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Nissan Z: 400hp, $40k, manual

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Justinus said:
Official curb weights are out. It's too fat for my taste. If it landed somewhere around 3300lb I'd be on board but 3500+ is just too fat.
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It's still the same basic chassis as the previous car, just a styling refresh with a new engine, so no surprise it's still a bit chunky.
 
guidryp said:
It's still the same basic chassis as the previous car, just a styling refresh with a new engine, so no surprise it's still a bit chunky.
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There were a lot of rumors they made significant changes to the chassis and body such as materials changes (more aluminum) to save weight. Guesses were all over the map.

It actually weighs quite a bit more than the previous car despite any of that. The base 370Z curb weight was 3333lb. Even the NISMO model was under 3500.

To clarify, I didn't expect any magic. I really like the styling and design of the car, but the missing piece for me to know for sure if I'd be interested in buying one was the curb weight. I already figured it would be too heavy, but now that it's officially confirmed I can definitively strike it off.
 
I don't pay attention to curb weights and it has never been a consideration when buying a sports car. It's a consideration I take into account when buying motorcycles but that's it. You can have a 400lb difference between two some what similar cars and the heavier car could corner flatter and have better grip. I almost consider the number itself irrelevant.
 
Yeah specs are nearly meaningless at this point, as its other factors that are the limiting issue. Transmission seems to be the main one these days when it comes to speed (0-60, 1/4, top speed). Handling the tires and tuning matter far more than curb weight.

Watched some drag race video and sorry but modern auto journalism is just stupid clown antics at this point. They had it race a like 10+ year old Aston Martin like that is some worthwhile comparison. Its like everyone is trying to be Top Gear where they just spout nonsense and then rely on production quality to make it not matter. Its sad how much pontificating BS car guys resort to for no good reason just to try and make their stuff seem interesting when they're not saying anything really meaningful.

Despite them trying to effuse praise on it, all the reviews I'm seeing so far make this Z seem like even more of a dud. Heck, if anything its actually making the Supra seem better (which is ironic considering all the talk was how this was going to destroy Supra sales), since despite the whinging about it being a BMW, its like enthusiasts forgot that BMW makes cars they like (and objectively is likely better new sports car than if it had been all Toyota development because of it, unfortunately it means its almost certainly going to be a worse long term sports car). And since I find it to be a rather ugly mis-mashup of previous Z styling slapped onto the previous gen car, even the looks are a total dud for me. I'd say hopefully it'd drive 370 prices down so maybe it finally would be worth considering, but honestly there's a lot of other sports cars I'd go for over it anyway. This seems to underscore that Nissan feels like the least interesting car company these days.

I feel like Nissan should've given us what the new Supra was. Basically a shrunken, lighter true sports car, more svelte.

Another hot take: Toyota should've made the GR Yaris/Corolla into a Celica. It'd be more interesting than either of those, than the WRX, the Supra, this, or the Subie/Toyota "I'm buying this because I want a Miata but am scared I'll be called gay". But that's also why that doesn't exist, because it'd be something enthusiasts weren't pining for but would've actually lived up to the old GT-Four Celica which was basically a sports car version of the WRX. Plus if they'd have partnered with Subaru, they could've offered it as a WRX coupe, and people could pine over it like a 22B that you could actually buy.
 
Eh, the Aston thing was similar power/weight. It makes a bit of sense. Anyway, Cammisa is without doubt one of the better journalists out there.
 
Car looks good. They should have offered the LSD on the base model, making you pay like $10 grand to get it is bullshit.

But still, its a winner.
 
Savage Geese has an excellent review, as always. 40 minutes long. Blue is definitely this car's color! Really glad to see a RWD 6-speed MT at an "affordable" price point (for today's costs). I don't really like the grill, but overall they did a really fun design job on it. Reviews say 6' tall people fit just fine. Excited to find one to test drive!

 
I keep going back and forth with this car, but now I think I'm firmly in the "love how it looks" club. It looks pretty good in yellow...seems to help that weird grill and I think it's something I could get used to with not much time. One of those cars that just fits into the "I wouldn't hate driving this yellow car?" category, whish is a rare thing, so at the very least, deserves some praise for joining such a select group, lol.

Like the Doug video (I just always like how...different he is, heh) and about to pour into Savagegeese.

I should mention though...eh, not a good time to be launching a flagship vehicle that you are specifically branding as "Z" with all sorts of flashy badging all around, marking it as such. I mean, damn shame, eh?

(and yeah, no shit--I know that the Nissan Z is a much older brand than that current, uh, Z; but so what? So was that swastika thing...a much, much older and far more universal brand, and then that little hiney! ziene! strichze shnie, nien! guy showed up for a few years.)
 
