine sound dampening would be high on their list. While most people on here don't care, Nissan likely doesn't have their head in the sand when reading reviews and has taken note of everyone from Consumer Reports to Car and Driver pissing and moaning about how loud it is. I completely agree on the stereo setup, they should do away with the base, and make the Bose stock and add an upmarket setup for the Touring+Nav. The other things would be doing away with the gas gauge and adding other functions to the center gauge pods.

Yes... so true. The gas gauge is wack. Hopefully they can do some kind of enhanced analog log like the rest of the gauge pod. That would be an excellent upgrade as well. Sound dampening would be upsetting because it will add weight. Unless they are willing to add more carbon fiber to keep weight equal or less? It wouldn't make sense to add sound deadening.

People feed so much into magazine articles its ridiculous. Magazine articles find the Z to be near flawless in performance. So in an effort to make BMW sound that much better. They rant and rave about engine cabin noise which you don't get much of in the 1 and 3 series vehicles. The magazines don't tell you that most dedicated sports cars on the road make a lot of cabin noise. Instead, they make idiotic attempts at comparing the Z to the most average of sports gt coupes in a higher price bracket.
For those that came from high end cars, then took a walk on the wild side and bought low end with the Z,or went from the family sedan/minivan, expected more in the sense of a quiet cabin. Us, with a less refined pallette, that come from older Z cars, v8 muscle and overboosted rotary engines know the Z is fast, noise is normal for what it is and engineering is above and beyond what other cars in the price range are at. Adding sound deadening will change weight distribution and general performance of this car. I will take it off in mine if they add it.

The enhanced gauges would be legit, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for something like the speedo in the S-Class Benz. That way you could have your coolant temp and gas gauge, as well as multifunction options such as tire pressure, etc. As far as sound deadening, while like you said we all have unrefined palates, to the bean counters at a major corporation, the ability to move x number of units more per year, if sound deadening is added, increasing profits by x amount of money, it will likely prove irresistible. My hope is that if they do go that route, it would be something lightweight or easily removed, like foam blocks, wheel well coating, or thicker carpet in the back. It seems pretty stupid to have people complaining about it in the first place, because as an enthusiast who chose the car on my own accord, I knew full well I was getting 2 seats, low storage capacity, cabin noise, and a rough ride, and most reviews act like it's a shock to get in the car and experience these things. However, while everyone here represents the enthusiast population, sadly to say if you look at Z sales since 09, we are in the minority. The boulevard cruisers make up more in sales, thus will carry the day when it comes to changes being made

Totally agree with you there. Nissan just has to keep the thought that this Z is not a profit car and just make it true to the enthusiasts. Nissan has enough bread and butter cars.

Last thought. The clock gotta go. Let's get another gauge that reads something pertaining to the motor or tranny. Put the clock on the radio or something. The clock really cornifies the gauge cluster.

:iagree: The problem is that while it's not a top seller, the opportunity to make a profit on a margin vehicle is probably overwhelming. The clock should either be relocated somewhere in the gauge pod, or on the HU. Even on the tragically awful base HU, there's room on the display for a clock. Changing that to a tire pressure display, g readout, or even something like the active engine output gauges available would further legitimize the Z as a pure sports car.