New Car and Driver review of the 370z... oil temp fail!

cossie1600

According to who? C&D said the EVO is faster, but Top Gear said the 370 is faster. They are going to be very close, but I personally would pick the car with better power/weight ratio. Low speed courses will favor the the EVO with its turbo and short gears, it's not going to help them when you get to the long straights.

CarsRfun

June Road and Track tested the Evo GSR vs the 370z
0-60 EVO 4.3 seconds
0-60 370z 4.9 seconds
Less than a second difference but technically the EVO was quicker in both 0-60 and quarter mile times during the Road and Track eval/comparisons.

cossie1600

Hmm..awd vs rwd? You going to tell me the EVO is a faster car in the rain and snow too? See trap speed if you want to see the true power on the car.

My wife's old E55 does the quarter mile in the mid 12s. Buy the car with the most HP if you want to be fast at the drag strip (see Mustang GT)

I don't have a problem with either car. It's a toss up between the two, not sure where people are coming up with their one sided conclusion.

dirtrat

Got my copy of the magazine delivered today. The part that makes me sad is they are comparing my car to a Miata and a Mini Cooper! What the hell Nissan! I still love my car though.

Snakes709

According to the fact that a 370z cant even be run on the track and get decent times without going into limp mode and having brakes fade away. I just dont know how Nissan claims the the Z is a track ready sports car and the damn thing over heats like a mofo. The only track it can handle without over heating is the 1/4 mile. And still it cant beat the Evo.

Yea sure if you want a nice sporty looking car to get you out of the "teenage bias group" then sure go with the 370z. Although i dont know many teens that own a EvoX unless mommy and daddy paid for it. And if you want something with better interior and sound proofing...go with the 370z. Me personally those are all optional bonuses. Like you i look for power:weight ratio, how the car reacts to mods, how the car performs on the track and how the car holds its value. Like i said, im not hear to bash the Z. I owned one, liked it at first but just not what i needed at the time and if a car cant even handle a short race at the track without going into limp mode...then screw it. Not to mention my Z was a damn hit and run magnet.

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2011 Evo-GSR AMS 2.4 stroker/ bore, FP Black build in progress.
Sponsor: DSG Performance

cossie1600

I don't disagree with you on that. I am not happy about the oil cooler purchase ($700). At the same time, I highly doubt you will hit limp mode on one single hot lap. As far as brakes, really? Who in their right mind would want to track their car on the stock pads and fluid, it's an accident waiting to happen. BTW, I am not a pro, but I would love to get a pro's input on how fast can his lap be on a stock car on extremely heated tires and brakes. I doubt it will be fast. 2-3 straight hotlaps in most cars will effectively kill any chance of it being fast without a cool down period. The engine gets too hot/tires get too hot and brakes get too hot. These are mass production vehicle, it's not going to do the 24 hours of Leman without any work.

I am not a Nissan fanboy. I bought the Z because I couldn't stand the look of the EVO and can't afford a TTS (see my complaints about how much I hate Nissan's lack of customer service or their service department).

Once again, it's all personal preference. Do you prefer Kim K or Jen A? B

Pharmacist

But Nissan never claimed the Z is a "track ready" car. Maybe the Nismo is marketed a bit as "track oriented" or "track focused", but Nissan never claimed the Z is ready for hardcore track duty. It's a sports car, not a race car.

Regarding the brakes, the majority of even "sports" cars would need at least pad and fluid upgrade for track use. I'm sure EVO brakes aren't the greatest either. The fact is that 95% of all Z owners just like other sports car owners will buy the car to cruise the roads. The most perfomance oriented drive they'll do is maybe a run down a mountain road on a weekend. For them a street pad is ideal. If Nissan puts aggressive track pads as standard they will whine about dust, noise, and excessive wear on the rotors.

As for oil temp, yes it would have been good if Nissan offered a cooler. Maybe not standard on a base model, but at least as part of the sport package or even on the Nismo Z. But again, just as it was mentioned, most Z buyers are NOT hardcore track rats.There just isn't a demand for upgrades like that. Heck, here in Ontario, from what I've seen and heard, there are probably only 2 or 3 guys other than myself in the entire province that track their car, and even they aren't regular.

And don't EVOs, at least in MR trim, have their own overheating and limp mode issues with the double clutch gearbox?

At the end of the day, even with the oil and brake issues, a stock z can still pull off very fast and competitive 2 or 3 laps before needing to cool down. If you talk about a full 20-30 min session, that's a different ball game, and only a race-car-with-a-license-plate such as a viper acr or gt3rs can pull that off without aftermarket upgrades.

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2009 370z Sport Touring/Nismo shift Knob/Z1 motorsports 34 row oil cooler