The Complete Package?

Jeffblue

135i isn't getting 475 whp without upgraded turbos, meth, race gas, and full bolt ons. your friend is full of it. do your own research on it. he just wants to make you feel bad. tell him the n55 is shittier for modifying/power than the previous n54 engine if you want to get back at him.

your friend sounds like a very impulsive car owner. usually people who lease cars are like that. they think their car is the best until they see something better and it immediately becomes a slow pile of junk. If i had a nickle for every time i heard someone say 'i wanna buy a ______ and drop a ______ in it, i'd have a lot of nickles.

That's what happens when they have to keep the costs down, as well has not cannibalize the GTR. Nissan has clearly marked the GTR as the superior, vehicle. it costs a lot more, has its very own, purpose built engine, and every year get gets about a 50hp/tq bump. meanwhile the 370z gets heated sideview mirrors, and eventually an oil cooler. It is by no means their flagship car, and as a result, gets much less attention from their engineers.

It's pretty logical if you think about it.
1990-1996, the skyline GTR was NOT imported to the US, and nissan sold a TON of Z's. Additionally they had a higher end model with an overhauled engine with forced induction from the factory. Yes, it was expensive, but the car got the attention it deserved from engineers and they really put lot of effort into building an amazing car. but eventually got too expensive and they stopped importing them to the US.

1996-2002, when the Z was not produced, Nissan came out with the R33, and R34 skyline GT-Rs, and those were amazing cars. during this time nissan stopped importing Z's to the US, and from 1999 to 2002 totally stopped producing Z's completely. So, they only had to concentrate on one car.

2003-2008 Nissan had figured out a way to make the Z a cheaper, more budget friendly sports car. Instead of its own motor it got to share the VQ with the other high end trim packages on nissan/infiniti cars. However, the 350z sold like hotcakes. There was no GTR to compete with.

2008+ Nissan GTR is released, gets its own purpose built motor, 485bhp, eventually becomes 550bhp. Meanwhile the 370z comes out, gets a very nice redesign, but is more or less the same car as the 350z. It is improved from a looks/interior quality perspective. Each model year that comes out has very marginal improvements over the previous year. At the same time the GTR gets more and more power. Then after 3 years of complaining, they finally put an oil cooler in the 370z. however, little has been done to improve the Z year in, year out, and it still share the same engine with the maxima, murano, g37,m37, fx, altima, etc. good job nissan

It's pretty obvious that Nissan is like a child with ADD. They simply cannot concentrate on two very good, good selling performance cars at the same time. The only time the Z was successful (good sales high, performance) was when the GTR wasn't around in some way (not being imported, not being produced). as long as the GTR is around, and being imported to the US, you can look forward to the Z not selling that well, and hardly getting any improvements year after year.