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Kaido said:
POV

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Watching that guy drive at 95 MPH in 4th or 75 in 3rd gear for long periods was painful to watch. Obviously did not know what he was doing.

I suspect the complaints of poor mpg and premature clutch wear are going to be fairly common. But then Ive gotten used to 8 speed autos now, contrary to my days of driving nothing but manuals for the early part of my life.
 
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FelixDeCat said:
Watching that guy drive at 95 MPH in 4th or 75 in 3rd gear for long periods was painful to watch. Obviously did not know what he was doing.

I suspect the complaints of poor mpg and premature clutch wear are going to be fairly common. But then Ive gotten used to 8 speed autos now, contrary to my days of driving nothing but manuals for the early part of my life.
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It’s a “sports” car, don’t think anyone cares about watching it putt around in sixth gear. Driving around in lower gears has nothing to do with premature clutch wear, especially since he’s just cruising and not putting down any real power and it certainly isn’t slipping. Poor MPGs, yeah maybe but that has a lot more to do with acceleration than high RPM and he’s pretty lazily cruising. You’d hate my 7.0 mpg onboard computer readout after a track day 😉
 
zinfamous said:
I keep going back and forth with this car, but now I think I'm firmly in the "love how it looks" club. It looks pretty good in yellow...seems to help that weird grill and I think it's something I could get used to with not much time. One of those cars that just fits into the "I wouldn't hate driving this yellow car?" category, whish is a rare thing, so at the very least, deserves some praise for joining such a select group, lol.

Like the Doug video (I just always like how...different he is, heh) and about to pour into Savagegeese.

I should mention though...eh, not a good time to be launching a flagship vehicle that you are specifically branding as "Z" with all sorts of flashy badging all around, marking it as such. I mean, damn shame, eh?
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Yeah, the grill is the worst part for me. I hope someone sells a better aftermarket one! That's what they did with the Bronco...some of the aftermarket ones look REALLY good! I know what you mean about the design growing on you...you almost wish it like just a few more lines, but for me, the rear quarter is really where it's at, like a modern retro Delorean kind of vibe. Bummer about the Z thing with the Uktrain, but the Z is like 50+ years old or something, so it's already pretty entrenched & shouldn't have any problems, at least in America!

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FelixDeCat said:
Watching that guy drive at 95 MPH in 4th or 75 in 3rd gear for long periods was painful to watch. Obviously did not know what he was doing.

I suspect the complaints of poor mpg and premature clutch wear are going to be fairly common. But then Ive gotten used to 8 speed autos now, contrary to my days of driving nothing but manuals for the early part of my life.
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I don't like many multi-speed autos; Kia surprisingly has the best one I've tried (in the Stinger). Super-hate Ford's 10-speed & really hate Jeep's 9-speed (RIP my Renegade! lol).
 
FelixDeCat said:
Watching that guy drive at 95 MPH in 4th or 75 in 3rd gear for long periods was painful to watch. Obviously did not know what he was doing.

I suspect the complaints of poor mpg and premature clutch wear are going to be fairly common. But then Ive gotten used to 8 speed autos now, contrary to my days of driving nothing but manuals for the early part of my life.
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so....you've never driven a sports car, then.

Got it.

Kaido said:
I don't like many multi-speed autos; Kia surprisingly has the best one I've tried (in the Stinger). Super-hate Ford's 10-speed & really hate Jeep's 9-speed (RIP my Renegade! lol).
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what does that mean--like, only transmissions for electric motors? ...I can't think of a single-geared automatic transmission ever fit to a gas or hybrid car?

and I mean performance-wise, there's no way that any manual transmission out there can beat the best of the DSGs.
 
I like this more than the Toyota/BMW Supra. At least this was all in-house with Nissan. I like the minimalistic sleek style. The performance numbers look great.

The thing that people seem to overlook is that America has already done it. Ford with the Mustang Mach 1 and GM with the Camaro SS 1LE.
 
Cars are ultimately cars, even sports cars. I think shifting to a high revving gear should really be just for achieving a particular speed. Once you get there, then there is no need to over rev the engine. If I want to get to 100mph quickly, I will, but I wont keep the car in the wrong gear because I know thats silly.
 
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AdamK47 said:
I like this more than the Toyota/BMW Supra. At least this was all in-house with Nissan. I like the minimalistic sleek style. The performance numbers look great.

The thing that people seem to overlook is that America has already done it. Ford with the Mustang Mach 1 and GM with the Camaro SS 1LE.
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yeah but those are really really really ugly. 😀

And they're boats.
 
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