Sweet Spot
 

I have a question. I have a 2009 CY 7AT. I have had the car since September and overall I love my Z and I am %110 satisfied with my choice vehicle and everything. But I have a question about the gas peddle. I have owned quite a few cars in my 26 years on this earth. This car being the first with a floor mounted gas peddle though. Anywho most days my Z is a blast to drive and some days more of a hassle. I have a certain pair of shoes i wear more because i have too because if I dont wear these shoes when i drive the car doesn't feel as responsive. When I take off the car is slow and the transmission shifts kinda jerky like. When I have on my driving shoes as I like to call them and my foot and is on the peddle a certain way it is all good i take off the transmisson shifts smooth and feels peppy. I give it gas and it responds no matter how fast or slow I am going. And if I dont have the driving shoes on then it is the exact opposite. Does anyone else have this problem and if so has anyone found a solution. And before anyone post about my car being an automatic or anything smart or rude like that I am seriously looking for an answer to a problem that is making it difficult to enjoy my Z everytime I drive it.

I have an 7AT, and I don't know about a certain kind of sneaker being more responsive than the other, but i do feel a delay in the time i press the pedal to when the car takes off. Now if im wearing boots (which I think I have only once or twice in the Z) I noticed no delayed reaction, I think because the larger sole of the boot fully covering the pedal and depressing it rather than the tip of my sneaker usually depressing the pedal.

*Pedal

I haven't experienced this problem per se, but certainly I've found it easier to drive with proper shoes. Like if I'm wearing shoes with a thick sole, pedal feel is reduced. I haven't that reduced feel translate into a less responsive throttle like you have, but I could see how that might happen. My guess is that the reduced pedal feel is causing you to depress the accelerator either less, or slower, or both. That in turn causes the perception of reduced engine responsiveness. Now, I'm speculating, obviously. There's no way to know for sure without actually having some instrumented readings on your throttle positions when you're wearing different shoes.

I wasn't saying the sneaker makes the car more responsive. When I wear those sneakers my foots peddle placement makes the car more responsive.

Spelling has never been my strong point. But that makes sense thanks

Damn, if you can't drive AT smoothly.... :icon17: ;)

If you want to take care of that delay and make the car much responsive and alive feeling......UPREV!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I kind of get what your saying. If I'm wearing thin and light sneakers like my Kobe's I can feel the pedal better. The pedal doesn't change, the lighter thinner the sneaker the better overall feel and control you have over the pedal. This goes for a Manual also, just a better feel of the pedal. It's logic, heavier thicker the shoe, more pressure needed. Lighter and thinner the shoe, less pressure needed and more responsive on pedal. Think about racecar drivers, they have super thin and light shoes.

Almost all of the cars that I've owned have had a top pivot gas pedal. I found the bottom pivot pedal of the Z a bit of a problem at first. With a bottom pivot pedal you may need to reposition your foot a bit (compared to a top pivot pedal) to allow smoother operation of the pedal. Try putting the bottom of your heel on the floor at the pedal pivot point and position the ball of your foot on the center line of the pedal (the ball of your foot should now be centered somewhere on the upper half of the pedal) and operate the pedal with with a rocking motion pivoting on your heel. Only after I made this minor change did I realize that I had been operating the pedal by sort of laying my foot on the floor and placing my toe at the very bottom of the pedal (this allowed me to easily swing my foot between the brake and the gas without lifting my foot from the floor which is kind of nice in heavy traffic), which works fine on a top pivot pedal but sucks for a bottom pivot pedal and makes it difficult to smoothly modulate the pedal.

Just a thought.

Hmm.... I thought the thread was NSFW when I saw the title.

Carry on.

Bah, I just push the pedal to the floor with VDC off. I get the expected results every time!

In all seriousness I have zero issues with mine. Maybe you just need to adjust to your thicker shoes?

I've had a '12 370Z base/sport 7AT for about 10 days now, and I think I know exactly what you are talking about, because that's the way I was going to describe what I am experiencing so far, so you are not alone. I only wear either Skechers or sandals so I experience the symptom all the time. I was wondering if there were some kind of problem with the tranny but I think that maybe that's just the way it is with that trans' design. I'm thinking that maybe it has something to do with the variable valve timing/fuel squeezing goals. It might have even happened when I test drove another Z before I bought the car, but I'm just not sure. Anyway, I think I'll mention it to the dealer and ask him to let me drive a different one just to be sure it is a common condition.

Were you wearing this when you say you cannot feel the gas pedal:

Back to the topic, the thickness and the softness of the out-sole play a big role on the pedal-feel.

If you try a pair of racing shoes, thin and soft out-sole, you can feel then pedal very good thus you know how much you are pressing on it.

Then try a pair of running shoes, you'll lose at least 60% of the feel compare to the racing shoes, you can still feel some because the out-sole of the running shoes is soft.

Imagine wearing a pair of thick industrial gloves and a pair of latex gloves.

But the more you drive the faster you get used to it.

Just a matter of getting used to it. :tiphat:

Is it harder or easier to heel-toe in the 370Z because of the gas-pedal design?

I too wear certain shoes for driving. Piloti for me.