According to this guy on an automotive forum (he tends to think of himself as all-knowing), Nissan engineers screwed with the weight distribution in order to get better 0-60 numbers for magazines. Is this true? I always thought that the weight distribution was messed with for rigidity..not to impress a magazine.

 

That guy is a tool. Best weight distribution for launching a RWD car would be to have a rear mounted enigine like the 911's. Even if Nissan engineers relocated the battery to the hatch, and put in maybe a heavier spare to put more weight over the rear wheels the difference would not be noticable in the Z. Plus, adding weight is dumb, and would then hurt 1/4 times. Stock Z's are easy to launch, no need for this in the first place. Please dont ever listen to that douche bag again

 

lol..he works as a Nissan PR rep (or so he says) and apparently he "just talked" to the Nissan engineering dept and they said it was true. lol wtf..

 

Since the 0-60 time is widely accepted as a bench mark for car performance comparison, and magazines are one of the main marketing tools, common sense tells me that 0-60 time would be used as one of the engineering parameters. It won't be the only parameter, but definitely being considered. On the other hand, weight distribution will have only limited effect for 0-60. So depends on how this "know-all" guy said it, I can believe part of it could be true.

 

Nissan employees are only good for getting our Z to the US, from there they misinform us and try to screw us out of money from the get go (Perf Nissan seemingly a notable exception). DON'T LISTEN TO TECH ADVICE FROM A PR MAN, my dealer swore that Z's had no type of break-in period whatsoever.

 

Nissans weight distribution was setup to give it the closest to 50/50 as it could like the Miata for good handling not straight line speed. We are one of the few cars out there that has the motor mounted between the strut towers to move it closer to the center of the car.

 

Our weight distribution is 53/47, which when accelerating gives a close to 50/50, or so the Nissan designer said during an interview. And that makes sense because you can feel the weight shifting to the rear when you're slamming on the gas.

If you want better acceleration, you want more weight on the rear, not on the front. Unless he's saying that it's not 53/47, but that's really easy to find out and will start a huge lawsuit.

 

"Screwed" and "messed with"? I knew it was something, but I had no idea it was this drastic.