Bye-Bye Z
 

Walked in a Ford dealership this past Sunday to check out the Shelby GT500, and walked away with a black Shelby GT500 Convertible. Loved the Z, but once I test drove the Shelby I was sold.

Zee ya. ;)

best of luck with the shelby, should be a lot of fun!

I rented a 5.0 this past weekend (not a gt500 i know!) and was not impressed at all. I did like the steering wheel sensitivity controls and interior lighting options but I would never change my Z for a stang. MAN I LOVE MY CAR!

Enjoy your new ride though! Congrats!

Post some pics when you get a chance!

why in the world would you get a mustang????

:rofl2:

Nice! Post some pics.

Congrats and enjoy the ride.

Oh, Remember this?

http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1317085508

Old School Z's ;)

post pics. very nice car

next meet will be all mustangs:icon17:

seriously, what idiot trades his Z in for a MUSTANG??? :ugh2:

Not sure if I would have gone the convertible route but a GT500... you're gonna need to swap that blower out with a Kenne Bell real soon. :tup:

btw, if you would have held out another year, the '13 is rumored to be making 620hp:icon14::eekdance:

Enjoy the new ride.

What I can never figure out about Mustangs is that they do well on paper. In my own real world experience, Mustangs hold up traffic on the turns. One even slowed us down at Sears Point last week at the Jim Russell class. They look fine but even my Mustang Cobra owning buddy noticed my observation about holding up traffic.

Depends on the driver I guess.

Plus the only Mustangs that have been good on paper with the road courses are the new ones. Older styles will be a lot slower.

Remember there is a huge skill disparity at track days and driving schools. I have passed 911 Turbos and Corvettes in my '03 GT simply because those drivers were very, very cautious. Not everyone has the balls or skill to drive fast.

A 2011 GT or GT500 will be very fast around the bends in good hands.

Skill matters more than anything at that level...but wasn't that guy also running a vert on Nero's? I'd be holding up traffic on all season tires too

Ah yeah, that's true. No car is going to do well on track with those tires.

In before steve mentions I would hold him up on any tire :rofl2:

Get out of my GoPro's way. :tiphat:

...except the Nissan 370Z.

:roflpuke2:

I heard a 370z with all seasons won't be able to stay on the road trying to keep up with a maxima :p

Man, I ride winter tires, no I mean SNOW CHAINS and set better lap times than Mustangs on racing slicks with superchargers.

Son, they ain't got no game for me. :bowrofl::bowrofl::bowrofl:


Now, outside of Forza, it's a different story.

Provided you don't install those koni's...you shouldn't be running into any issues with me in your way Because once again, I will run behind you
:ugh2:

You guys always run behind me anyways, Z's and Maximas are my little ducklings, and I help them cross the road. And by cross the road I mean the distance between NOVA and ZDayZ.

Ak. Needs to build a new section. "Z yesterday-mustang today section." Lol.

I'm not knocking mustangs but I just don't get how people for from Z's to stangs. I can buy a stang as a second car, maybe? But it would be more natural to go from a Z to a vette or porsche. Even the vette is a stretch without certain suspension mods. I know the stang does well on tracks with its combination of improved suspension and power. But I'm not feeling the steering feel, seating position, gauges and ride height at all. I would have to change so much on a stang. When I think of one I would purchase? It would be that BOSS 302. GT is a no go. 412hp or not. Can't do it.
The stang is very respectable though as far as the numbers it puts down and the miraculous upgrade in performance in spite of still sitting on a track use only live axle suspension. Anyway, congratulations. Its still a nice looking car for what it is and leagues better than the 2010 and earlier.

Damn John. HOpefully you'll still come and lead us on those mountain cruises!

I can certainly see the attraction to the new Mustangs and respect some of the guys' decisions to switch. They have great build quality, they are inexpensive for the performance you get, and they have a back seat which seems to be creeping into a few of the decisions. I would hands-down pick a Mustang GT over a G37.

That being said, I chose a Z for exclusivity, reliability, and the fact it was a true sports car.

I just hope that some of our newly "fallen" brothers will continue to hang around as I find them to be great sources of information and entertainment.

