Base Z - Regrets?

MursePaolo

this is on a smaller level, but back in the day, the ITR was the "track model" for integras, but people still upgraded them to make them "track worthy". whether you have base or sport, if you're hardcore, you'll always want more. well, at any rate, i wish i could afford both touring and sport, but i'd really like the navi in my brand new car. having all the tech stuff in the interior just makes me feel more rewarded for all my hard work. i really wish nissan would allow us to just stick the navi into the base models though.

oh, and yes, the "S-mode" is the stupidest thing i've ever seen in a manual car.

370Z Purist

It's a good thing for teaching new people, and it probably makes stop and go traffic just a bit more bearable.

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-Phil

"Since one of my brake light bulbs just went out, the forum told me that my piston rings are about to blow."

MursePaolo

I just don't see how having a machine blip the throttle for you would be conducive to learning. Might as well have the car turn for you too.

theDreamer

Ummm, it is a great way for those less experienced on the track to be able to jump in have one less thing in the equation to worry about. As you progress you can turn it off and learn to heal/toe properly. Remember the feature is either 100% on or off so if you do not like it just turn it off. Also, I will say that SRM is great for traffic in a manual, have to do less work (not the same as an automatic though).

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MursePaolo

new people will lean on the technology supplied. This has been done many times over. If you're going to learn something, why not learn it the right way from the start - by actually doing it? Seriously if someone is gonna get into racing and doesnt know how to blip the throttle, maybe they should think twice about it or do more research. This is something you can practice during daily driving! S-mode ftl.

Z_you_Later

I got my 370z Black 6 Speed Touring with Nav .. I would of course love the Sports Package and think for the price offered it's a great upgrade but, in my case I got my Z under invoice with all the features I wanted ... I enjoy the Navi and don't get lost as much as I usually do (haha) .. I don't mind driving without S-Mode and even if I did get the Sports Package would probably end up changing my rims anyways... I think the brakes are decent especially for daily driving .. I'm happy with my ride ...

alexanderb

MursePaolo

ok, i think we're at a bit of a headbutting here. what i don't understand is why someone who would like to learn how to drive stick and eventually race, would turn that thing on. isn't a big fun part of driving/racing stick is learning how to do things yourself? i mean, it's not rocket science. watch video or learn from someone human, get in car, turn on car, go to a track or wherever, have fun learning. what's the point really? you're still going to have to learn the right times to brake and downshift. might as well throw in rev-matching in there too. it SERIOUSLY doesn't take that long to learn how to rev-match. sure as hell shouldn't take enough time to have to learn it from SRM. you can learn how to match going under 35mph during daily driving. how the hell can you lose control learning that way? gotta have some terrible coordination to do that. also, there's nothing really wrong with leaning on technology. what i'm saying is, if someone who's new learns on the new tech and knows it's there to save his ***, it'll be harder to learn the old ways! this is precisely why so many people don't know how to pump brakes without ABS. it's not that ABS is bad, it's just there. get my drift?

if i'm seriously the only one that thinks like this, then never mind. i guess it's just a personal gripe. still want the Z with or without SRM/sport package.

370Z Purist

Everyone understands it's good to learn everything, the point of what everyone was saying is that they can learn manual driving, then once they're good enough to not be worried with learning when to / remembering to shift. Then once they've got simple accelerating down, they can move onto downshifting, which is reasonably more difficult than simply shifting up.

SRM is a welcome addition for anyone who is just in need of less work in traffic, or someone who is learning the very ropes of manual. I think the two hardest things to learn would be starts from a dead stop, and also doing it fast enough to avoid coasting downhill too much. Learning the perfect clutch engagement point for one car takes time, and once you've got one car mastered, you know the exact feel of when the clutch grabs. Then you can apply to other manual cars without much difficulty.

I'm still somewhat new to manual (did not learn in the Z, but did stall a few times when starting from a dead stop), and I just don't have all the time in the world to practice downshifting, and also the fact that there's no open, low traffic road to do it on. Downshifting for me will have to wait until I find a relatively open road, hopefully with no police trying to ticket me on "reckless driving" while trying to learn proper heel-toe or single clutch... damn this place, there's no open road! Oh, and I don't want to destroy my clutch, even if it is covered under warranty (and will still probably be replaced by a high pressure clutch in time).

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-Phil

"Since one of my brake light bulbs just went out, the forum told me that my piston rings are about to blow."

alexanderb

Sometimes with the advancement of technology you can discard with the old ways. That's innovation. Just because someone does not learn to heel toe does not mean he can't be a good track driver. I'd bet a few years down the line when most race cars are equipped with SRM making it the norm there will be some pretty good race drives who would not know how to heel toe because they simply don't need to.

370Z Purist

I still think that heel-toeing is actually more efficient in a good driver, mainly because it allows for constant change into gears. A good driver knows what is happening, SRM can only predict.

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-Phil

"Since one of my brake light bulbs just went out, the forum told me that my piston rings are about to blow."

alexanderb

Just look at the SMG tranny...most exotics now use SMG discarding the need for operating the clutch pedal... just another example of technological innovation...

370Z Purist

I think in a society where technology is contributing more to laziness ... well, in some cases, I still advocate the straight use of a clutch and gearshift. I'd much rather have that tactile pleasure than having a machine do it for me. There also happen to be ... something that my friend told me about, that a drive by wire system, and also an electronically controlled throttle may cause problems and otherwise be a detrimental thing on a performance car. I don't specifically remember why he said it was.

Also, more computers = more chance of sudden catastrophic failure, and possibly, global conquer by computerized artificial intelligence realizing they're better than humans. (I, Robot, anyone?)

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-Phil

"Since one of my brake light bulbs just went out, the forum told me that my piston rings are about to blow."

FricFrac

A common misconception.... To infer that the ultimate ability in driving is to do it the "old fashioned way" is a narrow perspective of what represents skill. If cars were developed without a clutch from the very begining would racing be missing something? Should we have a cockpit like an aircraft where the lift on each lobe on your cam can be adjusted in real time by the driver to optimize the performance of the vehicle or perhaps being able to change the length or diameter of the exhaust or intake on your engine on the fly?

If you really want to be a purist shouldn't you be adding coal to your steam engine and adjusting the preasure? I don't think we'll see you on the race track with your Model T Ford and its 3 inch wide wooden spoke wheels even though that's real old school racing...

Lets face it - you rely on this technology that is common place (fuel injection, power everything, computer tuned systems, etc, etc, etc) but when something new comes around its cheating or beating the system. Well the whole automobile itself is a piece of technology and what you drive today minus the SMR is more of a far cry from the first automobile than just the SMR technology itself. After a period of time all transmissions will have some form of SMR and we'll forget that we ever had to blip the throttle....

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kannibul

Go back to the early days of automobiles...

You have to adjust the advance/retard of the ignition MANUALLY, you have to adjust the mixture MANUALLY, and the throttle...and there's no such thing as power steering, power brakes, shock absorbers, or even a roof. No synchronizers in the manual-only transmission, so you have to double-clutch just to shift.