Is it just me, or does anyone else think that 1st gear is kind of slow? Don't get me wrong, once I finish redlining 1st, 2nd plants me in my seat hard. Is there some technique I'm missing to make 1st gear quicker? Any comments appreciated. Thanks.

 

True....i spin alot on first..if not, then its a slow take off....but second is a rush...third is explosive, 4th is a spacecraft launch...after that....its time travel ...

gotta work on practising first, but i dnt...am afraid to feather the clutch....

 

i dunno but if ur rolling in 1st gear slowly and then punch it, it plants me in my seat hard, 2nd gear i heard is the weakest gear in the Z, correct me here.....3rd feeling more power, 4th excellent, 5th great on highway, and crusing to 6th, ...prolly the linear torque curve, thats how it should feel.

 

IMO, you are refering to traction problems, not a poorly choosen ratio for first gear... Go get some sticky tires then let me know what you think of first.

 

if first gear isnt your fastest gear you have traction problems.

 

3rd seems to be my fastest gear.

 

First gear will get you 60-feet in 2.0 seconds.

 

I mean it does start up pretty quick but as I go up towards the red line, it feels like it won't go any faster, and is asking me to put it into second gear. It's like the car is roaring but not getting anywhere fast. You guys know what I mean. So you guys really think it's the stock potenzas? I don't know, but I feel like my gearing might be messed up.

 

ANd some of us, 1.9.

 

damn autos and their torque converters

 

Stop making me look bad.

 

I know what you're talking about. It's actually moving the car quickly it just doesn't sound/feel like it. Just look at the MPH while you gun it and it should make you feel better.

 

I have the same problem, mine goes only like 23 mph in first gear. Is there something I can do about it?

 

WTF? Yes you can do something about it, take it to redline It should go to a little over 30mph. BTW if you guys are hitting it from 1st gear rolls do so from 4000 rpm's and up, that way its in powerband, but then you may run into traction problems. In the summer I like to run from 20mph 1st gear rolls.

 

Yeah, I'll do that. It might make me feel better. When I get out of work today, I'll try to gun it from 3k. I might peel out too hard at 4k. Nonetheless, I love the noise at WOT. What a feeling! Especially when I hit redline every time. Everytime I do it, I go WOOOOHOOOO, YEAH!

 

Curses. Dang automatic transmissions!

 

1st: 3.794
2nd: 2.324
3rd: 1.624
4th: 1.271
5th: 1.000
6th: 0.794

OK let me try this explanation. Engine horsepower and torque are the same in every gear. Doesn't matter. What's important are the gear ratios. The engine will reach redline more quickly in first gear than second, and more quickly in second than third, and...

Once you have reached peak torque in any gear, that's about it for acceleration because the torque curve drops off: it does not stay flat at the top.

So your tires and transmission and gearing are fine. That's just the way torque and the 350Z works. I hope this helps.

 

Peak torque since it's at 4800 RPM. Does that mean that I shouldn't have to redline any gear to fully accelerate to full potential?

 

ya the first 1.5k rpm is slow on the rev-up motor

 

I agree that 3rd gear has the most power, 1st gear is sometimes hard to get into and I have less traction there. But that's because of my crappy tires, Yoko, they look great but suck on wet and spins on 1st.