370z Driving Feel

Originally Posted by ZzzZz

For it's price, we all know the Z performs great #'s wise (straightline and ever more so in the corners) and it even improves upon the 350z in every way, but there is something more to be desired in terms of the overall driving experience. In creating something better than the 350z, something was lost along the way. What the 350z had was a living aura. Even if it performed worse, it felt alive. This 370z, while super quick and precise, feels cold - almost ghostly.

Care to express your thoughts on the Z's driving feel? What do other members here who own a 370z think? How does your driving experience compare vs prior cars; BMW, Mini, Mazda, Subaru, Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen, Honda, Mercedes?

Having driven 33,000 miles since Feb. 2009, I'll start first.

Many car reviewers complained about NVH, road noise, and the high-rpm engine ruckus. It's more than that. To try and put it into words...

- I've got to drive 8+/10 of the car's limit (acceleration/corners) to really enjoy it. For those times I'm just cruising, if there's traffic, or if I just want to chill, I don't enjoy driving the car at all and it becomes more of a chore. Like a caged wild beast, it's just dying to roam free. It seems like it's really not in the car's personality to enable the driver just to sit back, drive casually, appreciate "all its' little things', and enjoy the ride. I'm not talking about creature comforts here, more about the general lack of "sports car refinement" in the feel and acoustics of the car pertaining to the powertrain, intake, exhaust, suspension, shifter, throttle, on and on. Something's missing... like the body is there but the soul is not.

Some may just brush it off and say "it's a sports car - it's supposed to be like that". However...


- There is some sort of manufactured artificial feel to it that makes me feel disconnected from the road and driving experience. A sports car should not be like this. It's like going at it bare-back vs. going at it solo WITH a condom if you know what I mean. There's just a certain numbness and fakeness to it. I'm not sure if its the suspension or chassis tuning, engine/throttle response. Now I'm 100% stock so those of you that are modified feel free to chime in here.

- It would've been ideal if the driving experience felt like it was more than what the performance #'s shows on paper. In that regards, a little more like a BMW.

- Smooth roads are great but... There is a general lack of suspension/chassis tuning and refinement on non-smooth roads. Any type of highway bridge joints or just general uneven pavement makes the car twitchy & jittery and feel sloppy cornering. It's borderline nasty and makes me dread the noises and feel of it.

- It's been well talked about on Edmunds Inside Line and other automobile blogs/reviews, that given a choice between a garage full of other cars and the Z, the Z is one of the last one out of the garage. Everybody knows what awesome performance and beautiful exterior the Z has but I feel Nissan's design decisions & sacrifices in search for performance #'s for $30k totally lends itself to NOT being a more well-rounded sports car.

It's almost as if the 370z is designed to be a 3rd car, one for the weekends where you really couldn't give a sh!t driving balls to the walls like a madman. If they really wanted to go all out on performance and chase #'s, go all out and forget all the creature comforts and compromises like emissions, MPG, muffling the intake/exhaust, trying to make the car smoother. Be a brutish, crass, unrefined hardcore mofo - don't even attempt to hide it! It should be like a stripped down POWER version of what S2000 stands for in terms of handling .... and do it well. A 375HP/380TQ "Japanese Muscle Car" that can handle the corners a bit. Then there would be no trying to mask it as a sports car. We would all know what it is.

Does it suffer an identity crisis and lack focus? Is that why sales of the 370z suck so badly? You can mention the weak economy but lots of other cars like the new Muscle Cars are selling well. I chalk it up to being lifeless and unable to stir the emotions of the marketplace.


Or is it really just me?!

Happy

Originally Posted by kenchan

so our Z is actually a girly car?

Originally Posted by Mt Tam I am

See my sig for my mods. Handling is exceptional, power is not, just good.


RE:

I am part of a Ferrari group. Your complaints are the same in a Ferrari, except refinement and they won't turn off their traction control. So this car is not for you either.



A lady in the Ferrari group owns a 430 a 458 and another 458 on order, a Lamborghini 670 SV and more, including a GTR as her daily driver. A very impressive list. I asked her about the GTR and if she felt it soulless (my experience). She laughed and said no.

A few weeks later, she thanks me, then tells me she bought a 370Z and loves it. It has all the things the OP ( ZzZZz) says it doesn't. Now it is her daily driver.

Originally Posted by kenchan

so our Z is actually a girly car?

Originally Posted by shadoquad

If that's true, how come most Z meets are sausage fests?

Originally Posted by shadoquad

If that's true, how come most Z meets are sausage fests?

Originally Posted by Masa

Yup, my female friends say its "cute" all the time...

Originally Posted by ImportConvert

When I was shopping it it seemed to get that a lot. Never once heard "badass" or anything used to describe it. Then again, I live in the south. Demographics and all that work against 2-seat sports cars of any type.

Originally Posted by ImportConvert

When I was shopping it it seemed to get that a lot. Never once heard "badass" or anything used to describe it. Then again, I live in the south. Demographics and all that work against 2-seat sports cars of any type.

Originally Posted by Hambone1

There are a few contradictions in your original statement. First, you say that while cruising, driving sedately, and "enjoying the ride," the car seems to be like a caged beast wanting to be let out. Now to me, that analogy doesn't really scream soulless and cold. That being said, this whole thread kind of smacks of a wine tasting party where everyone stands around spending 90% of their time discussing the wine instead of drinking it.