Yeah, the trend has been spiraling downward. Back then The corvette had true middle class pricing. Corvette is now leaning toward upper middle class and quality is ramped up drastically. More than its ever been. I give them like 35,000 units year one. Then 15,000 the next. Then they'll jump between 10,000-13,000 units every year till the C8.

Most car companies selling sports car would die for 10K / year.

The uptick in price for the C7 is only $1400 over the C6 for the base model. If you look at vette prices vs. average income, I wouldn't be surprised to see that it's actually dropped in relative price over the years.

The biggest price hike was during the C4 era, the price rose 63% in a 10 year span from 1984 to 1994. The original base price was $22K, finished at $36K.

Modest 24% price rise over 8 years for the C5.

The C6 base price held pricing very steady over the 9 years, likely in response to declining sales numbers and tough economy for sports cars.

Does anyone know if the 370z's lighting lap time was done with an oil cooler in the car?

Yes, they added a cooler. No way you're running VIR without one.

I don't remember where I saw that Nissan was targeting Porsche Cayman's performance with the 370z. Just as they did with the GTR beating the 911 turbo.

Still there's a huge performance gap


.

It was R&T who directly pinned the Z against the Cayman. They were basically tied for performance on the track they used. The porsche was more graceful in it's track performance though.

The porsche is a MR and the Z is FR/midship. The porsche cayman on certain tracks will exceed the Z and on others it will be a drivers race where the Z may win. Straight line speed the Z has shown to be mildly faster but carries a lower top speed.

Nissan Z has always competed with the Porsche as far as road feel, design, and performance. Porsche is of course more refined with better feel, but at 2x the price. That's where the whole "poor man's Porsche" came from. That's why these times don't make too much sense. The difference between the 370Z and cayman should of been much closer.

If you've ever driven the two... it's very obvious which car is better... by far. But it's double the freakin' price.

MR is just more balanced. The Z takes more skill to achieve what the Porsche can. You really gotta become one with the Z. The porsche is effortless driving. Better is subjective to your driving expectations. MR puts up less of a fight, like AWD/FR does. So criticisms of whats better can go on all day if you're driving expectations are high, low, moderate etc

But the Porsche undoubtedly has a more refined engine and a more balanced chassis, not to mention a better feeling shifter.
The Z feels more aggressive under load, is more fun and leaves a lot less room for error., The porsche is a sword and the Z is a hatchet. But with one swing of both, you can cut anything in half.

I contend that the Z doesn't quite achieve what the Cayman can. It's not that it takes more skill to drive... it just doesn't match it. Period. You have a (relatively) heavy, front-biased car vs. a lighter and much better balanced car.

But again... $30k premium.

Price goes up with everything else.

Look at the price of a car in the 70's... now look average income.

Stop making me want a Cayman, Steve. :mad:

Awesome car... Just too expensive IMO. For the price of a new one I would rather have the c7.

I did research some CPO models but even still they were a bit more pricy than a new Z even with quite a few miles on them.

It's just one of those cars I love but would never actually buy because it doesn't present itself as a very good value relative to what else is on the market.