Test drove a 5.0 Today

Originally Posted by nitromt

Actually, that statement is quite false.

The Mustang has a ton of advantages on the 370z and the 370z only has a few on the Mustang.

Mustang:
-less expensive
and there's a very good reason for that. read on
-vastly improved fit and finish
yet still not up to par
-much faster at almost every type of track (look at 5.0 vs E92 M3 Motortrend comparo)
highly debatable. you can't make that claim since no one did a head to head comparison yet. besides, the m3 isn't all that fast either. it has a bit more power than the z but it's handling isn't that much better. i'd expect both the m3 and the z to be faster than the mustang on more technical tracks that emphasize handling and suspension more than engine power and linear acceleration.
-2+2 seating
doubtful if that's even a good thing in a sports car. but it does make the mustang too big for its own good
-much greater trunk/interior space
read above
-better fuel economy
relevance? if fuel economy was a concern, get a prius. most sports car owners do not buy their cars to drive like a grandma and squeeze every mpg they can get
-much cheaper to maintain: nearly all components including engine much cheaper to replace
less quality? ancient suspension design? you definitely get what you pay for
-performance: acceleration, braking, roll-on acceleration
acceleration, maybe. but with that gigantic engine, i would definitely hope that it outaccelerates the v6-powered Z. braking and cornering, nope, mustang does not exceed the z
-responds much better to basic bolt ons and mods when compared $ to $
well, it only makes 412 hp from 5 litres of displacement. a japanese or european engine that big would be already producing closer to 500 hp out of the box.

370z:
-potentially faster on a very tight track like an auto-x
-maybe slightly better interior quality but really negligible since you cannot get a Touring + Sport 370z for 2k within the price of a 5.0 6MT Coupe Premium.
maybe in your part of the world. i visited the ford website and a fully loaded gt comes up to 43.5k or so, which is just 1k less than the nissan. granted, that's before the employee pricing discount, but still. and even worse, that msrp would have gone up by a few thousands more if ford gave the car a proper rear suspension
370z has a major design flaw with engine oil temps that Nissan refuses to adequately address