Jcolman

Can anyone tell the difference between the two?? Is the ride stiffer? Reason I ask is that I'm still up in the air between buying a touring, performance or track model. Aside from the Brembo's I can't really see a reason to buy a track model over the others? Any help here is appreciated.

danvain

I've never driven the other two, but a Touring is pretty damn stiff.

ANXIOUZ

iTrader: (13)

If they're the same year, they have the same suspension. Same ride. The leather seats in the Touring might make it feel a bit smoother/softer ride tho.

Wired 24/7

iTrader: (2)

Remember you can always get aftermarket sways or suspension to stiffen up the ride on the touring.

The reasons to get the track model are:

lightweight forged rims by Rays Engineering
brembos

This explains the price difference over touring.

If you're thinking about modding heavily / getting rims / getting big brakes kit, etc, there's no reason to get the track...

I also saw a post where brembos were tested against stock brakes, the only difference was a couple of feet of stopping distance (less than 10 feet) and cooler temperatures (you can put higher temperature pads on in either case, so that shouldn't be a concern either).

In short, the stock brakes are fine, good even.

Oh yeah, and don't count on the Bose system in the Touring blowing you away. It is a decent sound system, but most people aren't really that satisfied with it.

Fletch69z

iTrader: (50)

Touring also has 17" rims so there's more sidewall. That's probably about the only real difference in ride stiffness.

thrill350z

iTrader: (1)

go touring bc of bose, leather, heated seats

ZlleH

iTrader: (7)

I got a 2003 Touring and it came with stock 18's.

I read an article once (been trying to find it ever since) about how a car review website test drove the 2003 track for a year and then got the touring and they said the touring was a much smoother ride. Which makes sense, since the "touring" is for touring and I'm sure the suspension was tuned to make it a smoother ride for "tours".

As for the rest, The leather heated seats with eletric positioning is more for bling, a status thing. Girls always comment on the leather and the eletric positioning thingy.

The BOSE... I am up in the air about it. I like music, but I'm not an audiophile. I also find people who drive up with their subwoofers blasting to be very inconsiderate. I'm embarressed when I come to an intersection with my music loud, I always try to turn it down before I get there. I know me and my friends laugh at people who have their music blasting so I'm paranoid at people laughing at me. The point is that the BOSE is good in my books and I'm just a normal music lover.

The Navigation in the touring was more of a resale value for me, I thought I would never really use it, but man has it helped me out of a lot of situations. I'm looking for a new home, so I use it to find houses in ads. Also when I'm stuck in heavy traffic, I use it to find my way to another street. Helps me look for stores (mostly shops for my car ) Also, the navigation tells you on the maps other things then just roads, you can make it an option to show you tourist/historic landmarks, banks and ATM places, resturants, reststops, etc. And I use it when I go to another city to visit my friends. Actually, just mentioning all these things have made me really like my navigation Oh, yeah, and chicks love it

Also, doesn't the track come with a default rear lip(spoiler)? I'm not a fan of spoilers. I like the slick look of the 350Z rear end with no spoiler and the Touring has no spoilers.

gatti-man

iTrader: (2)

If you want fast get track or get base. Touring comes with alot of extra weight. It all depends what your after. You want a great car stock with alot of creature comforts go touring. If you want to mod your car go base. Track is ok but its still pretty heavy and isnt any faster than any of the other Z's. I guess youd get that for the brembos but the rims arent even that great imo. Seats are the same in the base as they are in the track right?

ZlleH

iTrader: (7)

"A lot" of extra weight?

The Track is 3,225 pounds.
The Touring is 3,247 pounds.

Is 22 pounds "a lot" of extra weight for you?

The specs was gathered from the nissan website:

http://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/ModelSpecifications/0,,120017|120563|,00.html

Click on Curb Weight.

NTRIGUE

Ten stops under 45MPH. Any higher MPH netted much larger distances. Six stops from 100 in base model required pad replacement and a small fire.

