The now famous Road & Track "Best All-Around Sports Car" review is now posted on-line.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/

 

I love how in the last page they apparently found that the BMW Z4 is just as fast in the quarter mile as the Z

not only that but the S2000 is supposivly faster in the quarter mile than the new Z

Also, this is a great excerpt: "...enabling the car to run to 60 mph in 5.6 sec. (0.2 sec. quicker than the 350Z Track Model)"

ok so they mean the earlier track model right? cause i somehow doubt the heavier 35th aniversary model is actually faster than the 05 track model

 

bah not too great for us Z fans.. I`d take a 350z over an S2K any day..

 

With price considered I think the Z is second, only the Vette gives you more for the money.

 

those are some wierd numbers the got, the fact that it was the slowest around a track only suprises me by the boxster and SLK. look at the group... the Z is WAY out of its league except for the S2k which will obviously do better around many tracks. the fact that it matched the quartermile isnt overly suprising, and I failed to see a drivablity criteria so no suprise that the Z did so bad.

simply put, from a PURE performance standpoint(maybe even not), the Z is not about to stack up to that list of cars. of that list; without seeing anything; it was where I expected to see it.

 

Stock for stock, the Z may not be the best. Remember the Porsches, BMWs, and Benzs are enthusiast's cars driven by older people who probebly don't mod it at all. The Z is more of a tuner's car. Slap on a couple $ks worth of mods and you'll be right up there with them.

 

i dnt understand where they get these numbers from.I have seen better results on many other difficult coarse then that . I believe there drivers are what the deciding factor is. Slap some drivers from the mines or boss camp and they open up the Z on any coarse. The review i liek the best is 5th gears review excellent imput

 

i completely agree ^^....also s2k better 1/4 mile time...since when is that true?...also the only fair comparison would be the s2k since all the other cars are like twice the price of the z...wtf??

 

Its a bunch of journalists for the most part driving cars, not professionals who can actually push the cars for what they're worth.

I've only been following the Z for a few months, do I'm not too familiar with previous test results. However, the only thing I can think of is other manufacturers stepping up their games since the Z was released because it has done so much for this particular market niche.

 

I still don't see why people get so worked up over this article. The only competitor to the Z is the S2k, everything else is priced way higher. They also kinda screwed the Z over by picking the 35th Anniversary; it's heavier and way more expensive than a track or other models. And even though this is the best "all around" sports car, can you really expect someone to step out of a lap in a 400-hp corvette and say, "Man, that was fun, but the Z is such a great value..."

 

exactly they wouldve got better times with a base model with a LSD and different tires, ...the 35ths weight doesnt not really showcase what the Z can do. Thats why like 5th gear and many japanses track compariosons becasue there is not one of those drivers you can complain about. Hell, there just amazing. Also as far as any japanese review and vid i ever seen reguarding the S2K stock for stock depending on which version Z they chose, the Z will dominate due to more power and overall straight Tq in the straights. On turns the S2k is more lighter so it has advantage in turns. But the Z comes out on top always becase tracks are not all 90 degree angles. Modified is another story, ......anything can happen there but hell look what the nismo team has done with there fairlady ,id still pick the Z in any track event becasue i personally see more potential in the Z and just i like tq. But you cant deny the agility of the S2K but thats how competition works.

 

It was still dissappointing to read the engine was unwilling to rev. I had hoped the new engine wanted to exploit its higher rev band.

 

I'll tell you what. I have probably at least 1000 laps around BW in all different configurations (I defeated all S2000 drivers in my class including the OTC winner last year). The problem was the configuration they ran and more so, the direction they ran it. They ran it clockwise, if they ran in CC the results would have been MUCH DIFFERENT. Here's why:


First of all I think it's a horrible way to run the track. You go through the S's coming out of a slow corner so you should be able to just fully accelerate IN ANY CAR! How does that test a car's handling?? Next you go into Riverside which is very highspeed banked corner out of a slower section. The other turns are just going to be slow understeering turns for the Z. The only reason I can think of to use this configuration was for safety because I have seen some BIG offs at Riverside.

Now if you ran it the other way the Z could use it's slight understeer going through Riverside coming off the half mile straigh to huge advanate. You could come in real hot and not worry about losing the back end at high speed. The approach to the S's would also be much faster and you would have to actually drive the car through it and hop some pretty big curbs at the same time. The Z shines through that section as well.

It's kind of a STUPID test anyway. To say that one car is THE BEST SPORTSCAR based on it's performance on one track in one configuration is ridiculous. I never got beat at BW in my 350, but at the tighter Streets of Willow I was pipped by a tenth or so by the same S2k drivers I always beat at BW. See my point?

 

I appreciate the posts defending the Z. Makes me not regret my choice in going for it.

 

No problem, it was just a test that was set up in a biased fashion. The course they used does little to test handling except for acceleration out of SLOW corners.

 

So we rank 8th because we can't quite hang with the others on the track?

Who cares.

I'm not headed to a track anytime soon & I suspect at least 95% of Z owners are in my category.

 

Which is why the Z will still remain the best selling sportscar in America regardless of one article. Even as they said in the article the Z has WON in other comparo's they have done, so this one looked set-up to make the other cars that probably need the publicity to sell look better. The Z simply doesn't need to win to sell.

 

Gasp, Raceboy & I agree on something! LOL!

 

Well they did compare to a 35th anniversary Z. It is down on torque even though horsepower is higher. And lets face it the stock tires that come on our cars were to make the bean counters at Nissan happy. They are just good enough to be put on a car of this caliber but not much more. I think if they had used a Enthusiast model with the 287hp engine then it might have been a different story. Even the test driver says that this car isnt what it used to be. Maybe by the changes that are in the 35th Ann. the Z has lost some of the goodness that we all love so much.