I drove an 06 and loved it. My friend kept trying to convince me to buy it whenever I put my foot down :icon17:

Would have totally done it if it wasn't an out of warranty bmw M car.

Word, maintenance costs are heavy

So I'm assuming we are just focusing on comparing the companies rather than the age old paper racing of the z and 5.0.

So as a former ford employee, I must remind everyone that while ford is doing rather phenomenal in the North American and European markets, they are doing quite terrible in the Asian markets as they have no true chinese partner, unlike GM/VW etc.

Never forget nissan was never expected to live. They were pretty much set to die, very similar to the american car companies, but they turned it around. The fact that they are doing as well as they are, is really a testament Carlos Ghosn. Never forget how beloved his is in japan for turning the company around and making them profitable. Although the 370z didn't sell well, other vehicles are.

Granted Ford and VW are experiencing steroid like growth recently, so comparing any other company to them outside of toyota wouldn't be fair.

All car companies are pretty amazing, even if its just for one or two vehicles that are better than their sales show (looking at you volvo and Saab)

I look at it as a great time to be a car guy. The bar is raised all the time! I admit that I put considerable value on exclusivity. I shopped the Z against used Caymans, 135s, and Audi TTs. Never really thought about Mustang or Camaro, not because they not great performance bargains, they are, just so freakin many of them.

For me it's really about having a fun car, that's purpose built, to do what it does well, and I think the Z checks the boxes for me in that regard.

Why? Yen is not favorable. Better for them to go with high end cars like GTR and other premium vehicles where exchange rates won't matter as much on cars they import.

...and Ford has no sports cars. They have an antique v8 with solid axle muscle car and some FWD econoboxes with boost? That's an accomplishment over Nissan who have state of the art GTR, 4 seater skyline coupe, 370z, successful electric car, etc?

And the forum Oscar for most delusional poster goes to...

While there may be some fanboyism to Shamu's commentary. In the most basic sense. He is right. Only thing is. Fords 5.0 is far from ancient, It's all new, They have a live axle, which is dirt cheap to manufacture compared to IRs yet they sell stangs in the same range as IRS cars. FACT is: The mustang is Not technically a sports car. And nissan has led in efficiency technology over the last 5 years or so.

Altima may be boring but gets 38highway on a large frame, No car weighs 3100lbs and is as big as the altima, which makes it a fast accelerator. Basically, Nissan can do with a regular engine, what ford needs eco-boost tricks to do. No DI or special fuel saving tricks. Pure intelligent engineering. There has to be merit given where due. The Leaf truly is the most successful EV cuz no one else can build a EV as high quality as the leaf and keep it under $40k.

He's not delusional. He's just over-emphasizing based on nissan negativity in the nissan forum. That said. I'm still disappointed with the overall altima/sentra external design... Lacks exciting lines. They should have borrowed a little bit more from the ellure concept. Lets see what the altima/sentra refresh looks like in 2016?

Nissan has produced great sporty entries. But the G37 is no more a sports car than the mustang. (Exception: BOSS302/shelby) I don't subscribe to 2 seats = sports car. There are 4 seat sports cars. Given the performance of the GT-R and its performance features. I would declare it as a bonifide sports car that is amazing. Many will nitpick on the part time AWD and DCT to discredit it as a tried and true sports car. But if some can be open minded about Tesla's? Then there's room to be open minded about DCT's even more-so.

Dude, I'll take a bunch of FWD cars with boost over a bunch of FWD cars with no boost or personality or manual transmission options. Nissan is turning into a strictly utilitarian brand (like I ranted about in my earlier post), and that is hard to swallow when they have created the Z, Silvia, and GT-R among other great vehicles. For us enthusiasts, this approach has us fearing for the future of those very nameplates that brought us to this forum.

And I will go ahead and say that, for the record, in ten years, people will look upon what was deemed the "most successful electric car" as winning in the special olympics. Electric cars are going to flop again. The only place that electric cars have found durable success is the golf course.

Buy a Porsche or Ferrari if you care about traditions. Nissan makes more money selling Altimas than Zs, they don't care about you

I gotta agree with that part.

All I see here are bunch Ford lov'n of Nissan haters. Nissan is doing great stuff - way more innovative than Ford. Let me know when ford comes out with independent suspension 2 seat sports car.:roflpuke2:

So when Nissan unveils new 2 seater what's Fords response? 350 Hp fwd econoboost? Rolf

Guess you all missed the Nismo announcement too?

Hmmmm? Nissan/Datsun have no Motorsports tradition? Think I'd argue that. Porsche makes more money selling SUVs and Sedans in China than sports cars!

I applaud nissan for not making crappy econobox tuner cars and focusing on real performance cars.

:iagree: i'll also add though that the new sentra i see as more of a competitor to hondas civic because when you compare specs between the 2 as far as their sedans go im not even kidding they both look almost identical as far as performance figures go and that's what i think nissan is aiming for in the sentra now is for it to be more of a competitor for the regular civic, just a point A to point B commuter car just a step up from the versa in terms of features, comfort and roominess. honestly after having seen a new sentra actually driving around on the road i kinda like the design, its not sporty thats for sure, but it does have a certain maturity to the design and thats also who i think nissan is aiming more towards as far as demographics of who is going to buy it is the mid 30's to 40's crowd who are just looking for a cheap but comfortable point A to point B commuter car that offers the features they want but cant get in say a versa.

2 seater sports car with independent rear suspension is a sign of a companies progress??

news to me.

Also NISMO's announcement should have just been a letter they sent to a news paper... nothing big.