Most of us stick around even though we have to put up with some of the abuse. I started our local 370Z Owner's club here, still run the Meetup group, and lead our cruise to ZDayZ every year. :icon17:

I'll give you "abuste"

:yum:

[French Accent] I am so sorry, I am from Paris [/French Accent]

:tup:

:owned:

:roflpuke2:

The driver is everything.

A working theory: People buy cars for their popularity/badge (Ferrari, BMW) but purpose built cars like the Porsche GT2 and 3 costing far more than a base 911. And tend to not hold-up folks behind them, because they are driving enthusiasts.

With the Z you get a car for enthusiasts that does not carry a "trendy" badge. They even took the Z off and replaced it with a Nissan burger. I refer to my own as a Datsun 370Z.

The Mustang sells far more, than every Z, and every single Porsche built during the same year. As a result you get people who buy a car that is both popular and has a worthy badge. A GT and a GT500 both say Mustang. The Corvette also has a base and ZR1. It is just that the Mustang buyer since 1964 has been more concerned about power than handling. As a result, the standard new Mustang driver still holds up traffic, just like their older one.

All this holds true for the Camero and Charger too, just that the Mustang is top in the group.

This is a personal theory not fact. Any agreement or disagreement? I am not married to this I just can not figure out why all these cars hold up Camrey's, and trucks. I know in my own hands it would be different.

I don't think it's car specific because the type of person that would actually take their car out on track is a totally different breed. I know, and have known, plenty of crappy Z drivers that would hold up traffic on track regardless of how much seat time they had, so I think it's unfair to generalize and say the "standard" driver for any given type of car would hold up traffic on track... because the type of person that would actually go out on track is not the "standard." We are a very small minority.

I think Dan touched on it earlier, and I remember from your other track day thread, but the car out on track was a V6 convertible on all-seasons. I would hold up traffic too if I was driving that... but I assure you if I was driving the GT, or a V6 Coupe with Performance Package, I wouldn't.

Track days are always a crapshoot because there is a varying skill level. Throw a newb in a McLaren F1 and he'd hold you up in the corners.

To insinuate that the Z is strictly for enthusiasts, or that its typical driver has more skill than another type of car, is disingenuous. There are PLENTY of drivers that buy the Z purely because of how it looks, and that is VERY evident if you read about these forums. And there are plenty that couldn't drive 'round a track if their life depended on it (think "oops, VDC off").

To insinuate that the Z is strictly for enthusiasts, or that its typical driver has more skill than another type of car, is disingenuous. There are PLENTY of drivers that buy the Z purely because of how it looks, and that is VERY evident if you read about these forums. And there are plenty that couldn't drive 'round a track if their life depended on it (think "oops, VDC off").

I don't think it's car specific because the type of person that would actually take their car out on track is a totally different breed. I think Dan touched on it earlier, and I remember from your other track day thread, but the car out on track was a V6 convertible on all-seasons. I would hold up traffic too if I was driving that... but I assure you if I was driving the GT, or a V6 Coupe with Performance Package, I wouldn't. I know, and have known, plenty of crappy Z drivers that would hold up traffic on track regardless of how much seat time they had, so I think it's unfair to generalize and say the "standard" driver for any given type of car would hold up traffic on track... because the type of person that would actually go out on track is not the "standard." We are a very small minority.

Track days are always a crapshoot because there is a varying skill level. Throw a newb in a McLaren F1 and he'd hold you up in the corners.

Shocking as it may be, gotta do a lot of agreeing with steve here

In 09, the proportion of track enthusiasts buying the z over the mustang probably was huge. These days though, there are almost as many 5.0s as Evo's at a track day. Part of that is the improvements in the mustang, part of that is discovering things like fuel starve in the z. You'll notice Travis, mike and chris are some of the only guys still regularly tracking the z...there is a reason.


On that mustang, all season tire, droptop, etc all make life hard. Steve, I do think it was a v8 though (cali special is GT only, right?)

Making judgements on just about anything is tough at a driving school. Most of those guys aren't even hpde1 ready, which means you can derive exactly zero information from their performance.

I thought it was a sixer but I could be wrong.

Dan, you were right, it was a GT/CS. I'd still be slow in that on those all seasons.

Haha - yeah I remember! That was a nice drive from OH to VA and back!

Here's some pics I took last weekend

Keep me in the loop and I will be there - love driving in those mountains!

Shelby. Nice.

Ugh I want those Recaros.