This clip is from a UK television show and is a 8 min 350Z review. This guy sounds like he's got a serious vendetta against Nissan and doesn't have one nice thing to say. I wonder how different the UK Z is from ours?

I don't know what the air date was but I suspect its older since he says the TCS isn't available yet (at least in the UK)

"...A Japanese car, made in America, project led by an Indian, with a French engine..."

"...its a mess..."

Sorry if its a repost, running late for work and don't have time to search. I'll host it on one my servers as long as you guys don't blow it up.

http://www.mengelt.com/TG350z.mpeg

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2005 Super Black Touring

 

Thanks, iv been lookin for this.
I know im gonna hate clarkson after I watch this..

 

wow, he actually says that about the Z??? It's so incorrect on so many levels I don't know where to begin. I've seen that review a long time ago but don't remember the details. No need to worry though....even though Clarkson didn't like the car the overall rating from the rest of the Top Gear staff was so great that they awarded it their 2004 Car of the Year........I heard they actually made Clarkson personally hand the trophy to Nissan.....nice!

 

I bet that got him boiling!
man I just saw it and Iv never thought him gay till now..

 

Yeah this is a pretty old topic. This guy did have some grudge on Nissan and if I remember correctly, he apologized for his "vindictive" review of the Z. I don't think he had one positive thing to say about the Z.

 

Repost x3072374142107402174

 

As soon as I saw UK I didn't even read any further.

 

I've seen his review of the Z, but does anyone have the video of the stig taking it around the track or when they announced it as the car of the year?

 

I think its obvious that he hates Nissan. The worst part about the video is when he tells the z owners than their cars are ugly, and makes personal attacks at them. I think that was very out of line.

 

Yeah that one is a really old show,

But the way JC acts on every show, always at odds with the other 2 hosts, is like the writers or jc or whoever comes up with stuff, write him in that way, remember it is a TV show after all, and a silly one at that.

 

He's always like that. He'll make fun of people with a five o'clock shadow and stuff. Not malicious at all... towards the audience anyway.

 

Blah, that show is always so biased. They praise and glorify European cars every chance they get

 

You should remember though that this is a UK show and the culture is completely different than North America. I've watched a few of these and find it entertaining because of this. The show is all about euro superiority, more like brit because they slam porche a lot too.
Look at the bright side, at least it wasn't as bad as "is a ford faster than a flock of pigeons?" (Ford lost btw)
Or Chrysler's are made in a land all about democracy but they won't let me turn the traction control off.
And the list goes on and on when they bash anything not european.

 

Also hated the C6. They got a beat down, non Z51 car. Tested in the rain and still pulled very good numbers. Great show, bad host.

 

if you hadnt seen many other episodes of this show, you'd think this review was really hard on the Z and it might even get you angry...

but although the review was far from glowing, i dont think it was that bad...
the suspension on that car apparently wasnt as good as the 03 suspension (which i think you all can agree stands to be improved itself)
looks are subjective and the quality issues fixed, no?
That leaves the engine... which he says is french.. whatever.. but imo it sounds great (and thats subjective too). what isnt subjective is preformance:
Whether it feels fast or not, the Z isnt slow. It can perform with the cars its compared to (crossfire and rx8).

Also, you guys should see the crossfire review... lets just say it wasnt positive.
In it, he said the car's shape reminded him of a dog doing a #2 - "hideous"
he said that although it doesnt weigh as much as its rivals, it doesnt make up for its looks with speed. "0-60 takes 7.2 seconds...there are animals that are faster than that"
He also hated the gearbox (manual), and noted his coworkers saying the auto was worse.
He said it couldnt handle well and the steering was disconnected...and that the suspension "has the uncanny ability to make the smoothest road feel like a mogul field" and that "it's hard to find anything in the crossfire that really works...even the interior is wrong" then he talked about cheapness, poor seating and ergonomics, being expensive, etc. ill stop there.

anyway, dont read anything into the Z review. just look at it for entertainment.

 

Like afropuff said, what's funny is he later gave the Z the sports car of the year award. Money talks, he likes the cars that will give himself more wealth.

 

Ouch. I usually really respect that guy's opinions...

 

well he is right in a way. the Z is a bit on the porky side...but of course he exaggerated a bit (i mean the brits love to critisize)....you have to just read between the lines...he did give it 7 out of 10 (and this is a guy who has driven it all...that's not bad).

think of it this way...is good television *** kissing a car for 7 minutes that it almost looks like a nissan commercial...or rip it apart and make humerous quips about it's few short commings?

 

In the review he gave it a 3 out of 10, Clarkson is well known in England as an obnoxious dick but he can be very funny doing it. He is very anti bikes which is one of the reasons I don't like him but as long as you don't just listen to his viewpoint on things you should be fine.

 

too bad i think tiff would run circles around jc if they were head to head on a track.