LIdrew

Touring 6MT 18" wheels, Touring 5AT 17" wheels.

zpak

I thought the suspension was identical in all models?

The stated reason for a harsher ride for the Track is the lighter rims (18 lbs v.s. 26 lbs), so they transmit the bumps on the road more easily.

ZlleH

iTrader: (7)

I stand corrected, I don't know why they said the touring was smoother. Maybe it is like what you said, the wheels. Although you would think the track would get smaller rims for tracking and smaller rims would be smoother. My touring has stock 18"

rolling

iTrader: (2)

i had both for awhile... felt same to mee (stock)
i prefer the cloth seats thoug...

kcobean

iTrader: (2)

The suspension in both trim-levels is identical. In '04, the car (again, both models) received the Euro-spec suspension, which gave the car a somewhat smoother ride and helped to eliminate freeway porpoising.

The weights of both models are close enough that it would likely not make a difference in ride (it's mostly unsprung weight anyway, existing in the brakes and/or wheels).

The Touring model's leather seats really don't have any more padding than the track's cloth seats, but I'm sure they each have their own feel.

As for which model to buy, take it from someone who has heavily modded their car, the track model is worth it because a big brake kit upgrade to any lesser model is going to cost you anywhere from 3500 to 8000 dollars and offer minimal performance gains over the very well designed Brembo system. This is the only part of my car that made it a track model that I will not replace. The wheels had a nice resale value compared to the 17 or 18" wheels available on the other models. The aero kit, including the chin spoiler, the underbody diffusers and the rear wing are all basicallly "marketing features" in my opinion, and don't mean squat unless you plan on oval racing the car. The touring model has leather, which I don't care for in a sports car, the bose sound system, which by all accounts in not really too much of an upgrade over the base system. Heated seats...whatever.

Anyway, I say if you're gonna mod, get a track. If you're gonna stay stock and it's going to be a daily street drive and creature comfort is important to you, get a touring.

That's my 2.

ZlleH

iTrader: (7)

Depends what kind of mod you are looking to do. If you are all about tracking, then get the track and do your performance mod.

I bought the 350Z for the looks, it just happens to come with nice horsepowers. Let's face it, 80% of us is not going to go drag racing and to the tracks. The mods I'm going to do will be 50% performance and 50% looks. I ain't going to show off my lambo door mod and have cloth seats waiting inside. I want the leather seats. So I disagree, it depends what mod you would like to do. You can want to do tons of mods and should get the touring as well.

kcobean

iTrader: (2)

That 50/50 balance is about what I've done with my car. However, I have Red/Black neoprene seats that are quite eye-catching, despite the fact that they are still cloth underneath. My point is that you can put leather seats in your track model a LOT cheaper than you can upgrade the brakes on your touring model. And if you're going for looks, you're going to want an aftermarket seat or seat-skin anyway.

For what it's worth, here's a shot of my interior...no cloth here

ZlleH

iTrader: (7)

No way! I love the look of the stock leather seats, They are tight! I've seen some custom leather seats on the Z and they all look "loose" I love the stock leather seats. IMO, the leather seats are one of the things I don't have to change in the interior. I'll agree with you on the brembos, they are crazy expensive.

BTW: Nice seats, just not my style.

gatti-man

iTrader: (2)

Look the Track model should be the lightest model imo. I meant it has alot of extra weight compared to the base. The base has heavier wheels and still is 75-100lbs lighter than the track. Also the brembos have been tested to not offer much of an improvement over the stock brakes. Track is really unimpressive for what it offers imo. I still think if you want a "track" car its best to go base and build it. If you want a touring or "looks" car as previously stated the touring does really well. The track just doesnt really come through on its name. Id expect it to be the lightest model with some jdm seats and the nismo exhaust stock to really make it worth the price.

tropicalypso

iTrader: (6)

Hey now, don't knock my heated leather seats... it get's downright cold here in Florida...