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I honestly would consider buying the next z if they dropped power levels but fixed the engine/trans stuff and gave it better balance:ugh2:

Or they could do all that stuff and increase the power too :ugh2:

That's because Porsche has a complete line of sports cars, unlike Nissan. The Cayman is on the "entry level" side. It then goes to 345bhp, 385bhp, 415bhp, 530bhp, and 650bhp. (I may be off by 1 year-model or so and some of those may be upgraded, it's been a while since I looked at their line-up, but you get the point)

So what does Nissan have? 332 and 530.

No middle ground in price or power.

They appeal to someone who wants a Hyundai Genesis type car, and a 911TT type car, but noone who wants anything but one of the 2 extremes.

Typical of a "regular car" company that does not really care much about sports cars other than that they offer two, which sell dismally.

Power is what makes it more fun, though! I drove a few 370Z's before I settled on something with more power. Lots of cars will handle well. The new V6 mustang handles better than the 370Z for crying out loud (At least, it turned lap-times at VIR VERY! similar to a NISMO even though it sat there banging off the 114mph speedo limiter for all the straight stretches, lol).

Balance is fine and dandy, but you also want to know that the car is going to GO when you mush the long skinny one to the right, because plenty of other cars have balance AND will GO!

Lets not start making excuses about "balance" and whatnot. It doesn't even really have that at 53/47. Unless of course now we are going to start using the mustang as a standard of comparison in the world of finely balanced sports cars. The only reason the Miata lives is because it is cheap as hell to maintain and offers great handling at that price-point. When you can go and auto-X the crap out of it and burn through a set of tires and not cry, it's a HUGE! selling point for an enthusiast without the desire to dump thousands of dollars a track day into their car.

<-----strokes beard slowly and contemplates these big questions...

I don't know who the heck drove these cars but they obviously don't know how to drive around corners, just mash the gas pedal. Shouldn't they use a professional driver for these kind of tests? In my experience the car has been as fast or faster than a Mustang GT or even a Boss around the track similarly equiped (occasionally a Corvette). Granted I didn't get to drive the Mustangs so I don't know what I could do behind the wheel. Power isn't everything, just makes it easy for inexperienced drivers to go faster.

Opinion, as always, duly noted and ignored.

almost bought genny coupe yesterday black on black looked sweet but it just dosen't have a motor yet.it has 306 hp but you wouldn't know it.

I always got flamed for saying the same thing about the drivers...maybe people will listen to you.


I can attest from having driven both cars that the mustang almost definitely has an edge. On a lot of tracks, the V6 mustang is just as fast, if not faster, than the z...a lot of it has to do with the fact that in stock trim, the mustang actually uses all four tires.

Alas, but Nissan could not ignore the reality that many people share it, and so 370Z production was cut in half, roughly.

By your logic, the Corvette is worst off....right? Don't you ever get tired of trolling? :bowrofl:

There isn't a single track anywhere that the V6 Mustang is faster than the Z if the Z is driven correctly. Tracks like VIR Grand do give an advantage to the higher horsepower cars that is for sure, the new GT should be faster there.

I don't understand your comment about using all 4 tires.

The v6 makes less power, it is actually faster through the corners.

Have you driven a stock z recently?

I don't believe that the V6 can be faster through the corners than the Z if both cars are driven to their potential, granted it will be easier to reach that potential in the Mustang. The Z in stock form has plenty of grip just needs to be driven differently to take advantage of the wider rear tires, it isn't going to throttle steer quiet as easily and should be driven on the momentum line like you would a Miata, where as the muscle cars prefer the traditional late apex line.

Chris, thats probably true--if you can use both cars to the full potential, the z has more grip. Unfortunately, there are a lot of factors that prevent that a lot of the time. The z often doesn't have enough power to balance out coming through a dramatic decreasing radius, or any turn that has a high speed exit but requires a low speed entry. Even when you're able to get things to line up, it often requires juggling gears unnecessarily to get the car back in the powerband- which is fine if you're just looking for one hot lap, but tough if you're trying to compete. On a related note, aggressive trail braking is incredibly dangerous in a stock z as a result, since you often can't get on the gas enough to balance the car.

Of course, like I said before...this is all moot in a modded z. The nice thing about the z is it picks up a ton of time from little things...swapping the rear sway, front camber arms, and snagging beefier front tires makes it an entirely different animal.