Hard driving?

ElVee

"Driving hard" is going to be a relative measure. For me, driving hard is something you can't do on public roads without going to illegal speeds. The Z is a performance car. You can take a Fiesta out on the roads and push it to its limits and still be relatively legal and safe 9and have loads of fun!). The Z has more performance than that. It will get into illegal territory quickly and/or become unsafe on the roads. I know, that's not what you want to hear, but it's reality.

Still, you can have *loads* of fun with this car and still be relatively legal on public roads. Just the looks alone can let you strut around like you're bigger than Prince.

What's wrong with the 7AT? There are certainly people who want the visceral feedback and involvement that a clutch gives them, and that's perfectly fine. But our 7AT comes with a manual mode which allows you to get roughly the same driving effect, just without the mechanical involvement. And the shifts are faster.

We can get into the whole discussion on whether you should drive a car "hard" from the start, or if you should follow the factory spec in the manual and be easy on it for the first 1200 miles. I lean more towards this argument: Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power. In the end, it's your car and neither of us are likely master engineers, so you choose what you'd like to do.

(I know, the page looks like it was made in 1996 on Geocities. But it's still valid advice.)

If you've not been over 6500 rpms, you're not driving it hard. Driving hard should at least include teasing the marked redline.

Leave VDC on, first of all. Take it off if you know high performance driving and/or are on a closed course. Otherwise, as mentioned above, this car has enough performance to get you into unsafe territory in a flash.

The Z has great balance to learn and learn to enjoy turns with. It loves turns and has really great balance and grip for it, as long as you don't lose the tail too early with too much throttle. If you're on a closed course, you can play with the tail behavior crazy well.

Adjust your side mirrors co you cover your blind spots as much as you can. This usually means flaring them out a little bit more than you'd use on most cars (at least that applies to me...). We have awful blind spots that you need to protect yourself from.

Beyond that, if you can safely drive a car, you can drive the Z. It's not a minivan; you won't floor it after every light and may not floor it much at all on public roads, and it'll still be fun.

That said, drive within your budget as well, that is gas and tire expense, as well as your insurance. Don't hoon around if you can't absorb the tickets.

Why? I hate to say it, but if you were going to want a manual that badly, you should have bought one.

kenchan

its amazing how people still crash with vdc on.... how? not sure. just left off the gas and brake, but people tend to panic or something and tries to throttle themselves out ending up in a ditch, up a tree, a pole, house, signs, mailboxes, cars, buses, trailers, candy vans, bushes, ponds, etc.

NissanGuy23

Ive ended up crashing into candy vans far too many times and ended up needing a ride. And we all know what happens when you turn VDC OFF, dont do it

Streetlife

, it's funny to me how the 7AT in the 370z doesn't get the props it deserves for how amazing it actually is for a single clutch automatic transmission. People have no problem driving a GT-R (dual clutch automatic transmission), Ferrari 458 Italia (dual clutch automatic transmission) , Lexus LFA (single clutch automatic transmission) and a Lamborghini Aventador (single clutch automatic transmission too), these get all the praise no problem, but if you've driven them and the 370z in 7AT you'll notice the shift speeds are not that different at all. I give props to actual engineering genius creations from R&D regardless of the badge the vehicle has on it (SRM in the manual is another, and DRM in the 7AT)! I love my 7AT, ordered my girl Vanity that way for a reason!

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zeeder

All of the autos you mentioned are actually clutchless manual transmissions whereas the 370Z is a traditional automatic with a torque converter. That being said, with all the raves of how good it is, I wish I would have at least test driven an auto 370...lol. Oh well, I love my 6MT except when I'm in stop and go traffic!!

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Streetlife

You are right about the Torque Converter, which is more of a reason to give props to the 7AT. Nothing wrong with the 6MT (notice how now other manufacturers are offering their version of SRM now) , i'm just happy Nissan created such good transmissions for the 370z, and it still was sold at an amazing price!

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Chuck33079

Yeah, I'm not sure why people keep thinking it's functionally any different from any other auto. Maybe because it's good?

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Mt Tam I am

Yes and why?

Perhaps a new short block.

again

Why is this terrifying? How does the vibration of the gear lever play in? I hope you are not looking at the stick while driving at terrifying speeds.

A poll may be in order. "Who is terrified at 6500 rpm's"

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kenchan

prius driver?

santa claus?

fzgood

I don't track the car (or at least haven't yet) and I don't take it above 6k revs too frequently. I mentioned the vibration to indirectly reference how the car's character changes in high revs. If I didn't have a tach, or shift light, I probably would shift between 5.5 and 6 because it starts to feel like a different car.


I said nothing about terrifying speeds, I hope you didn't take that to mean I'm speeding while admiring the stitch work on my gear lever. I haven't made myself out to be that much of an idiot, have I?


Perhaps rather than "terrifying" I should've used a word with less connotation in the vernacular.. I find it alarming. How's that?

Firebase99

Its no Turbo S but itll surprise you if youre new to the game.